S-Duality: A Marauders Novella Read online

  They spread the word about gigs by handing out flyers or putting them up on posts. If you wanted to talk to someone, it involved going to their place if they had one, checking out a few of the pubs and venues, and, if it was urgent, basically spreading the word that you were looking for them. It usually didn’t take long until they found out. They also called the pubs. Sisco knew the numbers for at least twenty different pubs and venues by heart, and he knew the owners and bartenders well enough to just leave a message.

  Trudy being crazy and broken wasn’t always fun and interesting, though. It was hell at times. Trudy screaming, throwing things at him, telling him she hated him, and that he didn’t understand anything. Something that started as a joke could end up in a kitchen battlefield. It usually ended with her attacking him in the middle of it, beating on him until she started laughing, and soon they were fucking like animals on the floor. Sometimes he really was worried she’d stab him.

  The fighting and middle-of-the-night loud fucks were what eventually led to his roommates moving out. They said they loved him, they loved Trudy, but that they were both obviously crazy. The decision had been made not long after Pete caught Sisco fucking Trudy blue on the kitchen table.

  By then Sisco was making enough money on his dealing to be able to afford the place by himself. Pete and Frank still came around for parties and hung out at the house pretty often. There were no hard feelings; they just thought the happy couple should be allowed to copulate in peace and wipe off the ass prints from the kitchen table by themselves.

  CHAPTER THREE:

  We End It Alone

  -o0o—

  Present day, Greenville, Arizona

  THEY WERE AT THE Booty Bank, and Sisco kept his eye on the redhead working the pole. He held out a bill, and she slid down and walked towards him with seductive, swaying hips.

  “VIP room later,” he said as he tucked the bill into her G-string. She nodded before continuing to work the room.

  Bull basically fell down on the couch next to him with a deep sigh.

  “You okay?” Sisco asked, and got a shrug in reply.

  Bull wasn’t much for talking unless he felt he had something to say, and he definitely never made small talk. Sisco was fine with that.

  Once you got to know Bull, you knew that just because he glared at you in silence, it didn’t mean he was about to kill you. It might look as if he was plotting your murder and dismemberment, but it was just his regular face. He might as well be thinking about what tasty cereal he’d had for breakfast. It didn’t mean he couldn’t be a scary guy, because he could, and sometimes he was plotting your death and dismemberment.

  Sisco’d seen Bull do some really fucked up shit. He was the perfect SAA for a club like theirs. They needed a scary guy to make sure people stayed the fuck away from them, and to make sure the people surrounding them kept their mouth shut and stayed in line.

  “Where’s that new girl?” Bull asked as he looked around.

  “Which one?”

  “The blonde with big tits.” Bull smiled when Sisco looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. There were a lot of blonde girls with big tits at the strip club. “Cassandra?” Bull tried. He obviously had no fucking idea what her name was.

  The Booty Bank was owned by the Marauders, so the singles of the club spent quite a few nights a week there. Most of the girls were willing to do some extra stuff for them, since a lot of them were sweetbutts and tended to end up at the clubhouse after a shift anyway.

  That was when the next song started, and Sisco drew a deep breath.

  “There she is,” Bull said with a pleased voice, but Sisco didn’t even look.

  She was dancing to a song he knew very well. It was by one of the early bands Pete and Frank had been in, and the first time he’d ever heard that song had been at a concert.

  It’d been late, and Trudy had been tired. It had been less than a month after Pete and Frank had moved out, and she’d been standing in front of him resting her cheek against his chest with her arms around his waist. He’d used to think it was ridiculous when couples did that, but he remembered liking it a lot at that moment. As the song started, she turned around towards the stage with wide eyes. And he got why. It was fucking amazing.

  She’d loved that song and played it often, singing along out loud. She used to joke about it, how their love, as opposed to the love in the song, wasn’t the kind that moved on.

