2. Alyssa

Somebody rang my doorbell, and I called out that it was open. I'm sure those two didn't stop to lock that shit while making their escape. My three brothers and their wives came bounding through the door like the house was on fire.

They came up short when they caught sight of me sitting at the table having my supper, and I didn't miss the way the six of them looked at each other. Brian, the oldest at thirty-three, was the first to reach me, followed by Cam and Trey.

Brian did that thing he used to do when I was younger, where he would get down to my level by stooping next to my chair and said, "Look at me." I turned to face him and pushed a fork of beef into my mouth. "Where are they?" I shrugged my shoulders, "I guess they left."

He nodded his head towards the other two, and they went around searching rooms for bodies. I don't know how many times I have to tell them I have grown out of my hoyden ways. I'm a lady, and ladies do not run around halfcocked at every little thing.

Ladies carry themselves with class and decorum, which was dripping from me like Liz Taylor in Richard Burton's Diamonds. "Daisy, I know you like lobster." I tapped the covered container with the asshole's meal in it with my fork and invited her to sit down.

"Where are you going?" Brian got to his feet at the same time I did.

"To grab some wine." The other two came back into the room and gave the others the signal that everything was clear and nobody was gonna have to head out to old man Samson's pig farm to make a run.

I went and got a couple of bottles which I wasn't planning to share, but Penny, went and grabbed a few more glasses. "Are you okay, sweetheart? What can we do for you?" That's Jillian, or Jilly as we call her, Trey's wife. Trey is my youngest brother at twenty-eight and Cam is thirty. I bring up the rear, like I said, at twenty-three.

Brian is married to Daisy, and Cam's wife is Penny. "No, I'm fine."

"Well, what…why? How long has those two been…?" Daisy started to ask, but I cut her off.

"I don't wanna talk about that. I wanna talk about my new promotion and raise. We'll have to celebrate."

They shared another one of them looks, which I ignored. No one was touching the lobster, so I helped myself. Like hell, I'm wasting seventy dollars. "Um, are you sure you're okay? What about the wedding?"

"Oh, we're going to the wedding. It's too late to cancel now, and I'm not about to lose a dime. I know; one of you or all of you can renew your vows. Everything's already paid for."

There they go with the looks again. Brain sighed hard, which meant he thought there was going to be trouble. "I'm fine, except…."

"Except what?" They all jumped on that one.

"I need a new mattress."

"What happened to the old one, if you don't mind me asking?" That was Trey, always the consummate gentleman.

I pointed to the backyard. "I burned it. You didn't think I was sleeping on that thing again, did you? I don't want cooties." My brothers all went to have a look and commiserate with each other about what level of FUBAR they were looking at. I don't know why they don't trust me.

They hovered like the plague for the better part of an hour until my eyes were starting to cross. I decided to go easy on the wine because that might not be what I need right now.

"Anyway, thanks for coming. I'll sleep in the guest room; I guess I'll take care of all this in the morning. I'm beat." I got to my feet and stretched.

"I think one of us should stay here with you."

"No, Brian, I'm fine. Don't tell Mom, I'll break the news to her myself, but really, I'm fine. I promise. Pinky swear." No one noticed the crossed fingers hidden in my pants pocket. What they don't know won't hurt nobody.

I had a hell of a time getting them all out the door, but in the end, they acknowledged that I was an adult and I was fine. I waited until they were gone and went to find the sober-up before making my way to the bedroom closet and my old Louisville slugger.

I had the presence of mind to change into jeans, high tops, and a sweater to combat the late-night breeze before heading out to the car. I threw the baseball bat in the passenger seat and headed out. I didn't turn on the radio because I needed a steady head. The last thing I needed was to get pumped up listening to music; that wouldn't be good for anybody.

Now, right about now, you might be asking yourself, what the hell? You see, I've been here before. Betrayed, broken. But this time, I was older and wiser. Wise enough to know that if you keep letting people fuck with you, they'd think you're a patsy. Fuck that!

I pulled into the driveway at Dad's house twenty minutes later and ran up to the door to ring the bell. He opened it, and his face broke into a smile as soon as he saw me. "Hi, Princess.!" He stepped back to let me in.

"Hi, Daddy." Thwack, I caught him around the knees.

"Alyssa, what the hell?" He went down hard.

"That's for cheating on my Mama." Thwack, thwack. I gave him a couple more for good measure. "Where's that bitch you married?" The homewrecking skank came running when she heard the screams and caught one across the chest. "Alyssa, stop. Are you crazy?" Dad was trying to get up off the floor, so I laid one across his neck and shoulder for good measure.

The bitch's daughter, the one that my father traded me in for that wasn't even his, came running. Now, she was just a child when that whole thing went down, and so was I, so I slapped her face with my hand because fair is fair. "That's for always gloating that my Daddy raised you."

When she looked froggy, I just leveled my bat at her, and she had the good sense to step back. "Stay outta my way before I snatch you, bald bitch!" She thinks she's Miss. Dairy Queen, so I know that would keep her ass outta my way.

I turned to my Dad next, who was trying to crawl to his bitch. "Bastard, because of you, other assholes in this town think it's okay to trample all over me."

"What do you mean? What're you talking about? What did Denny do?"

I don't know how he had time to talk when those two were caterwauling like scalded kittens. "Shut up, both of you, or you'll get it again." I pointed my bat in their direction and they had the good sense to pipe down.

"I don't understand; what does this have to do with us?" I lowered my face to his.

"You were the first man to break my heart. I thought it only fair to start with you."

His bitch Helen started screaming about calling the cops.

"You can do that. I'll spend two weeks in the psych ward, then get out and beat your ass again. I want you out of my county, out of my town, out of my state. If you're here within a week, I'm gonna beat your ass every time I see you. You and your fucking spawn."

Since I had done all I came to do, I turned and left their house because I kinda think I had overstayed my welcome. I wasn't worried about the cops; my Daddy had too much guilt to do that shit. And he certainly did not want me to burn down his house with him in it.