Prodigal Son (Jensen Family Series)

by Michelle Day

  Paul was about to reply when an older boy sat next to Tessa “Hi Tess,” he smiled at her “How’re things?”

  Tessa sighed and made the introductions between the two boys, explaining to Paul that the newcomer, Carl had transferred from another school about a month ago.

  “How come I don’t know you?” Carl asked.

  “I started Monday and I’m a lower year than you,” he gestured to his uniform. As sixth formers Tessa and Carl were allowed to wear their own clothes.

  “Ah, so you had better go back to people in your own year.” Carl dismissed him and turned to Tessa.

  “Actually, I’m quite comfortable here.” Paul replied, smirk fixed firmly in place.

  “Well, just be quiet, Tess and I are still trying to get to know each other.”

  “I already know her.” Paul answered folding his arms across his chest, he smiled and leant back in his chair.

  “Oh really?” Carl rounded on him “How do you figure that out, you only started Monday?”

  “I started Monday this time around, I’ve been to this school before so therefore, I know Tessa better than you do.”

  “I doubt that very much.” Carl scoffed.

  “I guarantee it.” Paul glanced at his sister, she was smiling, enjoying the exchange.

  “With the obvious age gap and knowing which particular type of company Tess likes to keep, I am certain you are just being juvenile and trying to create a scene.” Carl lent forward to impress his point.

  “Ok,” Paul leaned in too “For starters, she hates to be called Tess, her name is Tessa and that’s how she likes to be addressed. I also know the type of people she likes to surround herself with and am in fact good friends with several of her girlfriends. I know where she lives and where she works, I also know the person she works for exceptionally well. So you see, quite clearly, I know her better than you.” he finished.

  “You’re bluffing.” Carl challenged.

  Paul shook his head “Nope, I know her better because I’m her brother.” He grinned then held out his hand, “Paul Jensen, nice to meet you.” He dropped his hand when Carl didn’t move, he turned to his sister. “Tessa, that was a little sneaky of you not to introduce me properly.”He admonished her.

  “You only have one brother.” Carl blustered.

  “I have two, Matt and Paul are twins.” Tessa said firmly “Now if you don’t mind Carl, Paul and I would like to get back to our conversation” she waited for him to leave before turning back to her brother “See you don’t have to use your fists, thanks for that though, he’s been on my case since he started here, perhaps he’ll back off a bit now.”

  Everyone was quietly amazed that Paul appeared to be behaving himself and even though his relationship with Michael had once again begun to deteriorate, school and home life seemed fine.

  The twins turned fifteen in the October half term, as both of them had expressed an interest in the newly opened leisure centre and gym, Monica presented her sons with fully paid up gym memberships which went down a storm with both boys spending a majority of their free time there.

  Matt managed to get himself a Saturday job at a local bakers who would find work for him during the school holidays as well, he also started doing a little work for Michael, spending his Sunday’s in his father’s study going through the accounts of Jensen Incorporated’s smaller customers, something he showed a natural aptitude for and receiving a small wage from Michael.

  Getting fed up of being woken early every Saturday, Paul thought perhaps he should look into getting some weekend work as he hated it when Matt would pay when they teamed up with their friends in the evenings, lack of money was seriously cramping his style.

  Monica mentioned to him that her good friend’s gardener was on extended leave and she had offered Paul’s services on the weekend to mow the extensive lawns, do a bit of weeding, clean the pool as well as a little maintenance work around the house for which he would receive a reasonable wage and use of the pool any time he pleased.

  Kay Morello had been Monica’s friend since primary school; she had been Monica’s maid of honour and was Tessa’s god mother. She had been invaluable when the twins were born, stepping in to babysit at a moment’s notice, she had watched her friends children turn into stunning teenagers and loved them all dearly. She was more than happy to have Paul helping around the house and garden and pay him well for the work he did.

  Kay had married well and had had a deeply loving relationship with her husband, she had been devastated when he had died suddenly and would be forever grateful for the support Monica had given her. Her husband had left her well provided for and she lived her life comfortably, filling her days with coffee mornings and various sporting activities. Having no children of her own, she had taken an active role in the raising of her friends children and had remained close to all three throughout the years even having her say about the boys being sent to boarding school much to Michael’s annoyance even though she had agreed with him that it would be good for them.

  Paul arrived with Monica just after nine the following Saturday morning. Kay set him to work on the lawn, not a difficult task as she had recently invested in a ride on lawn mower for her regular ageing gardener and Paul had lots of fun on the machine, whizzing up and down the huge expanse of grass while Kay entertained his mother and another friend with tea and toast on the patio.

  Having finished the lawn, Paul set to work on the pool, looking forward to having a swim once he’d finished cleaning it.

  “I may have a few jobs Paul could do.” Edwina, Kay’s other breakfast guest and mutual friend told Monica.

  “I’ll let him know.” Monica replied, she would have to keep a sharp eye on Edwina, a divorcé with a penchant for younger men, Monica was more than aware that her sons’ physical appearance would appeal to her friend.