  -o0o—

  Seattle, Washington

  PETE AND FRANK HAD just started a new band when they moved out of the house. This time with a singer that Sisco thought was basically born to be a rock star, Rosalinda, but everyone called her Roz. She had an amazing voice and a stage personality that just screamed, ‘I know you all fucking love me, but I wouldn’t even let you lick my boots,’ and everyone did love her. It was impossible not to.

  They made some great songs and did awesome gigs, and eventually they landed a record deal and went down south to record the album.

  Not long after they’d gotten home, he got a call from Pete. Roz had O.D.‘d and was at the hospital, but it was unlikely she’d survive. Sisco and Trudy went to Harborview to be there for Pete, who seemed completely lost. Pete’d been at a good place, especially when it came to music. They’d just started to take off, and the album hadn’t even been released yet. Now it was all gone, because none of them could even imagine going on without Roz. She’d been the heart, soul, and attitude of the band.

  Sisco’d had a feeling she was a needle junkie early on, and it was actually Trudy who’d made him aware of it. She’d been dead sure, and he trusted her judgment on that, simply since her experience in the area was a lot bigger and more immediate than Sisco’s. Roz wasn’t the first one Sisco’d heard about who did heroin. Sadly, she was also far from the last.

  Just before they went to record the album, she’d gone to rehab for a while. He’d thought she’d been clean since then, but Trudy had pointed out that just because someone was clean for a few months, it didn’t mean they weren’t still a junkie.

  After Roz’s memorial service and funeral Pete disappeared for a while, and Sisco didn’t hear much from him. The few times he did, Pete just talked about how he didn’t feel like making music anymore. That coming from Pete was scary, because he’d always loved music and tended to feel lost if he wasn’t in a band. So Sisco was glad when he hooked up with Frank again, and they started a new band. The two of them were always at their best when they were working together. He knew they were searching for a singer and helped them by putting the word out through his channels as well.

  The guy they eventually landed on, Jonah, was from the university—U-Dub as they called it. Sisco’d met the guy, but he was a very, very introverted dude who didn’t say much. Seemed nice enough, but it was hard to really get to know him. Sisco got it, though; Jonah was the new guy in a very tight-knit community of people who’d known and supported each other for years. It couldn’t have been easy, but being super-introverted and kind of odd didn’t really help.

  Both Pete and Frank were ecstatic, though. According to them the guy was great; awesome voice, wrote amazing lyrics, and they thought it could really turn into something. When it was time for their first gig, they called Sisco and asked him to come and help out, happily informing him that they’d decided to call the band Riot Act. They said it’d be nice to have him around because they knew he could fix anything. He said yes, but somehow it felt a bit odd.

  The odd feeling disappeared pretty fast, though, and instead turned into something familiar. He helped them to set up, they shared a few beers, and had a good time. The new guy seemed nervous, but then Trudy and Jane came, and Trudy was good with nervous people. When it turned out they were both borderline hippies and into the same kind of art, they got along well and spent a lot of time talking about environmental politics. And Jane was always nice for guys to have around. Both Frank and Pete had tried to hit on her numerous times, and he thought Pete had actually managed to have sex with her
once, but he hadn’t asked about it.

  There were a lot of people there, a lot of them just to show their support, since they’d liked the previous band and had known Roz.

  “Is it all new stuff?” he asked Pete.

  “Yeah. We’re not playing any of the old songs. It would just be strange. Besides, Jonah’s voice is completely different, not just because he’s a guy. It would sound weird.” Pete was quiet for a few moments. “It would be weird. Don’t think I could do it.”

  “Yeah.”

  Sisco was actually relieved to hear that, and also kind of proud about his friends daring to start something new and not go for the old concept just because it had proved to work. As always, they focused on what they wanted to do, not what they thought would work commercially. Simply since they didn’t think commercial success was a possibility for any one of them anyway.

  When the concert started, Trudy took his hand, and he looked at her. She had a big smile on her face, and he knew he did, too. It really was something completely different, and it was unlike anything he’d heard before. It was great. He understood why Pete and Frank had gone on about Jonah’s voice, because the dude could sure as shit sing. He didn’t look all that comfortable while he did, though, but some of the songs really got to Sisco, and he truly thought they had something unique.

