The last couple of weeks, we’d formed some sort of relationship, and naturally taken up our roles in the house. Daisy no longer spent her time just staring at Vale, the complete opposite, she relied on him for so much, especially when it came to the books. Something she said she wasn’t that good at, when we were at school we were always helping her with her maths.“Is Vale, still working on the books?” I asked as I came across her. Since our time in the barn, we’d kept at arms length. I didn’t want to upset my brother and the way I took charge that day, really rocked the boat with him. He had a shit relationship with dad. I was deemed as the favorite, even if my recollection of the past was completely different from his. It didn’t matter to me, but they seemed to argue all the time. Sometimes, about important things, and at other times nothing at all. As if they got a kick out of arguing with each other. “Uh-huh. I can see his excitement of doing maths hasn’t failed since he joined t
I slept for a while, and when I woke up Dean was carrying me to the bathroom to take me into the shower. I was completely satisfied and didn’t care if he wanted to take me for a swim, much less a shower. I snuggled into his chest and placidly let him clean me.I looked up into his eyes, so beautiful and clear, and wanted to speak but he didn’t let me.“Later, baby. Later we’ll talk about what the future holds, what this might mean, and where we might all go together, but for now, we will explore each other, for now we find out what gets each other of the most. That’s all, alright?” He looked at me to check that I was on the same page.I nodded my head to agree.“Okay, good.” He smiled and we got out of the shower to dry off. When we walked back into the bedroom we found Vale naked with only the covers to hide his nudity, waiting for us with a smile. Sunlight gleamed in his light brown hair and I looked back at Dean, his hair darker since it was wet. It really was difficult to tell the
Dean was working on the ranch and Daisy and I was in bed, just holding each other and enjoying each other’s company. This was the thing I loved most about Daisy, I could always be me. I didn’t have to pretend or otherwise.“A penny for your thoughts,” her fingers were on my nose then they darted to my lips, and I knew where they were going so, I stopped her for a second. I just wanted to be in her company, as sexy as she was and she made me want to fuck her every second. For now, my cock needed a break, and apart from the first time we all did it, we hadn’t stopped or even spoken about the future.“You know, we never did tell you why we came home?”She moved on top of me, we’d turned her from being a virgin to a temptress in the short space of two weeks. I couldn’t believe we didn’t want to come. We shied away from being the one place we considered home, just too ashamed to face her and too afraid to face what could be waiting for us.“I know. The main reason was money…”“Oh.”I could
I’m in love with Clark Wells; I have been ever since my mom married his dad. That was two years ago. Now I’m twenty and still have a big crush on the billionaire. He’s every inch a man, and he’s off-limits because he’s forty-three and my stepbrother. He’s divorced and in desperate need of a nanny. I’m in desperate need of him and a job. I can’t tell him my secret. I will, in time. I hope once he sees all of me, he’ll love every inch, from my head to my toes, so he can forgive me for the secret that I’ve kept from him.
I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I had no choice. Mom had run off, and here I was with the one bag which held all my worldly belongings, while sitting on the bus to meet my stepbrother. I thought he would send a driver, but he reassured me he would meet me at the station. I was so embarrassed and had no one else to turn to. When mom married Heath Richards, everyone accused her of being a gold digger - even grandma. They said she was wrong for marrying someone nearly thirty years her senior just for his money. She said they were wrong. She told me that the wisdom gained through the years was the most attractive quality I could ever find in a man. One who knew how to take care of you and would do anything for you. She told me that could only be found in an older man. That man was Heath.Yet, as soon as the funeral was over, and the will was read, the sale of the house I used to live in went through, leaving me homeless, and the realtor told me about my fate. After a few days, I pic
