by S M Mala
‘Why should I?’ his father said, poking his head out of the car and driving towards them. ‘You owe me a small fortune for living here.’
‘It’s just numbers,’ she replied and smiled. Jake noticed the look of love on their faces for each other and realised how close everything was intertwined. ‘Me chargin’ Jacob one thousand dollars to stay ‘ere!’
‘What?’ said Jake, double blinking.
‘America dollars! A week!’ she laughed. Murray started to smile as he got out of the car. ‘As ‘e ain’t gat money, ya pay for ‘im. So me pay ya debt off quick!’
‘And you’re in one piece after a night here?’ Murray asked.
‘Let’s see how tonight goes,’ he replied, quickly glancing at Hatty who was walking around her outline of timber planks. ‘Where are you off to?’
‘Dinner with a few of the guys.’
‘Can we come?’ Hatty quickly interrupted. ‘I didn’t have lunch and-.’
‘No you can’t,’ he said bluntly, walking up to Jake and giving him a hug. ‘Are you okay son?’
‘Great!’ Jake smiled back, trying to hold back how happy he felt.
‘She’s not tried to poison you with her cooking?’
‘Listen here,’ Hatty said, walking up to the pair of them. ‘I can cook. I’m letting Ethel teach me her way. She doesn’t realise I have watched her since I was little and know a lot more.’
‘So cook tonight instead of trying to get a free meal off me,’ smiled Murray, turning to Hatty and pinching her cheek as she tried to slap him back but missed.
‘If you don’t want to feed us, could you at least drop us off somewhere to get something to eat?’ she scowled.
Jake smiled at her then let out an impromptu sigh as the other two looked at him, one with admiration the other with confusion.
‘They don’t do deliveries here, do they?’ he said, catching his father’s quizzical eye. ‘Then that would solve our problem.’
‘I take it you want me to order you dinner, pay for it and get it delivered,’ said Murray, shaking his head, looking at the timber on the ground. ‘And probably pay for your new work shed?’
‘That would be lovely,’ Hatty smiled, giving him a hug. ‘And could you get a box of beer too?’
‘People think I’m a rich man but they’ve no idea how much it costs to run you two,’ he laughed, stroking Hatty’s hair before kissing her head.
Jake thought it was sweet but would have willingly pushed his father away so he could do the same.
‘He has a lot of money and I’m a poor orphan, so you’re doing good to help me out. Good for your soul,’ she smiled and skipped into the house, leaving the men outside as they slowly followed.
‘Are you sure about staying here?’ asked Murray, putting and arm across Jake’s shoulder. ‘She’s house trained but I’m not sure if she can look after guests.’
‘It’s a great spot and she’s fine. All I have to do is sort out the supply of food and that’s it. Dad, this house is beautiful. Why didn’t you live here? Seems such a waste.’
‘Bad memories towards the end,’ he said and his face darkened for a moment. ‘And very happy memories too but this house isn’t really my home now.’
‘You know months ago I heard you mention to Delores that you couldn’t sell the house to Hatty. I know she’s got a trust fund she has no idea about so maybe if she buys-.’
‘You did hear a lot didn’t you?’ grimaced Murray. ‘Not a word to Hatty. She’ll get her money when she turns twenty five then she can pay me back.’ He smiled for a moment. ‘And as for the house? Delores thinks there’s some bad karma here, maybe for her but not for Hatty. She won’t come here, you know.’
‘Do you think that’s why Hatty wants to be here?’
‘Who knows?’
‘Why wouldn’t you sell the house to her if she wanted it? Look what she’s done.’
They both examined the corridor and the work she’d put into taking off the old paint and cleaning the wood.
‘I can’t sell it to her,’ Murray whispered.
‘Why not?’
‘It belongs to her. It’s her mother’s house not mine.’
Jake double blinked at his father and shook his head for a moment.
‘It’s Hatty’s?’ Jake said, taking in a sharp breath. ‘And she doesn’t know?’
‘I’ll tell her when she’s twenty five. She’ll be able to handle it by then.’
