The Heir

by Ariana Rodriguez

  It was the second time he'd managed to catch her unaware.

  "Ever heard of keeping your hands to yourself?"

  The guy shrugged and smiled, completely frustrating Jessica. He had no right to look so good when she was sure she looked like crap. She pulled on her helmet and slid the visor down. With her eyes hidden, Jessica gave in and took a good look at him.

  He was tall, but then when you're 5'2, 5'3 on a good day, everyone was tall. He looked fit, his shirt did little to conceal his muscular form but he didn’t look like a professional weight lifter. But it wasn’t his body that attracted her like a honey a bear, it was his eyes. She couldn’t make up her mind whether they were greener than brown or the other way.

  And then he smiled, drawing her eyes down to his lips and Jessica had to force herself to not fall at his feet and beg him to do with her what he will.

  Smiles like his should come with warnings, Jessica thought.

  He chuckled and shook his head, letting her know that he’d notice her perusal.

  Jessica lifted her visor and glared at him. "I'd say that it was a pleasure meeting you, but then I would be lying"

  "Well how about you let me rectify that by going to dinner with me?"

  For a second she thought about saying yes, have him waste some of his money but then a new shock of pain shot up her leg reminding her of her predicament. "I don’t think so" Jessica answered and started her bike.

  "Please, you could even pick the place" He continued, his hands in his back pockets and rocking on his heels.

  Adding an extra dose of charm, Jessica thought. I'm probably the first girl he's ever met that wasn't throwing herself at him-but she wanted to and that annoyed her.

  When she didn't answer he added "I just want to make sure you're alright"

  "Sorry but I don’t think you could afford it" She replied with thinly veiled contempt, more towards herself than at him, and took off before he could reply.

  “I’m Nick by the way.” He told her retreating back but she never heard him.

  Chapter 2

  Too busy cursing her luck; meeting an attractive guy when she was at her worse, Jessica almost missed the street she was looking for. She took a sharp left and slowed down, hitting the brakes when she almost passed the house with the address that she had memorized by heart.

  Looking around, Jessica’s hands grew sweaty when she realized that it was an upper class neighborhood. Multiple car garages, custom built homes all around her.

  Jessica suddenly felt like a fish out of water.

  No one noticed my arrival I could just turn my bike around and go, Jessica thought as she removed her helmet, biting her lip and looking around.

  Parking by the sidewalk, Jessica jumped off and took off her helmet. Running her hands through her black hair and re-adjusting her back pack she turned around and looked up at the house with trepidation.

  After taking a deep breath to compose herself Jessica started up the driveway, grimacing every time her ankle was jostled and growing more nervous with every step. Once she reached the front door she wiped her damp hands on the front of her jeans and ordered them to stop shaking

  It took her a couple of moments to work up the nerve to knock on the door and it was opened by a guy that looked like her, same blue eyes, same nose and the same coal black hair.

  “Can I help you?" the guy, who looked to be a year or two younger than her, asked her.

  "Yeah, are your parents’ home? Mr. and Mrs. Robertson, If they are I'd like to speak to them," she asked him.

  "And who do I tell them is calling?"

  "Jessica,” She cleared her throat. “Jessica Smith."

  "OK I'll be right back"

  He closed the door and Jessica turned to face the street. She took a deep breath in a futile attempt to settle the butterflies in her stomach.

  She had a brother! If nothing else, finding out she had a sibling made the trip worth it. The day she had asked her mother for a little sister was the day she found out that she was adopted. That was the day everything changed for her.

  Her mom, Layla, told her that in reality she was her godmother. Circumstances had forced her real parents to give their baby over to the person they knew would keep her safe, her. She was told that her parents had to adopt another baby to cover up her disappearance.

  They replaced her.

  Jessica could still remember the shock, anger and pain from such a revelation, in truth the feelings never went away. She just learned to hide them deep-way deep-inside. Her mom constantly spoke about her parents, but it'd been 17 years since the last time they had talked and people changed. She only hoped that, in this case, they changed for the better.

