Welcome
Travis
For all that was holy, all I had to do was catch her scent and I was painfully as hard as stone. After last night every single thought of her made my dick replace my brain. Jesus, it was so damn hot, and the memories swirled around my mind constantly.
I should have been celebrating the fact that my failure as a man seemed to be a thing of my past, but shit, I was standing at the airport waiting for one of my closest buddies. I didn’t think he would appreciate that kind of welcoming to Oklahoma. I was going to start wearing briefs again, the damn boxer briefs let things hang a little low and made it hard to hide since it hung down my fucking leg. Damn that was some hot sex…dammit stop thinking about it! Shit!
Wrenly must have noticed because she stepped in front of me and let me wrap my arms around her as we waited for Magnus. “Last night has made things a little complicated for me today.” I whispered in her ear then kissed her cheek.
“Me too.” She whispered.
I took in a sharp breath. “Are you wet for me right now?” I whispered into her ear.
“Always.”
“Dammit Wrenly.” I had to try and readjust. “I might need to find a bathroom and rearrange things in my pants.”
She giggled. “I’d like to take that trip with you and just relieve you of your little problem.”
“There is nothing little about my problem, young lady.”
“I know, I can still feel you. It’s the best kind of ache.” She whispered.
I bit down on her ear then let go. “You’re not helping.”
“Neither are you.” She whispered. “I can feel it touching me and it’s really hard.”
“How am I supposed to make it through the entire day without touching you?” I growled. She was driving me insane. I had to shut my eyes because the image of sweat beads and goose bumps on her tits and all that hot sweaty lovemaking that went on for hours was insane. I never came so hard then woke up in the middle of the night for more. Thankfully, she set the alarm a little early so we could have fun in the shower.
The entire night was perfect. She kept my mind off all the shit I was dealing with in the best ways possible. My plan to remind her of her childhood dreams, the ones she used to scare me with as kids, worked perfectly. I was no longer afraid of her dreams. I could give her all of them now and I couldn’t describe how good it felt to make her so happy. I just had to figure all the bullshit out with Clint and Brock first. There was no doubt I would someday legally belong to Wrenly Carlson. She already owned me, we just needed a little time to make it legal.
We finally saw Magnus, and Wrenly giggled. “Every woman’s eyes in this airport are on the two of you. Is that a fan club walking behind him, huddled up and giggling?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure he was his charming self on the plane.”
Magnus was a one of a kind. Charming as hell when he was in the mood, but mostly quiet. He knew when to speak and when to listen. He loved women, but he also didn’t trust them as easily as other men. He was all smiles as he approached and hugged my girl, then tried to give me a bro hug but I had to fight him off.
He put his hands out. “What the hell, dude? I came all this way, and I don’t even get a slap on the back?”
I leaned in and whispered. “Things were a little hot last night, so you’ll have to settle with a thanks unless you want a really awkward bro hug.”
He stepped back and stuck out his hand. “I’m good, a thanks will do just fine.”
I shook his hand then took his bag from him.
He shook his head and chuckled. I swear, you and Creed, both pussy whipped. Oh yeah, Drakos too, but after seeing him in the Munchkin getup it’s just weird.”
I chuckled as we walked outside, and I had his bag in one hand and my other around Wrenly. “Another wedding, huh?”
Magnus shook his head. “I don’t think I’d make a good guest. I know how I am, I’ll picture him in that getup and laugh through the entire ceremony, not to mention seeing Melissa in all white after learning she’s really a tiny little sex demon.” He laughed. “She made Addie her maid of honor.”
I laughed and Wrenly giggled. “I’m sure that made Morgan real happy.” Morgan liked the attention people gave her.
“Actually, it did, something about being too tall and things won’t be uniform or something. Just a bunch of women talk, so I tend to zone out.”
We made it to the Tahoe, and I threw his bag in the back. He jumped into the backseat, and I settled into the driver’s seat with Wrenly in the passenger seat.
“So, just how crazy is this psycho bitch we’re going to see?” Magnus asked. We talked for a few minutes after dinner last night.
“I’m not sure, according to Brock it’s pretty bad. Just be careful if she gets physical. She has AIDS and I don’t know if she will injure herself. He said she has already broken their kitchen chairs, so I wouldn’t be shocked.” I wiggled the Tahoe out into traffic.
Wrenly spoke up. “Keep in mind that she’s sick because her husband cheated. She’s hurt, angry, scared, sick, and she’s already survived her expiration date. She has a strain we don’t usually see here in the States and it’s one that takes women’s lives much faster than men’s. My best guess is that he didn’t infect her right away and probably had HIV for a while and didn’t know since he was drinking and probably never felt well. That makes sense if their marriage was strained.”