‘Here you go!’ she said, walking out of the kitchen holding two glasses. ‘Water for you Mister Murray, as you’re driving and a beer for you Jake, as you’re not.’ Hatty smiled cheerfully at the pair then frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ said Murray quickly, pulling out his mobile phone. ‘What do you want to eat?’
‘Jake? What do you want?’ she smiled and all he knew, then and there, he just wanted her.
‘Are you trying to be romantic?’ Hatty asked, looking at his profile as he fed her some rice holding her cup and cramming food in her mouth.
‘When are you going to use a plate?’ he smiled, kissing her nose.
‘I think you’re trying to make me eat quickly because you want to do something,’ she laughed and gently stroked his face.
‘It’s been a long and interesting day.’ Jake kissed her. ‘And you have curry breath.’
‘Nuttin wrong wid curry,’ she replied and sipped her water. ‘What do you mean an ‘interesting day’?’
‘I’m finding out new things about you,’ he smiled.
‘But I don’t know much about you. Tell me about yourself.’ Hatty sat back in the chair and looked at him as glanced out onto the sea. ‘You have to be more interesting than you look.’
He peeped at her sideways and grinned.
‘You know how I was brought up by Caroline, who doesn’t seem to like you.’
‘She has a valid point if she thinks your father was spending too much time with this native,’ Hatty smiled and felt bad about Jake’s neglect at the hands of his father. ‘Murray’s obviously trying to make it up to you and Aunt Caroline has a right to be mad with him.’
‘But not with you?’
‘Look man,’ she said, slapping his thigh hard and putting on her local accent. ‘So many people mad wid me, me ‘ave to let it wash over me blasted ‘ead!’
‘No wonder they’re mad with that accent of yours,’ he laughed. ‘I’ve had a happy life, I’ve not wanted for anything and I can’t miss what I’ve never had.’
‘What about a mother?’
‘That’s’ different,’ Jake said and she saw his sadness. ‘Caroline is like a mother to me and I love her very much. She’s a bit of a bigot in some things but she made me feel part of her family. I care deeply for her and my cousins. My uncle died about five years ago so it’s been tough.’
‘I think you’re lovely,’ she said, wanting to wrap her arms around him and smother him in her curry breath. ‘Tell me about the women. When did you lose your virginity?’
‘I was too young and very stupid,’ he smiled. She looked at his straight white teeth, glowing in the late evening sun. ‘And it was extremely fast.’
‘Who was the first girl you fell in love with?’
‘That would be my teacher Miss Morris. She had long chestnut coloured hair and was really beautiful.’
‘How old were you?’
‘Six,’ he beamed and looked at Hatty. ‘Who was the first boy you fell in love with?’
‘His name was Stephen and I was in Reception. He used to hold my hand but his palms were always sticky. I was his Robin to his Batman.’ Hatty laughed remembering she’d follow him around, until one day he taught her to climb a rope, with bribery of sweets. Then he left her at the top as he walked off. ‘He treated me badly but I forgave him.’
‘Then as a teenager?’ Jake asked, leaning closer, lightly stroking her face. ‘I fell in love with Susan. Now she was tall, athletic with short blonde hair but it didn’t work out. By then, my hormones were
raging and I couldn’t get enough of any girl.’ He let out a hearty laugh. ‘Then there were a few slightly serious girlfriends until I met Serena.’
‘Ah,’ she said, her heart dipping a bit. ‘You slept with her when you got back home?’
‘I did,’ he said, turning away as Hatty felt hurt. ‘I missed her and it was good for a few weeks but I don’t know. I think we drifted apart and then dad came to see me about coming here.’
‘Jacob!’ she laughed out loudly. ‘You’re missing out a large part of the women you slept with while you were with Serena!’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ he smiled. ‘Nothing matters except what’s happening now but who was your teenage sweetheart?’ Hatty’s heart beat a little faster as she knew she’d have to open up to him and it was playing on her mind. ‘I know it was Simon.’
‘It was,’ she said, feeling her cheeks go red. ‘Simon was my first true love.’
Hatty glanced down at her faintly trembling hands and couldn’t say any more.
