Page 17 of Jack

“No. If you want more money, you’re going to have to work for it. Every penny that I’ve made is all mine. I have investments as well as projects that are going to be making me a great deal more money.” Gilda asked her about living arrangements. “You’re going to be spending time in jail for threatening the judge, but other than that, I have no idea what’s going to happen to you. And frankly I could care less what happens to you from now on. I’m finished with you and your demands, too.”

“We’ll just see about that, won’t we? Where will I be living? Don’t think that I didn’t notice that you didn’t answer me.” She told her. “I need to live with you and only you. I’ll not have that man around where he takes attention from me. You’ll have to get rid of him and that’s final. I won’t haveyou having children either. They’re nothing but soul suckers, and I want your attention on me.”

“That’s too bad.” Had she not been chained up, she might well have slapped her like she used to do when she was a child and back-talked her. “You’ll have the condo that you lived in before this and someone will come in twice a week to clean up. That doesn’t mean that she’ll be cooking or doing your laundry. There will only be a light cleaning. If you make a huge mess like I know that you do, then that will be on you to clean it up.”

“No. No, that’s not going to work for me. You’ll have to pay for her to keep my house tidy. And speaking of which, I want a place that is bigger than yours. You’ll live with me so that I know that you’re paying your full attention to me. No more dates and working days. I’ll not have you too worn out to do the things that I want.” Taylor just stared at her. “Did you hear me? You should be writing things down so that I don’t have to repeat myself when I’m free of here. Which had better be soon. I don’t like it here. They won’t do as I say, and it makes me upset. You don’t want me upset, do you, darling?”

“I’m not your darling. I’m your daughter who—have you always been this selfish and demanding? I’m sure that I know the answer to that but I’d like to hear it from you? Why do you think that everything is about you?” Gilda asked her what she was talking about. “These demands and rules. You have to know that I’m not going to be following any of them. You’re lucky that I’ve given you the things that I have. And like I said, after you’ve run through your money, I will not be giving you any more.”

“Yes, you will. You don’t want me to have to suffer to be without things. I know better. It’s your duty as my child that you keep me happy and without any kind of stress. And anything that you think you want to do is stressful for me so you’ll not do that. Anything that I don’t give you permission for Taylor isn’t going to work for me. So just get those thoughts right out of your head.” Taylor just stared at her. “Do you hear me, or do I need to go over this once more? I’m serious when I tell you that if you have any plans of dating, getting married, or—and this one will get you in serious hurt, there will be no children. I was lucky in you that you were my only child. I know how demanding you can be, and I won’t have it. Do you understand what I’m saying to you? No children. No men and certainly nothing to do with that man that you think you might marry.”

“Wearemarried.” She told her that she would just have to get a divorce. “No, I’m not. I love him, and he loves me. That’s the way it’s going to be from now on. Also, while I’m going over things that you want. Unless you can afford a bigger condo or home, you’ll be paying for it. You can live rent-free in the one that you’re in because I own it. Otherwise, you’re going to have to deal with things on your own. I won’t be spending any time with you and certainly not living with you. I have my own life now and I plan on living the way that I want to. In fact, Jack and I have made arrangements to live with Grandma in her home. It’s large enough for the three of us, and there will be plenty of room when the children—which is going to happen—come along.”

“You’ll do no such thing.” Gilda turned to the cop. “Undo me so that I can slap some sense into her head. She’s getting out of hand, and as her mother, I demand that you allow me to be free enough to knock some sense into her. To think that she thinks that—there will be no life for you, Taylor, unless I say so. Do you understand me? I rule you because I had to have you. But no more of you thinking that you can have a life of your own. You will do what I said and I’ll not hear another word out of you. Where do you think you’re going? I’m not nearly finished with my demands.”

“I’m finished with you.” Taylor gathered up her things and she started for the door. “This is the last time that I’m coming to see you. Calling the number that you had will no longer work for you. The police station has been told that they’re not to call us for any more of your demands. When, and I doubt that it will be anytime soon, you get out, you’ll do as you wish, and I’ll not have a thing to do with you. Do you understand me?”

