The Life First Love

Continued from Part 1: The Life The Beginning I waited for her to go inside before making my way around to the other side of the house. “You two don’t need to follow me.” I saw Lance and Pop lurking in the shadows out the side of my eye like the worriers they are. Lance took a step forward, but Pop stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back.“We’re right here, son; you go ahead.”The gate slid open, and I stepped out to see the car parked there. I’ll give him this; he looked genuinely worried. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, wanted to believe that everything that had happened to her had gone over his head and that he wasn’t a willing participant, but I can’t overlook the fact that that shit did happen on his watch.Whitewashing his part in her unjust treatment at the hands of the woman he himself had brought into her life would just be another slap in her face. I’d just be one more person who didn’t take her feelings and wellbeing into consideration,

Seven o’clock. I barely slept a wink all night, too busy trying to see all the varying angles of what I had set in motion and discard any loopholes. I expect pushback from Victoria and her mom, maybe some others as well, but I’d also made moves to stem that flow, cut their wings if you will. I just need everything to go off without a hitch today; then, we’ll go from there. My biggest problem is how to pull it all off without Gianna being affected in any way. I want whatever hate that’s going to be thrown to come my way, but I know they wouldn’t dare, so if I don’t handle things correctly, she could end up catching even more hell from those two. Then I’d end up being wanted on two continents in my short lifetime.I sat in the steam room for half an hour, sweating out the angst of feeling like a parent sending my kid off to school for the first time. I’m having a hard time only because I’ve yet to decide what role I will play today. Am I the love interest or just a big brother looking

I love the smell of money. I ran my nose over the stack of crisp bills and felt a whole lot better than I had when the mysterious man came to pick up the car. “Mom, who was that? Where did you get that?” Shit, I forgot she was here. Victoria walked into the room and stood over the bed where I’d emptied the money bag with thirty neatly bound stacks of ten thousand brand spanking new hundred-dollar bills each.I hurried to put it away while struggling to come up with an explanation. “Never mind that how about we go shopping? That will make you feel better, wouldn’t it?” When I saw the light in her eyes, I knew she’d forgotten all about her question.“Let’s drive to New York; I want to shop there, not at these stupid stores around here.”I knew why she wanted to go, she’s my daughter after all, and as long as I can keep her from asking any prying questions, I’m willing to do anything. Still, how would I explain the more than five-hour trip away from home without any warning? I know; I’

“What’re you doing here?”“What? I can’t just drop by anymore now that you’ve got a new friend?” The jackass grinned.“Funny! What’s up?” I got up and pulled on the lightweight down vest that I’d thrown over the back of my chair as he stood there smirking at me.“Nothing’s up. I got bored. Where are you going?”“Come.”Not like I was going to shake him anyway. I wasn’t doing much, just making a quick stop since the Alden woman wasn’t answering her phone. I’m not afraid of her going around me, the woman had taken her kid out of school after all, but I needed to make sure all the same. “Wait here.” Of course, he didn’t, not once he realized I was going to the twins’ room and not Gianna’s.We could hear the three of them from outside the door, laughing. She was laughing. The sound rushed through me like sleigh bells at holiday time. Yes, I admit I have a weakness for that season, just like everyone else who indulges. Something about the warmth of a fireplace, the excitement in the a

“What’s the matter? Can’t sleep?” The house was quiet when she crept into my room later that night. I was up on the computer, which I switched to sleep mode as soon as she walked in.“No, I can’t. I think I want to call my dad.” My face must’ve given my thoughts away because she rushed to explain herself.“I think there might be something going on with him. I can’t explain it; it’s just a feeling I have like something’s wrong.” Yeah, a lot is wrong with him right now, but don’t you dare start feeling sorry for him; he doesn’t deserve it. I’ve turned the situation over time and again, and no matter what angle I look from, there’s no excuse sufficient enough for men like him. It would’ve been wrong for him to have neglected Victoria after marrying her mother and taking on that role, but what he did instead is nothing less than an abomination, and unless he’s a complete moron, there’s no way he didn’t recognize any of the signs of what was going on with his own blood right under hi