Unclaimed (Kole Family)

by S. Brent

  Then I turned her, tugged her panties off, and made love to her on the bathroom counter.

  Prudence

  I loved Lincoln. Lincoln loved me. He took his time showing me just how much and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute but we had to go. He had to work and I had to study if I wanted to pass my finals and actually graduate.

  I went to open the front door just as Lincoln stepped up behind me and grabbed my hips and pulled me back into him. I laughed as he attacked my neck with wet, noisy kisses.

  “We gotta go,” I laughed as I pushed him back and reached for the door again.

  “Always in a hurry to get rid of me,” Lincoln teased as he lunged to attack again. I grabbed the door handle and twisted right as he playfully tugged at my hips and flung me around. I squealed and laughed when my feet left the floor.

  He set my feet on the floor. I was ready to make a break for it, only a half heart attempt of course. I had every intention of getting caught.

  Someone cleared their throat.

  I looked over at the door, which I had managed to open in my escape attempt, and my laugher instantly died.

  Oh God. My parents were standing in the doorway. My horrible, nasty, snobby, judgmental parents. My father with his overpriced black suit, his graying brown hair, and permanent scowl stood next to my mother in her designer sundress and newly constructed face to match her fake boobs and blond hair. How had they gotten my address? His secretary maybe. In all the years I lived here my parents never stopped by, not once. Why now?

  Lincoln straightened up with me. I knew there was no way he missed how I tensed against him. He stiffened in response.

  “Young lady?” my father questioned as he held out a delicately folded paper towards us. I recognized it, a graduation announcement. I hadn’t sent them one. How had they gotten one? I hadn’t even ordered any. “What is this?” my father asked.

  “Who is that?” my mother asked as she eyed Lincoln with an odd combination of disgust and intrigue. She blatantly scanned him head to toe. I didn’t like how she was looking at him. It made me want to step in front of him to protect him. Which was ridiculous. Her eyes lingered on his visible tattoos causing her unattractive scowl to grow.

  “Mother, Father, this is Lincoln O’Neil, my boyfriend,” I said and Lincoln stepped to my side and put his hand in mine as he reached out to shake my parents hands with his other. They both finally shook his hand after a moment of hesitation. Neither of them seemed too pleased about it.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Lincoln said. They didn’t return his politeness.

  My parents pushed into the apartment and looked around. This was the first time they had actually seen where I lived. I’d lived here for almost four years. They looked around the apartment then at Lincoln. They were completely appalled by both. That much was clear by their expressions. Fantastic. The tension was so thick I felt like I was going to drown in it.

  “Would you like to explain this?” my father asked waving the graduation announcement around at me again.

  “It’s a graduation announcement,” I said, clinging on to Lincoln’s hand. I didn’t miss how quiet and meek my voice sounded. I knew Lincoln hadn’t missed it either because I felt him tense up even more. He was ready to jump to my defense against my parents. That would not be good.

  “From California State University, Sacramento? I don’t understand because my daughter is going to UC Davis.”

  “Father,” I started to explain. I knew that this would come out eventually even though I hoped that eventually would be more like never. I was just hoping that I could avoid this confrontation all together. It was possible that I could graduate and they’d never know. It’s not like they were actively involved in my life.

  “And liberal studies? My daughter is going to be a surgeon. What does one do with a liberal studies degree?” he snapped. He was angry. He was raising his voice and the vein at his temple was twitching. I knew it was only a matter of time until his entire face was beet red heading to purple as his temper rose.

  “Teach,” I said quietly and looked down at my feet. I felt five years old all over again.

  “Teach?” he gasped like I just told him I was a mass murder. My mother gasped along with him and actually took a step back away from me like she might catch some rare, incurable disease.

  “You better go,” I said turning to Lincoln. “You have to get to work,” I said quietly turning to Lincoln. He didn’t like to be late and he had an appointment.

  He just looked down at me as I pulled him to the door past my parents who hadn’t moved, forcing us to walk around them, as they watched us.

  “Are you sure?” he asked and placed his finger under my chin forcing me to look up at him and meet his eyes. The concern was written all over his face. “I can stay. I can cancel.”

  I smiled at him. Just another reason I was in loved with him. It was sweet that he was willing to face my parents with me but it would only make things worse plus I knew they needed to drill me about him and it was not going to be pretty. I didn’t want to subject him to that because they’d do it with him here or not.

  “No, go to work. I’m good.” I tried to force a smile but I knew it looked fake. “Call me when you get off,” I said and I reached up on my tippy toes and kissed his mouth softly. I didn’t miss the comments my parents mumbled under their breath at my public display of affection towards my boyfriend in my own house. They disapproved. They didn’t even hold hands. Their relationship was completely unaffectionate and non-physical. They’d never understand.

  I fought the urge to roll my eyes. It would just make it worse.

  “Okay.” His eyes shot to my parents and then back to me. “Call me if you need anything,” he said softly before leaning in and tenderly kissing my cheek. “I love you,” he said quietly against my ear.

  “I love you too,” I said just as quietly. I knew my parents hadn’t heard us. They’d be having a full-blown conniption if they had.

