JACKSON'S POVShe's saying the truth, alright! But does she have to shout about it and let everyone know what is supposed to be a secret between us?"I'm sorry that I have caused you so much pain. Sometimes, I wish I had super powers, you know, like I could stop myself from… It hurts me too to watch you cry and I can't even stop. I get it, I need to be caged because I am a wild animal," I was blurting, I know, but everyone else is right and I am always wrong! Her facial expression changed from glare to sadness and she took refined steps towards me."Jackson, no… you are not. I'm sorry, it's just that…" I pushed her hand away when she tried to hold me and walked away. I thought I was hurting until that moment when it felt like she was going to disappear thinking that I don't need her anymore.Even as I yelled at some of the workers who wouldn't mind their business and cautioned some of the younger men who dared admire their boss's girlfriend, I stole glances at her to make sure she w
VERA'S POV"How do you feel now?" Jack whispered softly to my ear, still holding me tightly.We lay down on the bed, my back turned to him, his right hand thrown over my tummy and his long leg tangled with mine.He deliberately nibbled on my ear and a stirring groan escaped my lips. Isn't it amazing? To wake up every morning, in the arms of your beloved and get treated so sweetly in a serene bedroom!I turned around to face him, my mouth twitched in amusement. He can be so romantic when he's cool, and I can give anything to make this morning last forever. Impossible!Look who's talking about forever! Someone who clearly warned this guy not to fall in love with her because she doesn't want to get attached to him in any way, won't it be stupid to break her own rules?Honestly, for that brief moment, I forgot about the pain, what scared me last night and why I should get far away from Jack and buried myself in his protective arms."Can you do that again?" I twitched my ear.He nibbled on
JACKSON'S POVThe sound of her laughter tightened my heart as I realized that I didn't make her cry, I finally made her laugh in the most sensual way."I love…" I stopped myself when I almost added you. I blew out a breath and grumbled, "...this!" I carried her to the spacious place in the bathroom, laid her down on the floor and sprawled out beside her.We lay on our backs and tried to catch our breaths."Oh my goodness! This feels so good!!" She laughed."You are out of your mind!" I gasped.I stared at her, amazed at all the things she does to me. I know deep down, she's still hurting and what we just did worsened her condition and here she is laughing in excitement.No matter how strong she pretends to be, I know that she is broken and I think her new strategy will help me to ease her pain."Last night, what got you so scared? Does it have to do with your next door neighbor's call?" I asked worriedly. I need to help her too. Whatever made her act like that last night must've bee
VERA'S POVI sleepily searched for Jack in bed and woke up to realize that he's not in bed. I was pissed by that and closed my eyes again, foolishly expecting his gentle touch again.So I was disappointed when Tim jumped on top of me when he came back from school. He looked very happy and I didn't want to be a killjoy by telling him that he's not the person I'm expecting to do that."Good afternoon, miss Vera!" He greeted me excitedly."How's school today?" I asked, pecking him repeatedly."It was fabulous! Especially when I remembered I'm gonna meet you at home, I made sure to pass my class work!!" He said and gave me his mathematics workbook."Wow! I am so proud of you. High five!" I praised him after seeing the two pages where he got good remarks from his class teachers for doing well.We jerked our palms together before I drew him close for a hug. He went about telling me that Mrs Briggs had dropped by his school to take him and her three kids home.I asked him why Max, his anonym
JACKSON'S POVI sat down in Hannah's kitchen and sipped the iced tea she offered me while we talked. I had come straight here to see her when I left Nathan's office."I know you are worried about her, and I am not telling you to trust me, but I want you to know that I won't hurt her intentionally," I assured her."That girl has been through a lot. Much more than words can express, I don't want her to go through heartbreak again. She almost died after losing…" Hannah abruptly stopped herself from revealing what I figured could be top secret between her and Vera."You don't have to tell me anything that you don't feel like… There's a few days left for the contract date to expire. We can't feel anything strong for each other in ten days, it's impossible, right?" I shared to get her consent."What about your son who's already picturing her as a mother figure? Vera might be a bîtch, but she has ways of winning children's hearts without knowing. It's the only gift she has, they love her un
VERA'S POV When I woke up the next morning, I was sober. Everything that happened last night slowly came back to me and I was grateful he didn't take me to his bedroom.What if I had woken up in his bed? I can't stand the embarrassment and I must avoid him at all cost this morning until I am ready to face him. What the hell was I thinking?I went to the door and locked it. Why am I behaving like this now? Isn't that what I wanted? But do I actually need to get drunk before I would be able to speak my mind to him? "Vera, this is not you! Getting drunk so I would talk to a man isn't my style at all!" I mumbled to myself.Technically, I'm not supposed to drink at all! Even if I must, a glass would be fine instead of a full bottle of an alcoholic beverage! To think that I threw up in front of him! What the fûck!After a few minutes, Tim came to knock at the door asking me to open it, I ignored him, he said he was waiting for me in the parlor after some while and left.When everything g
