Chapter Twelve

Tasha

One month later…

Jeremy: Arrive at my suite at eight o’clock. Wear the dress and with the blindfold I sent you yesterday. Wear the Ben Wa balls. I want you on all fours, ass in the air on the bed as I enter the room.

My face flames as I read over the text message.

“Huh, Ms. Tasha?”

Oh shit. I fumble with my phone to darken the screen so Trudy doesn’t see it. “I’m sorry, sweetie. What did you say?”

“I asked if we could also do the Harry Potter series as part of the book club.” Those brown eyes staring up at me have so much behind them. She’s only twelve, but I sense she’s been through a lot. Still she’s just a kid, and despite her attempts to seem aloof or uncaring at times, in moments like this, I still see the innocence of a twelve year old.

“Of course we can. I’ll add it to the list and give it to Coral to order.”

Trudy’s eyes light up for a second before she gets a hold of herself. “Thanks.” She shrugs before she runs off to play with a group of kids.

“She’s come a long way. She never used to play with anyone else,” Coral says from behind me.

I turn to her as she observes Trudy with the group of kids. “Yeah, she’s a good kid.”

Coral nods. “They all are.”

I notice her rubbing her side while her other hand rests on her ever-expanding belly. “You okay?”

She waves me off. “Fine.”

“You sure? Shouldn’t you be on maternity leave now anyway?”

She frowns. “This is my last week. I told you I’m fine. Butterball’s just kicking my ribs. He’s an active little guy.”

“Well, considering who his parents are, I already know he’s going to be a handful,” I tease.

“Tell me about it. Li’s already got all types of shit planned for this kid. Already planning the next Bennett business this kid will take over. He doesn’t stand a chance.”

“He’ll probably end up being a spy like his mom.”

“Over my dead body.”

I raise my brows, surprised by her tone.

“That’s not a life I want for any of my kids,” she says, looking over at Laura who’s reading with another one of the community center’s counselors.

“Your children will be great. With you for a mom, they don’t have a choice but to be great.”

She tosses me a half smile. “Thanks, Tash. You’ve been very upbeat lately. And I know it’s not just due to you breaking through your writer’s block.”

“You’re right about that.” I choose not to lie to my sister. I wait for her next question, but it never comes.

“I’m not going to question you about what you do in your private life. Just know I’m here if you want to talk about anything.”

This damn near blows me away. “Really? No prying? No threatening Jeremy with castration in a secret dungeon out in the middle of the desert or wherever you spies have your secret hiding places?”

She looks at me skeptically. “You’ve been reading too much fantasy or spy novels.”

I wait for it.

She shrugs. “Besides, Jeremy already knows where I stand on the issue.”

I smirk at that. “And by knowing where you stand, I assume you mean that you’ve threatened him if he hurts me.”

“I don’t threaten. I merely warn,” she says without a hint of humor.

“I love you, sis.”

“Whatever. I’m going to play with my kid before we have to prepare lunches,” she turns before heading toward Laura.

I watch her walk away and I grin again, wondering what that conversation between her and Jeremy was like. Eventually, my thoughts flow to just the man himself. It’s been a week since I’ve seen him. He’s been traveling a lot for work, leaving us to communicate mainly via Facetime. I grin harder, thinking about two nights ago when he woke me up at midnight to connect on Facetime. He demanded to watch me pleasure myself until I came, calling his name. That’s become a regular event whenever we’re apart. He constantly demands to watch me cum. I feel my body getting warm as I remember his text, and the dress that was unexpectedly delivered to me yesterday. It’s black, leather, and form-fitting, and the skimpy thing barely covers my ass. I’ll definitely have to wear a jacket over it. I’m tempted to pull out my phone and read the rest of his instructions, but I’ll save that for later when I consider where I am.

The rest of my time at the community center I work to keep myself occupied so the thoughts of what will happen later on tonight don’t intrude. It’s a tough feat, but somehow, I manage through to the end of the day. I lag behind, cleaning up after the kids and helping the counselors put away the books. By the time I look up, the place is empty and it’s well after two o’clock. I head into Coral’s office to tell her I’m leaving. As I make my way out of the door and over toward my parking space, I notice Trudy still sitting out front of the center.

“Hey, Trudy. Are you still waiting on your ride?”

She gives me a half-hearted shrug without even looking up at me. “My mama will be here soon, I guess.” The uncertainty of those last two words hits me hard in the chest. All the kids were picked up nearly an hour ago. Trudy looks as if she’s been sitting out here about that long.

“How about I give you a ride home?” I offer.

Trudy’s head snaps up and she stares at me with ghosted eyes. “No, Ms. Tasha. It’s okay. I think she’ll be here soon.”

That answer isn’t good enough for me. I can see it in Trudy’s eyes that she doesn’t even believe her own words. It’s a hell of a thing to be twelve years old and not able to trust the adults who are responsible for taking care of you.

“It’s no big deal. We can’t have you waiting out here. I’m sure your mother just lost track of time or something,” I reassure her. Of course it’s bullshit. We both know it is. Her mother, like mine, doesn’t care. But I do and I can’t have this girl waiting out here by herself.

