Crown of blooms, p.1
Crown of Blooms, page 1
Crown of Blooms
R.C. Dickens
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Rayanna Yvette Christian
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: rayannachristian@gmail.com
First paperback edition November 2021
Formatting by Polgarus Studio
ISBN 978-1-68524-648-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-68524-649-5 (ebook)
Linktr.ee/RCDickens
About The Author
Juniper Ray Christian-Dickens was born in 1997 on Fort Bragg military base, though most of their life has been spent in Boone NC. Growing up black and queer in the conservative, predominantly white area, they found their escape through dance and writing. They graduated from Appalachian State University with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies. Christian-Dicken has written for the Old Gods of Appalachia podcast and publishes short fiction, including a serial fantasy series titled Queeries and Quandaries, on Patreon. Crown of Blooms is their debut novel and the first in the Crown Series.
For Rayanna, who could have used this book
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Coming Soon…
Chapter 1
The church gym smelled of fresh, hot body odor and even more profusely of cheap cologne. The boys abandoned the youth game room in favor of a pickup basketball game before their parents arrived to take them home. Kayden sat on the bleachers that creaked with every twitch, imagining the girls upstairs having much more fun with the foosball table and the worn UNO deck, and waiting for someone to tire out and pull him into the bracket. He sucked the noxious smell in deep in an attempt to distract himself from how the late afternoon sun was interacting with the sweat on Manny’s skin; Manny was dark and when the light hit that smooth black skin it glowed, reflecting in stark patches on the ripples in his bare stomach and, most prominently, his chest.
Manny sunk one and celebrated with a cry and a few pops of his pecs. Kayden looked away. The smell wasn’t helping. He’d have to pray hard tonight.
“Boys,” Pastor Zane’s scolding voice echoed through the room as he marched back through the doors, boxy frame straining against his too tight polo, holding his hands out in frustration. The game screeched to a halt, no explanation as to their wrongdoing necessary. Manny and the three other shirtless boys bowed their heads and jogged over to the bench to retrieve their shirts and make themselves modest before the girls returned.
Manny leapt onto the bleachers, making the old wood moan and shake, a foot or so away from Kayden. Hot fresh fumes emanated from him and into Kayden’s nose. The boy collapsed down a step above Kayden pulling his shirt over his head.
“You stink,” Kayden mumbled, staring at his tennis shoes.
“You would too if you played more than once,” Manny scoffed, tossed his head back, and squirted his water bottle into his mouth.
“No, Manny, he wouldn’t.”
Kayden looked over to his other side where Alex had appeared next to him, resting his shiny face in his hand. His pale face was flushed red, light blonde hair stuck to his forehead, chest heaving with labored breaths, but his smile was light, his presence natural, like he'd been there all along and not for little more than a week.
“Your stink is exceptionally terrible,” Alex said with a smirk. “It’s… unique. Unmatched. It’s-”
Manny rolled his eyes. “Shut up,” he cried and Kayden shook with laughter at the older boy’s whiny voice.
Alex snickered, turning his attention to drying his face with the shoulder of his T-shirt. “I hear you’re turning fifteen tomorrow?”
Kayden nodded. “Yeah. My sister and - oh.” Kayden jumped, fingers shooting up to his mouth to lodge the nails in his teeth. “I- I’m sorry. I thought I-”
Alex’s cheeks pressed up into his eyes as he struggled to hold back a smile. He held up a hand. “I wasn’t trying to invite myself. Sorry.”
Kayden shook his head. “I was going to b- but I forgot and - I didn’t have y-your number or…” His stammering trickled off as he gazed at Alex’s warm, apologetic smile. “It’s tomorrow at one at my house if you wanna come.”
Alex grinned a huge, bright-white, boyish expression. “I’ll be there.” He held out his hand. “Give me your phone, I’ll give you my number so you can send me the address.”
“U-uh sure.” Kayden fished into his pocket, taking three tries to unlock his iPhone, and handed it to Alex. “Yeah, my house is only a few minutes away from-”
“Kayden!” A smooth, demanding voice carried from the other side of the gym. Flanked by the rest of the youth group girls, Delilah floated into the gym, wolfish eyes tuned on Kayden, nose held high, filled with the strange ethereal, haughty energy that she seemed to absorb from particularly powerful church events. She was petite and light-skinned, her beauty a regular topic of conversation for the church ladies and, at times, the youth boys when they wanted to mess with Kayden. She was easily the more attractive, more popular, generally better twin and Kayden had long since made peace with that. While the other girls spread out to grab their brothers or sit near enough to the boys to tease their scent, Delilah hovered over to Kayden.
“Hi,” Kayden said as she approached.
“Let’s go. I’m tired,” she said.
Kayden nodded, leaning forward to stand up when an arm crashed over his shoulders, pulling him flush against the side of Manny’s body.
“Ah come on. Kayden’s only played, like twice.” Manny said. His eyes sharpened on Delilah. “You don’t wanna watch me play?”
