I watched Arianne spoon the ice-cream into her mouth. Those rosy pink lips of hers sucked at the spoon in a way that was sure to make my dick very hard, very soon, if I didn’t look away and focus on something else.
“Have you finished yet, Isaac?” I asked throwing my cup and spoon in the rubbish bin. He followed my example.
“Yep. I think salted caramel’s my new favourite. It’s so yum.”
“Yeah, I’ve had that one before but my favourite is still dark chocolate. You want to go climb on the pyramid? It looks super cool,” I suggested to him.
He looked down at his sneaker clad feet and stubbed the toes into the ground. “Um, I’m not really sure. I’m not much into climbing.”
“Why not. It’s huge fun. Xander and I used to come here when we were about your age. Although they didn’t have the pyramid then but a few other things. Let’s go try it out.”
Strangely there was next to no one in the park today, just a young mother pushing a toddler on the small swing off to the side.
I walked up to the pyramid and Isaac followed me with a very uncertain look on his face.
“What’s up, mate?” I asked him quietly, crouching down to his level.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and kept looking down. “I don’t know how to climb.”
“Well man, there’s really no rules or anything to it. You just kind of grab hold and start working your way up.” He looked at me a little sceptically.
“Are you going to do it, too?”
I went to object then stopped myself. There was no rule that said I couldn’t help him. It just wasn’t what normally happened.
Well normal be damned—today I was climbing.
“Sure. Grab hold of the rope cross piece right here above your head. Now put your foot on the second cross piece.” I demonstrated and he followed. “Okay now we do it again.”
Once again I climbed a little higher and he followed. That brought me to the first platform piece where it got more challenging.
“Okay, here you’ve got a couple of options. You can either go up through that hole in the mesh ropes there or you can go over the ledge. Either way you need to get over to the centre.” He looked very uncertain.
“How about I climb up and you can watch how I do it?”
He nodded and I could see fear, uncertainty, but determination on his face just the same.
I climbed up on to the ledge then turned down to look at him. “Did you see how I did that? Now you do it. Put your hand right here.” I pointed to a rope cross piece and he did as I asked. “Now put your foot up two more.” Again he followed my instructions.
“This is where it gets a bit tricky, because there is no bit to hold onto and pull yourself up with. You have to reach out and over to here.” I pointed to where I wanted him to put his hand and he did.
“Okay, let go with the other hand and push up.” His eyes looked up at me and I could see the uncertainty and fear. “Come on, matey, you can do it.”
“I’m going to fall,” he squeaked out and looked down at the ground. “It’s too high.”
“You’re not going to fall. Look at me, not down there.” His eyes met mine. “Let go, Isaac, and use your legs. I won’t let you fall.” I moved so that I was ready to grab him and drag him up if I needed to.
I could tell he was teetering on the edge of giving it a go but hadn’t quite convinced himself.
“Do it, man,” I said in almost my Sensei tone.
Immediately, he pushed up and caught the rung beside the other one, exactly as he’d needed to and how I’d asked him.
“Well done, mate. Good job!” Then, the realisation of what he’d done, sunk in.
“Oh wow! Look Mum I did it. I got up here all by myself.”
Arianne’s face was a mix of both pride and concern. “Well done, Isaac. Don’t fall.”
“She worries too much. I’m not going to fall. You won’t let me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at how quickly a kid’s outlook could change once they achieved something. He turned around to perch beside me and then started to look around. “View’s good from up here.”
“Yep, not bad at all.” My eyes were on Arianne and the view was definitely good from here, but I doubted that was particularly what Isaac was referring to.
Then he saw a bird land in a tree, “Do you know that’s a…” He’d forgotten about where he was because his attention had become laser focused on telling me about the bird. He started to lose his balance and almost slipped from the little rope platform we were perched on. I snagged his upper arm and dragged him easily back to safety before gravity had a chance to do it’s thing. But not before he let out a little squeal.
“Steady there, man,” I told him in a quiet confident tone.
“Phew! That was close.” Then he turned to look at me and threw himself against my chest. I caught him in a one arm hug. “You really wouldn’t let me fall.” The way he said it and his tone led me to think it was a major thing for him. It was almost as if I’d passed a test that I didn’t even know I was taking.
“I said I wouldn’t and I won’t.” I could feel his little heart pounding against his chest and his fragile body was shaking. “How about you scoot around onto my back, like I’m giving you a piggy back and I’ll get us down from here?”
I didn’t have to ask him twice. He slipped around and clung to me like a spider monkey. “Okay, hang on.” Thirty seconds later I had us on the ground once again.
Arianne raced up, “Are you okay, Isaac?”
“I got all the way to that ledge Mum. Then there was this bird that I’m sure was a Willie Wagtail, but I wanted to check and I leaned too far out, but Dane grabbed me.” He was yet to climb off my back and hugged me tighter. “His tail was going so fast.” Isaac climbed off and he looked up into the tree, searching for the bird.
“Thank you,” she mouthed to me. I gave her a smile.
“All good.”
Isaac ran over to the base of the tree he’d been studying. “You’re really good with him you know.”