“I insist. We can talk more about planning for the book club. You know school starts in just a couple of weeks, so we need to get things organized.”

When I mention the book club, it sparks her interest, and eventually her little shoulders sag as she finally relents. “Okay, Ms. Tasha. I did want to talk more about the book club anyway.” She grins.

“Great! Let’s go. My car is over here.” I point in the direction of my car. Once inside, I ask Trudy for her address to put into my GPS. When she recites it, I immediately recognize it as one of the roughest areas in the city. That’s not all I find surprising, considering many of the center’s kids come from not-so-great neighborhoods. According to my GPS it’ll take about twenty minutes to get to Trudy’s home.

“So tell me about your ideas for the book club,” I say as we exit the parking lot.

“Oh, I was thinking we could also do comic books. What do you think? I remember you saying you read comic books as a kid.”

I listen attentively as Trudy continues talking about the idea of adding comic books to our reading list. She even comes up with the idea of having a movie night to watch one of the Marvel films. I thoroughly enjoy her enthusiasm and am drawn in by her excitement.

“Those ideas sound great, Trudy. We’ll have to run those by Ms. Coral, of course or the interim director, since Ms. Coral will be going on maternity leave soon. But I like that idea and I think comic books are a good way to shift gears between books.” I finish my statement at the same time I pull up in front of the address Trudy has given me. I look over at the two-story house and notice the old beat-up car I’ve seen picking up Trudy a few times out front in the driveway. Trudy must notice as well as she looks at the car and frowns, likely drawing the same conclusion I have. Her mother is likely home and just forgot all about her.

As I begin to say goodbye to Trudy, she opens the passenger’s door. The front door of the house crashes open, nearly falling off its hinges.

“Gary! What the hell you mean she’s just a friend! That’s the bitch you were with last night?!” Trudy’s very irate mother is shouting at the man who’d identified himself to me as Trudy’s stepfather at the center. His head is down, as he lazily makes his way down the front steps of the house in a pair of sagging jeans and a black T-shirt.

“Man, whatever. Gon’ ahead with that bullshit, Lisa!” he yells back, waving her off.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Trudy cringe, embarrassed as she climbs out of the car. Not wanting her to enter this scene alone, I shut off the car and get out, planning to finally introduce myself to her mother despite the apparent fight she’s currently involved in. I’m hoping her desire to save her daughter any further embarrassment will be enough for her to end this argument and focus on Trudy.  

“Hi, Ms. Campbell, I’m Tasha one of the counselors at the community center,” I say, extending my hand to the woman. As I get closer, I see how much Trudy resembles her mother. They have the same brown, almond-shaped eyes, nose, and round face. The only difference is that Trudy is about three shades darker than her mother. The woman standing before me is very pretty, except the wild disdain in her eyes and twisted frown on her face right now would make anyone pause before approaching her.

“Who the hell are you?! Is this another one of the bitches you fucking?!” she yells at the man who is now in the driveway.

I look over my shoulder at the man.

He looks at me with a frown of his own. “I don’t even know that chick!”

“No, Ms. Campbell. I’m a volunteer at the community center that Trudy attends. I gave her a ride home.” After you forgot all about her again. Thankfully, I bite my tongue on those last thoughts but just barely.

“Ms. Campbell? Who the hell is that?!” She snarls.

“Oh, I apologize. I just thought that you and Trudy shared a last name.”

“Psst… Nah, that’s her daddy’s last name. That fool had the nerve to ask me to give her his last name, but I ain’t seen his triflin’ ass since.”

I nod at that, not knowing what to say. “Well, Trudy has been doing very well at the center. She’s one of the smartest kids there. Just don’t tell any of the other parents I said that.” I attempt to joke in order to break up the obvious tension.

“Whatever. Trudy, go on and take your ass inside from all this sun. You know your black ass don’t need any more sun,” she says, acknowledging Trudy’s presence for the first time.

My heart sinks at those words. I’d heard similar mean remarks too many times from my mother. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with a little tan in the summer, right? After all, our skin does glow the darker it gets.” I wink at Trudy, hoping I’ve taken some of the sting out of her mother’s comments. “Just remember to use sunscreen, though. Our melanin may glow, but we’re not immune to skin cancer.”

I sigh a little in relief as Trudy gives me a big grin and begins heading up the stairs of the front porch. However, her grin changes when she looks over my shoulder to the driveway, staring at something. The look on her face causes a shiver to pass through me. I look over to see that she’s glaring at Gary as he stares at her climbing the steps. He continues to stare until Trudy enters the house, disappearing from his line of vision. It was just a stare, but I shudder inside. I know that look all too well, but I don’t want to believe what my intuition is telling me. As I continue watching, he finally climbs in the car.

“Gary! Gary! I know you not just gonna leave!” Lisa yells, hurrying over to the driveway, already losing interest in why I’m standing in her front yard.

Knowing I’ll never get her attention right now, I reluctantly head back to my car. Driving home, I try to shake off the eerie feeling I got as I watched Gary stare at Trudy. I plan to carefully ask Trudy if he lives in the house with her. I hope against all hope that her answer to that question will be no. In the meantime, I remove my clothes from the day and take a shower to prep for my night with Jeremy.