I took a deep breath. “Actually tomorrow we have some pretty important stuff to do.” I pursed my lips, “You want to hear it?” I waited for her to nod before I continued. “Well, Jacks and I wanted you to meet with a few people. We have a counselor coming to talk to you.”
“About what?” She was on her side now, facing me.
“About your mom, and about coming to live with Jacks.” I brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Is that okay?”
She nodded. “Who else?”
“A tutor. We want to make sure you are all caught up on your schoolwork and ready to start in the fall.” I picked up Ello and put him under the covers next to her. “I have a few different tutors coming. You can pick the one you like the best.”
She nodded again.
“Do you have anything that you want to ask me? Or anything you want to talk about?” I didn’t want her to feel overwhelmed, but all of these things were necessary.
“Can I still do my drum lessons with Uncle Luke?”
“Absolutely.” I smiled. “You have fun with Uncle Luke?”
“Yeah.” She let out a little sigh. “He has fun too. When he’s teaching me, he smiles and laughs. Which is good because usually he seems so sad.”
Well, shit. How was I supposed to explain Luke to Landry when I didn’t even really know what was going on with him? “Sometimes grown-ups get sad about things. But you make Uncle Luke happy, so it’s good that you like hanging out with him.” I sat up and kissed her forehead. “Good night, sweet girl.”
She snuggled up with Ello. “Good night, B.”
I turned off her light and headed across the hall to Jacks’s room. Well, my room too I guess. While I was showering this morning he moved all my stuff into his closet and dresser. I flopped down on the bed next to him. “All tucked in.”
Jacks closed his laptop and sat it on the nightstand. “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Why?”
“I’m getting tested for STDs.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Be still, my beating heart.”
He reached out and pulled the rubber band out of my hair. “I want to make sure that I’m all clear, then I’m throwing away the condoms.”
I crawled up his body and onto his lap. “Oh yeah?”
He nodded. “Oh yeah.”
I kissed his neck. “Aren’t you even going to ask me how I feel about that? Maybe I don’t want to throw away the condoms.” I kissed the other side of his neck, then let my nails trail down his chest and hook into the band of his shorts.
He ran his hands up my back, under my shirt. “I don’t care.” He let his hands move in the opposite direction, grabbing my ass. “I don’t want anything between us. I want to feel you riding my cock, bare. I want to come inside you so fucking hard that it drips down your thigh.”
His words send a shiver down my spine. I pulled back, looking at him. “Well, that was fucking hot.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded. “Fuck yeah. Take your pants off.”
***
We were lying in bed, side by side, playing our favorite zombie game. “Hey, I told Landry about everyone she is meeting with tomorrow.”
He pressed pause. “What did she say? Was she overwhelmed?”
I shook my head, unpausing the game and then firing off a few shots into an undead adversary. “Not at all, she seemed fine with everything.” I nudged him with my leg. “Everything is going to be fine, love. This house is full of warmth and family; we are going to get Landry all squared away emotionally. The courts are going to laugh in her mom’s face when she tries to get her back.”
“Yeah, I’m sure they will…but courts and lawyers mean that Landry is going to have to face her mom again. She’ll have to testify, relive the abandonment.” He hit pause again and leaned his head against the headboard.
I took his face in my hands. “You’re right, and that sucks. But that’s also the end. It’s happily ever after from then on, right?”
He smiled. “Right.”
Landry
Today was such a good day. When I was with Jacks and Bryan, it felt like we were a family. Like I was one of those happy kids from school that had two parents that cared about them. Jacks was my dad, and I was pretty sure that he and Bryan were more than friends…but that didn’t mean she wanted to be my mom. I didn’t know if I was even allowed to have another mom. Maybe you only got one, and if that one sucked, then too bad. We did so many fun things today, and we laughed so much. It was the best day I’d ever had.
I was a little nervous about all the people I had to meet tomorrow. My teachers always seemed to like me okay, when my mom bothered to take me to school, that is. But this counselor person? What if they told Jacks and Bryan that I was crazy, that I wasn’t a good kid? Maybe they would see the same things my mom saw. My mom was never a good mom, but she left me for a reason. And even though I tried real hard, I couldn’t figure out what that reason was.
Chapter Twenty-three
Jacks