  “If he could do a couple of hours one evening a week or something, my window frames are badly in need of painting and I would rather pay Paul than someone I don’t know.” Edwina pressed her case.

  “I’m sure he will be delighted” Monica agreed.

  “For Gods’ sake Monica, when will you stop being so polite?” Kay asked “We all know Edwina’s preference for young men, this coupled with the fact that Paul is an incorrigible flirt should have alarm bells ringing in your head and would make him working for her disastrous as well as scandalous if either of them lose what little sense they have and heaven forbid start something.” She finished.

  “Kay! You are awful.” Monica giggled at her forthright friend.

  “He is rather eye catching.” Edwina admitted “And yes, I can’t deny that I will flirt with him but he’s your boy Monica, it would never go any further.”

  “I have your word on that?” Monica asked.

  “Absolutely. I promise.” Edwina made the motion of crossing her heart.

  And so it began. Paul would work for Kay at the weekends and every other night after school he would be at Edwina’s house painting her windows and flirting with the attractive forty- something woman as he did so, thoroughly enjoying Edwina’s sense of humour and her tainted view on life.

  Word of mouth soon spread and Paul found he had a healthy list of clients requiring his skills and the quality work he provided.

  Working hard between rigorous work out sessions at the gym left him more often than not, over tired and his school work began to suffer mainly because his attention span had shrunk to that of a gnat and he would occasionally nod off in lessons bringing him to the attention of his teachers and subsequently Michael who wasted no time in dishing out a suitable punishment.

  During the six months since his fifteenth birthday Paul had had several liaisons with girls in the year above him most memorably getting caught in the act one Sunday afternoon when his parents unexpectedly returned from visiting friends resulting in Paul being dragged from his bed by his hair by a furious Michael. He acted as if the blow to his abdomen that Michael delivered had hurt him but in reality the hour
s he spent in the gym had honed his stomach muscles and he barely felt it.

  During science Matt and Paul shared a bench and had proved themselves to be efficient lab partners among a class of reprobates who had caused their lab assistant to walk out of her job within six weeks of the new term starting.

  Matt glanced across at his brother. Paul was slumped over leaning on his arms exhausted from working the previous evening after school and a very late but rewarding night with one of his girlfriends. For the time being he had escaped the teachers notice as she was currently shouting at a bunch of girls at the back of the room.

  A knock at the door made Matt look away from his slumbering sibling but he reached over to nudge him awake as the new teaching assistant walked into the room.

  At Matt’s persistent nudging Paul dragged himself from sleep, ran his hands over his face and through his hair and sat up looking straight into the eyes of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He straightened his now crumpled shirt and sat up straighter taking a deep breath as she glided by, breathing in her scent, his eyes followed her as she passed and placed the armful of folders she was carrying on her new desk and then reached for her lab coat.

  Matt recognised his brothers’ attraction to the newcomer, he was well tuned in to Paul’s subtle movements and posture when he was in the presence of an attractive female, he shook his head half in sorrow and half in begrudging admiration of his brothers’ aspirations.

  Paul caught Matt’s slight shake of the head and frowned at his twin asking “What?” Matt leant closer to him.

  “She’s way out of your league dude.”

  “Didn’t you say that about Suzanne? Haven’t I been banging her for the last year? You’ve just made this a challenge.” Paul whispered.

  “If you don’t start improving your grades you are going to get kicked out of school which is going to put a definite kink in your style.” Matt warned.

  Both boys turned to the front of the class as their teacher cleared her throat and introduced the new teaching assistant.

  “Class, this is my new assistant Miss Scott, let’s treat her a little better than her predecessor.”

  That was it, Paul knew he had to have her. He cut back on his work load and got some more sleep in order to be more alert at school much to the pleasure of his teachers.

  Normally a vocally inspiring student, Paul became dumbstruck in the presence of the teaching assistant and only verbally contributed in class when she wasn’t there. Matt took to teasing his brother about his lack of action and his inability to speak when the woman of his dreams was in the same room.

  Galvanised into action by his brothers’ cruel jokes, Paul remained behind after several classes asking for help on the current subject.

  Carmen Scott had been at the school for three weeks. Originally from Gloucester, she had moved to London five years ago with her boyfriend. The relationship had deteriorated rapidly after the move and the couple had gone their separate ways but both remained in London. She had noticed Paul’s silence every time she was in the room and the way he would remain after class and realised the teenager had a huge crush on her and that she would have to handle him carefully.

  Turning from her work station to begin tidying up the lab, she was wholly unsurprised to find Paul sitting at his bench.

  “This is becoming a habit.” she said as she sat beside him “What’s the problem now?”

  Paul smiled, he knew he’d been rumbled “No problem other than the fact that you can’t see past my age.” He told her.

  “You are my student, even if I was attracted to you, this would never happen.”

  “Yeah, I thought about that, technically as you aren’t a teacher, I’m not your student” his smile widened.

  “You think you have it all worked out don’t you?” She couldn’t help but smile “However, besides the fact that technically you are my student you are also legally underage and I do have to say, you are certainly not my type, sorry.”

