“Daddy, I like your soup too, the one you make with alphabets in it. But this one is better,” Chloe chimes in as she scoops the last bits of rice from her bowl.
Jackson and his mother laugh. “Well, that alphabet soup is also an old family recipe,” Marie chuckles.
“That’s right,” Jackson agrees. “I learned how to open that can and dump the soup in the pot from the best chef in the business,” he teases him mother.
I try to imagine how my abuela would handle us eating soup from a can, but I have to blink the scowling face free from my mind. I’m pretty sure that just the thought has her spinning in her grave.
“Well, it’s been so lovely to sit and share this with you.” I stand up and begin to clear the table, but Jackson abruptly pops out of his chair and plucks them from my hand.
“Relax, you cooked the meal. I’ve got the cleanup.”
For a second I’m so confused I just stand frozen, like my brain can’t understand the simple words he’s saying. For so long I’ve made all the meals and waited for Raymond and Sylvia to stop complaining about my cooking long enough to eat so I could tidy up after them. I wasn’t permitted to sit at the table with them. Instead, I was allowed to eat leftovers, when there were some, after I had finished my chores for the day.
“Take a load off, Ella.” Marie nods down to my chair. “You deserve a break.”
I slowly ease back down onto my seat, but it’s still strange to watch Jackson clear the table. Uneasiness rises inside me, like clouds building before a storm. It’s just difficult to go from such a regimented life where fear was a constant to this. I’m definitely not complaining, it’s just going to take some getting used to.
Jackson carries a handful of dishes out of the room as I let my muscles unwind and lean back in my chair. I gaze over at his mother, who’s been so incredibly welcoming. Every time I look at her, she’s smiling.
“At Thanksgiving I’ll cook for you.” She rests her forearms on the table, leaning in toward me. “I can’t wait to make you a big ol’ turkey with all the sides. I’m sure you’ve had a bunch of Thanksgivings here by now, but you wait until you try my cornbread stuffing. I mean, if I’m honest, Jackson makes the turkey and my guests bring most of the sides, but that stuffing is the one dish I know I can knock your socks off with.” She beams.
“I’ve never had a Thanksgiving meal.” I try to imagine sitting down to such a feast, but that much food seems impossible to eat all in one meal.
“Really?” Marie tilts her head. “Well then, that’s going to have to change this year.”
“I’d love that.”
“Nana, can I have my bath now?” Chloe interrupts, clearly bored by our conversation. “I got soup all over my arms and face, so I should probably have a bubble bath… with my dolphin toy!”
“Oh, sure, honey. I think I can get that set up for you.”
Jackson comes back into the dining room just as his mother helps Chloe from the table and I stand back up. It’s one thing to sit and relax while there are other people sitting here with me, but there’s no way I’m just going to rest on my butt while Jackson does all the work.
“Here, let me help.” I grab a bunch of cutlery and glasses and head out to the kitchen before he has a chance to stop me.
Jackson follows me in with the last of the dirty dishes and I begin to take them from him, piling them beside the sink where I already put mine down. “It won’t take me long to wash up.” I start running the water and pushing the plug down into the drain.
“Hey, don’t worry about the dishes.” He slides up behind me, wrapping one arm around my waist and turning off the water with his other hand.
“It’s no bother. Besides, I don’t want to sponge off of you.” I turn to face him and a flicker of pain flashes over his face like a lightning bolt.
“Sponge off me? Is that what you think you’re doing? Ella, listen.” He cups my face in his hands. “Just because you’re living here doesn’t mean you have to be cooking and cleaning all the time. I mean, that meal was amazing, but I don’t want you thinking that’s how you have to cook all the time, okay? You’re not my servant, you’re my woman, and I’m not going to kick you out or treat you like shit because you didn’t do the dishes or something.” Anger seeps from his voice about how I’ve been living since I came to this country.
“I understand,” I whisper. “It’s just going to take some time to get used to this, that’s all.”
“I get that.” Jackson lifts my jaw and gives me a slow, sensual kiss. My eyelids flutter closed and I sink into him. He steps back from me and slides a lock of my hair behind my ear. “Besides, I have the only dishwasher I need right here.” He pats the silver door under the counter. “I can think of much more exciting things to occupy your time than housework.” He grinds into me shamelessly.
Heat splashes over my cheeks, my breathing immediately growing shallow with desire. “I’d like to learn what those things are.” I bite my lip.
“Mmmm, once we have some quiet time I intend to show you.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “But right now, I’m going to load up the dishwasher and start getting things put away because I think we should try to have an early night, and with all the things I plan to do to you, that means we’ll have to get to bed right after Chloe drifts off.”
“Why? Is there something going on tomorrow?”
“There is, but that’s my surprise for you. So you’ll just have to wait and see.” Jackson steals the questions from my lips with another kiss and I let them flutter away.
I trust him. If he wants to surprise me with something, I’m sure it will be amazing.
29
Jackson
“Let’s see. We’ve got you all ready for winter now.” I check the bags I’m holding to make sure we’re not missing anything. “You’ve got a coat, gloves, a hat and scarf. There are your new boots.” I shake a bag holding a pair she tried on earlier.
