A Little Bit of Trouble (27 page)

     Summer shrugs, “Nope, and Maya didn’t tell me. I found out because I was seeing Kyle back then and his dad works with Sylvia. It’s an extremely small world.”

     “What? Who?” Chris is openly gaping at her.

     She giggles and pats his hand, “Don’t worry, it only lasted a few weeks. That guy really annoys me.”

     “Oh my god, I remember that,” Marie starts cackling. “You hated him, she used to cringe whenever he touched her.”

     “Holy shit,” I snort. “
Back to the conversation at hand, why didn’t Sylvia tell James about Maya and Paul?”

     “She didn’t want to hurt her son
I assume, she did ask him though, what he’d do if he found Maya sleeping around to which James apparently told her about their freedom until marriage agreement,” Marie rubs her hands together. “He was desperate to be with her, we used to think it was because of her money but after a while we realized this dude really cared about her. That girl was no fool, they both signed prenuptial agreements. I think in her weird way she loved him too, she used to absolutely beam when he sent her stuff and would be singing and dancing all day. Used to drive us mad.”

      “I just don’t understand why I’ve never been told this before,” I say it seems odd, something so huge yet neither of them told me.

      “Did you ask?”

     Well no actually, I never did ask because I’m not psychic and I don’t randomly ask people… did you save someone and fall in love?

     “You should ask James if you’re that interested,” Jacob smiles. “I asked him why he loved her if she was such a pain in the ass to him. He told me that’s why, because she’s never boring.”

     “Is there a point to all of this story telling?” I laugh.

     Marie shrugs, “Maybe it will show you that even after a huge tragedy, you can still move on and fall in love.”
Says the woman with the stone heart.

     My face
and mood falls, “That’s a completely different situation.”

     “It may be different but it’s also the same
in some ways Lucas. You should see yourself with Loryn, you’re possessive, happy, and horny all the time,” Marie cackles at her own words. “You love her, and if you don’t love her then you’re on your way to loving her. She’s a nice girl. She deserves a happy ending and so do you. Maybe you can both give it to each other.” I watch her eyes meet Jacob’s for a moment and the room seems to fall silent.

     Jacob smiles at her
tenderly before looking away, Marie pretends not to care by plastering a fake smile on her face and looking my way but I can see the hurt in her eyes. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

     As awesome as this story telling has been I still can’t believe Loryn is hanging around with that asshole Greg. She’s mine. If he even touches her I will… I dunno, probably punch him or something. I feel like going to his, beating my hands on my chest and carrying her out for all to see but I know she wouldn’t like that.

Unfortunately.

     “I’m gonna go crash,” I say after another game of monopoly and a huge yawn. So damn tired. “You guys don’t mind do you?”

     “Nah, you go on,” Chris says and Summer stands, “I’ll take you to your room.”

     “It’s fine, I know the way,” I respond and lean over to kiss Marie on the forehead. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

     Marie’s mouth drops open in fake horror, “But that would be so damn boring.”

    “Cheeky,” I laugh and head out of the room.

     Amelia is fast asleep in a huge bed, unfortunately she’s asleep sideways across the pillows, strange child, so I have to move her before climbing in next to her. That’s one thing I love about Amelia, she’s not ashamed to hug her dad, not yet anyway so I’ll take what I can get whilst I can. As soon as I slip in she reaches out to me and buries her tiny body into my chest. There’s never a time more peaceful in my life than moments like these.

Faking It

    I wake up after a pretty decent night’s sleep, Amelia is gone, probably having breakfast. Shit. It’s eleven. Talk about overstaying your welcome.

    Climbing out of bed I hastily throw on my clothes from the day before and hurry down the stairs and into the den. No-one here, although I smell bacon. Kitchen, they’re definitely in the kitchen. My mouth is watering, damn that smells good.

     “What you cooking for me woman?” I’m guessing Jacob didn’t go home last night. That’s definitely his voice. I stop for a moment when I hear Marie speak, “Stop calling me woman.”

     “Okay, sorry man.”

     She growls out a curse, I listen for a thud, meaning she’s thrown something but nothing happens but complete silence. And then… “I wish you’d let me touch you.”

     “Marie…” Jacob warns and suddenly I don’t feel so good for eaves dropping.

     “Why not? When you’re
here for visits. It could be wicked.”

     He sighs and then groans, I hear a chair scrape across the tiled floor, “Marie…”

     “Stop being boring,” I can almost hear the smirk on her face. “You’re becoming a real pain in my ass Jacob Stone.”

     “An adorable pain in the ass.” Hey! That’s my line. “Just stop. Stop.”

     “Whatever, I guess I’ll have to get it elsewhere,” Marie sighs dramatically. “There’s this guy down the… hey.” I hear a bang and a grunt and then silence.