  Suddenly she heard the door being opened, pulling her back from her reverie. She turned back to face the door and came face to face with a man and an older version of herself. Jessica held her breath; uncertain of the reception she would receive, hopeful that it was a welcoming one.

  “Oh God it’s you, it’s really you!” Cried the woman who, Jessica deduced, was her birth mother. Lauren, she remembered being told that her real mothers name was Lauren and her father’s name was James.

  “Mom, who is she? What’s going on?"” Riley suddenly asked from behind them, clearly concerned.

  Startled by his intrusion, everyone turned to look at him. The woman gave him a watery smile, trying to assure him, while wiping away the tears streaking down her face.

  "Riley, son, can you go get your sister and wait for us in the family room? We all need to talk. Let’s go into the family room" She said and ushered Jessica into the house.

  Jessica took a step forward and bit her lip to keep herself from screaming in pain. Her ankle was throbbing; it was healing improperly, she could feel it. That meant she was going to have to re-brake it herself, so it could re-heal the right way.

  “That's going to hurt!" She thought. Bones were made of hard stuff and breaking your own wasn't easy. She might heal superfast but that didn’t mean that she was immune to the pain.

  They had just taken a couple of steps when Lauren stopped and turned to look back at the front door. "How did you get here? Is Layla waiting outside? I'll go ask her to come in."

  Jessica balanced her weight on her uninjured foot. "No I came here alone"

  "What do you mean you came here alone?" Lauren asked incredulously.

  "I mean, one bike two people and interstate driving isn't my cup of tea." Jessica quipped, unsuccessfully trying to make light of it.

  "A bike, you mean a motorcycle? You came riding on a motorcycle and alone?" Lauren didn't bother to hide her shock.

  The show of concern had Jessica’s hackles rising. The last time she had checked, they weren't the ones to raise her, Jessica thought. In her book they had no say on what she did and didn't do.

  But she wasn't about to tell them that. After taking a deep breath to calm herself she explained. "I know I'm not of age yet, but I graduated early from high school and mom let me buy myself a bike because that's all I ever really wanted."

  "But -" Lauren tried to interject but Jessica cut her off.

  "I took riding classes and I know how to fix just about anything that could get broken on it. As for me being alone, mom said that it had to be this way. But it’s okay because I know how to fend for myself."

  Lauren looked at her dubiously and Jessica grew more uncomfortable. It was obvious that her "mom" had a problem with her preferred mode of transportation. Yet, Jessica was stubborn and prideful and she hated being told what to do or what was right or wrong.

  Fortunately for everyone, she didn't think that getting into an argument with her mother five minutes after meeting her was a good idea.

  "How about we continue this discussion after we reacquaint ourselves?" James intervened before Lauren could say anything else and he led them towards the living room. "Besides we have a bigger problem to deal with."

  "Yes, your right" Lauren looked at Jessica over her shoulder "I am sorry. This is no
t the home coming I intended for you"

  Jessica shrugged "It’s alright."

  She followed them silently past the high ceilinged foyer, down the hall way and into their family room where the son -Riley -and a girl around the same age already awaited them. The room looked warm and inviting. It looked professionally decorated with expensive furniture and art pieces, but at the same time it looked well lived in.

  The walls were a light yellow with white trimming and family pictures hung on all the walls. A window with a view of the back yard took up most of the wall across from the entrance and the furniture sat at the center of the room facing the entertainment center.

  It looked like a home. A home she never had.

  Suddenly it was too much for Jessica and she couldn’t deal with it on top of an injury. She had to get out of there. She needed to regroup.

  “I can’t do this.” Jessica told them, taking a jerky step back. With everyone staring at her she couldn't help but feel like the main attraction at the circus. She hated the feeling because with her freaky abilities she knew she belonged in one, that or in a secret lab somewhere.

