Morosis: Lennox's Hard Knocks

By Laikyn Meng

I wasn't from the wrong side of the tracks. It was because of me that there was a wrong side.

 

My children may have respected our name, held it with pride. But without me, there would be no name that deserved protection.

 

Fifteen years old, without a home, Rebecca Townsend decided to save me. Her family took m

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Orange 9 Publishing Company LLC
• Release date: Oct 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781088132517

Book preview

Prologue

It’s my turn.

You heard my daughters’ stories and my son’s—one of my past lovers even. I’ve aged with a degree of temperance to

strive and continue for what I seek most in life.

Redemption of a name. The resurrection of the spirit. You have heard all the stories about me, seen through others’

eyes. The shit storm of women I have blown through producing 4 offspring in turmoil. My eldest Leonie; godsend. Then the twins, Calhoun and Kalonie. Olallie, my youngest and most resilient.

Judge me all you want. Everyone has opinions about me and the horrible things I’ve done throughout my adolescence

and into my profession. Would you like to know a fun fact about how I got to

the position and place I am today?

I didn’t believe all the naysayers;

I tuned out the negative slurs everyone threw my way. If you came here to prove

a point to show me what an arrogant son of a bitch I actually am, guess what?

Can’t be taught something I have known my whole life.

Take your accusations and shove

them right up your asshole, where you don’t let your husband screw you with his

stupid excuse of a dick.

Sit back, ladies; Knox is here to

teach you all about his hard-knock life.

Chapter 1

R ebecca. I enter the quiet room; her coffin sits on the other side. Leonie is sitting with Dawson and Damian in the chapel. I just needed a few minutes alone with my young bride.

I pull a chair up next to her, and I sit down. I stare forward at the wall as I gain the courage to look at her lifeless body.

I reach in and find her cold hand lying softly against her chest. Where her heartbeat used to rise but now remains sunk.

I never cheated on you, Rebecca. I swallow my spit, hoping no one else in the world hears this confession. I let my pride once again get in front of what mattered. But having you believe I cheated on you with Kayley…Hurting you meant I didn't have to live with the shame of what really happened. I look around the room; the roses smell like death, and I wonder if this scent will always remind me of her.

Replaced by new smiles in the morning, lousy day hugs, and I love you farewells at bedtime. This was all I could give her now.

I was at a party with the guys, and she handed me a drink. She gave me a few pills; Kayley said Damian told her to give them to me. I didn't even question it. I woke up, and she was on top of me, and her scent wasn't yours, Reba. She was sweaty, and her hair was an awful light brown. I brave a glance into the coffin, her perfect black curls resting on a white pillow. I tuck one into place behind her head.

I kept asking what she gave me, over and over again, and then she just smiled and whispered in my ear that you wouldn't have to know. But I knew you would. And the day after it happened, I told you I messed up, and I swear I’ve never seen you cry so hard. Not even when Minnie died. Minnie would have come back from the dead just to give me a good smacking.

Then we found out she was pregnant with the twins. There was another stab into your heart. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the knife out of my hand. You wanted another baby, and I wanted us to have a home first. I told you I slept with some woman because I never wanted anyone to know that she took advantage of me. Sucking in a breath of air, finally admitting what happened.

I’m so sorry, Rebecca, for being so goddamn weak. I should have been there with you and Leonie. My fingers clench around hers, worried I’ll hurt them. I let them go and put them back on her chest.

When you were drifting away from this earth, I was looking at houses for us. We finally made it, baby. We were finally free, but it doesn't matter now. Because you aren't here to share it with us. My queen no longer reigns. I don't know why you did this, but I'm sorry because I know I am a part of it. I won't ever say goodbye or let you go. I have to live with the guilt.

I lied to you to save myself.

Why couldn't you have waited a little longer, held out for another day? Did I hurt you so badly that I couldn't make the pain go away? I hope you know all the answers now. Wherever you are, our daughter thinks you got lost in your dreams when the nightmares took you from us. I love you; I love you, we won't ever be the same. My forehead rests on top of the solid wood structure.

I wipe my eyes and turn; Damian stands in the doorway, staring at my hands holding onto the wooden box.

Fuck man, why didn't you tell anybody? My eyes don’t meet him. I can’t see the pity in them.

I've lived with shame for a long time, didn't think it would be any different.

Rebecca would have understood. Jesus, Knox. She could still be alive if you would have just said something.

I stand up and get eye to eye with him.

It doesn't matter what I could have done. Rebecca’s corpse is going to rot in that box. Tell me how you would have felt if you woke up with a different woman on your body. Scratch and bite marks all over you. Your skin never gets clean again. You can't scrub the feeling off. Tell me, Damian, what would you have done! I keep walking past him.

