“What the hell happened in here?” Mr. Wilde asked, as a wild look of confusion covered his handsome features with doom.
Gosh, I had intended to clean this mess up before he got back home, but Cody and I had so much fun together, time had slipped away from me. Cody was even going to help me out. It was going to be the final project of the day. I jumped up from the floor and opened my mouth to explain, but Cody beat me to it.
“Uncle Matt we had so much fun! We played with the pillows, and they exploded, and Tasha burned the waffles, and the fire trucks came when she made a big fire outside and there was smoke, then she pushed the grill in the pool and then—”
I didn’t exactly expect Cody to tell him everything that happened that day, but it was the truth. I only ordered pizza after my pan of waffles exploded on the gas grill. I had dreamed up the bright idea to cook waffles outside while Cody played some solo football, tossing the ball in the air and catching it.
“Cody, why don’t you go brush your teeth while I talk with Tasha.” The look on Mr. Wilde’s face made me nervous. I was sure I’d blown this for not only myself, but for Dana. It was bound to be my fastest firing yet. “The fire department?” he asked.
“Ah, well, yeah…Cody called them. I guess I had used too much lighter fluid on the grill.”
“Lighter fluid? It’s a gas grill, Tasha.”
“I figured that out after the fire department came.”
Slight wrinkling of his forehead turned into a harsh frown, and I felt like I was a kid getting yelled at by her parents. I nervously looked around at the mess and a sick feeling overcame me. The den area looked like it had been hit by a wrecking ball. When he looked at me, there was so much disappointment in his eyes, and I knew then that wrecking ball was me. “I don’t think this is going to work out,” he finally said.
My mouth hung open. “So, I’m fired?” I asked. It was clear that was what was happening, but I hated to think that I was already out of a job, and having to search for another one. I knew better than to make such a mess of things, but nothing seemed to be going my way of late.
“I’m not saying that you are. Just give me some time to think about it, and I’ll call you tomorrow morning.” His aggravated voice was anything but soothing to my ears.
“Would you like for me to clean up? It was the last thing that I had planned to do today, and it’s the least I could do.”
“No, thank you. I’ll get it.”
“Okay,” I said and went walking out of his home with my tail tucked between my legs.
Spending that time with Cody made me feel so young and vibrant. It freed me from my past failures and hard knocks in life and just allowed me to be carefree Tasha again. We just enjoyed ourselves to the fullest without any constraints or responsibilities. If nothing else, I met myself again as I interacted with an innocent ten-year-old who unknowingly gave me life. I’d planned to get up the pillow contents and straighten the house later that evening before Mr. Wilde got home, but time got away from me.
Oh, well.
Now that my babysitting gig had literally gone up in smoke, I had to figure out a way to call Dana and let her know that my screw up number five was officially a done deal for the both of us.
Chapter Four
Matt
A Convincing Plea
I watched her pull out of the driveway and my heart sank. I had to admit it wasn’t easy seeing her look so upset, but I also didn’t want to see her go. The minute she walked into the house for the interview, my cock twitched in my pants. She was beautiful and sexy, and my body responded to that. She had dark skin with long, curly hair that cascaded over her shoulders. When she smiled, her whole face lit up. When she smiled, my whole face lit up. She had just that beautiful of a smile. I had to warn myself that she was there to work and not for my pleasure.
I walked back into the living room and my stomach tightened. I had a huge mess to clean up, but I didn’t want to work on that just yet.
The moment I looked at her resume, I knew she wasn’t qualified enough for this job. Yet, her passion and honesty were something that had me drawn to her. She was feisty, and I liked that in my women. I had to remind myself during the interview that I wasn’t interviewing a girlfriend, I was interviewing a babysitter. Yet, the way her skirt hiked up her chocolate thigh, I couldn’t exactly get her legs out of my mind. I thought with my dick, instead of my brain, because everything pointed to her not being the right person to care for Cody.
I shook my head and looked at the mess once more. I should have let her clean up the mess before she took off. She was right about it being the least she could do. I groaned and walked up the stairs. I went to Cody’s room and saw his door was open. I peeked my head in his room and saw him lying on his bed. He was coloring, as he was when Tasha was still here.
“May I come in?” I asked, knocking softly on his door. He looked up.
“Sure, Uncle Matt.” Cody sat up on his bed and showed me the picture he was coloring. I had never seen him so excited about coloring before.
“That’s cool,” I said. “I wanna talk to you for a minute.” I joined him on the bed. “It’s about Tasha.”
Cody was quick to speak up. “Isn’t she awesome?” he asked.
It was like someone had punched me in the gut. He wasn’t going to take the news of her not sitting with him well. I could just tell he wasn’t, before I even told him. “Yeah, bud, she’s awesome, but you see, the thing is…she’s not going to be coming back. I’m going to have to find you another sitter.” One that won’t burn the place down, I thought.
Cody turned to look at me and jumped up from the bed. “What? What do you mean she’s not coming back?” he asked. His eyes were wide, and he looked upset and a bit angry.
“It just didn’t work out,” I stated, having put my physical feelings for Tasha aside to come to the most logical conclusion.
