Share

3

Author: C. Hazlewood
last update Last Updated: 2022-11-16 08:41:25

It’s been a long day, and by the time Adrian leaves, I’m exhausted and ready for bed. It’s nice to have a shower that actually works, though it’s small. The water is clean and it makes me feel clean for the first time in weeks. 

I’m drying my hair with a towel, walking around the small trailer, examining its contents. There are pictures of a younger Adrian and a small girl holding up a couple of fish on fishing lines, going on hikes in a rocky canyon, and one with an older man with the same crystal blue eyes as Adrian with the young girl on his lap. It makes me smile seeing the irritating handyman looking so carefree and loved by his family. There are no pictures of a mom. 

Maybe she was the one taking the pictures. Men don’t think of stuff like taking pictures when on vacation. My mom used to hound my dad all the time for that very reason when I was younger. The memories of our vacations to Branson and Witchita Falls as a child bring remorseful tears to my eyes. 

I shake off the feelings of self-pity and loneliness, moving to the bed to retrieve my pajamas. After getting dressed, I pull back the sheets of the bed and almost gag. There’s a woman’s dirty thong tucked behind a pillow, the black lace unmissable against the beige sheets. No way am I sleeping in this bed. 

Making my way back to the house through the garage, deciding to sleep in my own bed, I think about my taciturn repairman. He gave me a decent quote, and I paid the first half up front for supplies. He’s redoing the plumbing, the electrical wiring, and even replacing the roof. I’m thankful for him helping, but his attitude and personality are crap. He became more vulgar the more we talked, offering to clear my pipes and patch my holes; crap like that. 

Men are pigs. All of them. 

When I get into the house and to my bed, I open my laptop and check my emails. My parent’s lawyer is helping me to move my assets around now that I’m an official resident of California and not Kansas. I made a bunch of big purchases during this move, like the house and a car, and with the repairs, I’d like to know how much money I have available in my regular accounts.

I cringe seeing another email from Barry, moving it to the trash folder without opening it. I keep blocking his emails, but he just makes new accounts. I opened one a week ago that at first appeared to be from the property management company in San Francisco I rented from for 3 years, but it was just a lengthy email from him, telling me how sorry he was.

Bull crap. The more I thought about it, the more obvious it was that he was messing around with Jessica the entire time he was with me. She hated me. She was openly hostile towards me the few times I visited him at work, but he just assured me she was a jerk to everyone and to ignore her.

She would sometimes call him when we were together, and he would say it was to ask if he could cover her shifts, but he would never answer, saying he was with me so she could find someone else. When I saw them together at a cafe after he told me he was working on a school project, he then said she was just in his lab group.

She wasn’t even in the same major as us. I let it go, not thinking much about it because I thought I trusted him completely, but he just showed me you can never really trust a man. Not with your heart.

Barry’s long email claiming he was sorry and it was a one-time thing, and that it didn’t mean anything to him got a curt ‘Leave me alone’ reply back. I stopped blocking him. What’s the point? I just ignore the emails now and hope they will eventually stop. I wasn’t going to offer him another moment of my time. Once a cheater, always a cheater. I’m just glad I caught him before I crossed that line and gave myself to him. It would have hurt so much more if I found out after I slept with him or after I moved in. I could have been finding her lace thongs under his pillow if I had not gone to see him that night. I guess I should be thankful for that at least.

My dad was like Barry. He was charismatic, great with people, and would treat my mom like gold out in public, but even he wasn’t all he seemed. When I was 17, coming home early from church camp because of a stomach bug, my mom and I walked in on him and his secretary going at it on our couch.

Mom wasn’t even surprised, leading me to believe she already knew. She quietly led me out of the house before my shock wore off and I went into a fit of hysterics. She drove down our long gravel driveway, parked her car so it was hidden between the shrubbery, then called my dad on our house phone.

It took her 3 times calling for him to answer, and he sounded angry with her for the repeated calls.

She softly told him we were on our way back because I had a stomach bug and would be there in 10 minutes. Two minutes later, his secretary came speeding down our driveway, completely ignorant to the fact that they had been caught.

My mom calmly told me that we all have sin in our life, something that holds us captive and impairs our judgment, and my father’s was his adultery. She asked me to keep what I saw to myself, and I have to this very day. 

