“Well? Is that true? Are you jealous? Do you micromanage? Do you have a mean streak?”
“I got my crosses to bear. I grew up with that sort of thing, lying and fakeness, and I hated it.”
“Your mother wasn’t her authentic self?”
“Oh, no.” He laughed mirthlessly. “My mother is as real as they come. It was my dad. My father isn’t a decent human being, English. He caused a lot of trouble in my life, and my mama’s, too. I got in some jams on account of him. Anyway, whatever. This ain’t about him. The point is, I don’t roll like that.”
“Can I admit something to you?”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“I would have been jealous if I knew for a fact that you were sleeping with someone else. I don’t know if I believe you, but I—”
“Well, you don’t have—”
“Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit!” Dallas yelled as the front door opened and slammed behind her.
“Huh?” English questioned, hearing the commotion.
“My sister just barged in here,” he muttered, getting up from his chair and pissed that his privacy had been violated. “I told you to stop showing up here without calling ahead, and to give me my keys back!”
“You don’t never answer your damn phone, Axel, and as for the keys, I did,” She smiled all big and wide. “I made a copy, though. You ain’t say nothin’ ’bout making no copy. Why is there dirt all over your face? The last time I saw something that looked like you, I flushed it.”
“…I’m on the phone.”
“Oh, did I embarrass you, Mr. Hendrix, in all of your glory? Woohoo! Slow down, world! My big, bad, big brother is on tha phone! Everybody stop what y’ur doin’ and bow down to the man of the hour, day, week, month and year!” The obnoxious, small-framed woman raised her hands high in the air, and did a dolphin clap. “The world don’t revolve around you, sunshine. This is what you get for duckin’ and dodging me all week.”
“Life is a big disappointment, and you’re now at the top of my fuckin’ list… English, let me call you back, honey. If I don’t, it means I’m wrestling my sister.”
“Oh, Lord.” She giggled. “Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
“You sure will.” He ended the call and looked at Dallas, who sported bleach blond messy hair and a fringed brown leather jacket, tight jeans, and cowboy boots.
“Damn. You don’t have nothing to eat, Axel.” She peered in the refrigerator as if looking for Waldo. “When’s the last time you’ve been to the store?” She flung him a glance from over her shoulder. He shot her the bird and drank his Mountain Dew. “Must’ve been when Nickelback’s ‘Rockstar’ hit the airwaves.”
She slammed the refrigerator door closed, put her hands on her hips, and gawked at him.
“What are you doing here, Dallas?”
“Checkin’ on my brother. You ain’t called me or Mama back.”
“I don’t need no checkin’ on. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“Who was you on the phone with?”
“None of your business.”
“It’s a girl,” she taunted, her blue eyes sparkling like a hunting cat’s in the night. “You got that look about you again.”
“What look?”
She pulled out a chair and flopped down in it, then crossed her arms. “When you get all enthralled with some new woman, you have this look about you. It’s sickening. Googly eyes, a dumb ol’ smile.” She chortled.
He wiggled his fingers at her. “Come on and give me my key.”
“No.”
“I’m going to change the lock and the security code on my alarm system and not tell you what it is if you don’t hand me over my keys. I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again, so why don’t you just save us both the time and aggravation?”
Her eyes narrowed on him, she dug in her hip pocket, pulled out the key, and slapped it in the palm of his hand.
“Stick that up your ass.”
“I will when you drown in a lake. You talked to Tommy, didn’t you?”
She sighed and stared out the kitchen window. “Daddy come callin’ me talking about you’re mad at him. I don’t know why he calls me every time y’all get into it.” She shrugged. “I don’t care none. That’s between you two.”
“Why’re you over here then?”
“’Cause you didn’t call me or Mama back. Just like I said. I’m afraid someone is going to hurt my brother.”
“Like when you hurt me by stuffing pieces of toilet paper in my nostrils and mouth while I was sleeping when we were kids? Almost killed me.” His sister’s face reddened, and her eyes were sheening over with mirth. Sicko. “Or that time you hurt me by calling my girlfriend, Holly, when I was in the ninth grade, telling her that I preferred her twin sister over her, and I was only comin’ by to see her because her mama could cook good.”