by Amy Starling
Just as I pulled out of the mall, Hector's Pawn Shop caught my eye. When I was younger, my friend Paulie was always taking me there with something to sell. Stereos, TVs, you name it. Then we'd use the cash to buy booze and smokes.
Pretty sure he was selling stolen goods, now that I thought of it. Oops.
But I did recall that Hector had some fine jewelry for sale, so I went in. Hector himself was standing behind the counter reading a comic book. His belly hung out the bottom of a torn, too-small t-shirt. Could see he hadn't changed much.
“Hey there, Hec. Show me your best rings – and you'd better give a good price to your favorite long-time customer.”
He dropped his book and lowered his glasses. “Jayce Reinhard! Ain't seen you in years. You're not here to cause trouble, are ya?”
“Not this time. You got any rings or not?”
“What kind?”
“I want one with a nice, shiny diamond.”
His look of suspicion changed to delight. “You're gonna propose? To a girl?”
“Looks that way.”
Hector showed me all the rings in his case. One caught my eye – a gorgeous band of copper that I knew Elle would adore. Part of it was encrusted with diamonds in a turquoise setting. I didn't have a clue about jewelry, but I did know that was her favorite color.
Hector caught me eyeing it and held it up to the light. “This baby is vintage; can't really be sure of the year. Appraiser said it's an old Native American piece and the diamonds got added later.”
Perfect. “I'll take it.”
“You don't even know how much I'm asking.”
“I said I want it.”
“Fine. Gimme five hundred.”
“You told me it was vintage.”
He started to put the ring away. “Vintage don't mean cheap.”
“Three.” I wasn't letting this one go.
“Four hundred.”
“Three twenty-five.”
He grinned. “You're quite the haggler these days. Guess I don't blame you. First comes marriage, then comes baby – and those kiddos cost a lot of dough, let me tell you.”
I gaped at him. What the hell was with people today?
“There's no kid.”
“Not yet.” He winked. “Oh, all right. You can have the thing for three hundred. You're gonna need the extra cash for diapers. I've been there.”
Whatever. If he was gonna give me a deal 'cause of some non-existent child, then so be it. I paid cash and slipped the boxed ring into my pocket, then walked out of there feeling pretty darn good about the whole thing.
I dreamed up ways to surprise her with it as I drove back to Shady Acres. Should I take her out to dinner, maybe slip it in her wine glass? Nah, that was stupid. Didn't want the poor woman to choke to death. She'd never forgive me if that happened.
It had to be something special. Something romantic. Elle loved shit like that. And, as a bonus, bet she'd be tearing off my pants real quick once I managed to impress her.
I sure needed it. Hadn't gotten laid in over three weeks, and it was starting to drive me insane. The other day, when I made her come with my mouth, I was so horny I could barely stand it.
But I didn't push it. Told her I was doing that just for her.
She thought I was selfish? I'd prove her wrong.
Still, I was a man – and this man needed a rough, dirty screw. Unlike most other times, though, I wouldn't be happy with any old chick who threw herself into my arms.
If I didn't soon have Elle on top of me, milking my cock and taking my seed in her...
I shuddered, nearly crashing into an oncoming car in my lusty stupor. That night had been magic.
She let me come inside of her. It was all bare, totally natural. The most intimate thing I'd ever done.
I couldn't wait to do it again.
Lucky for me, I doubted she'd need much convincing. A few sweet words in her ear, and she'd be mine.
And once she became my bride, she would be mine over and over again. I'd have her in my bed every night. I'd do things to her, filthy things, that she never imagined possible.
No more hunting for girls at the club. No more running for my life when I was done with them, only to do it all over again the next time with someone else.
It had been fun. A serious ego boost. But honestly, it was starting to feel kind of boring these days.
Hmm. Now that I thought about it, maybe marriage wasn't totally terrible after all.
Chapter 13 - Elle
“But it's my day off. I don't wanna be a spy!”
Heather hit the brakes as we rolled up to a stop sign. Lisa pretended she was going to leap out of the still-moving car.
“Come on,” I begged her. “Hidden Cove is stealing away our tenants at a scary rate. We need to figure out what they're doing, and do it better.”
“So you do it.” She fiddled with the ends of her blonde hair. “I'm just a receptionist. You know I've got stupid-crazy social anxiety, guys.”
“But you're the best candidate for the job. What if the manager knows who we are – their competition?” Heather cast her a reassuring smile. “We can't very well walk in asking to rent an apartment. They'd think we were engaged in corporate espionage. I mean, that could start a war.”
“A war?” Her voice squeaked. “Oh, my God. I thought this job was going to be calm and quiet.”
“Maybe you should have been a waitress instead,” I teased her. “You'd be good at it.”
Poor Lisa looked like she was going to cry. I'd offered to pay her overtime for this, and all she had to do was ask for a tour of the property. There was a miniature hidden camera pinned to her shirt that would capture all we needed to know.
“All you have to do is act natural.”
“I'm horrible at stuff like this.”
I patted her shoulder. She tensed at my touch.
“You were fine in the interview for the receptionist job. Heather and I obviously liked you.”