Things about my childhood made more sense to me after seeing him cheating. I often questioned why I was an only child, and they explained to me that my dad had to get a vasectomy for medical reasons right after I was born. I remember, though, when I was really young, a woman came to our house asking to speak with my dad. She was very insistent and he was furious when he met with her. He was probably cheating on my mother during their entire marriage and got the surgery to pacify her. 

He was ruined in my eyes after that. He was no longer the father I trusted and depended on. He was the man that lied to me, mistreated my mother, and broke both of our trusts, but continued to live a hypocritical life. 

Maybe that’s why I pushed so hard to go to a university so far away. He tried to get me to go to one in Lawrence, but I stubbornly applied to a college of my choosing, then cut off most of my communication with him, talking mainly to my mother. Now, I’ll never speak to either of them again. I don’t know who I blame more. Him or myself. 

I check my accounts after reviewing the emails from my lawyer who is working on selling my family home for me. I made the decision when I bought this house. I didn’t want any ties left to the house I grew up in. Not after those memories were dug back up after seeing Barry with Jessica. 

As I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, trying not to flinch every time the porch light flickers on and off, too lazy and tired to get up and flip the switch off permanently myself, I resolved myself to never let a man hurt me the way my father and Barry hurt me again.



Related chapters

  • Build You Up    4

    The next morning, I went to town to get groceries early in the morning, Joe waking me with the sun with his chirping and running around in the attic. Joe needs to go, or I’m taking my chances in the trailer’s bed tonight after thoroughly washing all the sheets. I stopped at the only coffee shop in town, planning on picking up a latte and blueberry muffin for breakfast. I recognized the girl behind the counter instantly from the pictures of her in the trailer. She is older than in the pictures, of course, but has the same ash blonde hair and blue eyes with adorable freckles underneath. Her easy smile looks a lot like Adrian’s. “Hi. What can I getcha?”I smiled at her bored tone. She is definitely related to my handyman. “Hi. Can I get a medium vanilla latte and a blueberry muffin?”“Out of blueberry. We got cranberry and banana left,” she mutters, tapping on her register screen.“Banana then,” I raised my eyebrows at her, expecting her to argue or roll her eyes. Instead, she offer

    Last Updated : 2022-11-16
  • Build You Up    5

    The past few days, I’ve been working hard to avoid Adrian. It’s not easy since I don’t have much to do. I took a trip to the book store yesterday and hung out at the coffee shop reading for most of the afternoon, but Brittany came in for the evening shift and the prying question started all over again.It’s the same in every small town. The smaller the population, the more people pry into your personal life, especially if you’re new to town. They want to know where you’re from, why you’re here, what you do, what you did before moving….every little detail down to your mother’s maiden name. It’s exhausting to answer the same questions over and over again. A woman in her forties named Dotty got almost hostile towards me the day before when I was hanging out at the diner and I wouldn’t tell her if I’d gotten a mammogram recently. Her cousin had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and she took it personally that I wasn’t as concerned about my boobs as she was. Today I’m going to start

    Last Updated : 2022-11-16
  • Build You Up    6

    Missy POVThankfully, Adrian left me alone for the most part the rest of the day. When I went in for lunch, making myself a quick sandwich, he merely smiled at me before leaving to go home for his lunch. He left at 5 PM on the dot with a quick wave and a “See you next week”. Maybe I was getting too worked up over nothing? Or maybe he realized I was done with his jokes and backed off? Whatever the reason, I’m more at ease being at home alone with him working here now. My bathroom works, but he asked me not to turn the water line back on until he could check the plumbing in the kitchen next week. I should have only one more weekend using the trailer’s restroom before I won’t need to anymore. I’m rifling through the kitchen after my shower, standing there in my PJs, trying to figure out something to eat for dinner. I’m getting sick of soup and sandwiches. A cheeseburger sounds so good right now. A cheeseburger with all the fixings and big slices of tomatoes. I stare into my empty fri