JACKSON'S POVVera twirled around to leave in an attempt to escape what she just saw and ran into Tim who was right behind her. She covered Tim's eyes, took him outside and banged the door shut without taking another glance at us.I was glad the little boy didn't get to see the manwhore he has as a father. I hated myself at that moment and I didn't know why, but I needed to defend myself to Vera and tell her what she saw wasn't what it actually meant."Vera!" I pushed Monica away from me to run after her."Where the fûck are you going, Jack? I need to help you out of this bullshit and you want to run after some random girl I heard you picked from the streets!" Monica yelped.I yanked her hands off me and closed the zipper of my pants which she had opened while seducing me. She knew that I can't control myself and she used it against me."If you come an inch close to me, I will rip you apart!" I yelled at her and ran outside to meet Vera. "Fûck you, Jack! She's only here for the money
VERA'S POVI didn't want to talk about what happened earlier. I also knew that if the discussion continued, he was bound to ask me why I was running to him when I caught him in the act.Seeing that Monica had succeeded in making him hörny, I also needed to keep my promise, just help him for the few days left for us to be together. So I had to do something about his arousal."If you are not in the mood, you don't have to do this…" he choked, holding my hand in place."I said you shouldn't touch me! Unlike some people, I keep my promises," I warned again.He obeyed with any further complaints. He swiftly punched a button and the driver's backrest pulled backwards, giving us enough room to do whatever we want.I unclasped his belt and pushed his pants down, I ran my tongue over his erection and forgot about my problems and the world for a while. His hands flew up to my head as he groaned, I raised a brow at him and he forced his hands off of me, murmuring an apology.I stroked, kissed,
AUTHOR'S POV “Kill her, Malone!” Ken thundered when the boy stiffened.“No!” Hannah shook her head vigorously as Malone lifted the gun to Vera’s face. “He is trying to destroy you, Malone.”“You can't pull the trigger on our mother. Can't you…” “Don't fucking tell me what to do! Our mother you say? Hey, grab a cloth and clean your mouth!” Malone's roar reverberated in Vera's ears and made Tim wash down the rest of his sentence with his saliva. She stood and watched, speechless, as she knew that they were all trapped and Ken had never played fair games.“Stop this madness, Prince Kenneth. Are you willing to turn your son into a monster like yourself? Are you ready to live proudly with yourself after doing this?” She demanded, shaking her head in disgust.“Your petty tricks won't work on me. Have you forgotten who I am? You thought it was easy for me to be locked up? I have people! And I can still buy more people with my money! There's nothing like justice because the system is rotte
VERA'S POV It started raining heavily that evening as we drove home. Jack and Nathan went to search for Malone, but he was still not found until it was too dark for us to keep waiting for them in the graveyard. By the time we were headed home, a police report had already been made in case it got out of hand. I do not know how to describe the pain that I felt. I could say that it was deafening because Hannah was speaking to me, but her voice was an added noise to my rumbling ears.From the very moment she announced Malone's disappearance, I had felt nauseous, and a persistent pain rose below my stomach, so I folded myself in the backseat, and my jaw dropped to my knees. Hannah was sitting beside me, trying to soothe me and also not wake up her sleeping child. Timothy sat quietly in Jessica's lap in the front seat, their sad eyes monitoring me through the mirror.When Max pulled the car into the driveway of my home, I had to blink countless times to focus my eyes and carefully come dow
VERA'S POV It was a cool evening when she was laid to rest. I stood numbly beside her grave, not in any way understanding how I felt about her death. She might not have been the best mother, but she was still someone who would say bless you when you sneeze beside her. How she was able to watch me suffer at the hands of her boyfriend has always made me doubt that I was her daughter, but I still didn't wish for her life to end so soon.We were good and have been trying to become friends. At least, she cared so much about Jessica even though she was more distant than ever. She hadn't shown any sign of sickness and wasn't the type of person that would commit suicide. But then, she died in a peaceful way and place. According to Jessica, she slept beside her and didn't wake up the next morning. Thanks to Jack who helped us make up. But I expected more from her. One would think she would not only ask for forgiveness but also mend her ways. She should have tried to make up for lost time and
