Chapter Five—Linc
I’d almost forgotten about the situation with Sky’s apartment by the time I finally made it home. I got into my apartment and took off my shirt and jeans, thinking about what a shit-fest the day had been. I’d missed a call from Jazmin—at least, that was what Lisa had said in the voicemail she’d left me, which I’d gotten maybe five minutes before Sky had called me. I spent the rest of the day dealing with a bunch of paperwork bullshit: tax stuff for the apartments, a repair that one of my other tenants had been bugging me about for a week, shit like that. I threw myself down on the couch, considering the possibility of drinking half a handle of Jack to get to sleep. Then I remembered: Sky. I groaned and pulled my jeans back on, hoping that she might have forgotten about it.
Not even bothering to put on a shirt, I walked the short distance over to her apartment and knocked. It was warm in the hallway, but every hair on me was standing on end. She opened the door and smiled up at me.
I remembered her vaguely from the night before, but I felt like something must have been wrong with my eyes; was she that beautiful then? Yeah, I’d had a bit too much to drink, but I felt like I’d failed somehow in not remembering that she was so damn pretty.
Her lips were red enough to make me wonder if she was wearing lipstick, there in the apartment by herself, and my mind went instantly to how they would feel wrapped around my cock. Not a good thought to have about one of your tenants—stop that shit in its tracks. It was only too easy to picture her looking up at me, those big eyes full of innocent lust.
She had long legs, which was actually surprising, since altogether she came up to about the middle of my chest. My eyes, almost with a mind of their own, glanced down to her rack for a moment before they came to rest on her face again. I tried to distract myself from her soft lips, sure that I would say something inappropriate if I didn’t. I had to remember that she was way too young to even think about that way. Besides, Sky was a tenant. Get yourself under control, sailor.
“Thanks for coming over, Linc,” Sky said. “I had almost started to think you’d forgotten about it.”
I told her that it wasn’t a problem and moved into the apartment as she stood back to let me in. It looked like she’d spent the day a lot more practically than I had: all of her stuff seemed to be unpacked, not that there was much. Not even a couch or a coffee table for the living room. Her taste was all over the place, which didn’t help me to guess her age, even if I already knew—no matter what it was—that she was too young for me. There were a couple of vases in the kitchen with no flowers in them, a few paintings up on the walls. I was sure she had to have gotten the rugs secondhand, but at least they weren’t ugly.
I knew where the bathroom was and I started going that way without waiting for her to show me. I’d done enough work in all of these apartments that I knew them like the back of my hand. There was no sign of whatever leak she’d been talking about that morning. But then, I thought, she had to be at least a little responsible, and anyway she probably wouldn’t have wanted to step through a puddle every time she had to use the bathroom. Stay focused, Linc. I cleared my throat and looked around the base of the tub, along the caulked edges where it attached to the wall.
“Did you take a bath or a shower?” I looked up to see her framed in the doorway, and once again got a little jolt of heat straight to my groin: it was cooler in the apartment than it had been in the hall, apparently just cool enough for her nipples to harden. I could see them, perky—and totally without a bra—straining at the fabric of the tight little tank top she wore.
“A bath. Why does it matter?”
It helped me to envision her naked in the bathtub, was why. I could see her sprawled out in the big, long tub, maybe splashing a little bit—not enough to cause the kind of puddle that would make her think there was a leak, but enough to get those gorgeous tits soaking wet. For just a second I thought I could almost smell whatever shampoo she used, and some kind of warm, vanilla-scented soap for her skin; but I told myself I was just imagining things.
I made myself snap out of it. “If you took a bath your overflow pipe is probably leaking,” I said. “It hasn’t been used in a while, so maybe it’s rusted out.”
She nodded her head, but I could tell she wasn’t that worried about the cause of the problem, just the question of when it was going to be fixed. “I think I’m going to have to turn your water off until I can get a new pipe in the morning,” I said. “You were right to call me. We had a rough winter, so some of the other pipes may have cracked when it froze. But I won’t be able to tell how bad it is until I get into it tomorrow.”
“How am I going to cook or take a shower in the morning?”
I looked around the bathroom. “How much of a leak was it? And where was it?”
“I could run the bath and show you, if you want,” she suggested. I shook my head; that would just mean another mess to clean up. I thought about the problem—insofar as it was one. It wasn’t like she was going to get dirty before morning. Not unless she invited me to spend the night.
“If you need anything, just come by and knock. You know where I live, right?”
