Chord
I stood in front of the unfamiliar door. My hands were clammy, and I couldn’t help but twitch nervously. The small home in front of me felt ominous. I was there to grovel and hopefully redeem myself. The doorbell rang for the third time as I waited for someone to answer. A thundering came from behind the door. When a bang and cursing came next, I wanted to flee.
“This better not be one of those religious traveling salesmen. I swear to go I will open the damn door naked and give them something to repent about.” A muffled voice said.
“I’d be open to a sex cult where they worshipped my body.” Another voice said.
“Of course, you would, you’re a slut.” The first voice said then an, “Ow!”
“Will one of you girls please see who is at the door?” An older voice shouted.
“Sorry, Grams.” The first two voices said in unison.
The door swung open and I saw a disheveled Rhapsody. She wore a long t-shirt with a barely there pair of shorts. Her hair was pulled on top of her head in a messy bun. She was a dream.
“Chord?”
The girl from the hall of fame night poked her head over her shoulder. “Damn. No sex cult, Grams. But, we’ve got the one who knocked up Rhapsy.”
I felt my face flush. “Hi.”
Rhapsody crossed her arms in front of her. “What do you want?”
“Rhapsody! Don’t talk that way to the young man. Let him come in and grovel properly.” An older woman appeared in the doorway and pushed her out of the way. “Come in. The carpet in the living room is perfect for groveling.”
I passed Rhapsody and the other girl whispering. The older woman sat on an overstuffed chair and gestured for me to have a seat on the matching couch. The other girl, who I now recognized as one of the younger members of Blue Vengeance, sat flush against me. Rhapsody stood in the entryway of the room with her arms crossed. This was not going to be easy.
“Uhm…could I have a moment with Rhapsody alone?” I asked tentatively.
“Nope.” All three of them said.
“Son, you can say what you need to say in front of all of us. I’m Grandma Leah and next to you is Cassandra. Of course, you’re already acquainted with our Rhapsody.”
Rhapsody snorted.
“Nice to meet all of you.” I swallowed. All of a sudden, my mouth was the damn Sahara. I turned toward Rhapsody and said, “First, I need to apologize. I didn’t react well.”
“That’s the understatement of the century.” Cassandra said next to me.
“Cassandra! Let the boy speak.” Grandma Leah snapped. “Keep going.”
“What made you come to that conclusion, Chord?” Rhapsody asked.
I stood from the couch and took a step closer to her. Her laser gaze warned me to not take another step closer. “I had a conversation with my cousin.”
“Your asshole cousin, Alec?” Cassandra asked.
“Uhm…yeah. Do you know Alec?”
Cassandra scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her.
“How did a conversation with your cousin change your mind?” Rhapsody drew my attention back to the issue at hand.
“He showed me exactly how much of an idiot I was being. When I finally took a moment and the world stopped spinning I realized I was acting just like my father. I never want to become him.” I walked over to Rhapsody. “I want to be here for you and the baby. I know I fucked up. I don’t deserve one ounce of forgiveness from you. However, if you can find it in your heart to give me another chance I will never stop making it up to you.”
I dropped to my knees in front of her. Rhapsody covered her mouth with her hands. Tears glistened in her eyes. Oh, dear lord! I made her cry again.
“I’m so sorry, Rhapsody. Please don’t cry.”
She sniffed. “You really are an idiot.” Rhapsody knelt in front of me and kissed me. I pulled her to me feeling her curves against my body. It was a really poor time for Stan to get any ideas, but he decided to stand at attention. Feeling her against me was the most perfect thing in the world. I wanted nothing more than this woman with me for the rest of my life.
“Good. That’s handled. Who’s hungry?” Grandma Leah asked standing from her chair.
“Me. I’m not sure if Rhapsy can handle food since she was puking all morning.” Cassandra walked past us still on the floor.
“You’ve bee sick?” I asked Rhapsody.
She shrugged. “It’s just morning sickness.” Rhapsody grimaced then continued, “I’m not entirely sure why they are calling it morning sickness. I get sick any time of day.”
“Well, do you want to go for a drive and maybe grab a coffee?” I asked tentatively as I helped her stand.
She gave me a bright smile. My heart grew when that smile was aimed my way.
“Absolutely. Let me get dressed then we can go.” Rhapsody disappeared from the room.
I watched her go and enjoyed every inch those shorts didn’t cover. My mind was so focused on Rhapsody that I didn’t realize Cassandra had come back into the room. She was standing where Rhapsody had been earlier. Her earlier jovial look was replaced with a look that could very well kill me.
“You and Rhapsody heading out?” She asked.
“Yep.”
She nodded. “Look, Chord, I’m going to say this once and you take it for what it is. If you pull some more shit like you did last night and hurt my cousin and her child I will castrate you.” I opened my mouth to object, but she continued, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I would castrate you instead of kill you. Well, I feel that if you are dumb enough to do something to Rhapsody and baby bean then you should never procreate in this world. Make sense?”
I nodded.
“Good. Also, your father and her mother do not need to know about any of this yet. It is going to be a shit storm when that happens. We don’t need to worry about Rhapsody and the baby thanks to the drama those two would cause. Got it?”
“Yeah. But, aren’t you in Blue Vengeance? How are you gonna hide that from Emmerson Lee?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. You just worry about making Rhapsody happy and making sure your douche of a cousin doesn’t spill the beans about baby bean.”
I nodded again.
Cassandra handed me a piece of paper. “Here is my number. If anything, every happens call me and I will be there as soon as humanly possible.” She turned to walk away from me then said, “Oh and you can call me Cassie. Grams is the only person who calls me Cassandra.”
All I could do was nod again. I was slightly scared of that chick. Rhapsody found her way down stares while I was still staring into the empty hallway.
“You ok?”
With a strained smile, I said, “Yep. Ready to go?”
She gave me that brilliant smile again then linked her arm with mine. “Let’s go.”
I leaned over and kissed her cheek. This day was finally beginning to look up.