    Last Updated : 2022-11-16
  • Build You Up    7

    When Sunday came around, I was excited about going to the Brewers' house for a BBQ. I had spent all day Saturday alone at the house, working on little projects and finishing up the garden. Eating nothing but sandwiches and soup was getting to me. I found myself forcing the food down me, and only when I was starved. I missed fresh meals.Even if the city was lonely in its busyness, it was comfortable for people like me who were alone most of the time. No one judged you or bugged you for going out to eat alone, sitting alone in the parks, and fresh, good food could be picked up in every neighborhood deli or market. We have the grocery store, which doesn’t have a deli, and the diner, which is the local hangout. In both places, you could expect people to talk to you and ask you questions. You couldn’t simply sit in a booth and be alone while you ate. Someone was going to come to sit by you and ask those same pointed, prying questions. I didn’t mind eating with Adrian’s family, though. Af

    Last Updated : 2022-11-16
  • Build You Up    8

    Barry POVShe was gone. Without a fucking trace. I’ve been searching, calling, texting, and sending private messages on social media. That stupid bitch, Jessica, just had to come over that night. She was frantic all day, knowing I was moving forward with Missy since I told her I wouldn't need her anymore after Missy finally started opening up her legs. I decided to commit to her and her only. When Missy lied saying she couldn’t come over, claiming she was sick, I slipped again and texted Jessica back after ignoring her pleas all day.I only wanted a picture or some shit to jerk off to. When she said she was on her way over, I gave into temptation. Again. If Missy hadn’t lied and just came over that night, not even to go all the way, I would have been happy with a hand or anything, none of that shit would have happened. I need Missy. I was always attracted to her. She was so small but had the most perfect ass and exotic features on her heart-shaped face. The way her thick black eyel

    Last Updated : 2022-11-16
  • Build You Up    9

    Adrian POV“You made it!” Brittany calls out from the front door. I can hear her excitement at Missy’s arrival from the open window in the kitchen as I’m standing out back, manning the grill. Dad smoked his usual tri-tip, but Hailey wanted hot dogs so I’m out here flipping them and some chicken on the grill. I hear Hailey squealing in excitement, making my face pull into a goofy grin. I love the sound of her laughing. “It’s all for me?” her little high-pitched voice rings out. I looked up and saw Missy’s figure moving beyond the kitchen curtains. “It’s all yours! I got this too. I hope you like fruit punch,” Missy’s soft, soothing voice sounded almost as excited as my little girl’s. Curiosity gets hold of me and I find myself moving to the screen door to see what she had brought with her. “I love chocolate ice cream and Rapunzel!” Hailey squeals, jumping on her feet while clutching a Rapunzel-shaped juice jug.“You didn’t have to get all this,” My dad smiles, holding a case of Pe

    Last Updated : 2022-11-16
  • Build You Up    10

    Missy POVAdrian has been working on the electrical work all week, and the light switches finally make sense. He even replaced the front porch light while fixing the wiring so I don’t have to deal with the harsh light waking me throughout the night. The water is finally on and the pipes in the house are all replaced. Most of the house has new drywall going in next week and then Adrian has a team coming to replace the entire roof. The third-wheel trailer was hauled away yesterday since I finally have use of my bathroom. The jet sprays and waterfall showerhead Adrian upgraded me to feels like heaven. In my studio back in the city I had a shower with horrible water pressure. This is definitely an upgrade. I’ve been showering until the water turns cold because it feels so good standing in the spray.Adrian has been….different the entire week. He’s still friendly and all smiles when I ask something of him, but there’s a professionalism that wasn’t there before. It’s like he’s finally tr

    Last Updated : 2022-11-17
  • Build You Up    11

    Adrian POVExcitement makes me giddy on the drive back to town. Hailey and I are singing along to Disney songs at the top of our lungs with the windows down and wind blowing through the truck. Hailey’s daycare teacher said she was talking about Missy all week and I’m so excited for her to see Missy there waiting for us at the diner. The past week, trying to reign in my flirting and trying not to act like a 5-year-old picking on his crush was hard, especially since she didn’t avoid me as she did the week prior. She was always there, looking alluringly adorable in her denim and dirt-stained cheeks. I had to avoid being in the same room or space with her all week, but today I kinda caved.When I caught her checking me out, my pride and ego were boosted just enough to cause me to tease her again in her kitchen. Seeing that dirt was once again smeared under her eye triggered me to act out, but I’m glad I did. The playful banter and her girlish squeals were the most refreshing and exhilar