‘Will you tell me in your own time?’
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘I’ll tell you everything but you can’t tell a soul, you promise me? Not even Murray. If you told him, well he’ll just get mad. He’s got warped morals when it comes to me, considering all the nonsense that old man gets up to. If only you knew!’
Jake couldn’t control himself as they went upstairs. They started kissing then taking each other’s clothes off. This time Hatty was taking command. She licked and kissed his body, placing her head between his legs and taking him in her mouth. He couldn’t stop thinking about her lips as she sucked and swallowed, all to please him.
‘Oh Christ, Ha Ha,’ he said, feeling the start of an orgasm as his hips started thrusting towards her mouth. Hatty suddenly got up and sat with her back to him, straddled over his waist as she gave him a double hand job. ‘Fuck!’
Jake felt his orgasm buckle through him.
‘Whohey!’ she shouted as he came.
He didn’t know what she was up to as he tried to catch his breath and placed his hands on her sweaty back.
‘What?’ he groaned, wondering what she was doing as he felt something wet on this thigh.
‘That was like a champagne cork,’ she laughed, wiping his thighs and the places where he’d ejaculated. ‘I would have let you come in my mouth but I don’t like semen as it tastes like the sea.’
He lay there, taking the piece of information in while staring at her brown back and her messy plait hanging in between it, before laughing. She turned around and threw the tissues out under the net.
‘What’s funny?’
‘Ha Ha, you make me laugh,’ he sniggered while a massive wave of lust went through his body when he saw her straddle him. Jake started to undo her plait and watched the hair fall over her breasts, down towards her waist. ‘You’re also extremely beautiful and sexy.’
‘You’re only saying that because I’m naked and on top of you.’
‘I take it you’ve done this before?’ He felt pleasantly happy he didn’t have to teach her anything but realised her innocent face was far from innocent, in certain other areas. ‘And who taught you?’
‘Your father, who do you think?’ she said, sitting up straight with her hands folded firmly across her chest as Jake laughed. ‘What a question!’
‘You simply amaze me,’ he said, propping himself up on his elbows. ‘I want to know everything about you.’
‘So you can write a one page book?’
‘So I can figure out why I want to spend every moment with you.’
‘Because I suck hard on your cock?’ she smiled, lying next to him, her hair going onto his face as he removed it and placed it on his chest. ‘Or because I’m really a very nice person?’
‘I take it my father didn’t teach you anything?’
‘You’re not going to let it drop are you?’ She turned on her side and grinned at him, her little hands running across his chest. ‘Simon taught me a lot of things from when I was fourteen to the day he died. And before you say anything, it’s illegal to have sex on this island before you’re sixteen so you can’t tell anyone.’
‘You had sex with Simon,’ he said and felt instantly pissed off he wasn’t actually going to be the first.
‘We did everything else other than that,’ Hatty said sadly. ‘He was waiting for my sixteenth birthday to do it, which was very nice of him. But he died the summer before I turned sixteen so we never did it. I didn’t want to do it with anyone else.’
‘Your relationship was physical?’
‘He had the body of a man and it wasn’t just that, we got on really well and he was kind. I cared about him so much and I wish things had been different. I think even if he hadn’t died, something would have stopped us being together.’ She sat up and faced the windows towards the sea. ‘I often wonder if he turned into a merman or something and is still living out there or if he’s angry about dying. I sometimes think I hear him screaming and shouting at me. Silly isn’t it?’
‘You need to get over this fear of the sea on this island. I’ll help you.’ Jake sat up and wrapped his arms around her, feeling her rounded, heavy breast in his hand. His concentration was shaken as he smelt her neck and started to kiss her as she put her head back.
‘You need to sleep,’ she said, turning her head to look at him. ‘Work tomorrow.’
Hatty stood up.
‘Where are you going?’
Jake was startled she was walking out of the room.
‘To bed,’ she smiled.
‘Sleep here, with me.’
‘Jacob, it’s your second night in my home. The day we make love then we start sleeping over.’
‘How long with that be then?’
‘Wait and see.’
