2cd Choice

He leaned and watched the two women, admiring their backsides as they walked over to Apartment 3 and knocked on the door. Both Kirsten and Rosa stood there, ignoring him.

"Come on, bitch, know you in there," Rosa called out, knocking harder.

"You two get them hands where I can see them and get down here, now," Mrs. Lewis ordered.

"Aw, that's that fucking crazy old bat lives downstairs, Vernon told the pair. "Y'all don't pay her no mind. Oh, hey, tell y'all what, got me some beer, y'all like beer?"

"Fuck off, lady," Kirsten sneered and banged her fist on the door again.

"I come up there, I'm going to be mad and you don't want this old woman mad," Mrs. Lewis warned.

"Fuck! Crazy ass bitch's got a gun!" Kirsten said, looking down at Mrs. Lewis.

"That's right, and I ain't afraid to use it," Mrs. Lewis warned.

"Oh yeah?" Rosa giggled, reaching into her purse.

"Rosa, what the fuck are you...?" Kirsten cried out.

"Last warning, get them hands up where I can see them," Mrs. Lewis ordered.

"Fuck you, old witch," Rosa giggled, brandishing Marco's twenty two pistols.

Kirsten watched; stunned as Rosa's right leg suddenly flew backward, causing Rosa to land, face first, on the concrete landing. A millisecond later, her ears rang from the roar of the old woman's gun.

Kirsten heard Vernon's door slam shut. She took off running toward the fat man's door, and began hammering on it frantically.

"Mrs. Lewis, put the gun down; what'd I tell you about that?" Deputy Orville Jackson said as he got out of his cruiser.

"Got one, shot her in the leg after she ignored my warning and pulled a gun on me," Mrs. Lewis calmly said. "Other one's probably in that old pervert's apartment; why you never locked him up? You know he's been peeping in my window."

"He says he's not," Orville said.

"Y'all can tell I'm not peeking in that old bat's windows," Vernon had protested. "For one, I ain't screaming, two, I still got my eyesight."

Orville reached into the glove compartment of his cruiser and got a plastic bag out. "Mrs. Lewis, give me the gun; you know the drill."

"I want it back; that was my husband's gun," Mrs. Lewis stated firmly.

"Yes ma'am, you know the drill," Orville smiled, sealing the bag.

"You," Orville demanded of Kirsten. "Sit on the ground. Right there. "Hands on top of head, legs out in front of you, cross them."

He looked at the blood soaked leg of the unmoving Rosa and shook his head.

"Sheriff?" he said, touching his shoulder radio. "Need an ambulance out here, Mrs. Lewis get another one, one female victim, gunshot to the right leg."

"She use that forty four magnum again?" Dick Davis asked.

"Nope, her husband's three fifty seven magnum, remember? Said she didn't like the recoil on that forty four," Orville laughed.

Chapter 6

Anthony knew his father liked Lucy; Frank had asked both Anthony and Lucy if Lucy had an older sister that was available.

"No, no, Meester Frank," Lucy would laugh. "But you come to church with us? You meet all the women there; that car of yours? They all line up, all 'give me ride, I want ride.'"

His mom seemed to like her; she did invite Lucy into the kitchen to help with Sunday lunch. His stepfather flirted outrageously with her, making an ass out of himself.

Even Paige and Chelsea were polite to her, and polite to him.

Chelsea knew Lucy from the basketball games; she was one of the cheerleaders. So, she and Lucy could talk about the games. Paige had tried to be spiteful to the girl, but Lucy either didn't understand Paige's snide comments, or ignored them. Soon Paige figured out, by being rude to Lucy, she was only making herself look bad.

In front of his father, in front of his mother and stepfather and stepsisters, Lucy cuddled close to him, snuggling into him. Her outward displays of affection were sometimes a little embarrassing to Anthony.

"Damn, Honey, why you don't do that with me no more, huh?" John asked Linda, pointing to Lucy and Anthony.

"Why would I? I don't even like you," Linda teased her husband.

The bulge in Lucy's belly was very noticeable now; on such a small body, her five month pregnancy looked immense. Even as she cuddled closely to Anthony, she also cradled her belly affectionately.

----

Because they attended Mass every Sunday, except when the U.L.D. Storm was playing an Away game, some in the congregation began to nod in greeting to Anthony and Lucy. Some of the women would even stop Lucy and ask about her pregnancy.

One man, an avid Storm fan, did engage Anthony in a spirited debate about March Madness.

"I would be surprised if we make it to the top Sixty Four," Anthony admitted. "Maybe next year, though."

"You should see this man," the man turned to a friend. "Grabs the ball right out of the boy's hands and makes a three pointer; he is on fire!"