  Once the show was over, the band came over to the bar.

  “Really fucking good,” he said, while giving Pete a hug.

  “Yeah?” Pete asked eagerly. “So when we get rich and famous, you’ll be our tour manager?”

  “Sure,” Sisco laughed. “Just pay me in beer and band tshirts.”

  He noticed Trudy with Jonah leaning against a bar in a wild discussion together. He looked at them for a while, and went back to talking to Pete again. A few hours later, she was still next to Jonah, and Sisco put his arm around her shoulders. It was sort of a caveman thing, just trying to make it obvious to the rest of the men in the room, Jonah especially, that she was his.

  “Where’s Jane?” he asked.

  “She took off with some guy a while ago,” Trudy smiled, and put her arms around his waist. “I was just waiting for you to finish up.”

  He looked at Jonah. “Is it all in the van?”

  “Yeah, it’s all cool,” he answered with a nod. “Thanks, man.”

  “No problem.”

  On the way home, he couldn’t stop thinking about it, and by the time they’d gotten off the bike he was very stuck on it—Trudy and Jonah. He looked at Trudy. He didn’t want to make a scene, but he was still a bit… unsure about what the fuck’d happened back there.

  “So… you and Jonah?” he finally asked, and he could hear how fucking stupid it sounded, but he still wanted to know.

  She looked at him with a smile. “Were you jealous?”

  “Maybe,” he admitted and started towards the house.

  With a laugh, she came after him and jumped up on his back. She leaned over his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

  “That’s kind of cute, but I love you. You’re actually the first guy I’ve loved like this, so some random U-Dub surfer dude isn’t gonna cut it. I think he was kind of hot, though, and smart.”

  “You calling me stupid?” But he was feeling better about it.

  “No. Just saying I liked him as a person and thought he was kind of sexy, but that’s not the same.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Admit it. You like Jane, and you think she’s really fucking hot, and I don’t blame you for that. I mean, I think she’s hot, too.”

  “Really?” he said as he unlocked the door. A few visions of Trudy and Jane together flashed through his head. He was a guy, after all.

  “Sure. That’s why I used to have sex with her.”

  That’s when he slowly turned around and looked at Trudy, completely at a loss for words. “Say what?”

  “We were fuck buddies. I mean, I love her, but I was never in love with her. And I liked to have sex with her. She was really great,” Trudy explained as she walked into the kitchen. “She really taught me a lot about myself, too.”

  Sisco was still on the ‘Trudy and Jane having sex together,’ and any thoughts about Trudy and Jonah were long gone. He caught her in a hug.

  “Tell me again how I’m the only guy you’ve ever loved,” he mumbled into her hair. “And then tell me about how you and Jane used to have sex. Like… positions.”

  Trudy just laughed, put her arms around his neck and gave him a wet kiss.

  “I love you. I do sometimes think other people are hot, but you’ll always be my love. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “You’re still thinking about me sucking Jane’s tits, aren’t you?”

  Actually, he hadn’t thought about that, but immediately did. “I am now.”

  “They’re very nice,” she whispered into his ear. “Her nipples are not as cocky as mine, but very nice.”

  “Girl, you are killing me,” he muttered and lifted her up to get her upstairs.

  Trudy and Jonah stayed in touch, and Sisco soon found out Jonah had a longtime girlfriend and stopped worrying about it. Pete and Frank said it was good, since Jonah didn’t really have friends in Seattle outside the band, and Trudy would introduce him to people. Which she did.

  Sisco still thought he was a little odd, but noticed that he at least started to act out on stage. He truly thought Riot Act was a good band, and Jonah had a great voice; he fit with the music.