  Lincoln took a few hesitant steps backwards before he jogged down the stairs out of sight. I shut the door slowly then turned to face the firing squad. This was going to be bad. Lincoln and school were both going to be difficult for them to understand on their own but it was going to be even worse to deal with them together.

  “How long have you been indulging in the biker,” my father asked. Biker? Lincoln was in jeans, tennis shoes, and t-shirt. What about him gave off the impression he was biker? The tattoos maybe.

  Guess I wasn’t going to make that study group after all. I turned and headed for the kitchen. I pulled out my phone to text my group while I walked.

  “Can I get you anything to drink?” I asked my parents because I seriously needed coffee to get through this.

  “No thank you,” my father snapped.

  “Coffee please,” my mother called after me in her airy sing-song voice. Once I had two cups of coffee, mine, doctored up, and my mother’s, black, I sat down at the small table in the dining room and my parents joined me. I didn’t miss that my mother added something to her coffee from a flask in her purse.

  “So the biker?” my father asked again not one to be redirected. Apparently we were going to start with Lincoln, not school. I tried not to laugh.

  “Lincoln is not a biker,” I attempted to explain even though I knew it was pointless. I thought about telling him he was a tattoo artist but that wasn’t going to help anything. The less they knew about him the better. “But we have been dating for a few months now.” I took a drink.

  “Is he cheap?” my mother asked and I about spewed my coffee all over the table. I knew my face was bright red. I could not believe my mother just asked me that. Oh my God. My mother thought I was paying a man for sex. Oh my God. I didn’t know what to make of that. I was appalled and horrified at the same time and yet I found it slightly comical.

  “I’m not paying him,” I explained. “We are dating. In a relationship.”

  “But he’s covered in tattoos,” my fa
ther exclaimed. He was okay with the idea that I was paying him for sex but not dating him because of his tattoos. I had the strangest parents.

  “I’m aware of that,” I snapped back. My father just raised an eyebrow at me. I never talked back to my parents or snapped at them. It was pointless. It got me nowhere. They could never see my side of anything. So why did I think this was going to be any different.

  “Are you serious about this boy?” my mother asked suddenly very concerned. She put her hand over her heart like she was moments away from an anxiety attack. She probably had pills in her purse for that too. She was okay with it when she thought I was paying him but not as an actual relationship. That made absolutely no sense.

  “Very,” I said. I saw no reason to lie to them. Not telling them because I hadn’t spoken to them was one thing but I wasn’t ashamed of Lincoln. I wasn’t going to hide him from them or lie to them. I would have told them about Lincoln eventually but it wasn’t like they were really even a part of my life so it didn’t matter. The only way they were ever going to approve of any guy I dated was if they picked him out for me.

  “Then we should get to know him,” my father said and I about fell out my chair. I had not been expecting that in the next hundred years. “Invite him to dinner tonight.”

  I just nodded dumbfounded.

  “So what is this?” Apparently we were done talking about Lincoln. He slid the announcement across the table to me.

  “It’s my graduation announcement for the college of Liberal studies at Sac State,” I explained even though he already knew that. Who had sent them this?

  “You go to Sac State?” my father said Sac State like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

  I nodded. He shook his head in disbelief.

  “What will our friends think? What will they say,” my mother gasped. Image was everything to her. Shouldn’t they be proud that I was graduating from college even if it wasn’t Ivy League? My father completely ignored her.

  “We can fix this,” he started. “I’m sure with the right donation we can get you transferred to a more prestigious school and get you back on track.” He wasn’t really talking to me. He was more talking to himself trying to figure out the quickest solution to get me back on track and save them the embarrassment of a daughter who went to a state school and worked as a teacher. God Forbid.

  I didn’t know why they wanted me to be a doctor anyway. They planned to marry me off to some billionaire and let me live a life as a trophy wife just like my mother.

  “No,” I exclaimed. I could hear the panic in my voice. Both my parents jumped. “I don’t want to switch schools. I’m almost done.” I was not starting over. I wouldn’t do it. I wasn’t going to start over so I could suffer through years of school for a career I was going to be miserable in.

  “But teaching Prudence, really?”

  “Really. I love it. I’m good at it,” I tried to explain. Aren’t parents supposed to encourage their children do what makes them happy? Not force them to live a life they don’t want?

  My father’s phone rang. He held up his hand to stop me before I tried to explain more. “Hello,” he said as he stood up and left the room for more privacy. I could see him pacing in the living room. Mom didn’t even try to talk to me. I looked over and my mother was chugging back her coffee like we were at a kegger. I couldn’t help the eye roll. These were my parents.

  “Ruby,” my father said as he stepped into the room snapping at her like she was a dog. My mother shot up. “Let’s go. Prudence, I’ll have my secretary make dinner reservations and call you. Invite your… friend.” I didn’t miss how he struggled to add the last part. At least they didn’t call him a biker again.

  “Yeah,” I said still sitting at the table. My father had already turned to leave, phone to his ear again, my mother right on his heels. I listened as the door opened and then shut behind them. I relaxed into the chair I was sitting in glad they were gone. Apparently his phone call was more important than his wayward daughter. Never had I been more thankful that my father’s work was more important to him than I was in my entire life.