Lucy laughed all the way to the car.

"What? What's so funny," Anthony demanded.

"Your Spanish," Lucy laughed, leaning against him heavily.

"What? You speak it too," Anthony defended.

"But I don't have horrible accent like you!" Lucy chortled, almost falling over with laughter.

"Ah, Amigo, he try, huh?" the basketball fan said, slapping Anthony affectionately. "Huh? He tries, right?"

"Just get in the car," Anthony huffed to her.

"Oh, Antonio, I love you," she giggled and leaned her head against his shoulder.

----

"You um, you think you might want to make this um, you and her permanent?" Frank Carrecci asked, squinting through the haze of cigarette smoke.

Anthony looked up from the checker board, and then looked over at Lucy.

She was curled up on Frank's leather loveseat; sound asleep after a heavy lunch.

"I uh, um Dad, it's kind of complicated," Anthony stammered.

"Love her?" Frank asked, jumping two of Anthony's pieces.

"Wit all my heart," Anthony admitted, blinking back the tears.

"Then what's complicated about it?" Frank asked and scowled as Anthony jumped one of his pieces and reached the end of the board.

"King me," Anthony said and then looked back at Lucy.

"I'll king you all right," Frank mock-threatened, shaking his fist at his son.

"It's um, see, there's this guy, Marco? He's um, he's the father and..." Anthony said.

"Her father? What about him? He don't like you or something?" Frank asked, getting defensive.

"No, no, Dad, Marco's the baby's father," Anthony said.

"Oh," Frank said and slid a piece forward. "Thought you were the father."

"I wish," Anthony admitted. "But no, no, it's this Marco guy and she's all in love with him and..."

"Bull. Shit. Bull shit she's in love with him," Frank snorted and lighted another cigarette. "She's in love with you; what's more, she needs you."

After winning again, Anthony gently woke Lucy and they left Frank's house.

"I need bath," Lucy complained, reeking of cigarette smoke.

"Me too," Anthony agreed.

"Oh? Lucy asked, teasing. "Maybe we take one together?"

"Lucy, there is no way in hell my fat ass is going to fit in that tub and there still be room for you," Anthony laughed.

She filled the tub, put her bath pillow in (Anthony had bought it for her; she loved taking baths with It.) and eased herself into the tub.

"Antonio, you come talk to me," she called out.

He sat on the floor of the small bathroom, dangled a hand in the soapy water, and talked with her. Every now and then, he would lazily run a hand over her swollen belly, her growing breasts, or her thigh.

"You love me, Antonio?" Lucy asked.

He looked into her dark eyes.

"With all my heart," he admitted.

"What about baby?" Lucy asked, dark eyes searching his. "Huh? You love the baby?"

"Almost as much as I love the momma," Anthony admitted.

"Good," she said and used her foot to push the tub's stopper up.

He helped her stand, and then toweled her dry.

"You hurry," she ordered as she stepped out of the tub.

"Yes ma'am," he said and dropped his clothes to the floor.

When he finished showering the cigarette smoke off, Anthony toweled dry, then went looking for Lucy.

"Here," Lucy ordered, handing him a bottle of lotion, and then laying back down on the bed.

"Oh, almost forgot," Anthony admitted, then coated his hands with the lotion.

"Ah," she sighed happily as he applied the lotion to her body.

When Anthony finished coating her flesh with the slimy fluid, Lucy happily took him into her mouth, and then swallowed his seed.

"Thank you, Antonio," she murmured as she drifted to sleep, happy and warm.

Anthony lay awake, listening to her soft snores.

He had been monitoring Marco Philippe Juarez; the St. Elizabeth Courthouse had a web site. On Thursday, Marco Philippe Juarez, age twenty two, had posted bail and had been released from the Bender Facility.

Thursday evening, Anthony had noticed that there were fewer clothes hanging in the closet. Friday, he found three cardboard boxes neatly stacked in the closet by the front door. Inside the boxes were all of Lucy's clothes and shoes. The only items in the closet were the few maternity clothes his mother had given to Lucy. Her only shoes were her tennis shoes, no longer the gleaming white they'd been a few months ago.

Anthony looked at her, sleeping so peacefully next to him. He wondered when she planned on telling him that she was leaving. Or if she planned to just grab her boxes and go when Marco showed up to get her.

Would he come home to an empty apartment, come home to deathly silence.

The sex was great; he had been getting more sex in the past few months than he had imagined. He had joked once, to Jamal, that he didn't even have time to masturbate now.

The cooking was great too. Every night, she made sure he had a healthy, satisfying meal. Every morning, she fixed him a simple, yet filling breakfast.

