by J. L. Perry
“I want to stay in here.” Luckily, Connor and my dad set up my TV and DVD player in my room the other day. I grab his little hand in mine.
“Let’s go in the lounge room and you can choose what you want to watch.”
“But I want to watch it in here,” he whines. I giggle and tell him that we are going to watch it in here, but we need to pick the movie first.
“All the DVD’s are in the other room.”
We walk down the hallway hand in hand. I love the feel of his little hand in mine. Mason looks up as we approach. Our eyes meet and he smiles. I get a fluttering feeling in my stomach but it doesn’t last long. I think his smile was instinctual, because it quickly turns into a frown. He obviously forgot for that spilt second that he doesn’t like me anymore. I narrow my eyes at him.
Arsehole!
His smile returns as he looks down at Blake. You can clearly see how much he loves his son. It’s really sweet. “Hey little buddy,” he says as Blake walks over to him. “Are you having fun?”
“Yes, Jazzi said I can pick the movie.”
“After the movie we need to get going. We have the move tomorrow remember?” he reminds him.
“But dad I don’t want to go home yet, I want to stay here with Jazzi.” Mason chuckles as he ruffles Blake’s hair.
“We are going to be living in this building after tomorrow, so you’ll get to see her all the time.”
“Awesome,” he squeals. “Can you come over to my new house tomorrow Jazzi, and play with me?”
“You are going to be busy moving all your things tomorrow. Maybe another day, okay?”
I feel bad for brushing him off, but there is no way I want to be around his father. Well actually I do want to be around him, but after the way he has acted towards me tonight, I can tell the feeling’s not mutual.
“Please Jazzi?” he pleads as he looks up at me with big brown puppy dog eyes. “You can help me unpack all my toys in my new bedroom.” Shit! I know I need to stay as far away from Mason as possible, but I can’t say no to the little guy. Especially when he looks at me like that. Those beautiful big brown eyes are just like his father’s.
“Okay,” I reply with a smile. “Come and get me when you’re ready and I will help you unpack you stuff.” I’m taken aback when he throws his arms around my legs and hugs me.
“Thanks Jazzi, you’re the best.”
I look over at Mason and he is smiling at us. As soon as he notices that I’m looking at him though, the smile fades and his frown reappears. Grrrr! How can someone change so quickly? He was so sweet when I spent the night with him. I thought what we shared meant something to him, because it sure as hell meant something to me. He made me feel so special—cherished even, but now he is just making me feel like crap. I try to brush it off and make out it doesn’t bother me, but it does.
Blake chooses the movie. I have a huge collection of Disney DVD’s. I never got to watch movies when I was growing up, so I sort of went a little bit crazy catching up on all the classics when we first moved to Melbourne.
“Want to make some popcorn, before we put the DVD on?”
“I love popcorn,” he squeals with a huge smile on his face. I take that as a yes.
Blake tells me he’s never watched popcorn being made before, which I find quite sad. As bad as my life was growing up, mum and I would make popcorn together a lot. You can buy a bag of corn kernels for under a dollar, so that was one treat my mum could afford to give me. I never had chips or lollies when I was a kid, because my father never gave her enough money for those kinds of luxuries—well any kind of luxury actually.
After lifting Blake up onto the counter, just like my mum used to do with me, I get a large pot with a lid out of the cupboard. I grab the kernels and some butter from the fridge.
“What’s that Jazzi?” he asks as he points to the kernels.
“That will be our popcorn in about five minutes.” He looks at me with a confused little face. He is so damn cute. Unfortunately though, so is his arsehole father.
Blake is watching every move I make. I explain where the kernels come from and how the popcorn is made, as I go. He looks fascinated, as he hangs on every word I say.
“Wow,” he replies with his big brown eyes bugging out of his head. I place the pot on the stovetop, add the butter and kernels, before popping on the lid. We both sit there patiently waiting. I tell him to listen out for a popping noise. He puts his hand to his ear, and moves his head closer towards the pot. It makes me smile.
“I don’t hear anything Jazzi.”
