The Bones of Texas City Read online

thing to do,” I said. “It’s what my mother would have wanted.” I turned to Benny. “But you need to go. Now. I need to clean up your mess.”

  He looked over to Emilia again.

  She gave him a slight smile. “I’ll be okay, Benny,” she said.

  The boy nodded. He took a step towards her.

  I shook my head.

  “I want to say goodbye,” he said. “Please.”

  “It’s time for you to go,” I said. “And don’t come back here. If I see you walk through the door or I notice you crouching around a corner outside... then I won’t be helping either of you.”

  He nodded and slowly walked out.

  I turned to Emilia. She was staring blankly at the empty doorway. She was trying to be stoic, but I could see her tears.

  “Maybe he’ll come find you,” I said.

  “Maybe,” she said. I don’t think she believed that either.

  She wiped her eyes and stepped towards me.

  I looked into those eyes, sad and brown, brown and pretty.

  She continued to come towards me, and I could feel my body react.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. “I already said I’d help you.”

  “I know how this works,” she said. “I know what I need to do.”

  I didn’t say anything else. I lowered my weapon as she brought her naked body up to me. She was only inches away.

  I pulled off my mask, breathing in the tough Texas City plume and almost coughing. And then I chose to do what came naturally.

  I placed my hands on her hips, running my fingers down her thighs. I leaned in and kissed her.

  She breathed deeply, almost a moan, and placed her hand on my groin. Her touch was confident, her gaze steady; she had done this before, and the thought almost pulled me out of it, thinking of some well-placed hypocrite having his way with her.

  But that shouldn’t matter to me. It’s not my job to sniff out traitors. All I needed to worry about were the two dead boys and poor Benny, killing his friends to save some girl he never really had any hope of protecting on his own.

  And now it was my turn to have her.

  I couldn’t take her like that. That’s not who I am.

  I wrapped my arms around her.

  “Just let me hold you,” I said.

  She smiled.

  It was perfect.

  ♥♥♥

  We laid together for almost an hour in silence, our bodies entwined on the couch. I held her like I would someone I loved, and she snuggled into my shoulder like I meant something to her.

  I knew that I had to be careful, that I couldn’t be sure that Benny wouldn’t come back and try to be a hero again. But I wanted to enjoy her for a little while longer.

  “You are beautiful,” I said as I ran my hand through her soft black hair.

  “Thank you.”

  “You lived around here?”

  “Yes. Both my parents grew up here.”

  “My mother was baptised here,” I said.

  “You come from a good family.”

  “I guess.”

  She craned her neck upwards and gave me a kiss. “Talk to me,” she said. “I don’t even know your name.”

  “Rick... Rick Edwards.” I almost laughed at myself; I’d gotten used to being someone else. “It’s Ricardo Edwards, actually.”

  “Ricardo... a family name?”

  “My uncle,” I said. I didn’t want to say any more than that.

  She gave me another kiss on the lips, and then she started to run her kisses down my neck. She reached my shoulder and kept going, and it felt like she really meant it.

  “Are you married?” she asked between pecks.

  I shook my head.

  “Then this is okay,” she said. She moved down the couch and lowered her head down between my legs.

  She must have thought she needed to prove her worth. She must have believed I wasn’t really going to help her.

  “You don’t need to do that,” I said.

  I gently took her by her arms and pulled her up to me. I kissed her again, and then I squeezed her close to me.

  It was just the two of us in the world and nothing else mattered. Deeply in love for an hour or so.

  “Will you come with me, Ricardo?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Mexico... or anywhere else. Just don’t leave me.”

  “You don’t know anything about me,” I said.

  She smiled. “You’re one of the good guys. That’s all I need to know.”

  I gave her a kiss on her forehead. “I want to keep you with me forever, Mila.”

  She nuzzled her head into me and sighed. Soon she was asleep. I closed my eyes and listened to her breathe. I felt at home with her.

  ♥♥♥

  I awoke not long before morning, my lungs heavy with the chemical air.

  I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. I’d put everything at risk.

  But Benny hadn’t returned, not that I could see. And Emilia hadn’t tried to run away.

  She didn’t really have anywhere else to go.

  I watched her as she slept in my arms, her breasts gently lifting with each breath, perfect, lithe and soft, beautiful and graceful.

  Everything about her... her hair, her skin, her lips... she could bring me back home, to a time when life was good.

  I sat for a moment and just let myself love her.

  Nothing else mattered. Not the comet that had burned the sky and blocked out the sun, or the rations that probably wouldn’t last until the first crops for two summers could be harvested.

  All that mattered was me and Emilia, bundled together on that tattered leather couch.

  I wanted to stay with her, to love her forever, to marry her and have beautiful brown-eyed babies. I wanted to live in a time and a place where things like still happen.

  I wrapped my arm around her neck. As I pressed, I saw her eyes open. I saw her shock and her fear, for just a moment, before she closed her eyes again.

  I held her a little longer, until I knew she was gone.

  I gently unhooked the heart-shape locket from her neck and opened it. Inside was an image of the Virgin Mary, along with an inscription of love from her nameless parents, to their precious Emilia.

  I knew I would keep it forever.

  I kissed her forehead once more. And then put on my mask, and I went out to find the dumpster and the dead boys inside.

  ♥♥♥

  The rain was still falling, heavy and fast, as I wrote a new story in bodies and blood. Two boys fought and in the end two boys died, over a girl who wasn’t allowed to mean anything anymore. The story would work and the pieces would fit. And Benny Anderson would get the chance to live his life in that dying city, for as much time as we all have left.

  I couldn’t save her, so I saved the boy instead.

  And I know that’s what my dear Mila would have wanted.

  ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

  Thank you very much for reading this story. Please consider posting a review to warn others.

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