[CONTENT NOTE: Awful things follow. Skip them.]
Lord Arlington sat in his pickup —slumped against the driver’s side door— as he idly tapped the lit cigarette that dangled from his outstretched hand. He watched the ash fall as his rage boiled.
He’d always been an angry kid, but then, that had been preordained the moment his mother named him “Lord”. She was a stupid old hag that thought her boy would seem special like the jerk-off men in her romance books if everyone had to call him a Lord. As if they weren’t living in the Bible Belt, and he wasn’t going to catch a thousand beatings in the name of Jesus. But he tried not to stay mad at mama; she was just stupid, and you can’t blame the lame for the limp.
Cheating whores, though? You can blame the fuck out of them.
His focus shifted and his eyes narrowed as her car pulled into the yard. For a second he thought she looked good behind the wheel of the Camaro, but then he noticed everything else.
“Oh no you fucking didn’t,” he spat as he fumbled for the door handle and half-fell on to the gravel outside. He caught himself, found his feet, and glared through the windshield at her as if she’d tripped him and then stepped on his balls.
(In fairness, she’d actually done one of those things, once.)
“I said ‘Oh no you fucking didn’t!’” he shouted, seemingly under the impression that she asked for clarification.
She gave him a quizzical look and turned down the radio.
“What the fuck?” she cried as she learned out her window.
“You did not,” he insisted, “put pink fucking seat covers in my car!”
“It ain’t your car, you dumb fuck,” she said as she stepped out, slamming the door behind her for emphasis. “The judge done give it to me, and you ain’t got an ounce of say. Now get off my property.”
“This is my goddamned house, Lady!” he roared. “I built it! Every fuckin’ nail! Ain’t no one can take that away from me!”
“The state done did,” she said flatly, marching with purpose toward the front door of her home. “I’m callin’ the sheriff out here, so you’d best be gone before that one deputy gets here. He thinks I’m hot as fuck, and wants to impress me. Plus, he wants to kick your ass.”
“Get back here,” Lord said, and something in his voice froze her in place. “Don’t you fuckin’ walk away from me, you old whore.”
“I got one of them apps,” she said, unmoving, without looking back at him. “I hit a button and it sends an alert to the cops and everyone we know. So stay the fuck away from me.”
“Ain’t no one gonna get here before I’m done with you,” he assured her. “All you’re doin’ is havin’ a say in what happens next.”
He took a step forward. She continued not to move. His next steps were bolder. When he placed a hand on her shoulder, she slumped. When he spoke, she closed her eyes.
“But what happens right now? That’s all up to me.”