“What do you mean it didn’t work out?” he asked. His fists went on his waist and he glared at me. “You can’t do this to me,” he argued. “This was the best day of my life! I want her here. I haven’t had anyone like her around me since mom passed away.”
I lifted my eyes up to look at him and he had tears in the corners of his eyes. It wasn’t easy on me either. I enjoyed Tasha’s lively energy, and it would be great if she could stay. I had warmed up to the thought of having her around and if Cody took to her so well, then it was obviously a tough call. I just couldn’t imagine leaving her with Cody and something bad happen. Seeing how she left the house, it’s plain to see that she wasn’t in control of my house while I wasn’t there.
“You saw how messy the house was,” I started laying out my argument. “Your other sitters may have had things I or you didn’t like about them, but they all kept the house neat and didn’t set anything on fire.”
Cody nodded. “Yeah, but that’s because we were having fun. The others only cleaned up and made it look good for you. They didn’t care about my favorite colors or talk to me about my favorite super hero like Tasha,” Cody said, then paused for a second thinking. “Uncle Matt, I’ll clean up the house, if it means she can stay.”
I chuckled. In the two years I had custody of Cody, he never once offered to clean up the house. “She nearly burned the house down, buddy. You had to call the fire department. Who knows what would happen next.”
“She really had already put the fire out. I just got scared and called them,” Cody said. “She didn’t tell me to.”
“I don’t know, Cody. It’s still a bit much that happened on her first day.” Imagine her second and third days at work. There was no telling the things she could set ablaze if she stayed that long. Now, that was a thought.
“I’m sure she’s learned from her mistakes,” Cody argued. “She understands me, Uncle Matt. I say I don’t like Brussel Sprouts and she’s not going to push it on me.”
I snickered. “So, in other words, she won’t make you eat healthy?”
Cody shrugged. “She understands
that I’m still a kid. Surely you can get that. I don’t want to lose her. I just met her. I like her. Please don’t fire her. None of these other babysitters will treat me nice like her. I just know it.”
He was fighting hard for me to agree with him and what was even worse was I was starting to. There was just one problem with that. Even though I told her I would think on it, I was pretty sure she figured I was going to let her go. I wasn’t really sure how I was going to up and just drop it like that.
“Please,” Cody stated again, shining his puppy dog eyes towards me.
I groaned. “Fine! But if she ultimately burns down the house, I’ll say I told you so,” I said.
Cody nodded. “Deal.” Cody started to head towards the door.
“Where you going?” I asked.
He turned around. “I have a mess to clean up, don’t I?”
I rolled my eyes. “Get back to coloring another picture like the one you just finished. I’ll clean up the mess.”
Cody was way too excited to get back to his bed. I passed by him and left his room, knowing that I had a call to make and it wasn’t going to be too easy, but it had to be done. The sooner the better.
Chapter Five
Tasha
Bullies Beware
That night, I had just gotten up the nerve to call Dana and tell her that I probably blew her relationship with Mr. Wilde when my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and didn’t recognize the number, so I cautiously answered it. “Hello?”
“Tasha, this is Matt, I know it’s late, but I need your help.” The sound of his voice sent shivers down my spine and caused my stomach muscles to clench.
“Hello Mr. Wilde.”
“No, please call me Matt.”
“Okay, Matt,” I said and instantly smiled.
“I called to offer you a second chance, because I really do need a sitter and Cody loves you. He hasn’t taken to anyone the way he has to you. You’re all he has talked about since you left,” he said, and I had to take a few breaths to control my enthusiasm.
“I would love to come back and hang with my little bud. And, I appreciate the opportunity to show you that I’m much better than what happened today. It was my first day as a babysitter, and I got carried away with the fun activities and didn’t spend as much time on the responsible tasks. I understand that now and will change that completely.”
I sighed in relief. Thankfully, I didn’t have to disappoint Dana, and part of me wanted to see Matt again—I mean, part of me wanted to see Cody again.
“Great. I’ll have someone over to prepare meals for you guys, so you don’t have to cook,” he said and then repeated himself. “You should have no reason to even go in the kitchen or touch the outside grill, okay?”
“Yes, sir.” I wouldn’t let him down, because he was giving me this second chance and that was more than any other boss had given me. “Thank you for this opportunity to come back and work for you,” I stated.
“Just please…don’t make me regret it,” he said.
His voice was stiff, but I could understand. After all, I set fire at his house and, though not intentionally, I held responsibility for the life of someone so precious to him in my hands. “I…I won’t,” I stammered.
“Alright. Have a good night, Tasha, and I’ll see you Monday. Please pick Cody up from school at 3:15. I will text you the details.” Before I could respond, he hung up.
I sat back and pondered his call. About thirty seconds later, the text with Cody’s school address came through. I glanced at it and pushed the phone off to the side. It was true that I had a great time with Cody and I didn’t want that to end, but I needed to be more careful and I would.
