This was my chance.
“Anne, I have to tell you something.” I’d said it as nonchalantly as possible, but she tensed regardless. “It’s not bad. Promise.”
She gave me a wary side-eye but kept walking along beside me. “Okay, Penn. Shoot.”
Murphy’s little head was pressed into my shoulder. He’d fallen asleep in about two minutes time. Carrying him... with Anne right beside me... There was a feeling of belonging that I hadn’t known existed up until this moment.
“My house – the Hardick house – it's kinda more like... It’s big.”
“Big?” Anne clearly knew I was giving her the soft version of reality.
“It’s huge. It’s a mansion. My family and I live in a mansion.” I forced the words out one by one, hating them all.
“Oh.” We walked in silence for a minute or so. It felt like an eternity to me.
“I didn’t want to freak you out, ya know?” It was the only apology I could give, and it was the truth. “People get weird around... money, I guess.”
“Weird how?” She asked this patiently, and I took it as a good sign. She wasn’t freaking out.
Not yet.
“I don’t know. Friends... girlfriends... basically anyone I haven’t known since I was in diapers – they find out where I live... how I live... It just gets weird. Like they either can’t be themselves anymore because they’re too nervous, or they suddenly are glued to me because. You know. Money. I hate it.”
More silence.
The lights were getting brighter now, and soon we’d be turning onto the specific lane that led straight to the house. The walk would be incredibly well-lit from there. Anne was about to see the truth for herself.
“How many girlfriends?”
I almost laughed. Is that what had made her go quiet? Thinking about my past girlfriends?
“Not that many. Actually, none since high school. Scared you might have some competition?” I couldn’t help myself.
“No,” she returned testily. “Just wondered how much of a man-whore you really are.” She giggled then, and I realized the mansion aspect of this conversation hadn’t thrown her nearly as hard as I’d prepared for.
Maybe you’ll find out.
I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
Despite her calm demeanor, I heard the sharp intake of breath when the mansion became fully viewable. Standing there in all its glory, there was certainly no disguising the Hardick Mansion now.
It was what it was.
“It’s beautiful, Penn. Truly.” She paused then, turning to me. “I kind of figured you didn’t live in a shack after attending your dad’s party, you know. Maybe I didn’t expect this... but it’s not as shocking as you might think. I’m not gonna get ‘weird’. At least not any weirder than I already was.”
Her eyes were glimmering emeralds again, just like they’d been in the city lights. And for the first time since I’d met her, she seemed fully at peace. Her movements were relaxed, her smile wasn’t forced.
It was as though she felt safe. Finally. Which only made me wonder, why hadn’t she felt safe before?
We went straight in through the giant foyer. The house was silent, which made me assume Preston still hadn’t returned. My father was going to kill him if he wasn’t in the ranch office on Monday morning.
“I think everyone’s already settled down in their own...” I was going to say wing but thought better of it, “...rooms. I’ll take you to the guest room in my, um, section.”
Section? That was the word that was going to sound better than wing?
Anne said nothing, just nodded and followed me up the giant front staircase. Of course we couldn’t just have a normal staircase. Oh no. Not in the Hardick house. It had to be grand and ridiculously flashy.
There were five main hallways that converged in a large landing at the top of the stairs. Pierce and Payden were to the right, Preston and I were to the left, and my father was the middle.
I led Anne down the first hallway to the left, passing a few doors until I reached a guest room that seemed like a good fit for her and Murphy.
The bed itself was a king. More than enough room for the pair to be comfortable. Anne quietly pulled back the silk sheets, and I laid sleepy Murphy down gently.
“I guess the pajama thing didn’t matter after all,” she whispered, smiling and kissing his forehead before tucking the blankets securely around him.
There was an awkward moment where neither of us seemed to know exactly what to say, and I finally offered her some information that I thought might help her relax just a little bit more.
“We have a digital intercom system here.” I pointed to a pad on the wall covered in numerous buttons. I, of course, had them memorized. “I can connect this room to mine if you wanna... hang out... for a little while... You’ll be able to hear Murphy breathing, let alone anything else.”
Anne’s blush had gone straight past pink to a bright cherry red. “And can he... hear us? I mean. I don't want to wake him up. You know.” She was beyond flustered.
I tried not to grin too widely. “I can set it so that no sound comes through on his end.” Anne nodded, completely embarrassed, and I ran my fingers over the appropriate buttons rapidly.
After, I grabbed her hand and tugged. She gave another motherly look over her shoulder, still unconvinced that her baby was safe. I felt her hesitation, and liked her all the more for it.
“Anne, we’ll be right over there.” I pointed at the door straight across the wide hallway. “Super close.”
She shut Murphy’s door gently just as I opened the door to my own bedroom. It wasn’t overly decorated like every other room in the house, but it was still stupidly large.
None of that mattered. Anne closed my door behind her, and we locked eyes.
I can’t wait any more. I won’t.
I nearly charged toward her, but she met me with the same hungry passion. Our lips went to war, tearing away at each other viciously. Clothing started to disappear piece by piece. When we were both fully bare, I picked her up and carried her to the bed. Her legs had wrapped tightly around me, and she was biting – ferociously biting – my neck.
I pulled her hair tie out as we moved, and her long locks swung around both of us like a curtain of silk.
I laid her gently down on my giant bed, mesmerized by the beauty of her lips – her breasts – her soft, pink flesh. She pulled me down greedily, and I rammed my overly swollen cock straight into her very wet and ready slit. The sound she emitted at the invasion was wild with ecstasy. The shy, sweet Anne Johnson had checked herself at the door.
She was all animal now.
8
Valerie
I’d always known, deep down, that Randall would hurt me again.
He managed not to lay a finger on me while I was pregnant, unless it was a loving touch. And the entire first year of Murphy’s life had gone mostly smooth as well.
There were signs though. They seemed small in the beginning, but I knew what it was all leading up to. I knew because I’d watched the progression before, when it was just him and me – no Murphy.
Maybe he’d throw a beer can when his team was losing. Or I’d get shouted at on a particularly hot day for not closing the front door tightly enough and wasting our air conditioning. A simple punch through the trailer wall because an employee called in sick. All small things. All with much bigger implications.