  Paul looked down at his hands momentarily then he turned back to her “Normally a comment such as that would wound me deeply but in your case I’m prepared to forgive you and continue to be impossibly persistent.” He grinned.

  “You can be as persistent as you like young man, it is never going to happen.” she warned.

  Paul rose from his seat grabbing his bag and heaving it up on to his shoulder before facing her again “You keep telling yourself that Miss Scott, you will change your mind eventually, I can wait, after all it’s not like I don’t have other things to keep me distracted while I work on you.” He smiled “See you tomorrow”, he left the room without a backwards glance and walked straight into the arms of an attractive red headed sixth former.

  Carmen had been in this situation before where students had expressed feelings for her and she had managed to extract herself from their affections with a few choice phrases, this boy however was different. Mature for his age, charming, funny and incredibly good looking, she had the feeling that he was used to getting his own way and believed him when he said he would be persistent. She tried to tell herself that she wasn’t flattered by his attention or that she wasn’t just the slightest bit attracted to him to no avail even though her morals screamed at her that her feelings were wrong and the more attention he paid her the more she felt the fringes of jealousy tugging at her when she saw him with one of the many girls that flocked around him. He obviously preferred older girls but she still considered herself way beyond his reach.

  Paul continued to worm his way into her affections, he was always polite and smelled so good each and every time he stood that little too close to her when returning books and equipment to her work station.

  School ended at three thirty five each day with the sound of pounding feet and the loud chatter of relieved students. Carmen usually waited until the students had left before venturing out to her car, this particular day she had to leave shortly after the final bell for a doctors’ appointment.

  There were still students milling around when she reached her car. She saw Paul wearing jeans, trainers and his white school shirt standing in the staff car park, he had obviously changed before leaving the building. She took her time loading the students’ exercise books into the boot of her car, keeping an eye on him, wondering what he was up to. A white Volkswagen Beetle pulled into the car park and pulled haphazardly into a space. Tessa Jensen got out of the drivers’ side and approached her brother, a t-shirt in her hand.

  “Thanks for this.” Carmen heard Paul greet his sister.

  “That’s ok, I’m going into town to pick up Suzanne anyway so I had to pass here.”

  Paul unbuttoned his shirt and handed it to Tessa. Carmen gulped, the boy had a body to die for; smooth olive skin covered toned muscles. She closed the boot on her car as Paul reached for his t-shirt, he heard the noise and turned to face her a smile spreading across his face as he noticed her flush at getting caught gawping at him, pausing before sliding the shirt over his head, he called to her;

  “Hi Miss, you’re leaving early.”

  “Er yeah, must dash.” She jumped into her car, not daring to look in his direction as she drove by “Shit” she cursed, he had caught her looking at him, now he would double his efforts to get her attention.

  “You are such a show off.” Tessa admonished.

  “What? She looked at me, can’t say I blame her though, I do look good.” he laughed, he’d won, he had her attention now, time to back off and let her come to him.

  “Huh” Tessa gruffed “Do you want a lift?”

  “Nah, I’m heading in the opposite direction to you, you could take my bag home though.” He dropped his bag into the back seat of her car said his goodbyes and headed off to Edwina’s house as he was now working inside repairing her banisters amidst much laughter as she told him the tale of how they had managed to get broken in the first place.

  Edwina was cooking dinner for them when Paul arrived. She was an excellent cook and also loved to bake, som
ething she had little reason to do since her children had gone to university. Paul had a very healthy appetite and his presence in her house had given her the opportunity to break out her cake tins once again.

  Edwina thoroughly enjoyed Paul’s visits, she paid him well and was more than pleased with his work, noticing that he was a perfectionist and wouldn’t be happy with his work until it was spot on.

  They had many long and involved conversations about Paul’s relationship with his father. Edwina wholeheartedly disapproved of Michael and his treatment of this charming boy but couldn’t deny that he provided well for his family and for all Paul’s gripes, he rarely went without. She found herself living vicariously through Paul’s many conquests and he had actually had her crying with laughter at the description of exactly what he had been doing when Michael had grasped a handful of his hair and pulled him not only out of his bed but also out of the girl he had been buried inside of at the time.

  “Michael must have been furious.” Edwina laughed.

  “Understatement.” Paul replied “He almost had steam coming out of his ears.”

  “You really are a bit of a whore aren’t you?”

  “Hey, if girls want to prostrate themselves in front of me, I’m going to take advantage, I’m only human, I have needs and desires.” He protested.

  “Lucky girls.” Edwina commented.

  “You know I think you and I would have loads of fun together Edwina but I honestly think Mum would castrate me and I’m far more afraid of her than I am Dad.”

  “Sweet little Monica would never do anything to you.”

  “She doesn’t have to, it’s the way she looks at me when I do something wrong, it kills me to know I’ve hurt her or done something she disapproves of.” He answered.

  “I know what you mean, my mother had one of those looks” she chuckled “And as much as I’d like to mess around with you, my friendship with Monica is far more important to me.”