“You're the only ones who gave me a chance in the whole city!”
It was getting tough to keep focused on what had to be done today. Too hard to worry about Lisa's anxiety, or even what to do about declining occupancy rates. And another family had moved out just this morning.
But I couldn't stop thinking of Jayce. Of this so-called fake marriage he wanted.
Or of his hands on my body, and how good his cock and mouth made me feel.
I wanted more of him. Knew he felt the same about me.
It was a horrible idea, though. Maybe he could separate sex and emotion, but I couldn't. Each time we were intimate, I was helpless to stop my feelings for him from deepening.
Which is why, if we did marry, I feared how much the divorce would hurt in the end. What if I didn't want to get divorced?
Jayce would be none too happy about that. To him, marriage was a prison. It would be wrong of me to keep him locked in that cage when he wanted out.
But if he didn't get hitched to someone soon...
“Here we are. Hidden Cove.”
It was a beautiful place, even prettier than the pictures. Adorable apartment buildings stood around a pond with a fountain in the center. The property was wooded, too, with lots of tall trees and wildflowers in the surrounding fields.
“Look at the view. We can't compete with this.” Defeat welled in my chest. “Shady Acres is a boring, gray box of a building with a parking lot on all sides.”
“To be fair, we are in the center of Waco. Makes getting to work easier for the residents. And hey, you know they don't have a shopping mall on premises like we do.”
Heather was right. Shady Acres did have its good points. Apparently not enough of them, though, or else why were people stampeding for the exits?
Hidden Cove was protected with an impressive security fence, the kind where you had to enter a code to open the gate and get inside. Luckily, one of the residents opened the gate ahead of us. We drove in behind them.
The main office was rig
ht there to the left. Heather pulled into a spot while Lisa chewed on her fingernails.
“Stop that.” I scolded her and nudged her out the door. “You can do this.”
“I can't believe you guys are gonna leave me all alone in there.”
“You won't be totally alone.” I opened up the laptop. “Your video feed will show up here. We'll be watching your every move.”
She howled. “That's even worse!”
But she got out, gave us one more help-me look, then made her way into the office. We followed her on camera as she meekly asked the receptionist for a tour.
“Of course. How many beds are you looking for?”
“Um, uh... Can you show me all of them?”
The woman was puzzled, but agreed. Heather and I held our breath as she unlocked the first apartment, a one-bedroom unit with a cute picnic area in front of it.
“Picnic tables! Why didn't we think of that?”
Heather got busy scribbling down notes. “Great idea. We need to foster a real sense of community, I think. Do stuff where all the residents can get together. Y'know, like a big, happy family.”
The massive brawl between Diana and Craig came to mind. And Mrs. Jackson, who couldn't stand the sound of a pin dropping. Then my mother, with her inability to keep her nose out of my business.
And Jayce, the bad boy next door who, for whatever reason, couldn't take his hands off me.
Yep, one happy family, all right.
“These units are all brand-new,” gushed the employee as she unlocked the door. “We've got two swimming pools, unlimited access to a gym, grills throughout the complex, and amenities you're going to love.”
Lisa stepped inside, and my heart pounded like mad. The place was gorgeous!
“We'd have to renovate the entire building to get anywhere near this.”
“Yeah. And unfortunately, we don't have a few million sitting around for such an occasion. We can scarcely afford basic repairs.”
It wasn't that we didn't want to make Shady Acres amazing. It all came down to money and lack of manpower – which was also caused by lack of funds, naturally.
If anything was going to get done, it had to be done by our own hands, on our own time.
Too bad Jayce wouldn't stop screwing around long enough to accomplish anything.
“You've got a fireplace in this one. 700 square feet, new appliances included. Security alarm, too, although we do have the lowest crime rates of any apartment in the city.”
Lisa walked slowly around the room, giving us plenty of good shots to gawk at. The more we saw, the more hopeless I felt.
“A fireplace. Jeez, we don't have any units with a fireplace.”
“Probably for the best. Those people would burn the whole place down.”
I forced a laugh. “At least your brother's there to help out. He's very handy with that hose of his.”
I hadn't meant to make a joke loaded with sexual innuendo. Heather cringed.
“Yeah, he's handy, all right. Too bad he can't keep it in his pants and act like an adult for once.”
Neither Jayce nor I had told her our plan to marry. She didn't even know we'd been having a... relationship of sorts. I didn't really want her to find out, because I knew what she'd say.
She'd tell me he was a loser. Nothing but trouble. An expert at breaking hearts. And I agreed.
Yet I couldn't pull myself away from him.
“Here's the bathroom.” The woman turned on the light. “You get your own luxury tub, complete with massaging water jets.”
I groaned. “We can't even keep our plumbing from breaking down, and they have this.”
The lady showed Lisa the larger apartments, but I didn't care anymore. What was the point? I already knew they had us beat. If we didn't come up with a way to trump them, we were done.
“Don't feel bad, Elle.” Heather smiled and gave me a hug. “We won't let Shady Acres shut down. I know Debbie's watching us from heaven right now. She wants us to keep going.”