“And nobody but us and Brock knows, right?” Magnus asked.
“Well, her doctors and the administrator of the nursing home Jenny works at, but nobody else.” I answered.
“How old is she?” Magnus asked, but I looked at Wrenly.
“Any idea? I’ve never met the woman, at least I don’t remember meeting her.”
Wrenly nodded. “You have and might remember her if you saw her. She worked at the station with dad and Tony. She wasn’t a cop, but she was a dispatcher. I’m going to guess she’s probably around forty or so, but with her diagnosis and mental health she probably looks older. At one time she was very pretty.”
Jesus, forty? “Dad robbed the cradle, obviously.”
“Let’s focus on Brock. What are you going to say to this woman?” Wrenly asked.
I shrugged. “I figured I’d go in alone at first. I simply want to offer her a new life somewhere that offers an escape from the shame back here. I want Brock to have power of attorney simply because I don’t think she is mentally capable of making healthy decisions. This way she can’t back out of the agreement. I’d like Brock to think she is doing it to help him, but I’m sure I’ll have to tell him about this visit. I’ll wave you two in if she’s willing to see the two of you. I would take the two of you to the hotel, but if I did that we would waste time. Don’t we have plans tonight?” I asked, remembering we were supposed to meet up with her friends later.
“Yeah, but I can cancel.” She offered.
“Magnus, you up for a night out?” I asked as I looked in the rear view mirror at him.
He shrugged. “Sure, as long as we hit the hotel so I can shower first.”
When we arrived at the hotel last night and were walking to our room, I got a text from Clint asking me to meet him when Jacob was still in school, so it had to be early afternoon, and I didn’t know how long things would take with Emma.
When we pulled into my grandparents driveway, I saw the bedroom curtains on the second floor move. I groaned. “Normal crazy chicks leave their houses, so how bad can a crazy stepmother that never leaves her house be?” I asked.
“Pretty fucking crazy.” Magnus said.
“Just be gentle with her.” Wrenly kissed my cheek. “Do not take any risks.” She reminded me. I kept picturing the crazy lady cutting herself to keep me away from her.
“Always. Here I go.” I slipped out of the Tahoe and made my way to the very familiar front porch. It felt so strange because I spent a big part of my childhood in the same house, but it was nice in those days. I knocked on the door but didn’t hear a thing. I knocked again but got nothing again. I waited a while and kept knocking but there was no movement in the house.
I had an old memory and wondered if I could just walk into the house. I checked the door, and it was locked, so I took a chance and reached up to the top of the door frame for the key my grandparents only remembered to leave out about half the time, and bingo, there it was.
The key worked, so I slowly opened the door. “Emma, it’s Travis Irons, your step son!” I yelled out. “I’m not here to cause you any harm.” I slowly stepped inside. “I’m only here to help you!”
I looked around and there was no sign of her. I was also pleasantly surprised the inside wasn’t nearly as bad as the outside. Someone had been cleaning it, and it’s probably why the yard was in bad shape, Brock simply didn’t have time to do more than mow.
“I’m aware you’ve been through a lot, and you took care of my dad up until the end. That was good of you.” I lied, she sounded like a terrible mother, so she couldn’t have been that great of a wife.
“What do you want?” I heard a small fragile voice at the top of the steps.
“I’m here to help you and Brock. I met him and he’s an amazing young man. He’s my brother, right? You’re family too? My stepmother?” I was being kinder than she deserved. I held my hands up as I came into her view so she could see I wasn’t a threat. She was peeking around the corner of the upstairs and all I saw was messy dark brown hair and very sad eyes. Damn, the ripple effect of one moment in time at a local grocery store ruined so many lives.
“What do you want?” She hissed and damn it was creepy.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t around to help you and Brock. I was ashamed of my past and I let that keep me from coming home. I’m here now though, I want to be the stepson you deserve.” I lied again. I couldn’t care less about her, it was about Brock and only Brock.
“Why now? You’re late.” She said.
“I was in the war, then I was special ops, and I didn’t know about you or Brock. Nobody told me about dad, and I’m sorry. I’m here to do what he should have done years ago. I need to make sure you’re taken care of, you and Brock. I owe it to him.” I was on a roll with the lies. I didn’t owe my dad shit.
“How exactly do you think you can help?” She didn’t trust me yet.