I nearly hit two cars on the way home. I was so fucking excited, I didn’t even realize that everyone on her bus had left. When she called me last week, I was down. Real down. Amber’s a great housekeeper and all that. She’s taking care of me, given me everything I needed. Her husband was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Getting out of the city and selling all her belongings to live with me seemed to help heal her. It was great having a woman with me, who didn’t judge me or make me want to get lost in my work. I’d earned more money than I needed in a lifetime, enough not only for me, but for my child.I wanted to reach out to Olivia, but then my dad died, and I ran back into my shell, the destructive part of me again. The part I didn’t even know existed until I’d been humiliated not only once, but twice by my ex, Stephanie. I stood watching her, studying and wondering if God sent her to me as a sign. Olivia rang saying that she had no where to stay during the summer because the pen
“How was the ride?”“Fine.” I nodded as we stood in awkward silence. He seemed lost, the same way I was feeling. But he couldn’t be that way because of me. He was staring at me, long and hard. It was making me feel uncomfortable as the bus had left, and all the passengers at my stop had moved on. The only noise was passing traffic, my pulse racing and me trying to catch my breath. “Shall we?” he asked as he pointed to the car park, waking me up from my daze. I hesitated while I clutched my bag. It felt as if it weighed a ton, even if it only held my meager possessions. It made me feel pathetic, knowing I had nothing more. No more clothes or shoes waiting for me back home. I had no home. This was it. I was twenty, and my worldly possessions consisted of one bag, not even a case. We walked in silence as I followed him. He wore a suit, like he always did, even though it was the weekend. I wouldn’t be surprised if he popped into the office before coming to meet me. My stomach growled. I
We ate, and Olivia wasn’t shy about having her second helping. She didn’t know what a relief it was sitting with someone and eating with them. I hadn’t done it in a long time. “I’m stuffed.” I sighed as I rubbed my stomach, wanting to remove my belt. I felt as if I was about to explode. “I don’t think I can move. You don’t know what a relief it is to eat and not worry about someone telling you you shouldn’t eat anymore.”She put both her elbows on the table, with a look of concern on her face. “Yeah, I would know, but who would say that to you?”“My ex. Stephanie. She was always complaining about my weight. Working too hard. My receding hairline. She couldn’t find one thing not to complain about.”“So why did you marry her?”I froze, thinking she was the first person to ask me directly why I married her. I hated the words which were going to leave my mouth, even they was the truth.“To make myself feel better. People look at me and think, yeah he’s got money and all that, but nothin
Jade“Hurry up, Jade! We’re going to be late!” Zach’s voice came through the door.“Hold up,” I yelled back. “You took a lot longer in the bathroom and you know it!”He didn’t have a thing to say against that, and I smirked. It was hard for me not to take my time, though. After all, my stomach was a lot bigger now, and while not fully grown yet since I was only in the second half of my third month, the lump was big enough to be visible even under my clothes, no matter how baggy. Still, stepmom somehow managed to get me the right dress to make it a little subtle, and I had to settle it just right on my form so no one could tell, even when I walked around.Today was the open day for our bakery, both mine and Zach’s. Once we both enrolled in culinary school, he’d decided to drop his original plans for university, because of course Zach had plans. We’d graduated from high school, and we had the rest of our lives ahead of us.Finally getting my dress to settle right, I left the bathroom.
I looked around as the lady going around with the clipboard moved to the next table in line. She was near the end, and I figured the competition would really begin once she reached the end. I hadn’t read anything on how the contestants were judged, but I had already figured they might award points for the cakes appearance, if ‘points’ was how they were adding it all up. So, if she was awarding for presentation, then there would be more judges coming by to start tasting the cakes.“There are a lot of people here,” I murmured to Zach.He hummed. “Honestly, there are a lot less than I thought there would be. At least they’re less than a hundred.”I grumbled, squeezing his hand for comfort. Fifty-something people was still plenty enough, and I was starting to worry again, wondering just how big a chance we had of even winning this thing.I’m just an amateur. Sure, I’ve helped Dad at the bakery plenty, and I’ve been watching him for years, but some of these cakes look professionally done!
