JEALOUSY IN DEATH

27.

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27. Lucas

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Lucas got up from his bed and went to the gym. He was working up a sweat by boxing hard when he sensed a presence. He didn't have to look to know it was Desiree, her scent followed her everywhere. He continued boxing and waited for her to say something but when she didn't, he stopped and removed his gloves whilst heaving.

He looked at Desiree who was standing by the entrance. "You know I can sense your presence?"

She walked in. "I didn't want to interrupt."

"You're not interrupting."

"I came to tell you I was leaving."

"Alright, where's Bobo?"

"In his room playing video games."

"Okay. Have a great weekend."

"You too."

He watched her leave then went back to his exercise. He could have given her a peck or a hug but he didn't. After the touch phobia speech happened he'd lost her forever. He thought he was being reasonable when he told her he didn't like being touched. He had felt like if he was just touching her without her reciprocating then the guilt wouldn't kill him.

Even at that, he felt like he was cheating on his wife whenever they kissed but he also knew he was losing the fight. He couldn't resist her. He had tried everything and nothing worked. When that night happened in the kitchen, he'd felt alive like he hadn't in years. It was wild. Then he'd told her to move into the main house and she'd rejected his offer the following morning.

It was presumptuous on his part to think she'd jumped for joy when he offered. She had confused him. One minute she said yes then she changed her mind the next. Did his scarred hand disgust her? Was that what turned her off? But she'd allowed him touch her after that and Desiree was nothing but loving. He didn't think she had one judgmental bone in her body.

He had dug his own grave when he said he didn't want to be touched. But if she had convinced him he knew deep down that he would have done whatever she wanted. He craved her every night he went to bed and some days he stayed up at night thinking she'd bewitched him. It couldn't be normal to want someone that badly, could it?

While he was losing his mind from not touching her, she was paying him no mind. It'd been over a month since the kiss and she didn't seem unhappy about it. They were more friendly than ever but she seemed satisfied with their friendship and occasional banter. Then there was this barrier he felt but couldn't explain, like how she left the house immediately after dinner every night. She was practically running from him and it hurt the most fragile part of his heart.

Lucas left the gym and climbed the stairs. He looked into Bobo's room and saw him cross legged holding his tablet.

"Do you want to see grandma today?"

He looked up. "Yes. I have something for her."

"Okay. Will you be good on your own while I go shower?"

"Yes, daddy."

"I love you, little man."

"Love you, too."

Lucas went to his room and discarded his clothes on the bathroom floor as he got under the shower. He walked out of the shower and grabbed a towel as he went to the mirror. He looked at his growing beard and couldn't decide whether to shave it all or let it keep growing. Lucas threw the comb he used on his hair in the sink and went to the room to get dressed. Bobo was smart to have packed few of his clothes in an overnight luggage so they left the house to his parents'.

His mom wasn't home when they got there and he met his dad watching the cooking show he was obsessed with. Bobo ran to his lap and started communicating passionately as they talked in sign language. His dad had lost his hearing five years ago and Lucas still couldn't understand the sign language no matter how hard he tried to learn. Good thing his dad could read lips.

He asked for his mom and Bobo told him grandpa said she went to see a friend. How Bobo was quick to adapt and learn sign language was beyond him. He nodded and his dad smiled and nodded back.

"Will you be fine with Grandpa? I have to go see your uncle."

"Yep."

"Tell grandpa what I said," Lucas asked Bobo.

Bobo explained and his dad rubbed his hand on his chest to tell Lucas that Bobo was going to be fine with him. When it came to Lucas, his dad used the simplest and basic gestures to communicate. He dropped a kiss on his son's head and squeezed his father's shoulder.

When Lucas got to Biyi's house, he was watching a station showing a medium communicating with the dead. Lucas got the remote control and changed the station immediately. It was weird that people would believe anything including some random person talking to the dead just by staring into space.

Biyi urged Lucas to play PlayStation with him despite knowing he wasn't such a good player and Lucas agreed because he would do anything to keep busy. He spent most of his weekends with his brother, it was fun being with someone that knew him inside out. Although, he could be very annoying. They liked different things and Biyi was always so adamant about the things he liked.

His brother won the first round of the soccer game and Lucas tried to concentrate. It was easy to lose to his brother, after all he was the one that taught him how to play the game. Lucas preferred having a real ball touching his feet but those days were over. He got so much injury from playing street football with his friends that he decided not to indulge in such roughness any longer.

Biyi barely won the next match. It had been a tight one and Lucas wasn't angry that his brother won again. The main thing was that it was two-one score line and he'd given it his best.

"Dumbass, that was a foul," Biyi said in the middle of a new round.

Lucas went to the socket and switched off the TV. "No one won this round."

"I was leading so I won, you always do this when you're losing. Take your losses like a champ, bro."

"Get out."

"Out I go. Fuck you though, loser." Biyi dragged his words.

"I shouldn't have played with your sensitive ass. Keep watching your dumbass show."

Biyi laughed and when they both simmered down, he asked, "Where's Lucas?"

"He is with dad."

"Do you know what they do together?"

Lucas shrugged. "Watch his cooking shows?"

"No. Dad has a chocolate stash, don't tell mom."

"I won't, lips are sealed. Where does he hide the stash?"

"In the kitchen, the highest cabinet."

"Do you think they'll be eating it right now?"

"I'm sure."

"Let's go bust them then."

"No. If you bust them now dad will know I told you."

"So?"

"You have to take some behind his back and not too many. If he finds out you know where he hides his stash, he's going to change it so be careful."

"Damn! This has to be more difficult than robbing a bank."

"No lies there."

"I'm kinda hungry. What do you have in your kitchen?"

"Order some food from Tantalizers."

Lucas stared at his brother. "You don't have food in this house?"

"We all don't have a nanny that looks after the kid, cooks and does some things under the sheet."

"That I'm attracted to her doesn't mean we're sleeping together."

"Seriously?"

"Yea. I don't think she likes me as much as I initially thought."

"The first woman after Kenny you really want to screw doesn't want you. Such a cold world."

"But it's all good. It means I don't have to cheat on Kenny."

"You can't cheat on someone that's dead. Luc, why are we still talking about this five-years later? You've mourned her enough, let it go."

"You don't understand. I owe her this. I shouldn't have left her alone in the house."

"As you've admitted to it hundred times after her death."

"Yea. Can we talk about something else?" Lucas wasn't so self-centered to not know that everyone around him was tired of him whining about his wife. It wasn't their fault that they couldn't understand exactly how he felt.

"I'll go get you some food." Biyi made his escape as Lucas would have if he were in a similar situation.