***
Monday, I pulled in front of Manchester Prep Academy at 3:15 sharp. I followed a line of cars that were picking up their kids and scoured the yard to see if I could find Cody. When I found him, it wasn’t a sight I wanted to ever see. He was talking to some boy and then the boy put his hands up to Cody’s chest and pushed him. My jaw dropped as I watched the fiasco unfold in front of me. Cody just stood there and took it, like he had no other choice. The boy pushed him again harder, until Cody fell to the ground. I looked around and no one was even attempting to help Cody out. This didn’t sit well with me. The boy laughed and walked away, while Cody was in a heap on the ground.
“I don’t think so, little man,” I mumbled. I swerved out of the spot I was in and nabbed a parking spot in the front. I jumped out of the car, only grabbing my car keys, then locking the car. I dodged the cars that were still coming through the line, until I reached Cody. “Cody?” I whispered.
He looked up at me and his face was all red and tears were in his eyes. “Hey,” he sadly replied. He stood up and started to move away, but I grabbed his hand and forced him to look at me.
“What’s going on?” I asked softly. My goal was to just get to the bottom of it and then kick some ass if necessary.
“I just wanna go,” he said sadly.
“Does that boy always bully you?” I asked.
His face was a masked face of fear. “It’s really alright. Sometimes, he wants me to bring him money for lunch and if I forget, like today, he’ll try to remind me never to forget.”
I knelt down in front of him. “Little buddy…that is never alright. You understand?”
He nodded, but then I heard laughing coming from the right and I turned to find the boy, along with three others, laughing their asses off.
“Wait right here,” I mumbled.
“Tasha no!” he pleaded.
I turned to him. “Trust me! All will be well.” I put my hand to his shoulder and squeezed softly, then walked off to where the boys were standing. They saw me coming and started to disperse, but I was able to stop them with my voice. “Hey!” I hollered.
Two of the boys stopped and turned to face me. One of them being the boy that was picking on Cody. “What?” he asked me.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
He snickered. “Bobby. What’s yours?” The two boys laughed, and I couldn’t believe the balls on him.
I obviously ignored his question. “Do you think it’s alright to pick on others that are smaller than you?” I asked. He didn’t respond, which irritated me. “So, like for example…if I was to do this…” I put my hand to his shoulder and knocked him back. It was a slight movement that wouldn’t have knocked anyone to the ground, but he responded so fast.
“I’m telling you did that!” he argued.
I rolled my eyes and knelt down to him, so that I was eye level to him. “If I ever hear of you bullying my friend again, then you are gonna wish you hadn’t,” I said.
I stood up and the kid that was with him spoke up. “Are you threatening him?” he asked.
I turned to him, then back to Bobby. “No threats, just promises. You don’t pick on people, and one day you’re going to remember this little encounter and you’re going to know that I’m right. No one likes a bully.” I turned on my heel and walked away, then grabbed Cody’s hand as he looked at me. “Come on buddy, let’s get you home.”
When we got back to the car, he finally spoke, after remaining silent for a moment. It was when we were both in the car and I had started it up. “That was really pretty awesome,” he said. “Thank you!”
I looked at him and smiled. “It’s what friends do,” I responded.
He quirked up his lips into a smile. “We just met,” he stated.
I shrugged. “I knew right away that you and I would be best friends,” I replied.
He reached out and touched my hand. “It’s what a mom would’ve done, and I would love to have a mom like you.”
That caused my eyes to water and I smiled down at him. “Thanks, little man. I would be honored to have a son like you.”
I squeezed his hand and turned to back out of the parking spot. I was emotional at his words and I realized that I meant every one of mine. If I was lucky to have children, I’d want them like Cody, because I cou
ld already sense he was a sweet child. I also knew that as long as he was in my care I would do anything to protect him. Handling a bully would just be the beginning.
Chapter Six
Matt
Call into the Principal’s Office
The phones were ringing off the hook and I could tell that my assistant, Mary was running around like a chicken with her head cut off. That was the reason I hired Dana to be my second personal assistant. She wasn’t as hands on as Mary, but whatever Mary couldn’t handle she passed along to Dana, along with Dana planning my hectic daily schedule. It was a very busy Monday and I barely had a moment to breathe. When my phone started ringing, I nearly put the call through to voicemail, but I noticed Mary’s number on the caller ID, so I answered.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, still madly typing away on the computer to get the email sent.
“Sorry to bother you Matt, but there’s a Dean Westcott on line one. She said that she’s from Manchester Prep Academy. It sounds important.”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after five. “That’s alright. I’ll grab it, thanks.” I disconnected her call. I knew that Tasha was to pick up Cody, so I didn’t know why they would need to call me nearly two hours later. I picked up the call. “This is Matt Wilde,” I answered anxiously.
“Hello, Mr. Wilde,” she started on the other end. I stopped typing for a minute, so I could just listen to her words. “Sorry to bother you this Monday afternoon, but we need to have a little talk. Can you come in to the office?”
I frowned. “May I ask what it’s about?” I asked.
“We would prefer to discuss it when you get here.”
I heaved a sigh. I could continue to work until well into the evening hours, as busy as we were for the day, but if this was that important, I knew that I needed to be willing to give a little. “I can be there in a half an hour,” I replied.
“Alright! We’ll see you then,” she said.
Drive Me Wilde (Breathless Book 6) Page 3