She let him go off to school after a soft kiss and a tight hug. Around her neck, she wore his Christmas present to her, a simple gold crucifix and gold chain. Just as he released her, she would clutch the crucifix in her small hand and smile at him.

What he would miss most of all, though, was the noise. She was noisy. She was noisy when they made love, she was noisy when she cooked; and when she ate. She was noisy when they watched television; the volume was at an unbelievable volume. Music was listened to at blaring decibel levels. Even when there was no television or stereo on, she sang, chattered, laughed, hummed, tapped her feet, and snapped her fingers.

He fell asleep staring at the small girl.

----

Saturday afternoon, Anthony took his Mustang down to the Car Wash on Fifty two and Nineteen. He preferred this car wash; they did it all by hand.

Normally, the girl with the clipboard that wrote down his options would just scribble and give monosyllabic grunts. But this time, she did a little flirting with him. Anthony shook his head in wonder.

He had not noticed, but his skin was no longer mottled with acne. The new glasses that Lucy had picked out were more attractive on his smiling face than the old plastic frames. He had to throw out most of his old clothes; they were far too loose on him. He was able to dress more stylishly, now that he was able to shop in the regular clothing section, rather than the 'Big And Tall' section.

After the car was ready, the girl thrust her impressive chest at him, and requested that he 'come back real soon.'

Anthony drove home, smiling. He was glad Lucy had not been with him; Lucy had a jealous streak that was a mile wide.

Anthony let himself in the apartment and stared at Marco. The young man sneered at him as he cautiously entered his own living room.

Lucy sat on the leather couch, next to Marco. She looked at Anthony for a moment, then turned and said something to Marco.

Marco smirked, grabbed his crotch and said something to Lucy.

Anthony understood that Marco had said something about his cock. Having to take showers with twelve African-American males and one Native American male, Anthony knew that he wasn't blessed in the genital department, but he wasn't cursed either.

Lucy's laughter cut right through him, though. He stood for a moment, saw that Lucy wasn't going to introduce him to her lover, and took the coward's way out. He simply walked to the kitchen, got a beer, then walked to the small bedroom and sat on the bed.

There was more chattering in Spanish, more of Lucy's laughter, then silence. He twisted the cap off the bottle of beer, took a hearty gulp of the beer, and waited.

More silence. His mind started swirling, creating a 'white noise' to drown out the silence.

The silence was slowly driving him mad. He took another gulp of the ice cold beer, and then set the bottle down on the nightstand.

"Hey," she said quietly from the doorway.

At first, he was sure that he had imagined her greeting. Surely the silence in the apartment meant that she had left with Marco.

Her small hand rested on his shoulder; he knew this was it. He hadn't realized that he was crying, but when her small hand touched him, he began sobbing in earnest.

"This is it, isn't it?" he managed to choke out, his words punctuated by gasps and groans.

"Antonio, what's wrong?" she asked, sitting next to him and hugging him as tightly as her swollen belly would let her.

"You, you and Marco, y'all are leaving, right?" he asked, trying to disentangle himself from her.

He didn't want her seeing him like this, didn't want her to see his weakness. He certainly didn't want her pity.

"What?" she asked shocked.

"Antonio!" she barked out, clutching him even tighter. "Stop! What is this? Why you saying I'm leaving you?"

"Because Marco's here now," Anthony said, his tears giving way to anger.

"Marco?" she said, her voice tight with anger.

She jerked her arms from around him, stood, and began gesturing wildly, cursing in Spanish.

"No, no, Antonio!" she spat, face twisted in rage. "I go nowhere with that Marco!"

More cursing, more gestures, and then she stomped out of the bedroom.

Anthony lay back on the bed, exhausted from his emotions.

"No, no, I go nowhere with that Marco," Lucy snapped, trying in vain to twist the cap off of her bottle of beer. "Here, you open, please."

He reached out a feeble hand, twisted the cap off, and handed the bottle back to her.

She drank deeply, cursed some more, then took another gulp of her beer before slamming the bottle down on the nightstand next to his bottle.

"Antonio?" she asked, laying down next to him and scooting close to him.

"Yes?" he asked voice flat.

"Antonio? Why you say I leave with Marco?" Lucy asked, lightly touching his arm. "You want me to go? You tired of me?"

"No, no, it's just that..." Anthony said, and then forced himself to finish the difficult words.

"Lucy, ever since you been here, I knew you was just waiting until Marco could come get you, and then he gets out and..." Anthony said. "Fuck, Lucy, I'm not stupid; I know I'm your second choice; Marco's always been number one."