“I know Brock was in some trouble over the summer. I’ve come into some money, and I can get you out of this town and away from everyone that has hurt you. Brock trusts me, I just need you to trust me too.”
“You look like Tony.” She said and that surprised me. “He was a good man.”
I Was surprised she didn’t say Robert, but nodded as I stood there with my hands up. “Tony brought me up, he taught me how to be a good man. I’m not perfect, I’ve made mistakes, but I’d like to make things right for you and my brother. I’ve heard you don’t like me much, but I never had a mother to guide me. Tony did what he could, but Paula couldn’t have cared less. I can give you and Brock a better life, if you would just give me a chance.”
“Paula neglected you.” She spoke softly.
I nodded so she could see me. “Nothing hurts more than to be neglected by the person you love more than anyone.”
“Your father was a good man.” She was delirious. The fucker gave her a slow death.
“When good men hurt they make mistakes. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me.”
She stepped out to where I could see her better and Jesus Christ, she looked like something from a horror film. Her lips were so dry they were chapped, she had sores on her face, and her hair had more gray than any woman I ever saw in her forties. From what I could tell, she was wearing one of my grandmother's moo moo nightgowns and she had bare feet.
“How do I know you’re not here to take my house, maybe throw me out on the streets to die alone?” She was ringing her hands like she was nervous.
“I don’t own this house or have any rights to it, but I do own a bike shop. Your son is a genius with cars, and I’d like to expand into restoration of old cars. I’ll pay him well, but I don’t just want to give him a better job. I want to give you a better life as well. One away from everyone that has hurt you. A fresh start, a new and good life.”
She took a step down. “How am I supposed to trust you?”
I was never a manipulator, Magnus was better with women than me. Shit, how could I prove it?
“Name anything you want, and I’ll send my girlfriend out to get it. You tell me what it would take.”
She took another step down and to say I was creeped out would be an understatement.
“You say you have a job for my son?” She took another step down.
“Not one that would take him away from you. It’s one that would benefit the both of you. I mean, it’s away from this town, but it’s not meant to take him away. I want to bring you both home with me.”
She took another step down. “He told me last night that he was leaving me. You’re trying to put me in a home.” She said.
Oh shit!
“Not a home, an apartment. Not here in Oklahoma either. I haven’t told Brock I’ve lined something up for both of you in Indiana.” I stepped back as she came closer.
“In Indiana.” She said.
I nodded. “Yes, in Indiana.”
Suddenly I could smell rotting flesh and almost vomited.
“You want me to leave my family and live in a skilled care facility.” Her eyes were narrowed on me. Holy shit, I was fucking special ops and feeling like a scared teenager in a 1980’s B-rated horror film.
“No, an assisted living center where people only come to help you if you call them. You’d have your own apartment and all the privacy you need.” I wasn’t sure being honest with her was the right move but I sure as hell took several steps away when she made it to the bottom of the stairs.
“Away from my parents, siblings, and my annoying nephew?”
Holy fuck she needed a shower. It took all I had not to vomit.
“I’m taking it that Matt is your annoying nephew?”
Her eyes turned dark. “He spews out all these prayers to a God I’ve never seen. What kind of God allows an innocent woman to contract such a disgusting disease?” She looked me up and down. “Put your hands down, you look like an idiot.”
I lowered them very slowly. “I’ve also never met God, he is not who is behind what I’m trying to give you. I’ve seen enough pain and sadness, felt the loneliness. He’s not with me.” I lied once more.
The corner of her mouth tipped up, which was even creepier. “You won’t lay your hands on me and pray, as my nephew tried to do the last time he stepped foot in this house? He’s a hypocrite, no better than me like he wants to pretend. Fathered a dead child out of wedlock, trapped a nice girl, then whined and cried when she ran away from him.” Damn, even the way she spoke was creepy.
“Do you trust your son?” I asked and she lost her half creepy smile.
“He told you the family secret, didn’t he?” She crossed her arms as she stared daggers at me.
“He’s suffering, Emma. He’s a good kid that spent time behind bars because he wanted to keep a roof over your head.”
She gave me a nod. “Almost didn’t graduate high school because of it. He was lucky they let him graduate before his court date, but we didn’t have the money to pay his fines.”
“Do you want to give him a better future?” I asked.
Her eyes turned very dark. “Do you think this is the life I wanted for any of us? Do you think I wanted to look like an eighty five year old woman at forty three? To sit here in a home, I don’t belong in and rot away? He’s a grown man now, he can do as he pleases.” She used a snarky tone with me.