AUTHOR'S POV“Stop right there, Malone! Don't walk out on me when I'm still talking to you!” Vera's eyes were a set of fury as she glared at her son's turned back.They had rushed together to the police station after Jack disclosed Max's news to both her and Maureen. Sensing how frantic she looked, Maureen had offered her support to go with them and try to calm her down while Jack drove them there. Having no energy to explain to people how she is Monica's twin sister and not his wife's ghost, he told her to go and not worry about them. She wished them luck and watched them drive away.They arrived at the police station early before Malone was sent to the detention cell.Jack took care of speaking to the Police Chief and getting some paperwork done with the young recruited police officer, Harry, who had helped in solving their recent incident with Vera's stalker and Ken's arrest. Afterward, he was allowed to take Malone home. While they were in the car, Vera tried to speak to the boy,
JACK'S POV I felt Vera shiver beside me and I turned my head slowly to look at her frenzied face. When I turned to Maureen again, she was already standing and blowing smoke into the air. “What do you mean? I met Monica first, she was the one I have always known. I have never even heard about you. I used to visit her Dom room and her roommate was a man, gay to be precise.” My forehead wrinkled in deep thought as I traveled through the memory lane.“We met at our school parking lot. You tried to park your white pickup truck and it crashed into my black BMW. You came about apologizing and promised insistently to fix it, but I ignored you and punctured your tires because I had a bad day.” Maureen turned to face us, backing the glass window now and her lips curved in a wistful smile.“And I said to you, ‘We are even now, so no hard feelings’ and we looked at each other and started laughing. We had both cars towed to the nearest repair shop and waited for them to be fixed over pizza and i
VERA'S POV I let Jack hold my hand as he led us into the clubhouse. I have heard about the place, popular among the local folks. I watched with disgust, hating how jealousy ate deep into my skull when a random masked lady walked up to Jack and called his name. When I came Downtown, I heard a lot of gossip about the clubs, the top hotels, and the sex workers, but nobody told me that they were rude and aggressive. Or am I just putting too much meaning into the fact that a bitch is trying to get the attention of a man that is holding his woman? She wants to rub it on my face that he knows her, period!“Jackson Taylor, I believe you still remember me. I didn't expect to see you here again.” She continued, lifting her thin mask off her face to reveal a pretty oval face.“I'm here strictly for business. Excuse me.” He gently pushed her aside and sidestepped into an enclosed booth by the far end of the rowdy room, dragging me gently behind him.“You shouldn't treat her like that. She was b
JACK'S POVIt was time to have an actual conversation. We haven't talked since the time at the garden, and we promised to always tell each other the truth about everything. When our guests left, we were alone in the kitchen, doing the dishes. Malone had gulped a cup of coffee and went upstairs while Timothy left with Hannah's family. He had become quick friends with Tasha. “I went to meet Monica's father to confirm something, and you'd be surprised by what he told me,” I answered her question half an hour later after rinsing the last plate.“I was worried. You shouldn't leave the house like that without telling me.” She said, turning to face me while leaning on the washbasin. “You haven't asked me what I found out. And you don't seem surprised.” I placed the last plate in the dish rack and cleaned my hands with a small blue towel, then hung it back on its rack.“I saw Monica last night. She has come back into our lives and I understand that you must be doing everything possible to m
VERA'S POV I didn't know when Jack left the house, I woke up to find myself alone in the bed, cuddling my pillow. I rolled out of bed when I heard voices from downstairs. I almost forgot I was in a new house, and Jack had bought me expensive cars for me to choose from, hence the blissful sex in the underground garage. I was hopping downstairs in pajamas and flip-flops when I recalled the woman I saw when I came out to get wine last night in front of the house by the carport. How could I forget Monica's taunting face as she silently challenged me to a duel? How could she lie to everyone like that and why in God's name can't she just remain dead? Why come back now? What does she want?“Good morning, dear hostess!” Hannah greeted ironically as she watched her husband and Nathan take out the trash.“She's winning the best hostess of this season, all right!” Jessica laughed, placing full plates of fried rice, chicken salad, and french fries on the dining table.“I love how that smells,”
WRITER'S POV Jack threw on his clothes and kissed Vera on the forehead before exiting their bedroom while she murmured something in her sleep behind him. If she woke up afterward, he had no idea because he didn't look back and couldn't wait to check up on the boys before he left the house. It was still early, so the living room was still a mess: empty bottles of different drinks, foils, and containers of leftovers, cartons, and wrappers of some kid’s packaged gifts brought in, and wine glasses dropped off at every corner. So much for a new home. Jack ignored all that as he opened the door and walked down the front steps, welcoming the cold that came with light drops of water splattering the carport’s canopy and wondering if Hannah and her family, or even Nathan and Jessica, had gone home last night or they're occupying the guest rooms.He had only the priest in mind. He had paid a visit to Reverend Israel, Monica's father twice since her funeral, so it wouldn't feel somehow for him