Page 10 of Watercolor Skulls

“Twenty-five.”

“Ah, same age as Jesse.” He releases my hand and spins around to face her. She is standing with a wet sponge in her hand, smiling at him. She looks happy that he asked me to work for him.

“I think it’s clean enough for your groceries now.”

I jump down and double over. Gosh darn it. Why do I keep forgetting I fell off a bridge and fractured my ribs? It shouldn’t be that hard to remember.

Bill rushes to my side, grabbing me under the elbow to help me upright. “You okay there, honey?”

“I’m…I’m fine. I had a fall last week. It’s nothing.”

He glances at Jesse and she gives him a look that says don’t push the subject. Just as he’s about to ask me about it Raffe and Dirk clomp down the stairs, pulling his attention away from me.

“Thank you all for your help but really I can take it from here.” I don’t want to sound like I’m dismissing them, but I really need to lay down.

Jesse grabs her dad’s arm and pulls him away from me. “I’ll check on you tomorrow on my way home from the shop.”

I nod, wrapping my arms around my mid-section. “Thank you again. You went above and beyond.”

“Please, we brought a bed, and I cleaned the fridge. Hardly above and beyond.” Jesse rolls her eyes and then surprises me by giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

The guys wave goodbye as they head out. The scary one lingers, staring at me intently before closing the door behind him.

My hand rubs over my cheek. I watch as they drive away, the sun vanishing with them. I shove the few groceries I bought in the fridge. I’m too tired to try and eat anything. I pull a blanket out of my aunt’s bag and sluggishly trudge up the stairs, exhausted. I lay down on the bed and cover myself up, head and all.

Only then do I allow the tears to come. The pain in my body…and in my mind, sucks the air from my lungs. I let out everything I’ve been holding in the past few days.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” I cry out to my dead aunt. “I should have done what you told me to from the start.”

Soon sleep prevails and snuffs out my pain.

Chapter Five

Dirk

???

"So, is she our newest project?”

Jesse gives me a dirty look. “I don’t like it when you call them projects. They are people.”

Quietly we both tip toe into our daughter’s room to check on her. She is sleeping peacefully just like the little angel she is. “Katie said they played hard today,” she whispers.

I kiss my fingers and then touch them to her soft black hair before we step out of the room.

Once the door clicks I pick Jesse up off her feet and carry her to our room dumping her on the bed.

“I’m tired,” she says, yawning.

I flip her over onto her stomach and smack her ass. “The hell if you are.”

She giggles and wiggles her cute little ass in my face as I crawl over her. She rolls under me, so we are face to face. “I like her.”

“She has smurf hair.”

“Says the guy who looks like a psychotic tattooed killer,” she tosses back.

“At least I’m living my truth. She on the other hand is not. She’s hiding something.”

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