“It will take a few minutes.” All of a sudden we hear a pop.
“I heard it, I heard it!” he squeals excitedly. It’s followed by more pops. I wait a few seconds before asking Blake if he wants to look inside the pot. He doesn’t say anything, just nods with a big smile on his face. I tell him not to get too close, I don’t want him to get burnt.
When I remove the lid a kernel pops right out of the pot, we both laugh. The look of amazement on his precious little face is priceless.
“Wow!” is all he says. I continue to watch him with a huge smile on my face. He looks up at me and smiles too. It warms my heart. “That’s so cool!”
When he looks to his left I follow his train of sight. Mason is leaning against the archway watching us. He has a huge grin on his face. “Dad,” Blake says excitedly, “Jazzi just taught me how to make popcorn.”
Mason’s smile widens as he looks at his son. “Maybe you can make some for us in our new place.”
“Really?” Mason walks over to where he is sitting on the counter and ruffles his hair. I’ve noticed he does that a lot. I suppose that’s his way of showing affection to his son.
“Anything you want buddy.”
Mason looks over at me. He doesn’t smile, but shocks me when he says, “You’re really good with him. Thank you.” I shrug my shoulders.
“He is a really sweet boy.”
“Yes, I know, he takes after his old man.” I narrow my eyes at him. Cocky bastard! I can tell he finds my reaction amusing, because he’s trying hard not to smile.
****
Mason
When I hear them laughing in the kitchen, I want to go and see what they’re doing. I tell Connor I’m going to grab another beer. “Do you want one?” I ask when I stand up.
“I’m good.” He holds up his full beer. I stand there watching them. She’s so good with him. It took me weeks to get him to relax like this around me. Red has him wrapped around her little finger in minutes. I was right; she does have magical fucking powers because she’s cast a spell on my son too.
I’m glad they don’t know I’m standing here. It gives me time to watch them together, to watch her. I love her laugh! She’s so beautiful—fucking perfect. The more I get to see, the more I like and it makes my chest ache thinking about it. I hope she doesn’t rip Blake’s heart out like she did mine.
When she narrows her eyes at me after the comment I just made, I try hard not to smile. There’s my fiery Red again. I quickly put my hands in the pockets of my jeans because I have the overwhelming urge to pull her into my arms.
I grab a beer out of the fridge and make my way back out to Connor. Fuck, I need to stay away from her. We play cards for another hour or so. It’s getting late, so I tell Connor that I’m going to see if Blake’s ready to go home. He doesn’t usually stay up this late, so I bet he’s tired.
I walk up the hallway towards her bedroom. I can hear the movie playing, but I don’t hear any sounds coming from them. When I get to her door I see why. She is sitting up against the bedhead and she is fast asleep. Blake is asleep as well. He has his head on her stomach and his little arm wrapped around her waist.
Lucky fucking bugger!
What I wouldn’t give to change places with him right now. I feel that now familiar ache in my chest again as I look at the two of them together. I want to get my phone out of my pocket and take a photo of them like this, but of course I don’t. I walk to t
he side of her bed. I am now standing over them. I can’t take my eyes off her. Beautiful! She looks like an angel laying there with my son draped over her lap.
I can’t help myself. I squat down and gently brush back a strand of hair which has fallen onto her face. I lean over and brush my lips lightly against hers. I feel my dick twitch again.
“Goodnight beautiful,” I whisper.
I stand up and scoop Blake into my arms. He opens his sleepy eyes and looks at me. “It’s time to go home buddy.”
“Night Jazzi,” he whispers before closing his eyes again. Of course she doesn’t reply, she’s still sound asleep.
****
The next morning I’m up early doing all the last minute packing. The removalist will be here soon. I want to have everything in boxes before they arrive. Blake slept in bed with me last night, because I pulled his bed apart yesterday, ready for the move.