Delilah’s expression hardened, though Kayden could see the flickering of consideration behind her eyes. She was wearing a floor-length pink skirt and Afro puffs and yet, with just a hand on her hip, she made the color fall from Manny’s face. She spared the boy just a momentary glance before turning her attention back to her brother, doing little more than lifting her eyebrow.
Avoiding the desire to violently tear himself away, Kayden stood up, letting Manny finally pull his arm away. He stepped into his place at his sister’s side, offering a small wave to Manny who only rolled his eyes, pouting less than inconspicuously.
“Bye guys,” Kayden said. “See ya-”
Alex jumped up, grabbing Kayden’s wrist and depositing his phone back into his hand. Kayden’s face flushed hot. He smiled and nodded.
“At your birthday party,” Alex said, releasing Kayden’s hand and stepping back, that grin still on his face.
Suddenly eager to leave, Kayden turned on a dime, waving over his shoulder as he beelined to the gym doors in step with Delilah, tossing her own polite goodbyes over her shoulder. They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Delilah bumped her shoulder against his.
“What’d you talk about in youth?” she asked.
“We uh… we talked about…” Kayden gnawed at his lip, struggling to find a word he could say out loud. “Purity.”
“Yeah, we talked about the same thing,” Delilah said. “Sexual sin and staying sexually pure, stuff like that.” The words flowed off her tongue with ease, abstract, guiltless. “We had to go around the circle and confess to each other and God and-”
“Isn’t that a private thing for the group?” Kayden forced out, voice nervously breaking, skin prickling with hot humiliation. “I mean y- you can’t j- j- just tell people’s business.”
Delilah tossed her head back, letting out a boisterous snorting laugh at her twin’s pubescence that didn’t waver even as Kayden shoved her, sending her stumbling off the sidewalk. She shuffled back into step with him, making a show of suppressing her laughter to continue.
“I wasn’t gonna tell anyone’s business. I was saying I didn’t have anything really to confess and Ms. Gibson went on and on about Mom and Dad and raising us right and respecting myself and all that.” There was no boast in her voice, just flat, matter-of-factness.
“Lucky you,” Kayden breathed, and Delilah gave him little more than a thoughtful grunt. “We did the same thing. I hate these kinda meetings.” Kayden crossed his arms over his chest.
“I kinda like it.”
“Well, you're kinda weird.”
Delilah humphed and rolled her eyes with impressive drama, eliciting a reluctant snort from Kayden. “What’d you say?” She asked once she'd gotten over the slight. It was nothing short of a demand but it was within her right, the kind of information that was promised between them.
“I said lust. Pastor Zane asked if I wanted to elaborate.” Kayden ran his thumb knuckle across his bottom teeth, toying with what would be a brutal hangnail, eyes focused on their house as they approached the front yard.
“Was there?” Delilah asked.
“I said no,” Kayden said as they climbed up the porch steps.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Well, that's the answer you're getting.”
Kayden opened the door, closing the conversation. As soon as
“Hey babies,” she cooed as she met them. She placed a hand on Delilah’s cheek, giving the other a light kiss. She turned to Kayden to do the same, nose wrinkling and hand jerking away as she leaned in.
“You need to go take a shower,” she demanded, snickering under her breath.
“Ok Mama,” Kayden said and headed up the stairs, eager to wash the stink of the day off of his body and mind. With each step, his fatigue became more prominent and he hoped there would be time for a short pre-dinner nap.
“Kayden.”
The call from his father’s office as he passed was relatively quiet. Still, Kayden’s body momentarily seized, a tiny yelp escaping his mouth. Shaking the shock off of him, Kayden stopped in front of his father’s office door, slowly pressed it open, and stepped into the dark room, illuminated only by the dim, bluish computer light. The room was small, a claustrophobic dark hole filled with stuffed bookshelves, loose papers, old handwritten sermons and saturated with a cold, prickly smell that Kayden could only identify as ‘Dad’.
“Yes, Dad?” Kayden asked.
William Moses didn’t look up from his computer, most of his head obscured behind it, fingers typing rapidly. He was a solid wall of a man, dark and stoic with lines running across his forehead and at the corners of his eyes. It was summer now so he was clean-shaven and had the same tight shave he forced his son to get. While Kayden didn’t consider his father an ugly man, he hated being told how much they looked alike. “I talked to Pastor Zane about his purity lesson plan. Told him that my kids feel comfortable with him, with the group, and that if anything came up that seemed like a problem, he needed to tell me immediately.”
Kayden held his breath, afraid to let go and risk openly hyperventilating. Was his answer too vague? Not vague enough? Was even something so general enough to warrant punishment for a Pastor’s son?
“Seems we learned a lesson. Glad I didn't have to deal with a phone call.”
“Oh…” Kayden whispered. “No-no problem.”