  Chapter 12

  Lincoln

  I worried about Pru all day. I considered calling her more than once. I checked my phone countless times just in case she called me. She hadn’t. I was tempted to call her but didn’t. I needed to hear her voice. I needed to know she was okay. I didn’t think her parents would physically harm her but I knew they could emotionally beat her down from all the stories she told me. Her stories made me thankful for my mother.

  She said to call when I got off so that’s what I was going to do and stress out in the meantime. More than once I almost cleared my day so that I would be off and call her.

  I was off, finally, and headed out the front door of the shop without even a backward glance. Before Pru I was here all the time. Dirty Ink was my life. Now it had been bumped down on my list of priorities. Never thought that would happen.

  I pulled out my phone and was calling before I was even out of the shop. I needed to know that she wasn’t curled up on the floor in tears or being dragged off to medical school or something equally horrible.

  “Hello,” she said when she answered her phone. It wasn’t her normal playful hello. I could hear the stress in her voice. It made me want to beat her parents just for making her stress. Pru was a beautiful, wonderful woman who deserved their love. They should be proud that she’s graduating college to become a teacher with a degree and early for that matter. The credential program was supposed to take at least a year if not a year and a half beyond your four-year degree and she had finished both in only four years. It was an accomplishment, even if she wasn’t going to be a doctor.

  “Hey my lovely,” I teased, “You survived.” I was trying to ease my building anger and cheer her up at the same time.

  “Barely. I was saved by a work call but it’s not over yet. They’ve invited us to dinner. They made reservations at the club. Dad’s secretary called an hour ago. You up for it?”

  Not really. I imagined dinner with her parents would be horrible.

  “Sure,” I’d do anything for her even attend dinner where I was pretty sure that I was going to be the main course. I met her parents for all of thirty seconds and I could see the judgment in their eyes. They didn’t think I was worthy of their daughter but I’d go for her. “I need to go home and change first.”

  “Okay, I’ll head your way since I’m ready.” I could tell by her voice that she was glad I was going with her, some of the tension eased out of her a little but I knew she was looking forward to this dinner about as much as I was. I had heard the stories and I knew her parents weren’t exactly my kind of people or maybe it was that I wasn’t really their kind of people.

  “Alright, you okay?” I asked. I had made it home already and was just letting myself in.

  “I will be when they leave tomorrow.”

  I laughed. I understood that. Things could go back to the way they were only hours ago. Just Pru and me.

  “Love you,” I said. Now that it was out there I loved telling her I loved her. It was great.

  “You too.” And then we hung up.

  Dinner was going to be awful but I’d suffer through it for Pru. I’d give up anything, do anything, for my girl.

  I was out of the shower standing in front of my closet in my boxer trying to figure out what one wears to dinner at the club. I had never been to a country club before and had no idea what the dress code was. I was sure my usual jeans and t-shirt where not an option leaving my selection extremely limited.

  There was a knock on my front door. No one else was home, so I made my way down in just my boxers where I found Pru. She looked amazing as always. Her long brown locks were pulled up into some swoopy, messy, yet orderly bun to the side. She was wearing a simple tan, flowy, tank dress that had a little ruffle thing over the chest. It was loose fitting but cinched at the waist. Her outlandish jewelry was missing, replaced by simple diamond stud ear
ring that I recognized from the first night I brought her home and nothing else but a white cardigan sweater in hand. But she still looked like Pru. Big, brown eyes, ivory skin, innocent looking freckles, complete with heels.

  I opened the door. She was tense. I could see the stress all over her face. That didn’t fare well for me. I didn’t like her stressed and what did it mean if a few hours with her parents could work her up so much. I needed her to relax a little so I greeted her with a kiss and took my time.

  “Hey Lovely,” I said while my lips were still pressed against hers. She leaned her tiny frame into me and kissed me back deeper than the little peck I intended. I couldn’t resist. I pulled her up against me and devoured her mouth. Her entire body relaxed in my arms.

  When we finally pulled away we were both breathless. I seriously just wanted to drag her upstairs to my bed and blow her parents off but I didn’t even try. What kind of impression would that make? Flaking on the dinner even if they didn’t know it was because I was ravishing their daughter.

  After dinner was an entirely different story.

  “You look nice,” I said as I held her.

  “So do you,” she said as she stepped back to eye me in just my plaid blue boxers. Her dainty, little finger reached out and traced the edge of the waistband as she bit down on the outside of her lower lip. I wanted to replace her teeth with mine. It was becoming hard to remember why I needed to go dinner and couldn’t just drag her up to bed. “Although, I don’t know if that would be my first choice wardrobe option to sit down to dinner with my parents,” she teased.

  “Too much skin, huh?” I asked trying to pretend to be serious and keep my lust under control. She looked up at me and smiled. There was my girl. I knew she was hidden under those stress lines and frown.

  “Way too much. My mother might have a heart attack, or have problems keeping her hands to herself,” she teased. Eww, that was just wrong in so many ways.