Once I tape up the last box, I make my way upstairs. All I need to do now is pull my bed apart and we are ready to go. The first thing I do is pull the mattress off the bed frame. I see something white underneath, on the floor. I get down on my knees and reach under to grab it. My heart sinks when I see what it is. Red’s white lace panties! She must have left them here that night. Just thinking about her walking around without any panties on has my cock hard.
Fucking hell, I have it bad.
I scrunch them up in my hands as I hold them against my chest. Memories flood my mind of that night we spent together. Fuck, my chest is aching again. Shit! I hope I don’t see too much of her today. Having her near and not being able to touch her—fucking torture.
I slip her panties into my pocket and try to put her out of my mind. I do one more walk-through of the house before we leave. I’ll be back tomorrow to let the cleaners in, but I still want to make sure we haven’t left anything behind.
I’m going to miss this place. My memories of living here are good ones. Nothing like the horrible ones I have of my childhood home.
I bought this house five years ago, just after I turned twenty. I grew up with money—a lot of money. My mother came from a very wealthy family. My father’s family weren’t. I’m sure my father only married her for the money. All the memories I have of my mother and father together, aren’t good ones. My father was a bastard.
My mother was scared of him. Shit, even I was scared of him. If my father wasn’t beating her, he was beating me. That’s why I was always hanging around at Connor’s house. I hated being at home.
When my father told me one morning that my mother had left us, I didn’t believe him. One, because I remembered what happened the night before. Two, my mum would never have left me alone with that monster. Never! It still fucking plays on my mind. I’ll never forget that night as long as I live. That was the night I failed her. I wish I would have done more to help. Fuck, I try to swallow the lump that has formed in my throat.
My father was lying about my mum leaving me. She loved me as much as I loved her. I knew in my heart she would never abandon me like that.
I stayed in the house with my father for a few months after that. I didn’t have a choice. The beatings became worse. I was only fifteen for fuck’s sake. I hate that motherfucker so much. He was so much stronger than I was. There was nothing I could do to stop him. That’s when I decided to leave, if I didn’t, I knew I would probably end up like my mum. I thought about leaving hundreds of times growing up. I could never have left my mother alone with him. Just like I know she wouldn’t have left me, not by choice anyway.
I lived on the streets for a while, until Betty took me in. When I was nineteen a lawyer tracked me down. Apparently he’d been searching for me for over a year. My mother had set up a trust fund for me when I was younger. It stated that when I turned eighteen, I was to receive five million dollars. I had no idea she’d done this for me. I suppose with the life we both lived with my father, she wanted to make sure I was cared for, in case something ever happened to her.
That’s how I paid for this house. I wasted a lot of money when I first got my trust fund. Hey, I was nineteen years old and had just been given five million dollars! I partied for a while, living the high life. That’s until Betty pulled me into line. Reminding me that my mother had left me the money so I’d be looked after. That I shouldn’t throw it back in her face by wasting it. She was right. I bought this house and invested what was left.
I also donated money to Bridge. I tried giving it to Betty but she wouldn’t accept it. So, I gifted a million dollars anonymously to the shelter. It was my way of thanking her for everything she’d done for me. She took me in when I had nowhere else to go. I think she had an idea that the money had come from me, but she couldn’t prove it.
It gave her the opportunity to relocate to a bigger building and install a large top of the range kitchen. This, in turn, let us feed more homeless people. She’d invested her life savings into that place. It made her happy to help the people she felt society had forgotten about. That’s why she called it Bridge. She said she was trying to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. She was such a loving and giving person.
****
The delivery guys carried everything up to our new apartment. It’s going to take a while getting used to living in a smaller place. The apartments are spacious, but nothing like the house I just sold.
Connor came up not long after we arrived. I needed his help to shift all the furniture as it was brought up. Blake hasn’t stopped talking about Jacinta since he got up this morning. He seems really taken with her. I can’t blame him though, I know exactly how he feels.
Red and her fucking magical powers!
He’s disappointed Jacinta didn’t come up with Connor. “Where is Jazzi?” he asks.
“Jacinta said to call her phone when you’re ready to unpack your toys.” Blake immediately asks if he can use my phone. Shit, he really wants her here—like straight away. This is going to be a long fucking day.