“Actually, I don’t,” she admitted, blushing slightly—and god, why did she have to look so gorgeous when she blushed? I barely remembered the night before, in a flash of need: the blush on her face when I’d opened the door, the anger in her bright eyes. For just a second—drunk as I was—I’d managed to recognize how delicious this girl was. Even if I’d managed to forget it completely between then and when I came back to the apartment.
There was nothing more I could do, and I said as much. “I’ll be back in the morning if you don’t need something first. I make the first pot of coffee at seven if you’re interested.”
“Thanks, Linc. I appreciate your help.”
That was something I hadn’t expected; to be honest, I’d expected her to be a bitch to me, especially after the way she’d chewed me out over the phone when I’d thought she was Lisa and yelled at her. I muttered something to the effect of it being my job and got the hell out of there as fast as I could. As I walked away I realized that I was starting to see her as a woman rather than just an annoying tenant. That was a problem. But by the time I was back in my apartment once again, I was too tired to do anything but take off my jeans and socks and get into bed.
I woke up to the smell of coffee and the sound of the alarm clock. “Fuck,” I muttered to myself, trying to justify staying in bed for a few minutes—maybe a few hours—longer. I was still debating it with myself when the knock cut through my thoughts. If my bedroom wasn’t right on the hall leading away from the front door, there was no way that I would have heard it. I guessed who it was right away: the soft, unsure knock told me everything I needed to know. It was Sky, the helpless little thing with a mouth that my C.O. would have envied. I was hard from just waking up, and the last thing I wanted was for her to see me in this state. But she had no water, so I had to answer. She probably needed something. I pulled myself out of bed, put my jeans back on, and padded to the door.
“Good morning,” she said, looking far too chipper and far too deliciously rumpled and put together all at the same time.
“Morning, Sky. What can I do for you?” I tried to smile and not look angry, but it was really hard to do when I was still so tired. It had been a long week, and knowing that I had to replace that pipe today wasn’t sitting well with me either.
“You mentioned coffee?” Sky had a hopeful look in her eyes, and a smile that was hard not to feel. Her whole face lit up, and I finally saw her. Every time I’d seen her before I’d been tired, distracted—and, let’s face it, half the time, drunk. Now I really saw her with all my faculties, and she was so beautiful standing there without an ounce of makeup on. Lisa would hate her guts. The thought brought a smile to my face; my ex-wife definitely believed in what she called ‘gilding the lily’, and had more than once spent so much money on makeup from some place called Sephora that we’d had trouble making rent. Then too, most of the women I hooked up with at the bars were of a similar mind—Rico had joked once about me getting some poor woman’s entire face-print on one of his pillowcases.
“It’s in the kitchen,” I told her. I could feel the strain in my jeans from just the sight of her—I needed to get out of the way, get her out of my line of sight, until I could get myself under control. “The bathroom is right down the hall if you need to take a shower. I’m going to go get dressed.”
“Okay, thanks.”
On my way to the bedroom, I looked back to see her moving into the kitchen and opening the cabinet to find a cup. She pulled out one of the pink plastic cups that I kept around for Jazmin. I saw something flicker across her face, but she didn’t say anything or look my way. After a minute I felt like I was spying and went back to my bedroom. It was wrong of me, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to focus or act like a human being until I took care of the other head, the one that was currently taking up all the blood in my system. The only good thing was that it didn’t take any time at all with Sky in my kitchen. It was only too easy to think of a little scenario to get myself going.
I pictured her on her knees, her soft, full lips curved in an innocent, endearing smile, those bright eyes of hers looking up into my face. I saw the stunned shock flicker through them when she caught sight of the size of me, and imagined coaxing her to start slow, telling her that there was nothing to worry about. I closed my eyes as I worked myself with my hand as quickly and quietly as I could, imagining her slowly working up confidence, then eagerly going at me—not like one of the slutty chicks I picked up, but with a healthy kind of need to get me off. I shot off in my hand like a horny teenager; but at least as a grown man I had enough sense to keep tissues around.
When I finally did get dressed, I half expected—and half-hoped—she’d be gone. That girl was bad news from the jump. I shouldn’t be thinking about Sky in that way, anyway, I reminded myself yet again. I had way too much on my plate to be worried about some woman who’d moved into my building and turned out to be almost too much of a pain in the ass to justify her prettiness.
The shower was running when I got out of the bedroom. I stopped by the door. I could smell her shampoo or body wash coming from underneath it. I don’t know what scent it was, but it smelled amazing and even though I had just gotten myself off, I could feel my cock coming to life again. I moved away from the door before it could get worse and sighed to myself. This was ridiculous. I had to get a grip.