     Creeping slowly backwards I head into the dining room just so I’m not lingering like an idiot, only to be greeted by Summer. Well, not so much greeted by her as she’s busy with the side of her face pressed against the door leading to the kitchen.

     She’s too enthralled in whatever Marie and Jacob are doing to notice me so I sneak up quietly, paying careful attention to my feet before slapping her real hard on the ass. So much so that my hands stings, she screams
, it hurts my ears. Then a tiny fraction of a second after my hand connects with her ass, she falls forward through the door.

     “SUMMER!” Marie squeals and there’s a thud.

     “LUCAS!” Summer squeals and rubs her no doubt raw ass. “You bitch. What
are you playing at?”

     “She was eavesdropping,” I point at Summer and get a look at Marie. Jacob seems to be… is he unconscious. “Shit. Jacob? You alright dude?”

     “Oh my god,” Marie shrieks and kneels beside him. “I think I’ve killed him!”

     Summer darts over, they decide he must have hit his head when Marie threw him away from her.
That must have been the bang.

I decide he’s faking it because his fingers are twitching and his leg is shaking ever so slightly as if trying to stop himself laughing. Tricky little actor.

     I grab a glass, fill it with water, stand by his head and before the girls can stop me or call an ambulance I dump it on his face. He lurches forward and splutters a little. “Would you look at that?” I gasp sarcastically. “He’s alive.”

     With a growl Jacob lunges for me, I laugh and dart out of the way.
He sighs and rubs the back of his head, “Do you think you could stop doing that?”

     Marie grins wickedly, “You mean sweeping you off your feet?”

     Jacob groans and rolls his eyes, Summer looks fit to burst with excitement and I’m just minding my own business.

     “Where’s my daughter?” I ask after a moment, panic suddenly overwhelming me.

     Summer points to the back door, “She’s out there with Chris. He’s pushing her on the swing.” I look out of the window and sure enough there is Amelia, sat in the inner hole of the tire, Chris is pushing her back and forth laughing a little, no doubt she’s said something to amuse him. “He says he doesn’t want kids for another couple of years as they’ll interfere with his gaming time and free time. Yet whenever he’s around kids he acts like a kid himself. He spent the first hour after waking making Amelia breakfast and then teaching her how to play on the Xbox.”

     “Hopefully a universal rated game,” I mumble but she ignores me, which most likely means he had her on Black Ops Zombies or something along those lines. With a shake of my head I sit at the breakfast bar and hit my knife and fork on the surface. Jacob joins in.

Although he takes it too far by slapping Marie on the ass and saying, “Woman. Get my food now.”  So she stomps on his instep and when he leans forward in pain she whips him on the back of the neck with a wet dishcloth. Ouch. “Nice kitty.” He jokes clearly not understanding now is the time to be quiet.

     “Jacob,” Summer warns knowing her friend is about to pop. “Stop it.”

     “But she’s so easy,” he covers his face and yelps when the dishrag flies for his face.

     “You… are a god damn cock sucking, ass licking, prick!” Marie bites out. “Let’s not pretend that your statement didn’t have some hidden meaning to it. And let’s be honest… it was you that begged so who’s the easy one?”

     She walks out and slams the door behind her, I frown at Jacob who actually looks as startled as Summer by her outburst, “Whoa… I didn’t mean… shit.” He gets up like any whipped male and follows her out of the room.

    “Woman,” I demand to Summer who quirks her brow at me and her hands go to her hips. I decide to be nice, “I’d love some breakfast please princess. If it’s not too much trouble.”

     She smiles smugly, “That’s what I thought.”

    And then a plate is put before me and all is good in the world.

******

    “Daddy, higher, higher,” Amelia squeals as I push her on the
tire swing. Because of how long it’s been here I obviously checked its safety. It can hold mine and Chris’ weight together so it should be alright. “Higher!”

    Okay, okay! Bossy. “It won’t go any higher,” I practically shout as I push her full force. “Stop kicking your legs.” She goes up a little higher each time, her little legs flail and then she starts
to spin. Ah shit! Then she starts to scream.

    I dart left and right, trying to stop the spinning, swinging tire holding a blurred blonde child. Fuck. Jacob starts laughing and comes over, he reaches for the rope… why didn’t I think of that?

Bang.

    Unfortunately Amelia’s flailing leg comes out and kicks him straight in the chin on her way down, he falls backwards and lands on his back. Uh-oh.

     “Jacob!” Marie shrieks with Summer, they run over as I finally stop Amelia’
s fight with gravity. It’s then I notice the blood trickling down Jacob’s brow to his temple and the fact he actually looks knocked out cold.

     “Ha, talk about Karma!”