Connor gives me Red’s number and I programme it into my phone, before passing it to Blake. “I’m ready for your help Jazzi.” She probably didn’t even have time to say hello. It made me chuckle.
I’m not even sure if his boxes have even been brought up yet. I’m glad I labelled everything.
“Look around for the boxes labelled toys,” I ask him. I’m secretly hoping they aren’t here yet. That way I can delay Jacinta coming to our apartment. He finds them a few minutes later. Fuck!
Connor helps me move Blake’s furniture into his bedroom. If she is coming up to help put his things away, he’s gonna need somewhere to put them. While we are carrying in the boxes, Red arrives. She looks beautiful. Even though she’s only wearing black tights and a blue top, she still takes my breath away. Her top’s tight and shows off those fucking spectacular tits of hers. Looking at those tits is making my cock ache.
I say a stern hello before turning away, trying to look busy. I can’t fucking think straight when I’m around her. My mission for the day is to stay the hell away from her.
Thankfully, she spent most of the day in Blake’s room. I only had to see her when they came out for lunch.
Watching her eat was fucking torture. The way she moved her mouth over her fork had my cock aching again. She has no idea how sexy she is.
Later that afternoon, as I’m unpacking our kitchen stuff, I hear Red saying goodbye to Blake. “Can you come over and play with me tomorrow?” he asks hopefully. Fuck, the kid has it bad. Just like his old man.
“I have a lot to do tomorrow. But, if it’s okay with your dad you can come over to my place in the afternoon, we can play the X-box.” Somehow, I have to put a stop to this! Having her around all the time is going to be too fucking hard.
She walks by the kitchen and tells me that she’s going home. Instead of saying goodbye and thanks for all your help today—oh, and thanks for being so kind to my boy, all I manage to say is “Good!”
As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I instantly want to take them back. Of
course she doesn’t reply. I look over at her, expecting to see my fiery little Red, narrowing her eyes at me. What I see instead is devastation. Shit! It’s written all over her beautiful face. It breaks my fucking heart. I’m such an arsehole sometimes!
CHAPT
ER EIGHT
Jacinta
On my way to the front door, I notice Mason standing in the kitchen unpacking plates. I can’t walk out without saying anything, that’s just rude. Even though he has been pretty rotten to me, I still have manners.
“Blake’s all set up, he’s just playing in his room. I’ve got things to do, so I’m going to go home.” He doesn’t even look up at me. I’d like to say the way he is treating me doesn’t bother me, but it does. It hurts. A lot!
When the only reply I get from him is “Good”, and in a clipped tone I might add, I have to fight to stop the tears from falling. He was an arsehole last night, and not very nice today either, but the way he said “Good” just now, it’s like he hates me.
I turn in the direction of the front door. I have to get out of here, and fast. I feel like screaming, “I got the message loud and fucking clear, you stupid jerk!” Of course I don’t though.
The tears start to fall before I even reach the door. Shit! I don’t want him to see me cry. Giving him the satisfaction of knowing he’s hurt me, is the last thing I want. As I reach for the handle I hear him approach from behind.
“Red wait. I’m sorry! I didn’t mean what I just said.” I want to scream, “My name is fucking Jacinta,” but again I don’t. He reaches out and grabs hold of my elbow.
“Please stop and talk to me,” he begs. Talk! He wants to talk now, after the way he’s treated me the last two days?
Sorry buddy, not going to happen!
I wipe the tears from my eyes, but more follow. I spin around to face him. The look of regret on his face surprises me. He’s obviously sorry for what he said, I can see it all over his face. When he notices my tears his face drops.
Part of me wants to accept his apology, but right now I’m angry. The way he has been treating me is wrong. I’m not going to forgive him so easily. Instead I narrow my eyes at him and say, “Go fuck yourself!” He actually smiles when I say that. I’ve never met anyone who smiles when someone abuses them, well, except him. From the first day I ran into him, he has done that. I want to slap that smile right off his gorgeous face.
