Empty Nest: Chapter 38

Lily couldn’t have been a block away by the time that I am bursting from out of the cafe’s front door. My sudden, frantic appearance draws the attention of passersby and the half dozen people seated at the sidewalk tables in front of the cafe. All eyes turn to me just in time to watch my breakfast spew out over the curb. Grabbing a light post for support I double over and dry heave. With my senses turned up a hundred out of ten the agony of my vomiting made my worse hangover feel like a Caribbean vacation by contrast. There are some well-meaning expressions of concern, though also a couple quips wondering if I was having a bad trip, but I wave them away and stagger around into the alley where I could try to get a handle on this in peace.

In the alley I tuck myself behind a dumpster and away from prying eyes. Anyone seeing me now would have surely thought me a junkie. Crouching down I do my best to balance so that only my feet touch the ground as any other contact was simply too painful to bear. More than ever I was thankful the my new, well-fitting boots. Those loaners from yesterday would have been pure torture. Despite Lily’s assurance that this would pass things only get worse. I was wracked with a pain that was everywhere at once with no clear source to try assuage. All I could do was bear it.

In the grips of such anguish my primal instincts take over. Desperate for help of any kind I dig for my phone and with trembling hands force myself to focus on my list of contacts, scrolling through for the only one that mattered.

“Hello.” Comes Heather’s bright voice. “You’ve reached The Hive.”

“Mmmm!” I groan. “I’m…sick. Help…meee.”

“Elliot?”

“It hurts! It hurts, Heather!”

There is a three second pause before her voice returns, firm and focused. “What’s happening?”

“I’m…feelin bad, Heather. I’m…nnngh…feelin real bad.”

“It’s going to be okay, baby. Tell me where you are.”

“An…alley…nnngh, oh God!”

“Focus, baby. Focus on my voice. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“You’re in an alley. Which alley, Elliot? I want you to be specific. Where are you, baby?”

“Cafe. Close to work. Mmmm!”

“Okay. I know where that is.” She says, her voice rapid but controlled. “I’m coming there now. I won’t be long. Okay?”

“Nngh!”

“Elliot, listen to me now. You listening, sweetie?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“That’s my boy. I want you to go to the street. I want to you to go where people can see you, okay?”

While her voice didn’t ease the pain, vertigo or nausea it was doing wonders for my frightened spirit. In this moment of swirling confusion she was my anchor. “Okay.”

“Are you moving?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I say as I rise to standing and shuffle back toward the sidewalk.

“I’m going to hang up now but I’m coming straight there. I drove today so I won’t even be five minutes.”

“Five…minutes.”

“That’s right. Hang in there, baby. I’m coming!” Just before she hangs up I can hear her shout. “Sorry folks, but I’m closing up…”

***

Five minutes later I am on the sidewalk just beyond the alley focusing on taking long, deep breaths. The worst of the crazy honey crash had passed though I was drained, queasy, foggy-headed and extremely tender to physical sensation. When I spot Heather’s SUV round the corner and come speeding down the street a pang of guilt strikes my heart. Had I just gutted it out and waited a couple of minutes I wouldn’t have had to call her at all. Not only had I worried her over something we could have spoken about after work I had also given credence to Lily’s slight of me needing a ‘Mommy’ to look after me.

As she glides in to park along the other side of the street I give her a wave to assure her that things weren’t as bad as they sounded on the phone. Though she looked relieved it didn’t slow her down any as the moment the car had screeched to a stop she was out and marching swiftly across the street, traffic be damned, in a straight beeline toward me. Never in my life had I seen a face so full of worry as was hers as she approaches.

“I’m feeling a bit better now.”

“Baby.” She reaches for me, both arms outstretched.

Though I knew it would be a stinging embrace I ready myself for the pain and hold my arms out to meet her hug. Painful or not, right now I needed that hug. The physical anguish was bad, but far worse was the terrible sense of having been violated. Now that she was here I was glad I’d called her after all.

She starts to pull me in just like she always did when all of a sudden her head snaps to the side and pulls away as a cringe of disgust twists her lovely features. Pushing me back out to arm’s length she grips me by the shoulders and stares at me, her face a clash of revulsion and horror. There was no encompassing hug, no warm smile, and no nuzzling in to get my scent. It looked as if she could barely tolerate my presence! NO!

“Heather?”

“Elliot!” She gasps as in an instant she realizes what had happened. “No.” She shakes her head, tears immediately welling up in her beautiful brown eyes. “No! Noooo, baby. What did you do!?”

“Um…I didn’t…”

“I told you, Elliot. We had a plan. Everything was going to be okay. You didn’t need to do this.” She says with a sob. “No sweetie.” As she strokes my cheek tears begin to roll down hers. “You were perfect! Oh, Elliot. Why!?” Sniffling hard she wipes her eyes and without waiting for me to answer she asks. “Who was it? How did you find her? How did you know to do this?”

My heart was breaking. My own anguish was one thing but seeing Heather so hurt was a fucking bullet right through my heart!

“I didn’t do this.” I say. “I was tricked. I didn’t even know.”