"What?" Lucy shrilled, sitting up and staring at him. "You think I'm...that I'm just...."

More cursing in Spanish followed

"I'm some kind of whore? That I make love to you, but I'm just waiting for him?" Lucy shrilled, then slapped Anthony's chest as hard as she could.

"Ow!" Anthony yelled, putting his hand out to prevent another slap.

"That I suck your cock because you let me stay here?" Lucy screamed, outraged.

"Look!" Anthony bellowed, getting to his feet. "From the fucking minute I met you, it's been 'Marco this' and 'Marco that' and 'we're getting married' and..."

"Have I said anything about Marco since that night?" Lucy screamed back, getting to her feet and squaring off against him. "No! When you and I made love? That was it! No more Marco!"

"Then what about this?" Anthony raged, stomping out of the bedroom into the living room.

"Huh? What about this? All of your clothes are in here!" he yelled, flinging open the closet. "All packed up and ready to go!"

"They don't fit no more, Antonio!" Lucy yelled back. "You look at me? I'm big fat cow!"

"And when he sat here, right here, in my house, and made fun of my meat," Anthony continued, grabbing his cock. "I heard you! You laughed at me!"

"I laughed at him!" Lucy yelled. "He grabs it like it's so big! I tell him 'My Antonio; he got ten times more then you, Marco, you little boy!'"

Lucy grabbed her purse off of the coffee table and stomped to the door.

"I leaving now, Antonio. You stop being stupid, we talk, okay?" Lucy said and slammed the door shut.

The silence was deafening to him.

----

Antonio?" Lucy asked, crawling into the bed.

"What?" he flatly asked.

He'd finished his bottle, and then her bottle, then drank three more bottles, and then finally dragged himself to the big, empty bed.

Now, two hours later, his brain was still a little foggy from the beers, and the loneliness.

"Mrs. Lewis? She said I should tell you why," Lucy said.

Anthony felt his heart constrict.

"I loved Marco," Lucy said, snuggling close to Anthony. "I give him my virginity, I let him put his cock in my mouth; I do anything he want, and then he goes and fucks Kirsten?"

Anthony didn't respond; he was numb. He knew she was rubbing his arm with her small hand, but couldn't feel it.

"'Oh Lucy, it was big mistake, I never do it again,' and I find out I'm pregnant," Lucy continued. "He, the big stupido buys drugs from cop, but he tells me we're in love. I move in with his sister; that's how I meet Marco; we're friends and he comes over and I fall in love. But Kirsten and Rosa? They beat me up and then you come and save me."

He felt her soft lips press against his cheek.

"You my handsome hero," she whispered into his ear. "My Antonio."

"You don't even know me but you come to hospital, and when I needed place, you take me here," Lucy continued. "Big old bed but my Antonio? He sleep on couch; he good man. I go see Marco in jail? And he tell me he want me to say I was wrong; Kirsten and Rosa? They don't try to kill me. He want me to say it was mistake. I tell him 'they try killing me! They try killing our baby!' but he don't care."

She tightened her grip on Anthony's unfeeling arm.

I leave there, I don't know where to go, so I just come back here," she continued. "And you come home and I look at you and I think. Marco? He don't care. Antonio? He cares, he care plenty and he's good man."

Her grip tightened on his arm and Anthony began to feel her fingernails dig into him.

"Then he come here and try to make me tell them I make it all up or he going to take my baby away when she comes," Lucy said, voice growing loud.

"Antonio? You tell him, you tell him she's our baby; he can't have her," Lucy implored.

"Our baby?" Anthony asked, the fog of the five beers beginning to lift.

"Antonio," Lucy said, leaning over him, looking into his eyes. "I fall in love with your handsome face, your big heart."

She kissed him lovingly, and then rested her head on his chest.

Antonio, when she comes, she will be our baby; she will have your name and you and me? We take her to church, we show her to everyone so they can see her. She is our baby," Lucy decided.

"You're not leaving?" Anthony finally dared to ask out loud.

"Never," she promised. She draped an arm across his chest, snuggling closely to him. "Antonio, you are not my second choice. Antonio Carrecci, you are my only choice."

She rubbed herself against him, trying to get herself even closer to him.

"You? You will protect me, you will protect us. You will be our handsome hero forever," she said.

"Or die trying," Anthony promised.

The End.

**Author's Note: I write these stories for my pleasure; I post them here for your enjoyment.

Like it? Hate it? That's fine. But if you're going to critique my work, have the decency to explain your opinion. 'You suck' or 'this is stupid shit' are not critiques; they are pointless blathering. Tell me WHY it sucks or WHY it is stupid shit.