I was a little embarrassed by that so I shrugged it off. “He’s a great kid. I’m constantly wondering what he’s going to come out with next.”
Then her eyes dropped to the ground much like Isaac’s had a few minutes before when he was considering whether to climb the pyramid. “He hasn’t ever had a positive male role model in his life before.”
I found that hard to believe. “Surely there must have…” Then I recalled Isaac referring to Marcel as the bad man. “Did he hit…” What was I going to say?
“Mum, I can’t find it,” Isaac yelled out and ran back over towards us.
I tried to read the expression on Arianne’s face. “No he didn’t hit him. I didn’t let him. Marcel couldn’t cope with having a special needs child.” The way she said it told me so much. I’d lay money that she’d put herself between the boy and her abusive ex-husband. The more I heard about this fucker, the more I wanted to beat the shit out of him. How could any man treat his wife and son the way he had?
Isaac came racing up and stopped just before us. “I bet you could see the bird, Dane. You’re so much taller.”
“Mate, I think that bird is long gone, but I’ll have a quick look.” I walked over to the tree and Isaac tagged along bursting with excitement beside me. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the bird would be out of there with all the abrupt moves he was making.
I stopped and studied the tree, but couldn’t find any trace of the bird. “Sorry mate, I think your bird is gone.”
“Ohhhh.” Disappointment was evident in his voice.
“Okay, Isaac time to head home. We need to get some dinner organised and an early night. You’ve got a whole day at school tomorrow.
“Yippee. I like school. I just don’t like little lunch and big lunch.”
Arianne looked concerned. “Why?”
“All the kids pick on me and Jeremy.”
I looked over at Arianne. “Looks l
ike you need to have that conversation with the principal.”
“Mmm, I do.”
Isaac started chatting about Jurassic World again during the last few minutes home. I pulled into the driveway and we got out of the truck. Arianne moved up the front porch to unlock the front door. As she pushed opened the door I noticed the white envelope that had been slipped under the door. Arianne did too and reached to pick it up. She was doing well to hide the look of alarm from Isaac, but her body had gone rigid.
“What’s that, mum?” Isaac broke briefly from his intense description of how the velociraptors should have been trained.
“Oh, nothing, just some advertising. Go and have a shower please, Isaac. We’ll have dinner in a moment.”
“But Mum…”
“Isaac, don’t push me,” she said very firmly. He said nothing more and headed down the hallway towards the bedrooms and bathroom.
We moved over to the dining room table and she put her handbag down, before looking at the envelope ominously. “The handwriting is Marcel’s”
She looked at the envelope as if it was going to bite her, which was probably the truth because whatever was in there was unlikely to be good. “Do you want me to open it?” I offered.
Arianne shook her head. “No I’ll do it.”
She took the envelope and carefully eased the flap up before pulling out the contents. There was a single sheet of paper inside, which she placed on the table for us both to see.
Annie,
It’s time for you to come home now. I’ve given you space. You belong to me. I’m coming for you.
M
She shivered as the words sunk in. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into my body. “We need to call Mark.”
Arianne nodded once, but didn’t say a word for several long moments.
“I’m scared Dane.”
Chapter 9
Arianne
I was still shaking. How could a piece of paper have such an impact on me? If Dane hadn’t been plastered to my side, I’m sure I would have crumpled to the floor. The next thing I knew he’d scooped me up and taken the few steps to sit down on the sofa with me in his lap. His big body curled around mime and I felt safe—protected from everything bad and Marcel.
He stroked the hair back from my face and I couldn’t stop the silent tears that overflowed my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. His slightly rough thumb wiped them away.
“I know you’re scared, Ari, but I promise I won’t let anything happen to you or Isaac.”
“But you don’t know Marcel, Dane. He’s mean and nasty and he’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants,” I sobbed, feeling totally overwhelmed by the whole situation.
“So far all I’ve seen is a bully. They like to prey on weakness. We give him none of that. We’ll get through this, Ari. We need to get him out of your life permanently.”
That sounded so ominous.
I wanted Marcel out of my life too and also wanted to believe Dane—I really did. History told me Marcel wasn’t that easy to shake.
“I thought he’d got over us when he took up with Candice. I really did.” And then it felt like the dam burst and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “He changed Dane…When he realised Isaac wasn’t the normal little boy he expected, he changed. He blamed me. I didn’t give him a normal son. He couldn’t cope with having a special needs child. The drinking became worse. He started coke. He resented the extra time I had to spend with Isaac. He was jealous of his own son. Then the beatings started…” My throat closed up. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. Isaac would be out of the shower any moment.
“I need to tell you. Tell someone. But I can’t now. I have to keep it together for Isaac; he’ll be out here soon.”
Dane nodded and kissed my forehead. “I understand, baby. I do. When you’re ready to talk I’ll be here. Dry your tears and I’ll call Mark and sort this out.”
“Thanks.” My voice was little more than a hoarse whisper.
