Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (31 page)

When Matt returned home, he
found his brother a quivering wreck on the edge of his bed. Having read the
newspapers, he knew what the argument was about. Sitting by his brother, he
nudged him with his shoulder;

“It’s going to be alright.”
He told him.

“I don’t know Matt. Have you
ever heard Mum shout at Dad like that?” Paul asked.

“Nope, didn’t know the old
girl had it in her.” Matt admitted.

“What if he lashes out at
her? It’ll be my fault.”

“He won’t. Dad’s not that
evil.” He assured.

“Can I borrow your phone?”
Paul asked
,
he couldn’t stand it anymore.

Matt knew better than to ask
what Paul was going to do, he didn’t want any part of it, the less he knew, the
better off he would be “I won’t say you can borrow it,” he said “But I’m going
to hop in the shower, if you should happen to find it amongst my stuff while
I’m in the bathroom then I’d know nothing about it.” He grinned as he left the
room.

Paul made three calls, the
first to Phil with a brief explanation of his plans and asking the older man if
he could carry on with the job in his absence, adding that he would send time
sheets and job cards in the next few days. The next was to Carmen, telling her
he was on his way and would explain when he got there, the third and possibly
most important call was to his Uncle John, pleading for a ride to Gloucester.
When John heard the raised voices carrying to him down the phone line, he
agreed to get his nephew as far away from the house as possible, hastily
dressed and kissed the breathless girl in his bed goodbye before setting out
into the cold winters’ night.  

Half way into the journey,
they stopped for fuel and food. John observed his nephew over the melamine
table between them. The boy had been visibly trembling when he jumped into the
car and threw his bag into the back seat and try as he might; John was unable
to draw him into conversation. Watching him now, he noticed the trembling had
stopped only to be replaced by hunched shoulders and a scowl worthy of a Greek
God.

“You know I wouldn’t have
left my occupied bed for anyone else right?” John asked.

“Yeah.”
Paul sat up straighter and looked at his Uncle “Sorry
I dragged you into this. If I had known you were on a promise I’d have waited.”

“But you would still have
dragged me into it?” John replied with an amused smile “Don’t worry about it
kid, like I’ve told you before, I’m on your side and I’m more than capable of
handling my sister.” He swallowed the last of his surprisingly good coffee
“Let’s hit the road.”

A few hours later, the
drifted to a stop outside a rundown house in a ramshackle estate, neither of
them making a move to leave the car.

“Not exactly what I’d
pictured.” Paul
spoke,
he shifted in his seat and
reached for his bag.

“It’s hardly up market is
it?” John replied “But then perhaps we are snobs and far too used to the finer
things in life.”

“Now we really need to sell
that house. Carmen can’t bring the baby back here.”

“It’s probably better once
you get inside.” John suggested hopefully only
to receive
a baleful look from his nephew “Ok so that’s wishful thinking. I’ll crack on
with the house first thing tomorrow.” He promised.

“Thanks for everything John.”
Paul reached for the door handle.

“No problem. Listen, call me
if you need anything ok?” He asked
,
Paul nodded “Do
you have money?”

A smile
then “Of course.”

“Ok, make sure you call
Monica, just let her know you are alright.”

“I will.” He answered as he
stepped out of the car and into the freezing night air.

A security light snapped on
as he approached the door, temporarily blinding him. While he waited for the
door to be answered, he glanced around the facade of the house in the glare of
the light and noticed that it was in a sorry state of repair making him even
more determined to get Carmen out of here.

“You’d better come in.”

The voice had startled him, he
turned from his appraisal of the house to see and painfully thin blond woman
staring at him.

“Helen?” he asked.

“Of
course.”
She stepped aside and
allowed him inside the shabby but clean house. She recognised him from the
pictures in the papers and had to admit they hadn’t done him justice.

Paul hovered as Helen closed
and locked the door then gestured for him to follow her through to the kitchen
where they found Carmen trying to tempt Helen’s robustly protesting son to eat
his dinner a task quickly forgotten when she saw him.

As she came to her feet, Paul
took in the large bump of her abdomen and the increased size of her breasts
through the tight fitting top and experienced the simultaneous squeeze of his
heart and tightening of his groin “Carmen” his voice barely above a whisper as
he shortened the gap between them, ignoring Helen’s loud cluck of disapproval
when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a long awaited kiss.

Finally loosening his grip, Paul
held her at arm’s length as he drank in the delicious site of her voluptuous
body. Hesitantly, he reached out to lay the open palm of his hand over the
mound of her stomach, a smile playing on his lips.

Carmen watched the growing
wonder in his eyes as she felt his warm hand on her, she couldn’t help it when
she swayed towards him, the physical draw of him was too much for her, with
hormones flooding her body, his presence only serving to heighten them, all she
wanted right now was him, naked beneath her, she didn’t want to talk, she
didn’t want explanations and excuses, she wanted to dig her nails into his
flesh and make him groan.

“God.
Would you two come and sit down, if it isn’t hard
enough getting him to eat anyway, you are causing far too much distraction.”
Helen cut into their
thoughts,
they started guiltily
and hastily sat. “So, Paul,” she began whilst deftly shoving a spoon into her
sons’ mouth “Is there any particular reason you chose to show your face now?”

Carmen cut in before he could
reply “Helen, leave him alone, he’s just got here,
we
can tackle his reasons tomorrow.”