I poured a cup of coffee and made some eggs and toast for breakfast; I didn’t know what Sky liked to eat, but I figured at least I could make myself seem like some kind of host. The food was just about done by the time Sky got out of the bathroom, followed by a blast of steam. Her skin was pink from the hot water, and I had to avert my eyes when I saw her standing there in her towel.
“I made some breakfast if you’re hungry,” I said, making sure to keep my eyes on the stove. I took a quick breath and managed to make eye contact without letting my gaze wander to any of the more interesting places, barely covered up by the towel wrapped around her.
At first it looked like she was going to turn me down, but then she nodded and thanked me. “I just need to go get dressed real quick. I’ll be back in a minute,” she said, flashing that bright, cheerful smile again.
“Okay,” I managed to make myself say. My mouth had gone dry and I could barely swallow, let alone say more than a few syllables. The images I had made of her in my mind were nowhere near right. Her skin was like porcelain, and it didn’t have a blemish on it. Her shoulders were narrow, and her tits were even bigger than I had first thought: heavy Cs, maybe even Ds. My towel had a hard time reaching all the way around them, and there was a small gap that showed me a little cleavage. Her small, manicured hands were holding the towel in place so that it didn’t slip off, and for a second there the only thing that I could possibly think about was what those hands would look like wrapped around my cock, stroking me. Stop it. She’s practically a child.
She was walking away, and I was left standing there holding a pan of eggs. Her round backside moved underneath the towel with each step she took, and the towel barely—barely—covered the bottom curves of her ass cheeks. I was mesmerized and only stopped looking when she was out of sight.
When she came back, I was still in the same position, eggs still in my hand. Sky gave me a funny look, and I just looked back at her. Realizing I was standing there like an idiot, I offered her a seat and slid her coffee cup to the bar stool. Sky was wearing her hair down in wet, dark ringlets, and my idiot brain pictured what it would be like to get my hands completely tangled up in it, to pull on it just a little bit, drawing her face—and that pouty mouth—closer to my dick.
I got down to business filling the plates, pushing out of my head all the thoughts that weren’t supposed to be there. I needed to focus on what Carol had told me about, and thinking about a hot young thing that I had no business lusting after was not going to help me keep my temper in check.
“So, the hardware store opens around nine,” I said. “I’ll go over and get the pipe first thing. Was there anything else that you saw that might need fixing?”
Sky was surprised by the question. She just kind of shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know much about fixing and all of that. I just saw the water and figured that it wasn’t supposed to be there. When I lived in the dorm there was a maintenance guy who took care of all that stuff. I never had to worry about that sort of thing, so I don’t know if there’s anything else.”
That answered the lingering question about her age. In short: too young. “How long ago did you leave school?”
“I graduated a few months ago,” she replied.
“So what brings you to Denver?” It actually felt kind of good to have something like a normal conversation with someone—especially a cute girl.
“A job. And I just wanted to get away,” Sky said. She ate another bite of her eggs and smiled wryly. “Sometimes it’s good to get away from it all, don’t you think?” I had to laugh at that. You don’t know the half of it, I thought. If anyone had any idea of how good it would be to get away from it all, it was me; but I couldn’t—not while I still had Jazmin to think about, to care about.
“Yes it is,” I said, when Sky raised an eyebrow at my first reaction.
“So I saw a pink cup in your cupboard. It doesn’t really go with the motif of the place.”
I snorted at her choice of words. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a ‘motif’ in this apartment. It’s my daughter’s cup. She loves everything pink, her room is like an explosion of the stuff. I told her that she could paint it whatever color she wanted, and sure enough she picked hot pink.”
Sky smiled with that look of pity I’ve seen on too many women’s faces when I tell them about my daughter. She must have realized it, because she quickly hid her expression by taking a drink of her coffee. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you had a kid. I wouldn’t have called so late.”
I waved her off and told her that Jazmin was with her mother. “I get her on the weekends when Lisa—my ex—is feeling generous, and like she wants to abide by our agreement.” As if that had been a cue, my phone rang in my room—and it was Lisa’s ring tone. I didn’t say anything to Sky, but immediately ducked into the bedroom to take the call.
“I hear that lawyer of yours filed a counter-motion,” Lisa said as soon as I was on the phone. I wanted to smile, but I could hear the tone in her voice that told me she was going to be particularly nasty.
“If you’re allowed to file motions, I am,” I said, working hard to keep my voice even. “When are you going to be dropping Jazmin off?”
“I’m not going to be,” Lisa said. My free hand tightened into a fist and I forced myself to take a slow, deep breath. To count to five.
