Chapter 3 Brewer #2
“We don’t do nap time,” she said with a giggle.
“No naptime? Oh, my heart.”
I clenched my heart and faked like I was passing out, which made Ana laugh. Her giggles filled the room as I crashed to my back. I sat up and connected the last piece of the frame before I slid the middle part in place, then I stood up and looked over at Makenna.
Her eyes were studying me and her brow was furrowed tight.
“Where do you want it?” I asked.
“Want what?”
“The bed frame. I’m going to put the box spring and mattress on it next, but I want to know where you want it first.”
“You really don’t have to do that, Brewer.”
“Do you always fight like this?” I asked.
“Will you do mine next?” Ana asked.
“Ana, that’s not appropriate,” Makenna said.
“Yes, I will. And since Mommy doesn’t know where she wants her bed, you can tell me where to put it.”
“By the bathroom. Mommy pees a lot.”
“She does, does she?” I asked with a grin.
Makenna’s head lobbed back in exasperation as a smile bloomed across my cheeks.
“Hope you ran to the store and got toilet paper then,” I said.
“I’ve known you for ten minutes and I already hate you,” she said.
“I’ll change that soon.”
Our eyes connected and I could’ve sworn I saw her grin.
She shook her head and bit down onto her tongue as her hands found her hips.
Oh, she was feisty. Fighting between bucking up against me and listening.
I enjoyed women who put up a good fight.
Who were independent and capable of doing things on their own.
It made it all the sweeter when they begged me to fuck them harder.
“Against the far wall is fine,” Makenna said.
“Perfect. I’ll get the mattress and box spring on it, then I’ll get to work on Ana’s bed,” I said.
I stuck around and ended up helping her put together the rest of her house.
I started in Ana’s bedroom with her plastic princess bed frame, complete with a canopy I needed to screw into the ceiling.
Then I put together the bed frame for the guest bedroom and got that mattress and box spring onto it.
We made our way downstairs and I rearranged her living room a few times before she settled on a design she enjoyed, then I hooked up their television and DVD player so they could have some sort of entertainment for the evening.
I wiped the sweat off my brow as Makenna came up to stand beside me.
“I can’t thank you enough for your help,” she said.
“Not a problem. Moving’s hard, even if it’s right up the road,” I said.
“Well, we definitely weren’t right up the road.”
“Where’d you guys come from?”
“Texas.”
“And you decided Redding, California was a better trade-off?” I asked.
“When you consider the circumstances we were running from, yes.”
My brow twitched with confusion as Makenna stared at the blank television screen.
Her eyes grew unfocused, like the past was trying to pull her back in.
I reached over and wrapped my hand around her wrist, trying to ground her into the present.
I knew what it was like to slip back there.
To slip back to a time I didn’t want to remember.
She had a kid to take care of, and I didn’t want Ana seeing her mother like that.
Her eyes whipped down to my hand before she jerked away. She wrapped her hand mindlessly around our connection point and began to rub. Like she thought I was going to hurt her. My blood boiled at the sight as I bit down on the inside of my cheek.
I’d kill the man if he ever came after them. No woman should run for her and her child’s life the way I sensed these two had.
“Wanna play outside?”
I peered beyond Makenna’s body at the small girl standing in what was now her playroom.
“Honey, I’m sure Mr. Brewer has other-”
“I’d love to,” I said with a grin, surprising myself. “If that’s all right with your mother, of course.”
I never really got along with kids. Sure, I would watch the kids play in our neighborhood, but that was mainly to just make sure that they were safe. But for some reason, I thought Ana was hilarious. I was happy to go play with her outside.
I gazed down into Mackenna’s startled eyes and saw shock roll behind them.
Was this not something she was used to? People wanting to get to know her and her kid?
She didn’t shake her head ‘no’, so I brushed past her and headed for her daughter.
Ana slipped her hand within mine and lead me out back where she had many different toys.
A tee ball set and a slide. A small trampoline and what looked to be a portable garden.
There was porch furniture out back that hadn’t been set up yet and a playground that still had to be assembled.
“You got other tools besides a screwdriver?” I asked.
I turned around and saw Makenna standing in the doorway, her luscious body leaning against the frame.
“Somewhere, yeah.”
“When you find it, bring it out to me. I’ll get this thing put together,” I said.
Then Makenna kicked a ball at my feet and we began to run around the yard, with her mother gawking after both of us.