Ella looks around the Cherry Creek shopping center and then down at the new bags dangling from my hands, worry etched on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, nothing. But you’ve spent so much money on me. I know I can never repay you and I feel awful about it. You’re holding so much and you’ve already put all those other bags of toiletries and lingerie and shoes in the car. It’s just, it’s all too much.” She tugs at her lip uncertainly. “I don’t deserve all this, Jackson.”
I wish she could put her hand on my heart and feel what a simple glance at her face does to me. I wish she could understand the surge of happiness she brings me.
“Ella, you deserve so much more than some clothes and kindness.” I hold out my weighed down arm and she snuggles into me. I wrap her in my hug. The bags hang down her body like a quilt. A patchwork blanket that symbolizes her new beginning, her fresh start, with me.
“Listen, everyone needs a toothbrush and that other stuff. It’s not your fault that you couldn’t take anything from Sylvia’s house. Not that I’d want you to anyway. I like that you’re cutting out that part of your life and starting with all new things for a new life. And, well, definitely don’t worry about the lingerie, because that’s just as much for me as it is for you,” I murmur in her ear and give her a full-body squeeze.
Ella gives me a knowing smile. I can’t believe that only a little while ago she was still a virgin. And a shy, nervous virgin at that. Now she seems to want sex just as much as I do. She and I can barely keep our hands off each other, every night stripping each other down as fast as our hands can manage.
“You’re too good to me.” She stands up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek.
“No, you never should have had it so bad. This is just normal, and I hate that you think normal is good.” My lips tug down as the snippets of her life she’s shared with me haunt my thoughts. The idea that she’s been through as much as she has in her twenty-one years is heart-wrenching.
When Ella finally told me more of the details of her life with Sylvia and
Raymond, I had half a mind to go back to their house and burn it down. The way they ordered her around, barely feeding her, making her work all hours of the night and day, it’s deplorable. It infuriates me and I know there’s so much she hasn’t told me yet. When she was explaining to me how she lived in constant fear that they could make everything even worse, she clammed up, clamping her jaw shut no matter how much I tried to pry the meaning of her words from her.
I know it will take time before I learn everything. Ella has every reason in the world to be hesitant to trust. After her father’s betrayal killed her family and then the beacon of hope that she was supposed to go to in the United States turned her into some kind of modern day Cinderella, it’s amazing that she has any trust left in her heart for anyone.
“How about we hit up a couple more stores?” I nod to the women’s department store up the hall. “We’ll get you some pants and shirts and stuff like that, all right? Then we’ll head back home.” I drop my arm from around her and start to walk toward the shop.
Ella stays at my side and tries to grasp onto some of the bags weighing down my hand. “I can carry some of those too,” she offers.
“Naw, I like how beefed up and manly it makes me look to be slinging them all.” I puff out my chest and throw back my shoulders dramatically as she giggles. “I, uh, don’t know if I’ve mentioned this or not, but I was a Navy SEAL, so I’m pretty tough,” I mock myself and add a little exaggerated swagger to my step as her laughter gets louder. I love making her laugh. It’s impossible for me not to smile when I hear it.
We round the corner into the store and start riffling through the clothes. Ella picks out some jeans and a few shirts, but her eyes keep wandering over to the dresses. She doesn’t actually move to them. It’s like she’s stopping herself from checking them out for some reason.
“Why don’t you see if there’s anything over there that you like?” I nod to the racks that keep calling her attention.
“Oh, I don’t really need dresses. I just like them. This stuff is more than enough.” She holds up the arm full of clothes.
“Ella, we’re not leaving here until you’ve picked out at least one dress. I want you to be comfortable and happy with me. If that’s what you like to wear, go pick some out.” I lead her to the bright rainbow of colors.
Uncertainty dances in her sweet brown eyes. Then she looks back at the dresses. “Are you sure?”
“Do I look like I’m stressed about it? I want you to get them. Besides, it’ll be a lot easier to rip those new panties off you when you’re wearing one of those.” My voice drops and I watch with satisfaction as a long shudder of desire overcomes her.
“Okay, what do you think of this one?” She holds up a bright dress that would flare around her legs.
“It’s great. How about you try this stuff on, though? I want to make sure we get the right size.”
Ella nods and we head back to the change rooms. I peer inside the long corridor of stalls, but don’t see a customer service person to check in with. I shrug and flop down in a seat outside the dressing rooms. “I’ll wait here for you. I don’t see anyone to help you out, so just go in and get changed. If someone comes along I’ll let them know you’re trying on your stuff.”
“I’ll be quick,” she reassures me before disappearing into the stall at the end of the hall.
I lean my head back against the wall and fight with the exhaustion trying to grip me. One of the side effects of working, looking after Chloe, and then staying up way too late every night to fuck is that I’m constantly tired. Not that I will ever in a million years complain about it. It just means I need to drink a few more coffees in the day and that is a tradeoff I’m willing to make. I let my eyelids slide shut and the tension in my muscles slips away as sleep threatens to take me right here and now.
“What do you think?”