In the blink of an eye her grief becomes rage. “Who!? Who did this to you, baby? Who spoiled my man!? Who spoiled you, baby?”

“I, um…I only know one other woman like you.”

For a couple of seconds my words fail to penetrate the cloud of anger surrounding her. I see the exact moment it does though as a she flinches and rage turns to confusion. “But… No.” She shakes her head. “No! Lily? Lily wouldn’t do this. She’d never do this to me.”

“She came by my work. Just like you did yesterday.” I say. “She said we had to talk and she brought me here.” I point down the street to the cafe. “She slipped it in my coffee. I had no idea. I didn’t even…know what was happening.”

“She tricked you? Why!?”

“She said that we wouldn’t listen to reason. She felt she had to. To protect you from me. She said she broke our bond. She said that she and Liam wasn’t going to let us be together.”

“No.” She continues shaking her head. “No. She wouldn’t. They wouldn’t!”

“I’m sorry, Heather.”

“Oh my God.” Anger, confusion, mourning and a dozen other pained emotions flash across her face as she studies mine. “No, Elliot. Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”

“I don’t, um, even really understand what happened.”

Heather takes a deep breath, shudders as if catching the scent of raw sewage, then pulls me in for a very gentle hug and gives me an equally gentle kiss to my cheek. In my current state I was grateful for her tenderness. Letting me go after just a couple of seconds she takes a full stride back from me.

Still with a look of disbelief she studies me. “You’ve been spoiled, Elliot.” She whispers. “Oh my God. She had no right to do that to you.”

“Spoiled?”

“Women like us can only have one man. One bonded man per woman, for life.”

“I know that.”

“Once fully bonded there is nothing but death that can separate them.” Closing her eyes she lets out another grim sigh. “But in the process of bonding, during his ‘honey boy’ phase, a man’s body begins to change. Arousal, attraction, pheromones, a whole host of changes as his body prepares to be bound to one forever woman. As a part of that phase he becomes almost toxic to other women like Lily and I. You probably noticed that she never got to close to you.”

“She never did.”

“It is…difficult to be around a man that another has laid claim to. Once they’d tasted honey they are spoiled for all others.”

“But…but I’m still your honey boy, right? Until you change to Myles?”

Her hurt look answers better than any words.

“No!” I exclaim. “This isn’t fair!”

“No. It’s not. It’s a terrible thing she’s done. A terrible thing.”

 “So what? I’m Lily’s honey boy now? I don’t want Lily! I’d rather be nobody’s than Lily’s.”

“No, baby.” She says softly. “You’re not Lily’s honey boy. You’re spoiled. For everyone. You’re a spoiled man.”

“What? No. For how long?”

“I…I don’t know, Elliot.” She says. “A normal honey boy returns to normal after a few weeks, but once spoiled? Oh, Elliot, I’ve been told it is permanent but…”

“No!”

“I just don’t know.” She says. “I’ve never experienced this before. None of my family has. What Lily did…we just don’t do that. It’s our greatest taboo.” She offers me a hand and I take it. “Don’t worry. Normal women won’t notice a thing. You’re fine, Elliot. You just…” Her voice catches. “…you can’t be with one of us. That’s all.”

“That’s all?”

“Lily’s done an unforgivable thing to you, Elliot. And to me. I can’t believe it.” She says, her voice now hard as iron. “This had to be Liam’s idea. She just…she wouldn’t do this.”

“Well, she did.”

“Yeah.” She whispers, both her heart and head struggling to accept the truth.

“So…what does this mean? For us?”

After a long moment she takes a deep breath and stands tall, chin raised. “Nothing!”

“Nothing?”

“Lily believes that I was thinking with my dick. She thought you were just a…boy toy, as you would put it. She thinks you were just after a free lunch and a warm bed. But she doesn’t understand what we have.”

“She doesn’t?”

“No. She doesn’t.” With defiance in her eyes she smooths the shoulders of my safety vest then fusses with my bangs to make the look just right. “She can’t see the potential in you. But I can. I can see the man you really are and the one you’re going to become. If she thinks I’m going to quit on you just because of a broken honey bond, she’s dead wrong.”

“I won’t quit on you either, Heather!”

“Are you still my handsome guy, Elliot?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“You’re still gonna work hard and keep getting better everyday?”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

Lifting my chin she grips it and smiles. “You’re going to make me so proud.”

“I’ll try.”

“You’ll be…” She swallows hard and tries to mask another wave of revulsion. “…difficult to be around for awhile. But I’ll get used to it. I’m sure I will. And I won’t be…attracted to you like I was.” Another deep, fortifying breath. “But maybe that’s better. We were playing with fire, you and me. Now you can go…find a good woman…without this old…selfish…”

“Heather?”

“It’s for the best. It makes it easier now.” She says. “This will make the plan a whole lot easier, don’t you think?”

“Um…I guess.”

“I’m sorry this happened to us, Elliot.” She says. “But we’re not going to let it define us. We’re stronger than that. Aren’t we?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” She echoes and pats my chest. “That’s MY boy.”