“Fine.”
Helen answered alternating her glare between her
friend and the teenager at her table “You’d better find him somewhere to stay
then hadn’t you.”

“He’s staying here” Carmen
replied.

“Oh, I beg to differ. I’m
more than happy for you to stay here but putting him up is an entirely
different matter. Our lives are disrupted enough by the constant streams of
reporters and photographers trying to get a glimpse of you without the added
attraction of him coming and going.”

“There’s no press outside
now.” Paul commented.

“Then it would be a good time
for you to leave.” Helen answered “Besides, it’s so cold outside at the moment
that they tend to disappear when the sun goes down.”

“It’s not much warmer in
here,” he told her, wishing the instant the jibe came out of his mouth that
he’d bitten his tongue.

“I take it you remember the
way to the door?” Helen snarled at him.

Paul stood, his long
confinement at home and the fraught evening had served to fuel his temper and
he bit back the stinging retort bouncing around his head “If I could just make
use of your facilities, I’ll be happy to leave.” He said tightly.

The venomous hissed argument
that took place while he was in the bathroom had the desired effect and by the
time he returned to the kitchen to say goodbye, he was told he could stay but
that he would under no circumstances be allowed into Carmen’s room and he was
sleeping on the sofa. When Helen took Luke upstairs to bath him and read him a
bedtime story, Carmen snuggled close to Paul on the sofa, explaining to him
that Helen slept like she was dead and she would come and get him when the
coast was clear. He made mild protestations at this deception but once Carmen
laid her hand over his groin and whispered in no uncertain terms what she
wanted to do to him, he was one hundred percent behind the idea.

He was dozing in between fits
of shivering as the house was horribly cold when Carmen came for him, silently
leading him up the stairs and to her room, closing the door, perching on the
bed and beckoning him forward. Leaning down to kiss her, he could feel her
hands all over him, opening his jeans, prying off the layers of clothing over
his torso, finally standing naked in front of her, goose bumps rising on his
skin.

“Why is it so cold in here?”
He asked, the freezing air distracting him from her mouth lapping at him.

“Helen doesn’t like to leave
the heating on for too long, she’s afraid she won’t be able to afford the
bill.” Carmen explained. She kissed his abs, licking where she had just kissed
while her hands massaged him to erection, or at least tried. “What’s wrong?”
She asked, gently squeezing him before looking up into his eyes.

Observing his goose pimpled
flesh and his still soft manhood, Paul was less than impressed with
himself
, “I’m freezing,” he shivered “And as much as I would
love to stand here and let you blow me, I think I’d rather be under the covers
warming up right now.”

“I’m sorry; I guess I’ve got
used to being cold,” she shuffled back across the bed and pulled back the
covers, laying her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her,
letting her hand drift once again to his groin.

“It doesn’t help that the
windows rattle every time there’s a breeze” He complained half heartedly, her
naked body and expert hands were beginning the have the desired effect.

“Perhaps you could do
something about that while you are here, it would thaw Helen out towards you
I’m sure. Kiss me.”

With the bump of his baby
pressing into him, Paul found it difficult to get as close as he wanted to her
without angling his body away, his hand caressed the bump as his tongue played
with hers, he felt movement under the skin and broke the kiss moving down to
her swollen stomach, he pressed his lips to it, softly covering it with kisses,
the baby kicked again.

“You aren’t going to make
this easy are you baby?” he spoke quietly to his child “Fair’s fair little one,
you’ve had her for months, now it’s my turn.”

“Stop it.” She
laughed,
her hand in his hair.

“You are even more beautiful
with the bump.” He told her “I want you so badly but I have no idea how we are
going to do this.”

Carmen sat up and pulled him
into another kiss, then, turning her back on him, she lowered herself onto her left
side, guiding him behind her, her hand reaching backwards for him, smiling when
she felt the warmth of his body pressed into her back and his hardness probing
for entry.

“This isn’t working,” Paul
whispered a few moments later “I can’t feel anything,” he withdrew and balanced
on his knees, encouraging her on to all fours “Is this ok for you?” He asked.

“Yes, what are you waiting
for?” she replied over her shoulder.

Paul wasted no time in
ramming into her; she was ready for him, bracing her hands on the mattress,
pushing back against him, smiling behind the veil of her hair when the long low
groan escaped through his lips. His fingers were digging into her hips as he
repeatedly powered into her, altering the speed and angle constantly making the
experience more pleasurable for both of them.
Although it
lasted only moments, Paul was panting for breath and certainly warmer when it
was over.
He settled down happily, Carmen wrapped in his arms as they
began to discuss everything that had happened over the months of their
separation.

“Have you been with anyone
else since we’ve been apart?” Carmen asked.

“No.” He answered truthfully.

“You haven’t learnt any new
skills then?” She smiled in the darkness, knowing from his tone that he wasn’t
lying.

“You’d hate me if I had.” He
answered.

“True. Would you tell me if
you had?”

“Probably
not.”
Again the
truth.

“Oh.”

“Not because I wanted to
lie,” he explained “But because I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

“I see.” She answered.

“I have learned that if I
have a wank with my left hand it feels like someone else is doing it,” he
admitted and heard her soft laugh “I also learned that getting blind drunk and
announcing to your entire family during your parents anniversary dinner that
you have got your girlfriend pregnant probably isn’t the best way to inform
them.”

“You didn’t?” she gasped, she
hauled herself into a sitting position and switched on the bedside light,
looking over at him, as he stretched out on the far side of the bed.

“I did.”