Part 5: Flesh and blood.
Chapter 12
The next day, after this whole incident with his dad, Liam finally had his meltdown while he sat on his desk, bone-deep in guilt for all the abuse he did to his mother. Gloomy shards of feelings had infected his mood with despair.
"You look so sad," his mom called from the door, stark naked as per his rule of no clothing. "Can I come in, master?"
He stared at her but didn't say a word. She slowly dropped on all fours, crawled inside like a puppy, and kneeled very close to his feet. "Can I talk to you?"
Another wave of guilt sent shivers through his spine. "Go away," he mewled.
"Just for five minutes," she pouted, "let me talk to my son."
Liam sprang up from his seat, gripped her by the arm, and raised his mother to her feet while yanking her towards the door. "Just leave."
"NOO," she snapped, and clutching the collar of his T-shirt, she pushed him back on his seat. Her eyes had the same angry expression as the day when he made her walk naked in the trailer park. Her eyes momentarily closed, and she took a deep breath. "Just listen to me for five fucking minutes, and then I will go away."
"Shoot."
Regina settled down on the edge of his bed and started speaking: "That day I hurt you so much. I know it, but you never considered that I have feelings too, that I have my needs and fears."
"I said I loved you and that I wanted you to love me back, that's all."
"I know; that's what we are going to talk about. So just listen to me; I will tell you everything that you don't know about my life. Before my dad died, everything was good; my life was happy. I used to feel loved. The day he passed away, I threw a tantrum, asking for a new dress. Mom tried to calm me down, but I didn't listen. I kept on asking for it because my friend got a new dress as a present. So, he went to the town to get me one," she gulped, "and he never came back. His car crashed against an 18-wheeler, and he died on the spot. Mom never stopped blaming me, and after the funeral she became violent for the first time in my life, yelling at me, slapping me, and dragging me to the bedroom when I refused to sleep. Slowly, over the years she became worse, insulting me at every step. She was always conservative but after he passed away, things became out of control. I wanted everything to go back to normal and wished that somehow Dad would return. As we moved from apartment to apartment, I kept losing friends, and I never had the chance to go out with any boy because mom would never allow it. She often said that love is a lie. In my teenage years, whenever we argued, it always ended with her hitting me with something, either a magazine or a stick.
"Then I met your dad when I turned seventeen. He made me feel special and cared for, something which I longed for. When I told mom about him, she just gave me a strict no. Rick asked me to run away with him, and I did. I moved into his shabby one-bedroom place, and we were happy. But by that time, her conservative mindset had already taken root in me; I just wasn't aware of it. So although we shared a kind of an emotional closeness, he always wanted to get physical which I had a hard time with.
"Your dad," Regina looked at Liam, "was good with money. By day, he would trade in the stock market, and by evening, he worked at Starbucks. I started working at a dinner too, and together we assembled the money for the down payment of a mortgage and bought us a tiny home. Then he made me pregnant at eighteen, and we got married. I was happy again. I felt like those old days were back.
"When you were born, I still remember how happy I was." --She smiled sweetly. "But things soon started falling apart. He started gambling and often blamed me for it. He would insult my fashion, calling them mommy outfits, and it would often lead to arguments.
"Then he ran away," her voice quivered with tears, "and I stopped believing in love too. I took out my ring and stashed it in a bin. I burned my wedding gown, and I promised to never love again because, after all, it's a lie. I began believing what my mother wanted me to," she sniveled and started weeping.
Rushing over, Liam sat next to her. He drew her closer to his chest.
"We soon lost the house because I failed to pay the mortgage, and we moved here."
Liam raised her from the bed and placed her naked body on his lap, locking her in a gentle embrace. She continued, "My life was gray until you started to change me. You somehow pushed back the walls that I erected around my heart, and you probed in. You started to mould me by taking out the parts that I buried a long time ago. You made me feel like a woman again."
He hugged her closer and his heart started to melt from her warm breaths on his chest.
"I heard you talking to Jennie last night."
It startled him. "You did? But you said you were in the bar."
"I lied silly," she giggled and raised her head, "you know why I pushed you away when you asked me to marry you? Because I was scared that sooner or later you would leave me too when you find a better girl. But last night I realized that there is only one person who will never leave me; its you," --she snuggled into his chest-- "I'm giving myself to you, Lee; you can do anything you want with me; you can beat me, humiliate me, whore me out, or do anything else that you prefer. What happens to me from now on, it's your decision."
"I don't want you to be my slave. I want you to be my mother and my woman."
"I'm a slut now. A shameless one. Will you want a mother like this?"
Cupping her cheeks, he raised her eyes. "Remember, I'm the one who made you a slut. If I didn't want a mother like this, I wouldn't have done it in the first place."
She smiled back in his palms. "So what happens now?"
"How about we buy a house and move in? You don't have to marry me or be my woman; I just want to spend the rest of my life with you, just you and nothing else."
Regina smiled, and gently cupping his jaw, she said, "Are you a pervert who loves fucking his own mother?" and pulled his head up and down, making him nod. She giggled, "Do you love tying me up and thrashing me?" and made his head nod again. Liam smiled at this playful childishness. "Do you want to marry me?" she asked, making his head nod yet again.
Liam's eyes lit up with brightness. "Do you mean it, ma?"
"Yes," she cooed, "but before you take any decision, think about it. Being a wife is completely different. I will take care of your needs, but you will also have to take care of mine."
"I will, ma, I always will," he rubbed her naked thighs.
"Do you know what I mean? I have become a very sexual woman because of you. So sometimes I will submit to you; I will let you do whatever the fuck you want to do, but I have another side too; sometimes I will be dominant and do shit to you. Are you okay with that?"
A sweet smile lit up his face. "You know what's the meaning of the word Regina?"
She shook her head.
"It means queen. So yeah, sometimes I will submit to my queen."
Regina wrapped her hands around his neck. "Baby, oh baby," her eyes became wet. "It feels like a dream."
"It's not my queen. So will you marry me and be my wife and my lover forever?"