    Last Updated : 2022-11-18

Latest chapter

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 8

    Christmas Morning “Mommy!” Hailey hisses, shaking my shoulder. “Is Quinton awake?” I grumbled, not wanting to open my eyes yet. “Mama!” I felt little hands tapping my face. “Mama, up! Santa!” Landon says loudly. That’s right. It’s Christmas morning. We were up so late last night putting pieces of Hailey’s new doll house together, and setting up Landon’s new toddler roller coaster track around the living room that I forgot to set my alarm. “Where’s your dad,” I groaned as I rolled over, trying to force my eyes to open. “In Quinton’s room. He said to let you sleep until there was light in the sky, and now there is light in the sky!” I looked over at the window, and just as Hailey said, there was a small sliver of sunlight peeking above the trees. I chuckle hoarsely, my throat dry from sleep and the cold air, then somehow manage to find the strength to swing my legs out from under the covers and onto the floor. “Okay, I’m up,” I say as I stretch. Hailey jumps in the air, c

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 7

    Missy POV“Ready baby?” Adrian asks, helping me out of the wheelchair with one arm, his other hand holding our son who is sleeping in his carseat. The nurse waves goodbye to us at the door, then heads back into the hospital. “Yeah, but I feel like I’m wearing a diaper,” I complained, the chafing burning like you wouldn’t believe. “I’m going to look funny walking to the car.”He drove my mini van up to the curb, but I still have a good 30 feet to wobble, and I feel awkward and self-conscious walking in public. “You look hot in your diaper, babe,” Adrian tells me, kissing my head. “But lucky for me, you can’t tell you’re wearing one. Your coat is hiding all your goodies, so just watch your step and hold onto me until we get there.”I grin up at my amazing husband, so thankful for everything about him. Only he could make me believe that he really thinks I look hot in my oversized maxi pad and postpartum panties. This morning when I put my nursing bra on and had the cups unhooked while

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 6

    Adrian POV“Push, baby,” I told her, holding one of her knees, and letting her break every bone in my hand. She’s doing so, so fucking well with this. If I have to get reconstructive surgery on my hand after this is done, it will be worth it. I was so scared when she told me a few weeks ago that she wanted to try and do this birth naturally. I know she hated the effects of the epidural last time, but it did take the pain away. She is doing so amazing, handling this all on her own. I’m so amazed by her. More than ever. She’s like a superwoman, her superpower being able to still look absolutely beautiful while pushing a watermelon-sized human out of her body. “You’re doing so, so good, Missy,” I told her as the contraction eased up just a little. Not a lot, but enough for her to take a breath and take a few seconds' break from pushing. Hun-Stev-Rick-Quin, which is what I’ve decided the baby will be named since we can’t ever fucking decide, is crowning, and I know she only has seconds

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 5

    Missy POV“Shit! Shit! How do you spell contraction?” Rick asks, looking at his phone while pacing around frantically.“C-o-n-t-r-a-t-i-o-n,” one of the nurses tells him, looking amused while watching him freak out in the corner of the room.“Rick, you can go. I’m sure Adrian will be here any second,” I tried to tell him for the tenth time. “No, no. I’m staying. Let me just search Google for what to do during a….”Oh my gosh, he’s seriously googling what to do right now. It would be hilarious if it didn’t feel like a watermelon was trying to explode inside of me. Lord, I need Adrian. I didn’t want to get an epidural, but I don’t know how much longer I can deal with this pain without him. Just then, another gargantuan searing contraction makes my entire body tense with stabbing, all-consuming pain. My spine feels like it’s going to break and my pelvis is so tight that I bet you could bounce a ball on it, though I would kill anyone who tried. “Fuuuahhhhh!” I screamed out, one of t

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 4

    Adrian POV“Daddy? Why are you picking me up? Where’s mom?” Hailey asked, looking confused as she approached my truck after walking out of school. I scoff, and pretend to be offended. “Why? Are you disappointed to see me?”She giggled, walking into my arms and hugging me. “No. Mom is always the one that picks me up, though,” she smiles, looking up at me. I kissed the tip of her nose, then opened the back door for her. “We’re going shopping,” I grinned, helping her to buckle her seat belt after lifting her up. “For Christmas?!” She asked excitedly. “Yes ma’am. We got to get your mama presents.”“Oh, can we get her a puppy?!” Hailey asks, jumping up and down in her booster seat. I chuckle at her request. She’s still got Pickles, but has been asking for a dog for months now, and Missy finally talked me into getting her one. She’s going to be one excited little girl on Christmas morning. The chocolate lab puppy that Missy found for her is at my dad’s for the next week until Christma