  Lauren looked alarmed and tried to reach for her, “What? Why?”

  Jessica raised her hands and took another step back. “I’m sorry, I thought I could but I can’t. I don’t think I’m ready for this. Maybe if I could get some rest first?”

  At first it seemed like Lauren wanted to argue but instead she nodded slowly. Stepping away from her husband, Lauren went to take her daughters hand. Ignoring Jessica’s’ stiffness, Lauren held on to her hand a little tighter when she tried to pull away.

  “I hope you like your room, I decorated it myself" She said with an extra dose of cheeriness to cover how nervous she really was. “I couldn't help but notice that you didn’t bring much with you. Do you need to go shopping? It would be my pleasure to take you. We could make it a girl date and I'm sure Danielle would love to accompany us."

  "No thanks" Jessica rushed "I mean, I brought enough for a couple of days, I can manage" She couldn't tell them that she didn't plan on staying long. She'd promised her mom that she would meet them, not...stay with them.

  Lauren continued to chatter nervously the rest of the way but Jessica ignored her only adding an "uh huh" here and there. In reality she was too busy checking out her new surroundings and holding back the whimpers of pain that jostling her feet was causing her.

  To keep her mind busy she tried to concentrate on her surroundings instead and she was amazed.

  By the looks of their home, she could tell they were very well off. Unfortunately it all brought into focus the ugly fact that while they were living in comfort, she was being dragged from city to city, one cheap apartment to another; in some of the poorest areas of the city.

  Why? Because rundown apartment owners don't check credit, they don't do back ground checks. They do month to month with no contracts instead of leasing. Most important of all, everyone minds their own business.

  The only constant in her life had been her mom and her honorary uncle Mike. Now she was being taken away from everything she knew. No more mom or Uncle Mike. Even worse was the fact that she was going from one side of the tracks to the other.

  Not that she'd ever belonged to the other side. They'd never stayed in one place long enough to belong. But that was beside the point; there, she knew the deal. Here, she was clueless.

  She was clueless and scared.

  What if she embarrassed herself? What if she embarrassed her new family and they decided they didn't want her? What if they decided they couldn't deal with her? That she wasn't worth the trouble? Just like they'd decided when she was a baby.

  Rejection; it was her biggest fear.

  "Here we are" Lauren said, claiming her attention once again.

  Jessica stood back and watched as Lauren nervously opened the door to the room. Realizing that she hadn't paid attention to where they were going, Jessica looked back down the hall and followed Lauren in to the room.

  She took one step and froze; her eyes bugging out of her head. She'd never seen so much pink in her life! It was like a princess's room on steroids. Light pink walls, pink bed set, and white furniture with pink accents.

  There was pink and white everywhere.

  "Wow" She said as she released her breath, "I'm speechless."

  It was a good thing too, because nothing nice was running through her mind at the moment. Not nice at all. By the way Lauren was looking at her; Jessica knew that if she uttered one profanity it would break the lady's heart. So she took a deep breath and smiled.

  She turned in a slow circle as Lauren stood back and smiled back at her. Jessica mentally patted herself on the back, she'd been right not to voice her dislike. Besides, she wasn't planning on staying forever, it didn’t matter where she slept.

  I’ve stayed in worse places, she reminded herself.

  "I'm so glad you like it!" Lauren beamed.

  "Yeah" was all she could manage with a fake smile plastered on her face.

  Amazed that so much pink could be crammed into one room, she turned around once more. She was trying, hoping to find some other splash of color, purple? Green -yellow even-nothing.

  "See mom I told you she would love it!"

  Jessica snapped around to see the son standing by the door with a glimmer of triumph in his eyes.

  Lauren clapped her hands together, bursting with excitement. "You were right. Thanks Ry for keeping me from redecorating it." She turned to look at Jessica "As years passed I wanted to re-do the room with maybe something less girlie but Riley told me that this look was really popular right now. Now I'm sure this was the right decision and I'm so glad you like it"

  "I'm so sorry; you have to excuse my bad manners, because I didn't stick around for the introductions. What's your name?" She walked up to him, stuck out her hand and smiled. It was a fake smile.