“Do you think I’d be a good man if I let my stepmother and brother continue to live this way? Would a good man walk away and not help? I won’t be giving him a free ride, but what I will be giving him is a chance at a happy future, with his mother in his life and taken care of by good people. Give you a chance to start fresh and leave everyone that failed you behind. I dedicate my life to saving people from wars and slavery. What kind of a man would I be for walking away after learning the conditions of the lives my family was living? If someone would have reached out to me I would have been home before dad got sick, but I figured everyone forgot me.” I lied again, I wouldn’t have come home. Wrenly was the only person that could get me home. There I was lying while asking her to trust me.
“I will take on all the financial obligations of taking you and Brock away from here. Brock will earn his way, but I’ll make sure you have everything you need and then some.” That wasn’t a lie. “I’m what some would consider wealthy. I’ve invested in several successful businesses, and I think my dad would have asked this of me.”
She looked out the window. “He never would have asked you for anything. He never felt deserving of your love. I should have called you, but you’re all he cared about. He would stare at that computer screen for hours but refuse to look at me. I wasn’t as beautiful as your mother. I wasn’t as classy or as smart. She had everything and I had nothing.”
“You were a mother to your son. You didn’t run off and abandon him. You got sick, but you were here when you could have left. Did you celebrate Brock’s birthdays when he was little?” I asked.
“Of course.” She answered.
“My mother didn’t even love me enough to spend one with me. She wasn’t there when I took my first steps or said my first words. Don’t compare yourself to her. You tried and that alone makes you more beautiful, smarter, and all around better. She only cared about Bobby and that girl of hers. I don’t feel the need to meet that girl, the only sibling I care to know is Brock. You gave me a very good brother.” I played on her jealousy of mom and Evie.
“Op op, was his first word. He was trying to say pop pop to my dad. The holiest of men. Just like my nephew, they use God to make those of us less fortunate feel guilt and shame.” She snarled.
“Do you feel guilt and shame?” I asked and she continued to look out the window toward the Tahoe.
“Yes.” Her voice was a little softer.
“Because you’re sick?”
She turned to look at me. “Who is in your car?”
Shit. “My girlfriend, and we just picked my friend up from the airport. We have an appointment early this afternoon and I wanted to meet privately with you, and I didn’t have time to take them to the hotel.”
“Tell me about this power of attorney thing.” She crossed her arms and walked away from the window, toward the living room. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could smell her without vomiting.
“It’s a legal agreement making Brock responsible for your wellbeing. He will make decisions that will keep you safe and make sure you are well cared for if you get sicker and can’t make decisions of your own.”
She nodded. “It makes him financially responsible?”
“He will have to look over your affairs. Make sure your bills are paid, like he does now, I presume.” I kept a distance from her as she walked into the living room. I didn’t enter but stood in the archway. That was when I noticed the hospital bed. I gulped, knowing my dad likely died in that bed. I noticed she was staring at it.
“He was my husband. The man that gave me my son, and then this disease, but I stayed with him. They divorced, but it was her that he wanted in the end. It was her daughter he loved the most. Then she drops food off here like I’m some charity case.”
In all fairness, she knew dad was married when she fucked him. She was the victim, not me or my mom in her mind. Emma definitely had a victim mentality.
“When I got sick, I told my mom it was broken heart syndrome. Do you know what she said to me?” She asked.
“I’d hope she was comforting.” I put my hands in my pockets.
Her voice became faint. “She said that’s what happens to whores that steal another woman’s husband.”
“That was cruel. She didn’t realize their marriage was over for years?” I asked.
She smiled. “You really aren’t here with God, are you?”
“No, I am not.” I might not have attended Mass, but I did believe. She didn’t need to know it.
“I am a sinner and my soul is tarnished. I’ll be in hell with my husband soon enough.” She sighed. “I guess I wouldn’t be a good mother if I left Brock alone in this world with no true family to love him. All my family will do is make him feel shame and guilt over things that aren’t his fault.”
“When Tony died, there was only one person I knew loved me, but she was just a girl. I didn’t have anyone left and nobody came. Now I see you and Brock alone with just each other. I want to be the person that never came for me. I like the kid, you did a fine job, and he will be your legacy. He won’t leave here without you, and I’m the best shot he's got. He will work hard and make good money. It’s a great opportunity for him. He could end up as my business partner and could own his own home and have some financial freedom. He could have the kind of life he deserves. Please help me give that to him. Let me make sure you have what you need to live longer and maybe even happier. Make better memories with Brock so he has even more great stories to tell his children. Let me take you away from the people that cause you so much shame and guilt.”