Without looking up, Dad grunted, dismissing the boy who all but ran out of the office, shaking hand pulling the door to just an inch from closed. There was relief in him, yes, but now there was equal parts of anxiety. Maybe he should be grateful for the reminder of the eyes always on him, a reminder not to let his guard down. Kayden trudged into his room to grab clean clothes and stared at his bed that, despite his lingering exhaustion, no longer looked so alluring.
Chapter 2
“Why you laughing? You owe me five hundred.”
“What are you talking about? That’s not how this - whatever you’re a bazillion away from even tying with me.”
“Cheater.”
“What?”
Kayden winced, watching as Manny and Bo leaned over the Monopoly board, Manny snarling and Bo bearing his braces with a manic, teasing smile, almond eyes stretched wide. They were all sat around the coffee table in the middle of the empty living room, surrounded by paper plates with chip crumbs and icing and empty two liters.
“Oh my God.” Nick groaned from Kayden’s left, pressing his face into his small, pudgy hands.
Kayden turned in response to a nudge at his shoulder, looking over at Alex. His eyes were narrow, nose scrunched, and lips curled. The blonde leaned forward, closer and closer, further into Kayden’s bubble, face sidling past his own so Alex’s lips lingered just centimeters from Kayden’s ear. Through the sudden thrumming of blood in his ears, Kayden could barely make out Alex’s words.
“Flip the board.”
Kayden shivered and shook his head, leaning away, though his eyes stayed locked on Alex’s. They were such a light blue, appearing kind of silvery in that particular light.
“What?” Kayden whispered.
“Flip. The. Board,” Alex mouthed. The giddy, mischievous spark in those eyes electrocuted Kayden and, without a second thought, he brought his hand up to strike the side of the board hanging off the coffee table, sending it, the pieces, the cards, and a hail of money flying. Manny’s mouth fell open, staring in disbelief at his hard work crumbling while Bo and Nick erupted into relieved laughter.
“Now no one loses,” Alex cried and Kayden couldn’t contain the bubbling of laughter that poured out of him.
“Not how that works,” Manny mumbled, swatting at a bill that landed on his shoulders. He heaved a heavy sigh and stood up in one fluid motion. “Where are the girls? Wanna wish your sister a happy birthday.”
Kayden’s laughter died in his throat as he looked up at Manny and then at Bo and Nick, both snickering. “They’re in the backyard,” he answered.
Manny nodded. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”
“W- wait,” Kayden said as Manny turned to walk away. “My mom’s out there. She’ll send you right back.”
“Your parents are so strict,” Bo said, fiddling with the thimble.
“My dad is a pastor,” Kayden spat in response.
“And I’m a good Christian boy,” Manny said, lip curling into something that was almost a smile but communicated no joy to Kayden.
“She doesn’t like you anyway,” Alex spoke up, using Kayden’s shoulder as a support to stand. He turned his focus back to Kayden. “Let’s go chill in your room, Kayden.”
Kayden’s face rushed with blood. Let’s go chill in your room, Kayden. Those particular words, in that particular order from Alex’s particular lips…
“Yeah, sounds good,” Bo said. “That way…” He motioned to the opened glass back door where their father sat on the porch, a Bible and a highlighter in his hand.
Kayden knew what being alone with the boys meant. Occasional cursing and discussions of a more lascivious nature, the kind of things they couldn’t publicly discuss but somehow always seemed eager to when the opportunity presented itself. Did his father not suspect? Or did he just not care? He was never much of a chaperone for Kayden, not like he was with Delilah and never when it was just the boys.
“I’m gonna work my magic,” Manny proclaimed, straightening his shirt. He turned on a dime and strutted to the back door.
“Have fun with the rejections,” Alex said, donning a dramatic sad expression for a moment before the grin burst through and gave birth to laughter.
Kayden stared up at the boy, his head thrown back, exposing the pale skin of his neck, thin blue veins obscured by an endless pattern of freckles. He blinked hard, forcing himself out of the trance and noticing Alex’s hand extended towards him. Kayden averted his eyes and took the hand, despite it providing very little help for him as he stood. He turned and motioned for the boys to follow him to his room.
Kayden wanted to say something like ‘thanks for making Manny feel dumb’, but then how could he explain his gratitude if he couldn’t explain why it was so satisfying, what exact feeling it was that Manny forced into him. Maybe he could show Alex. He could wrap his arm around the other boy’s waist and pull him flush against his side. He could put his hands on either side of Alex’s round face, tilt his head down and press a kiss to his forehead like his mother did when he did chores without being asked and maybe as he did so, he could brush aside a loose strand of rich yellow hair.
It was an absurd thought but nothing Kayden could bring himself to laugh at, probably a product of his being too feminine, of taking after his mother in a bad way Dad was always talking to him about.
As they filed into the room, Alex settled into the big round chair Kayden never used and released a heavy sigh as he relaxed into it, looking comically small. Nick plopped on the bed and Kayden sat on the floor with his back against the dresser. Bo closed the door behind them and flipped around, eyes wide.
“So, I got to second base with Tanya,” he said, eyes darting around to each boy in the room, hungry for reactions.