  Sisco kept selling pot, but also worked a shift here and there at the garage. He’d worked hours there since his mid-teens, and he liked it. Especially when he worked summers and people brought in their bikes. The café Trudy worked at was close by, and she often came by with coffee and a sandwich for lunch.

  “It’s pouring down,” she said one day when she walked inside holding the bag with both their lunches in her hand. “I can’t stand this wet.”

  “Is it coming from the ground up?” Eric, one of the other mechanics, asked her.

  “Whatta you mean?” she said and looked confused.

  “This is Seattle,” Eric said and winked at her. “If it not from below, or at least horizontal, it’s not rain, just high humidity.”

  Trudy looked at him for a few seconds, and then nodded. “That’s probably why an umbrella is completely useless here.”

  Sisco jumped up to sit on a workbench, and Trudy came over to stand between his legs. She handed him his tuna sandwich and coffee. She kept talking to Eric about rain, humidity, and water in the basement. Everyone had water in their basement in Seattle. It was damn impossible to keep the water out, but Trudy was still trying and asked everyone she met with a house how they dealt with it.

  When Decker came walking out of the office and noticed Trudy, he started singing ‘Puppy Love’ in a loud voice, which he always did when she came by.

  “Want a lift home after work?” he asked, once Decker was gone.

  “Yes,” she smiled, but when he leaned down to kiss her, she dodged his mouth. “You’ve got Flipper around your mouth.”

  “Flipper is a dolphin, not a tuna, baby. Not even a fish.”

  “You’ve got a carcass remnants around your mouth. That better?”

  “Yup.” He kissed her forehead. “And now you have it on your forehead.”

  “Asshole,” she mumbled. “Oh, I forgot, Jane is picking me up.”

  “Yeah?” he said, and he knew he had a stupid smile on his lips. He still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Trudy’d had sex with Jane. When she glared at him, he cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

  “You’ll never stop thinking about it, will you?”

  “I’m a guy,” he said with a shrug. “Just don’t fuck her.”

  She laughed and they finished the meal talking to Eric and Decker, who were back in the garage. On her way out, she gave Sisco a kiss and whispered in his ear.

  “If I fuck her again, you’ll be with us.”

  “What?” he yelled after her as she ran out of th
e garage and into the horizontal rain.

  He wasn’t sure he’d heard that right.

  On his twenty-second birthday, Sisco came home from a sell and found Trudy in bed with Jane. Not mid act, but both on their backs, buck naked, smoking a joint each.

  “Hey, baby,” Trudy said as she sat up. “Jane and I thought we’d give you a birthday to remember.”

  “Uh… are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “Yeah, remember how I told you I don’t believe in monogamy? If you’re gonna dip your dick in other women, I wanna suck on their tits while you do it.”

  He was rock hard, and he had no idea what to say.

  “Or sit on my face,” Jane said as she sat up and gave Trudy’s shoulder a light kiss. “I think I’d really like to have you sitting on my face while he’s fucking me.”

  “Oh, I’d like that” Trudy smiled and looked at Sisco again. “And like I said, if I fuck her again, you’ll be with us, and I know you think she’s hot. So are you okay with this, baby?” she asked Sisco, who nodded sheepishly.

  Jane slowly turned her head to look at him. “You’re gonna have to get naked for this, stud.”

  He’d never in his life undressed as fast as he did then. He got into bed between the two of them and kissed Trudy first.

  “Love you, baby.”

  “Love you,” she smiled. “Happy birthday.”

  Trudy sucked on Jane’s tits while he fucked her, and any visions he’d had about it hadn’t done the view justice. Not even close. Then she sat on Jane’s face, kissing Sisco as she came, moaning into his mouth that she loved him.

  The two of them kissed Jane goodbye when she left, and Trudy turned around after closing the door. “You okay with all that?”

  “You’re asking me?”

  “I am,” she said, her arms circling his waist. “But I take it you were.”

  “Definitely.” He gave her a kiss. “But promise me something.”

  “What?”

  “If we do things like this, we end it alone. Just the two of us in a bed, sleeping alone.”