Jade is pregnant.The words hadn’t stopped running through my mind ever since I found out. It was the last thing I expected, but that just made me an idiot. With all the fucking we’d been doing, considering I didn’t remember using condoms or any form of contraception any of those times, this was a logical outcome.It was stupid that I was shocked, but I was.We had to go down and eat breakfast at some point, so after Jade got her composure back, and washed her face, we both headed downstairs. Monty was still in the dining room, as if he’d been waiting with the food for us. Two other places were set on the table with several platters in the middle.“If you’d like something like bacon or eggs or pancakes, just say so and I’ll have them prepare them in the kitchen.”“Nah, it’s fine,” I said quickly, before he could suggest it anyway. “It’s our fault for being late, anyway, we’ll just have what’s available.”There was plenty already, just not anything hot. I could tell the croissants were
Since it was too early in the morning, there was nothing we could do about our suspicions. When I thought about it, I felt like my period could be late, but it wasn’t like I marked my period days religiously, not anymore, anyway. As long as I made sure to have some painkillers and pads at the ready each month, I just waited, and I would feel the cramps coming just before my period started. Plus, I had been late some months, especially that first year when it happened, so I wouldn’t think too much about it.This was different, though. Not just because I was puking, but when I thought about it, neither of us had ever thought much about contraception as we got so lost in each other, and sometimes, once was all it took. I wanted to hold onto some denial, because I didn’t want it to be true, but I could feel a rising dread in my chest.In any case, since we couldn’t do a thing about it just yet, I got to work. I worked better with the icing than Zach did, so I cautiously walked closer onc
I waited for Jade to call me. She’d insisted on going home and speaking to her dad right after school, so Monty and I had gone back without her. He was in his room, playing video games with the leftover cake from yesterday’s practice.We were going to bake the final cake today, we had to. Even though the competition was in the afternoon, there might not be enough time to bake the cake and transport it to the venue in time, even if I got up before dawn and Jade arrived early. In the end, I got tired of waiting and gave her a call. If she’d been there, we could have caught some sleep after finishing with the cake, but at this rate, we wouldn’t have enough time for that. I waited until Monty came to call me out for dinner. In his house, they had dinner at seven, and I thought it was late enough.So, I called Jane. The line died before she could pick up, and I just called again. She picked up on the third call.“Hello?”Her voice didn’t sound right, a little thick, and sleepy. I felt my
The days went by fast, and before I knew it, it was Friday morning. I’d gone to classes after skipping on Monday, but with the competition tomorrow, I was wondering if I could still skip. I woke early because I was a little too excited, and it wasn’t even the day of the competition, yet.I went through my morning routine quickly, and by the time I arrived downstairs, it was to find that stepmom hadn’t even left yet, which meant I was really early.“Good morning,” I called.The nervous excitement in my stomach was almost enough to make me miss the awkward air in the room. Stepmom was standing by the cooker making breakfast with her back to the rest of the room. Dad was seated at the dining table with his paper held up. He didn’t look up at my voice, but Stepmom shot me a look over her shoulder. She smiled, even though it looked a bit strained.“Morning, Jade. Please, sit down. I’ll have breakfast done in a minute.”I was silent as I went to sit at the table, not looking at Dad even tho
There was a loud beep, and Jade looked up.“The cake is done,” she said excitedly.I grabbed a pair of oven mitts and handed them over to her before she forgot the oven was supposed to be hot and touched it with her bare hands in her eagerness. She opened the oven door, and the smell from the cake wafted into the kitchen.“It smells amazing,” I commented.“More than amazing, it smells delicious.”She pulled the tray out and set it on the counter, then tugged off the mitts. The cake had puffed up nicely.“It needs to cool down. Let’s take care of the icing now.”The cake was chocolate with chocolate icing, slight caramel and mint added in the icing. I watched jade as she perfected it. This was one area where she’d be better off than me, so I just leaned back on the counter and waited until she was done.Jade hummed as she tasted the icing once she was done mixing it. “I think it came out really good. Would you like to try it?”I was lost in thought, watching as jade licked the icing of
Getting to school, now that I lived at Monty’s, was a bit of an adventure. I usually got up early and left the house early, not because I was a particularly studious student, but it was so I’d have the decision to walk to school or take the bus. Jade usually ended up running late and had to rush all the way to school.Living with Monty, none of this was easy. Well, it was a little easy, because even after staying with him for nearly a whole week, I hadn’t once run into his family. So, I didn’t have to deal with any awkwardness, but Monty’s house was further from school than I was used to. So, I could get up early and go catch the bus, though it would take a bit of a walk, or I could get up a bit later and wake Monty up so he could drive me to school. He usually did it with not much time to spare before school started, but he was relaxed because he had a car, several of them in fact.This particular morning, I was feeling lazy, so he drove me to school. I was usually in class and revie
My alarm went off, waking me up, but I was too lazy to move. My head felt a little stuffy, like I wasn’t all awake, but the sound got annoying really fast. With a groan, I got up and reached for my nightstand, where I’d taken to keeping my phone instead of under my pillow, because of the radiation, and because this way I wouldn’t just snooze the alarm and go back to sleep.School. I had to go to school, there was never another reason for getting up early.I slipped off the side of my bed and rose up on my toes as I raised my clasped hands, yawning as I stretched my body out. I squinted my eyes, even though it was too early to have much light in my room. I stumbled my way out of my room, and was about to go to the bathroom when I paused, because it should be occupied.Zach was usually up earlier than I was, and he could take a ridiculous amount of time in the shower for a guy. I actually ended up staying in for about ten minutes because he took more than twice that time.Then, I rememb