He gave me a final squeeze and I reluctantly moved off his body. I swore I could have stayed there forever. Just having someone to talk to, to share the load with…
“It’ll be okay, Ari. I’m just going to deal with this. You try and get yourself together.”
I nodded and watched him move over to the table and take out his phone and photograph the note. Then he went outside and I could hear his voice but couldn’t make out the words.
A few seconds later I could hear Isaac in his bedroom; any moment now he’d be out here. I needed to have myself together. So far Isaac had coped with Marcel turning up, but for how long? He’d needed a mountain of counselling and therapy from when he was four until seven when the worst of it took place. Even now, part of his program was counselling to help him adjust to not only the challenges of Asperger’s as well as what he’d witnessed happening to me at the hands of Marcel.
No child should have to witness his mother being bashed by his father.
Dane came back in a few seconds later. “I sent a picture of it through to Mark. He wants us to put it in a bag for evidence and he’s making getting that restraining order his priority in the morning.” Then Dane dragged his hand through his thick hair and looked a little uncertain or was it exasperated? “I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about this, but he suggested you stay with friends or family. Alternatively, I could bunk here. He doesn’t want you two alone by yourselves any more than absolutely necessary until the Marcel situation is sorted out.”
My God! My life had started to spiral out of control and the culprit was always the same—Marcel. I’d vowed once I left Marcel I wouldn’t need or be tethered to anyone again, but to get away from Marcel I’d had to become indebted to Leo. That debt was now repaid. Was I getting into another one with Dane?
Debts came with strings and paybacks. It was a lesson I’d learned early in my life. It was the reason I no longer had a family of my own—only Isaac.
What choice did I have? I weighed my options up. I could take Leo up on his offer and I’d be done with the Marcel problem forever, but I’d also be living a life which would likely be just as difficult or worse.
I could go it alone and risk Marcel coming back and something happening to me or Isaac. The only other option was Dane. Dane seemed to have no problem dealing with Marcel. However, to have Dane here was dangerous as well, but in a whole other way.
I just knew it would be dangerous on my heart. For two years, I’d done nothing but focus on Isaac and getting rid of Marcel. Now it was as if I’d woken from a self-induced hibernation where men were concerned.
I wanted Dane as a woman wants a man.
And more surprisingly he seemed to be interested in me in the same way.
“What do you want to do, Ari?” Dane asked again, more insistently.
I had to answer him, “If you stay here, what does that mean between you and I?”
He looked at me and his eyebrows rose. “What do you want it to mean?”
That was exactly the answer I didn’t need right now. I needed him to take the decision out of my hands. I needed him to make it for me.
He looked at me intently as I teetered on the edge of a decision. “How about I stay for a few days and we see how things go?” he suggested.
That filled me with relief. It wasn’t me asking, but still getting what I really wanted.
“Okay. That would be great…thank you for helping out.”
His eyes found mine. “Ari, it’s no problem for me, really.”
“Surely you have business and other things to attend to?”
He nodded. “Of course. However, there’s nothing that I do that I can’t organise from here. I have staff for the servo. As for the martial arts supply stuff, that’s easy. I can do it anywhere I have an internet connection.”
I didn’t want to feel beholden to him for rearranging his life to accommodate my problems. “What about your martial arts training?”
He shrugged. “What about it? There’s nothing we can’
t sort out here, Ari. Let’s just take it one day at a time, hey?”
Part of me wanted to protest more but I knew enough about Dane already to know that his argument was logical and I’d be a fool to knock it back because of my own issues.
He moved closer and opened his arms. “Come here, Ari.” It was a low sexy command and there was no way I could or would resist his offer. I wanted nothing more than to be in the shelter of his arms.
“Stop worrying so much. It’ll all work out. Things always do,” he whispered into my ear. Isaac chose that moment to walk back out and I stiffened in Dane’s arms and went to pull away but he held me firm.
“What are you doing? Why are you hugging my mum?” he asked and heat rose to my cheeks and I felt all kinds of sprung.
“Nothing much, mate. Just talking about some stuff. Then your mum looked like she needed a hug. I was just helping her out with that.” Dane handled it so much better than I ever would have. Was it because he was a male? Or was it because he didn’t have this great big feeling of guilt at wanting someone. Isaac nodded as if it all made perfect sense and didn’t seem to be the least bit perturbed. I realised this was the time to tell him about Dane staying.
“Isaac, I need to talk to you about something.” He looked at me a little curiously. “How do you feel about Dane staying for a little while?”
I should have known; I was stupid to have even been concerned. His eyes lit up liked I’d just promised him a trip to Disneyland. “That would be cool.”
Dane reached forward and ruffled his hair. “We’ll have some fun together, hey mate?”
Isaac nodded his eyes huge with excitement. “So can we have pizza for dinner again?”
I groaned at the thought. Although the option of cooking didn’t seem terribly appealing either.
“Do you two like Thai? I know this great little place not far from here. How about I pick up an order on my way back. I just need to whip out quickly and do a few things. I’ll be back in under an hour.”
“Thai sounds great,” I agreed pleased that the dinner question was solved. I didn’t mind cooking but tonight take out sounded good.
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