Before I could reply, the office door opened. I did a double-take at who came out.
“Mom?!”
I thought for sure I was seeing things, but no, it was definitely her. What was she doing here?
She was all smiles, grinning from ear to ear.
Then David – yes, Jayce's dad – came out behind her.
“Oh my God,” Heather whispered. “What is he... And her...”
That question was resolved when David wrapped his arms around my mother and kissed her right on the lips.
I gagged. Heather yelped and covered her eyes. My head spun; my brain refused to let me believe what I was seeing.
But they were right there, making out in front of me. Clearly, neither noticed us parked there.
“I don't understand. David was practically married to your mom.”
“And now he's kissing your mom!”
They separated, but David still had his hands on her. From the look of things, they'd been intimate like this for some time.
“How did this happen? When? Debbie only passed away several months ago.”
Apparently, he was moving on fast.
“He's pretty much your dad. Maybe you should ask him.”
“Ugh. Don't say that!” She stuck out her tongue. “Maybe Jayce knows.”
“Doubtful. The two of them pretty much hate each other.”
The back door opened, and Lisa threw herself in with a hearty sigh. “Okay, it's finally over. Did you guys get what you needed?”
Mom gave David one more kiss on the cheek, then got into her car and pulled away. David went back into the office.
“Does he work here?”
“Sure looks like it. But I thought he owned a bunch of property companies. What would he be doing in some apartment office?”
We followed mom all the way back to Shady Acres. She took a couple of grocery bags from the trunk then headed inside.
“What do we do now?”
“You've got to say something to her. I mean, she's technically sleeping with the enemy.”
“Gross. I don't even wanna think about it.”
But Heather was right. She and Lisa returned to the office to deal with the complaints that had racked up while we were out. I hurried after mom and caught up with her on the second floor, just as she put her key in the lock.
“Mom.”
She spun around and frowned in her disapproving way. “We live in the same building, yet you never come see me. It's about time you decided to pay your old mother a visit. One day I'll be gone, and then think how awful you'll feel.”
“I'm really sorry, mom. You're not around very often either.”
She threw up her hands. “Some of us have a real job to do, you realize. I'm working fifty hours a week at the office. You're lucky. You practically get to work from home.”
A real job? What I did here, all the sleepless nights, the worrying, the trying to make it all come together... She didn't think it was a real job?
“Running an apartment takes effort. I can't afford to take off and see you whenever you call me.”
She scoffed, kicked open the door, and heaved her groceries inside. I grabbed the last couple of bags she left in the hallway. I knew her well. It was one of her tests, and if I didn't help out, she'd dig into me and call me a selfish, horrible daughter.
“You should always make time for family. Family is important.” She looked me over, her nose wrinkled. “It's not like you have a husband or children to fuss over. If you did, then maybe I could understand.”
“Mom, please. Not this again.”
“You're nearly 30, Elle. Why aren't you settling down with a good man yet? One with some money who can take you away from this miserable existence.”
“I happen to like my existence.”
She emptied her bags on the counter. Chips, onion dip, sugary juice, soda, and several bars of chocolate. Yep, mom's diet hadn't changed one iota – even though the doctor demanded she eat better or kill hers
elf with diabetes.
I'd already lost one relative too young. Didn't want to lose my mother, too.
Even if she was impossible to deal with sometimes.
Okay, make that most times.
“I know quite a few young men from work. Nice, hard-working men who would gladly support you and give you a baby.”
“I don't want to be supported. This isn't the 1950s anymore.”
She popped open a can of cola, chugged it, and burped. “Nonsense. Your father worked two jobs, 80 hours a week, to take care of us. That's what a real man does.”
Yeah, and he also gave himself a heart attack from all the stress. Funny, she didn't seem to remember that.
“And when are you gonna give me a grandchild? I'd like to have a few good years with the baby before I keel over and die.” She tore into a bag of chips.
“I haven't really thought about it. If I ever get married, I'll decide then.”
She poked me in the stomach. “No one's going to marry you if you don't lose a few pounds, sweetie. I swear, you get plumper every time I look at you.”
She wasn't exactly wrong, even though it did hurt. Seemed I had been gaining steady weight lately. Hadn't changed my diet one bit, though. In fact, I'd been eating less due to being so busy all the time.
“And you don't have forever, either. The older you get, the harder it is to conceive with a healthy child.”
She stuffed chips into her face, crumbs scattering all over the floor. Given mom's poor housekeeping track record, I knew she'd take a week to vacuum them up. Visions of a cockroach infestation danced in my head.
“That's why I had you when I was 21. You're getting up there in years, hon. Soon, it'll be tough enough to find a man who wants you at your age. All the good boys will be taken.”
Jayce sure as hell seemed to want me, for whatever that was worth. If I told her our plan, that he wanted to marry me, she'd flip her lid. The thought of it put a devilish smile on my face.
“I think I'll manage fine.”
The horrible image of her making out with Jayce's dad wouldn't leave me. Worse, I could smell his awful cologne on her from across the room.
Why would she get involved with her sister's lover? Why, when she knew what he was trying to do to us?