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 3

    “I’ll give you something you can lick like ice cream all you want,” I smirked at Adrian in the mirror. “Whoa, woman. Who taught you how to talk like that?”I giggle at the face he’s making staring at me. “You.”A proud grin stretched on his handsome face. “Oh yeah.”His hands move down my arms as he starts to kiss behind my ear, making me moan. When his tongue flicks out against my earlobe, I whimper out, feeling it down there too. His hands move to my belly, gliding under it, and when he lifts the weight of his child off my bladder, I cry out, “Thank you!”, making him chuckle. “Gawd, you’re adorable,” he husks in my ear. I smirked slightly at him in the mirror, my eyes half-closed in relaxation with him supporting most of my weight. “I know,” I replied, mocking his tone, since that was totally something he would say. “Humble too,” he laughs. “Learned that from you too.”“Mmmh, I’m such a good teacher. Think you can waddle to the bed and let me teach you a few more things?”I gri

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 2

    “Hey, guys,” I started to get up, pushing myself up from the couch, until a dishrag hit me in the back of the head. I turned to glare at my husband. “You stay put,” Adrian scowls back at me, pouring water into my mug in the kitchen,“You can all go to her to say your hellos. She’s not allowed to get up”Roseanne and her family chuckle while Brittany rolls her eyes again. “Are you in timeout, Missy?” Roseanne came to hug me from the couch after handing the pie I'd been waiting for all night to Rick. “Seems so,” I sighed, hugging her back. “What did you do this time?”“Dishes,” I shrug. She tutted her tongue, shaking her head, “Such a crime. I’m surprised he didn’t tie you to the bed after such an offense.”“Oh, I plan to later,” Adrian smirks, coming around the couch to hand me my tea before hugging Roseanne. She laughs at his cheekiness, used to his crude jokes. “How are you all? How was your thanksgiving?” Adrian asks, moving to hug Isabelle and shake Mike’s hand before giving

  • Build You Up    Christmas Special 1

    Missy POV “Mama, Dad said to tell you to stop,” Hailey tells me, coming in from the back door. “Stop what?” I asked, trying to get a grease stain out of my roasting pan, scrubbing vigorously at the supposedly non-stick material. “I can’t say the whole thing because he said curse words,” she scrunches her nose, making a face. Brittany chuckles from where she is sitting at the counter across from me, typing away at some final essay she has been working on since coming home for thanksgiving break. “Paraphrase. Leave out the bad words,” she mutters. Hailey sighs, “Well, he said to tell your stubborn butt to stop and be beeping patient. Then he said more beep words because Landon ran into his ankles with his tractor. When he stopped yelling and threatening to run over Landon’s tractor with the real tractor, he said to tell that beep woman I’ll do the beeping dishes in a sec, so she needs to sit her beeping butt down.” I rolled my eyes. If I wait for him and his

  • Build You Up    Epilogue

    2 years later….This is bliss. I’m floating in my jetted tub, engulfed in sweet-smelling foamy bubbles and soft music wafting out from the mounted speaker. The house has been quiet for 3 songs now, so I think Adrian finally managed to get Landon to sleep. I volunteered, but he insisted on me taking a bath as I cleaned the kitchen after dinner and told me he had bedtime covered. I know what that means. He wants me relaxed, energized and in a good mood. I bet any second, he comes waltzing into the bathroom too….“Oh, honey!” Adrian’s excitement from the other side of the door made me giggle. He opens the door then pops his head in, wiggling his eyebrows. “Mission accomplished.”“Good job, daddy,” I told him, floating to the edge of the tub and resting my head on my arm. “Want some company?” He asks, even though he is already stripping out of his clothes. “If I say no, will that stop you?”“Not a chance,” he grins, tossing his sock and boxers in the hamper with his jeans. He slips

DMCA.com Protection Status