     “That’s not funny Lucas, he’s really hurt,” Marie says and shakes him a little. “Baby, wake up. Please wake up.”

     I see that twitch in the leg again. Sneaky little actor.

     I snigger to myself and undo the top button on my jeans, “Here, move back ladies while I pee on him.”

     “WHAT!”

     “LUCAS!”

     My zipper goes down, he definitely hears because he sits up immediately and starts laughing, “You dirty fucker. Can’t you let me have my fun?”

     “You’re a shit actor dude,”
I state with a shake of my head.

     “Tell that to my two Oscar Awards,” he chuckles and Marie punches him in the back of the head
and shouts, “You bastard! Stop doing that!”

     “Ouch,” he winces and rubs his head. “Dude, am I bleeding?”

     Amelia gasps and crawls onto Jacob’s lap, “I’m sorry Jacob.”

     “That’s okay
. It was an accident.”

     “I’ll go get the first aid kit,” Summer disappears into the house
.

     Ma
rie punches him on the shoulder, which looks like it hurt. “You scared me.”

     Jacob smiles, it’s mischievous and smug, “That’s because you’re hopelessly in love with me.”

     “And you’re just hopeless,” Marie snorts.

     Jacob smiles softly at her, “You didn’t deny it.”

     She gapes at him, “I’m not in love with you.”

     “If you admit it I’ll fuck you again,” an
d I’m leaving this conversation.

     Marie grins, a little too broadly, “Really? Then hell yeah baby my heart
’s all yours. Now take off those jeans big boy.”

     I grab Amelia and push her towards the house, we pass Summer carrying a first aid kit as we go. She nods towards the now fighting Marie and Jacob and smiles, it’s knowing and it’s damn cute. I wink my agreement. There’s definitely something going on there. It’s just a shame neither of them seem to see it.

     “Jacob says naughty words a lot. Like Aunty Maya,” Amelia shakes her head like an annoyed adult. “They should know better and set an example.”

     This makes me laugh, a lot. “Baby, you are the funniest little thing ever to roam this planet.”

     She grins up at me and skips into the room to grab her Barbie’s I assume. When I follow in I watch Chris hand her an Xbox controller and pull her onto the seat beside him. Amelia’s face turns from giddy to extreme concentration as the game begins. Zombies… I was right. She doesn’t seem to be fazed by it though. Hell, a few months ago I wouldn’t let her watch anything over a Universal rating, I still don’t like her to but I know Maya let her watch Twilight and Harry Potter and a few others I don’t think are majorly appropriate for a five year old but what can I do?

     My little girl is growing up and it fucking sucks.

    
As I watch my daughter shoot zombies my phone beeps. Pulling it out of my pocket I open up the text and smile.

Loryn
: I miss you. Can I come and see you tonight?

     And just like that my bad mood where Loryn is concerned has vanished.

Lucas
: Bring the condoms.

Loryn
: Sometimes I wonder why I’m with you.

Lucas
: It’s for my huge dick and my awesome stamina!

Loryn
: Why can’t you ever be serious?

Lucas
: Don’t eat yellow snow… serious enough for you?

Loryn
: Don’t text me… ever again…

Lucas
: My dick says no to that and he’s missing you.

Loryn
: And what about the body attached to the dick?

Lucas
: Nah, he’s just hungry ;)

Loryn
: I hate you.

Lucas
: I can’t help being sexy… it’s how I am.

Loryn
: What?

Lucas
: What?

Loryn
: See you tonight!

Lucas
: Don’t forget the condoms!

     “Someone looks happy,” when did Summer sit next to me? “She makes you happy.”

     “She drives me fucking crazy.”

     “You love her?”

     “No,” I answer without hesitation.

     She looks at me with pity in her eyes, I hate that, “Because you can’t or because you won’t?”

     I shrug, “A little bit of both.”

     She pats my hand and nods, seeming to understand, “It’s a shame. She’s a really nice girl and she makes you happy.”

     “Yeah,” I agree on all accounts.

     “You just seeing where it goes?”

     No, I already know where it’s going. A whole lot of nowhere. But hell if I want that nowhere to come any time soon. Call me selfish if you will but I can’t let her go yet. Not until… when I feel like it I guess.
“Something like that.”

     “Don’t you break her heart Lucas Grant,” Summer chastises me much like a mother would.

     “Unfortunately I think that’s too late to avoid.”

     With a long exhale and a thin lipped smile she stands, brushes her hands on her thighs and walks over to Chris. I watch her wrap her arms around his head from behind and kiss him on top of his head. He smiles up at her, she kisses his lips, her tiny chin touching his nose before ruffling Amelia’s hair and heading back to Marie and Jacob. They’re both still play fighting apparently.