What about the baby?

My son?

Yeah?

Don't tell Leonie.

Another slap to the face; the autopsy, not only confirmed her overdose but that she was 3 months pregnant with our son.

Today I bury half my family, and forever after, I will never bow down to another queen.

Chapter 2

Rebecca loved Minnie.

Minnie was somebody’s mother. Not any of the boys she took and cared for in her home. I could hardly remember my own parents.

They weren’t bad people. They weren’t good either. My parents were just people who didn’t have the energy to care.

One day, my buddies and I went to find trouble, and I was always good at locating the best kind. The last time the cops got called, I told them I didn’t have any parents.

The officers took me to Minnie’s, and I’d spent years growing up in her house. It was there I found my true family.

Patch was the first friend I ever made. He was quiet and reserved. We rarely talked about where we came from, but he mostly kept his mouth shut.

Rumor had it Minnie had a few sons once. But they died in a car crash because her husband was drunk driving. Guess she never forgave the man, even though he came around a time or two.

Shortly after, I met Rye and Richard. They were older, but good brothers to teach me lessons.

Down the road lived the Arzola brothers. There were 6 of them. But Issy and Damian were right around my age. Out of our brotherhood, we formed a bonded friendship that we never outgrew.

It wasn’t until middle school that we started noticing girls around town. On the first day of 7th grade, I saw Rebecca Townsend for the first time.

Her hair was twisted in braids, and she laughed along with her sisters. My brothers told me I couldn’t talk to her. She was off-limits, but fuck, I always wanted what I couldn’t have.

Hi, Reba. By then, my teeth were straight and pearly white, that blonde surfer hair was tasseled for careless effect.

It’s Rebecca. She scowled at me, and I knew right there she stole my heart.

Your name is pretty long.

People just call me Becca.

But, I’m not people.

Yeah, then who are you, pretty boy?

Awe, you think I’m pretty? I’m your soul mate, darlin’.

Her sisters laughed, and she blushed.

Oh, really? You are my soul mate, and you haven’t even asked me to meet your mother and father.

Ain’t got no daddy, but my foster mom, Minnie, she would be happy to cook a meal for us.

Rebecca’s eyes widened, "you live with Minnie Minnie?"

Yes. I rubbed the back of my neck, and not that we had a terrible reputation, but we weren’t the town's bread.

Minnie lived in the forest outside of town. She had a big cabin, and that is where we all grew up. People thought Minnie was an angel, but the boys she raised were bred by the devil himself.

I was one of them.

Listen, I should probably go back to my brothers. Just thought I would say hi, Reba.

It’s Rebecca.

You keep correcting me, baby. I’ll be sure to get it right next time.

All she did was bite her lip and smile as I jogged off to meet up with Patch.

Who’s the chick? Patch looks across the street to where her sisters are giggling.

She’s going to be my girlfriend.

He shrugs, and we walk the 2 miles out of town to a warm cooked meal.

Minnie, baby brother has a crush on a girl! Richard is an asshole.

I have a crush on your face if you don’t shut the hell up, Richie.

Awe, is baby brother getting offended because you love her? Richard kisses the air, and I slap his face so hard he splits blood.

Fists fly, and I hear Rye laughing at Rich; Patch throws one to his side as one of the older brothers knocks him with their elbow.

BOYS! Minnie has no patience for violence.

We stop and wonder what our punishment will be. There is always a couple of seconds when we fear this is it, Minnie has had enough, and we will be out on the streets again.

But all she does is laugh and hands an ice pack for Rich’s lip. She smiles and starts to serve dinner. Every night she ends her prayers by, bless my boys; I love them more than they stress me out. Give them the strength to not kill anyone, or give me grandbabies before I am ready.

Chapter 3

R ebecca, if you don’t let me see those boobs, I may have a meltdown here, sweetheart. A week ago, I got to touch one over her sweater, and now I have been dying to see the fleshy beasts up close and personal.

Lennox, you can’t be serious. We are at school. The whole student body is right behind us. She cracked her whip, and I followed like a dog in heat. The hormones everybody warned me about coming, and they weren’t tapering off anytime soon.

Becca, baby, please, after school; your parents aren’t home. Puppy dog eyes and a stroke of my thumb over her cheek gave me what I wanted most days. A hand to hold, a mouth to kiss, a neck to suck on, if she lets me see her boobs, maybe she will let me suck on one of her nipples.

All I could feel was a hard tap to the cheek.

What was that for?

Stop thinking about me naked! Rebecca knew me. She saw behind what I didn’t understand. Being with her made me awake to what was happening. Made me conscious of the lives around us.

"Rebecca, you can’t blame me.