“Lisa, I don’t want to do this with you anymore. Why can’t you just let me see Jazmin? You know that it’s just hurting her, and it isn’t worth it. Our daughter needs both of us.”
“Our daughter needed you to be at home with me. She needed us together, Linc, and you ruined everything. It’s not my fault that you didn’t want to be with us anymore. That was on you, so now you can live with it.” I could see red behind my vision, like it was coloring everything in the background.
“I have a right to see my daughter,” I said slowly.
“I don’t think it would be wise until after the court date. I know how hot headed you can be, and I’m afraid you’ll do something crazy. I can’t let that happen.”
Sometimes I really thought that she didn’t give a damn about Jazmin. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to do these kinds of things to her. Her reason for denying me time with my daughter was clear in what she said to me: it was completely for revenge. It was because I’d wanted to get away from her. She was toxic, and I’d thought it would be better for everyone; but so far it wasn’t. It had been even more of a nightmare since she found a man who would pay for her revenge.
“Lisa, you know that I would never do anything, or let anything happen, to her. What kind of man do you think I am?”
“You’re the kind of man who would abandon his family and get mad when they found someone to take his place. I know what this is about. You had your chance to be with us back then. Now that I’m remarried, there’s no going back. Steven is a better man than you’ll ever be.”
“Steven is your sugar daddy, Lisa, and he doesn’t know you like I do. Yet. He’ll learn, just like I did.” I was letting her get to me, which Carol had specifically warned me against. Sometimes I thought that Lisa actually enjoyed arguing. She sure could pick a fight well enough. I tried to calm down.
“Look, Lisa, I can’t believe that the only reason you called me was to try and pick a fight. Let me have Jazmin for my normal visit, and let’s do the right thing by her and at least pretend like we’re both capable of treating each other with respect,” I said.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll tell her you called, though. She’ll be happy to hear you care.”
Seething, I tried to think of something that wasn’t cruel, or a curse word. Lisa’s bullshit knew no bounds. “Just let me talk to her. It’s in the court order. I’ve got rights to see her.”
“Well, you’d better pay that lawyer of yours the money to file another motion, because you’re not getting her. I’ll see you in court, Linc.”
The quick three-beep tone told me that she’d hung up, and I took a moment to collect myself, remembering almost too late that Sky was probably still in my kitchen, only feet away from me, wondering what the hell was going on. I pushed the unfairness of my ex-wife’s bullshit out of my mind and went back out into the kitchen, where Sky was still sitting, pretending she hadn’t heard anything.
“Are you going to be home today so I can work on the pipe?” Might as well get down to the business of the day, I told myself.
“Yeah, I don’t start work till Monday,” Sky said, and I frowned; surely she’d mentioned something about that when she’d been making the arrangements to move in—or at some point—hadn’t she? Why hadn’t I remembered it?
“Where at?” I tried to keep my voice neutral. The last thing I needed after making an ass of myself in front of this girl was to come across like a drill sergeant.
“That big insurance place on the west side, Clandale. Do you know it?” I waved my hand to indicate I’d heard of it, but I wasn’t too familiar.
“Oh. What will you do there?” I expected her to say that she was going to be a receptionist, or a filing clerk or something like that—a young thing like her, fresh out of college, probably looking for a foot in the door at some business or another.
“I’ll be an actuary,” she said. I didn’t even know what that was. Didn’t that have something to do with birds? To save myself from looking like a dumbass, I just kind of nodded like I knew what she was talking about. She must have done well in school to land such a fancy sounding job, but I still had to wonder what she was doing so far from home.
“Do you have any family here?” That would explain it: a recent college grad moving across the country, her parents must have sent her to where there were more jobs and some kind of family connection.
She shook her head that she didn’t. When I queried with a raised eyebrow, she laughed lightly in that way that I’ve heard women do so many times when they don’t want to get into the long version of the story. “My family is way too involved, so it’s easier if they stay there and I’m here. If not, they will have my whole life planned out for me before I turn twenty-five.”
“That sounds a lot like my family when I was younger,” I told her. I knew, though, that when Jazmin was her age—if I was still, miraculously, allowed into my own daughter’s life—I would probably be just as protective. “Don’t worry, they’ll ease up as you get older and prove yourself. You just have to give it time.”
Sky made a noncommittal sound and took another sip of her coffee. I had to stop the things spinning in my head, and Sky sitting there wasn’t helping. I finally got her to leave, saying I’d better get to the hardware store, and she said that she would probably meet up with a friend—if she wasn’t around, then I was, of course, welcome to let myself into her apartment. I grinned at that formal politeness, but thought very deep down in my mind that she was a bit naive to make an invitation like that to anyone.