My head snaps up quick and my eyelids pop open as Ella’s voice surrounds me. As soon as my eyes focus on her my mouth drops open. “You look absolutely amazing.” I soak in every inch of her. The way the fabric cinches under her ample tits and then puffs back out around her full hips, it was made for her body.
The energy that was draining out of me only seconds ago has come back like a shot of adrenaline. “There’s only one way you could look better in that dress.” I lick my lips hungrily.
“How’s that?”
“If it was hiked up over your waist and you had no panties underneath.” I stand up, looking around at the vacant hall. I can’t restrain this urgent need aching inside me. It’s too powerful of an instinct to ignore. Leaving the bags by the chair, I lead Ella back to the change room she chose and lock the door with the flimsy eye-hook behind us.
“What are you doing?” she whispers, her eyes wide like a doe.
“Face the wall and hold up your dress,” I demand gruffly.
Ella does what I tell her to and I drop to my knees behind her, quickly ripping off her panties and pushing her forward until her ass is pressed out at me and her cheek is resting against the wall. She acts so innocent, but I can see her glistening pearls of desire at her entrance as I lean into her and lick them away.
She softly mewls as I delve my tongue past her lips, gliding it forward in her folds until her hard little nub is pressed firmly against me. Ella whimpers and opens her stance so her ass cheeks open a little and I grab them, holding them until I can see her asshole puckered up. Someday that will also be mine, but right now isn’t the time.
Leaning into her, my face is buried in her from behind as I suck on her clit and then thrash my tongue against it. Ella moans and I smack her swiftly on the ass. “Shhh!”
I lick her clit, flicking it up and down over the tip of my tongue as my fingers knead into her plump cheeks. Ella’s hips buck back and her thighs shake as she shudders against me. I can hear her restrained moans as her orgasm rips through her and she’s left shivering like a leaf on a tree.
I stand up and she starts to turn around to face me, but I slide my hands over her shoulders and make her face the wall. “I’m not done with you yet.” I yank out my wallet and grab a gold foil packet from inside. It probably takes half a second before I’ve got my cock yanked out and covered with a condom. I grab it by the base and slide the tip inside Ella’s slick entrance.
“Oh,” she breathes the word.
I grab her shoulders and thrust my entire length inside her fast. None of this slow and sweet shit. Not right now. Right now I need her tight pussy squeezing down on my shaft. Right now I need to fuck her with the hard, long strokes of a man who can’t hold back for another second.
I wrap my hand under her hair and tug it back toward me as I stretch her walls around me. My hips slap against her as I fuck her roughly. Her legs shake as I thrust into her again and again.
Pleasure tears through me, overwhelming my senses as I bury my cock deep inside her. My cum spurts into the condom, filling it up with my seed until the shudders of bliss stop traveling through my body. I pull out, careful to hang onto the ring surrounding the base of my shaft, and dispose of it, tying off the end.
Ella tugs up her underwear and smooths her hands down over the dress as I get it zipped up with a smile. “I’d say that’s the one.” I grin. “You should definitely get that one.”
“Mmmm, if it’ll make you that crazy, it’ll be the only thing I ever wear,” she murmurs.
I pull her into me and give her a quick kiss before opening the door and peeking out into the hallway to see if anyone is there yet. Lucky for us, the customer service in this place seems to be terrible. I slip out the door and head back over to my chair, surrounded by bags, and try to fight off sleep as I grin stupidly and wait for Ella to finish up.
Honestly, though, is there anything better than being exhausted from fucking all the time? If there is, I’ve never heard of it.
30
Jackson
“She’s requesting your magic song that keeps the spiders away.” I walk into the living room where Ella is l
eafing through an old, dusty paperback from my bookshelf. I can’t help but notice how different she looks.
Although she’s only in her early twenties, she’s always looked much older. Not because of wrinkles or gray hairs, but in how she carries herself. In the burdened slope of her shoulders, in the sorrowful tone of her voice. I used to think she was just an old soul from the distant look in her eyes, but now I know it was the glazed over stare of a person who’s experienced too much of life’s chaos and sadness at too young an age. I don’t know why I never recognized the pain, the hopelessness, the fear. It’s exactly how I felt before Chloe came into my life.
Now Ella radiates a peaceful happiness that makes her sun-kissed skin shimmer. The horrors she’s experienced have vanished from her eyes, replaced with a hopeful sparkle that dances like flecks of gold over the beautiful brown. I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s simply stunning.
I was wrong. It’s not that Ella looks any younger. It’s more like she’s been walking around with the flame of passion extinguished from her soul. Like dreams were a distant memory and the harsh reality of her life had ground her down to dust. Now, I finally understand that myth of the phoenix rising from the ashes. A little over a year ago, I thought that was a silly story we tell ourselves, but as I gaze at her glowing face, I can see the truth.
“I’d love to sing it to her, if you don’t mind?” She tilts her head and her long hair flows down over her arm.
“Why would I mind?” I frown, confused.
“Well, I don’t want to intrude on the special bedtime routine you guys have, that’s all. I heard you reading Chloe her bedtime story. It was cute,” she explains.
Tinder Ella: A Modern Day Single Dad Fairy-Tale Page 12