  He eyed her warily and shook her hand a bit reluctantly. "I’m Riley"

  "Well Riley, my name is Jessica. And you're right I do love this room.” She went to stand in front of the bed and dropped her backpack on it. “Is the bed new, I mean has it been slept on?" She asked Lauren over her shoulder.

  "No" Lauren answered a bit confused by the question.

  "Has anything in this room ever been used by someone else?"

  "No"

  "Well like I said, I love it" She smiled at Lauren hoping to lessen the impact of her next comments and then returned her attention to Riley "You want to know why I love it?"

  Her answer came in the form of two raised eyebrows and a shrug.

  "Because I bet it’s not bed bug infested, no cockroaches, no rats and no ants. Have you ever felt any of those crawling on you?-I have" She shivered just remembering the feeling. "I love it ‘cause the walls are a different color other than yellow due to the smoke residue some previous renter left behind."

  "I love it because I bet if I walk on this carpet barefoot" She proceeded to toe off her shoes "it will feel nice, clean and soft. Not grimy, crusty and dirty" she took off her socks and took a couple of steps around the room and sighed in bliss "I was right."

  She went back to her socks and shoes and crouched down to put them back on.

  Still crouching down she looked up at Riley as she tied her shoes. "I love it because unless you people are some sort of freaks I'm sure you won’t be keeping me up at until the early dawn with your fighting or other extracurricular activities. A clean bed and room is more than enough for me."

  Riley glared at her but Jessica didn't care. She turned away, effectively dismissing him and went back to pick up her back pack where she'd set it on the bed. She didn't see him fist his hands or Lauren raise hers to stop Riley from speaking, she just heard him turn around and walk out of the room.

  "I'm so-"

  Jessica turned to look at Lauren and cut her off "No I'm sorry. Sorry for-" She waved her hand in the general direction of where Riley had been standing "that and for my unwillingness to talk right now." />
  "It’s alright"

  "No it's not. But like I said earlier I just want to be alone. I don't want to talk because I know me. I need some space to get it all together. Please forgive me and give me until tomorrow. Tomorrow we can start."

  "Alright, whatever you'd like." A new sense of hope unfurled from within her and it showed in the smile she bestowed on Jessica. "Will you be joining us for lunch and dinner?" Jessica shook her head in response but that didn't deter Lauren, she'd asked for the rest of day. If tomorrow they got to start all over again then she could have it. "OK well...you know where the kitchen is at. Is there anything else you need?"

  "Aspirin? I have this killer head ache; I think it’s from exhaustion. After I call my mom-Layla- I'd like to take some pain killers and sleep the rest of the day."

  "OK that's fine. I'll go get those for you." She turned to walk away but Jessica stopped her.

  "Also, is it OK if I take a shower?"

  "Yeah of course, your bathroom is that one right there" She pointed to one of the closed doors. "I just stocked so there should be towels and other amenities in there. When you get out the aspirin will be waiting for you on top of your dresser."

  "Ok thanks" Jessica gave her a real genuine smile.

  Lauren was walking out of the room when she stopped at the door way. She placed her hand on the door and kept facing the hallway. "Was it true?" She blurted out before she could change her mind.

  Lauren told herself not to ask, tried to reassure herself that they could talk tomorrow but the question was eating her alive and she just had to know. Even so, she was afraid of the answer and couldn't bring herself to turn around and face her daughter.

  "What?"

  "What you said about your living arrangements."

  "Oh that?" Jessica waved her hand as if it were no big deal. "The bed bugs, rats, and roaches, just once" the memory made her shiver again.

  "I'm so-"

  "Don’t be," Jessica sighed, the apologies were getting old fast, and unfortunately she didn't think she could forgive any time soon. "I'm going to take a shower."