Hatty smiled and blew him a kiss before gently closing the door as Jake flopped back and suddenly fell fast asleep.
When he woke up, she wasn’t in her room or downstairs. She had left bread in the toaster and coffee for him. He wanted to desperately see her but couldn’t fathom where she’d gone. Realising he was going to be late Jake quickly made some toast and drove into work. Just as he parked, his mobile started to ring and it was from an unrecognisable number.
‘Morning,’ Hatty said, down the phone.
‘You’ve got a mobile?’
‘I’ve got about four I don’t use. This is the one I’ll use for you only but I don’t take it out with me so I might not answer it.’
‘Where were you this morning?’
‘I had to go back to the estate. Part of my deal is I take Barney out for a walk, a few times a week, not that the fat pooch does any walking. Then play with him as part payment because they made me redundant as a gardener.’
‘You got fired,’ he laughed and walked through the front reception, up the stairs.
‘That’s not the point.’ There was a moment’s hesitation. ‘I missed you this morning.’
‘I missed you,’ he said honestly, feeling his tummy do a flip.
‘I checked on you before I went and you seemed happy enough, naked on the bed.’
‘Naked,’ he sighed and wanted to see her in the same state very soon. ‘I’ll be back about five thirty, will you be home?’
‘I’m cooking, so you better come home.’
Barney was barking very loudly as Hatty tried to find the stick she’d thrown for him in the bushes.
‘Wait, I’ll get it,’ she said, rummaging around to then saw a pair of recognisable feet on the grass in front of her. ‘Aunt Delores!’ Hatty flung her arms around her and gave her a massive kiss. Delores smiled, pushing Hatty quickly back, as if she was soiling her clothes. ‘Did you miss me?’
‘I only saw you on Saturday,’ she said and Hatty noticed her aunt didn’t look too happy. ‘What have you done to the dog now?’
‘I threw a stick and it went in the bushes but Barney won’t get it,’ Hatty smiled brightly and wanted to share her happiness about Jake, but knew the response wouldn’t be p
ositive.
‘Is Jake behaving himself?’ Delores said, as if reading Hatty’s mind.
‘He’s not allowed to bring sluts into my home or let women spend the night,’ she said defiantly. ‘And he has to help me to drive, as per the deal, but he did tell me I was a menace on the road. Other than that, he’s been fine.’
‘I don’t approve of you living there and especially your new career which won’t make you a proper living.’
‘Jake has given me a great idea to maybe change things and I-.’
‘Don’t fall for Jake’s talk,’ Delores said, stepping closer. ‘These Logan men say things that mean something totally different. I should know.’
‘Murray and Jake are very nice people,’ said Hatty quietly. ‘Mister Murray has been especially kind to us and-.’
‘I’ve warned you. Listen to me or not, I’m telling you this because I care.’
Delores put her head up high and flashed a glance towards the offices, walking off. Hatty saw Murray staring out of the window at them before turning away.
‘Me see a problem Barney boy,’ she said, finding another stick and throwing it further away.
She ran into the door and up the stairs to Murray’s office. Hatty saw Gina Glory Glory but chose to ignore her as she strolled towards the main man’s door.
‘I’m busy!’ he shouted out even before she got to touch the handle.
‘Ya better stay out here,’ Rose said, smiling brightly. ‘He in a bad mood and is busy.’
‘He’s always busy!’ shouted Hatty and turned to see the workers in his office scurrying around. She felt the full belt in the face of one of Gina Glory Glory’s dirty looks before mumbling. ‘Slut!’
‘Harriet, none of your foul outbursts,’ whispered Rose. ‘Gina’s been happily telling people Jacob Logan has come back for her, can you believe it?’
‘That’s a lie because he hasn’t,’ said Hatty, immediately furious at the comment, turning around and walking into Murray’s office, making Rose jump.
‘Hatty!’ Rose said, following her in as Hatty glared at the back drop of the sea. Murray ignored her. ‘I said he was-.’
‘Don’t worry Rose. When does she ever listened to anybody?’ he said, leaning back in his chair and looking at her. ‘What have you done to my dog?’