“You’re going to take care of me, Taylor. I swear to you. I don’t want to have to show you my angry side if you keep saying things like this.” Taylor said that she wasn’t afraid. “You had better be. I’m not going to allow you to toss me aside as if I’m nothing to you. Your grandparents did that, and Iwon’t allow that to happen to me again. I deserve the best, and you will provide it for me.”

“You go on thinking that.” She was out the door before she could remind her about getting her out of the cell she was in. If, and she still didn’t understand why she had to be in jail, but if she had to stay here, then she should have the nicest and biggest cell along with things that weren’t so hard and drab. Taylor should be making sure that she’s pampered even in jail. It was something that she had thought to talk to her about.

Being taken back to her cell, she noticed that someone had been inside. Her sheets were gone that had been lying at the bottom of the bed as well as there were clean towels for her to use when she showered. So far she had managed to avoid taking a shower with the other people in the place. And as far as her sheets being there for her to make her bed, she wasn’t going to do that either. She could, she supposed but so long as she had breath in her body, someone was going to do it for her. It was the least that they could do for her being Gilda Jane. People needed to get on board with how to treat her.

It’s not like she wanted all the money in the world. Just enough that when she wanted to go shopping she didn’t have to worry over credit cards and the like. Gilda didn’t think it was all that big of a deal that people were to wait on her, either. She wouldn’t be mean to them. Demanding things to be her way after she gave them the rules but they needed to be on the same page as she was about how she should be treated. People should want to take care of her all the time. She was a nice person, and people should understand that as well.

Taylor should know by now the rules about her life. She’d been taking care of her needs since she’d been a little girl. Training her hadn’t been that much of a hardship. A few slaps here and there when she thought that she could think beyond caring for her, and Taylor straightened right up. It was all because of that woman, Henriette. Why she was still alive was beyond her.

“She should have died decades ago. Where does she get off living to be nearly a hundred years old and pampering to every need of Taylor? The stupid old woman was going to feel the back of her hand when she saw her again. The old bat had said something to Taylor that made her not want to help her.

Gilda would admit that she was needy. She didn’t have to be. But she also didn’t like doing things for herself. She didn’t care not to be the center of attention either. Everyone and everything should be about her and no one else. She remembered a baby shower that had been had for her when she was huge with Taylor. Henry Paul asked her if she was enjoying herself.

“No. Everything that they’ve brought to my party is for the kid. Why? It’s not like I’m going to put anything that is pretty on her. That would draw the attention from me to even have to be around her when she’s dressed up in some of the outfits that they brought for her. And how come no one thought to bring me something? I would have loved a nice new dress or two. Some pretty shoes. No, all the attention is on this kid and not me. How could you allow them to do that to me, Henry Paul?”

He just walked away from her. He’d done that a great deal in the later part of their marriage. Then, when she found out that she was going to have a baby, he did treat her a lot differently. She thought about something else then. Sex.

She enjoyed it to a point, but when she came, that’s what it was called, she didn’t want another thing to do with Henry Paul and his dick. He tried to explain to her that he needed his release, too, but she didn’t care about his needs.

It was hers that she wanted that had nothing to do with him. What did she care about his needs anyway? Gilda had allowed him to touch her with it, didn’t she? She thought him to be selfish about sex anyway. Why did he have to touch her all over the place when all she wanted was to come. Shivering, she thought of the one time he tried to have her suck on his cock. It still made her gag when she thought of putting that nasty thing in her mouth. Christ, men were so stupid about sex, she told herself.

Pacing her cell, one of the officers came back to speak to her. The first thing out of his mouth was that she needed to make her bunk up. She told him that when the person who had mopped the room had left them there, they should have made up the bed, too. It wasn’t her job to do housekeeping just because they had put her behind bars for no reason.

“You’re going to see the judge in the morning. We’ll leave here at seven and arrive at the courthouse at seven-thirty.” She told him that it was too early for her to get up and that they’d have to do it later in the day. “He’s not going to wait around for you to have your shit together, Ms. Murphy. You’ll follow the rules like the rest of the inmates. Your hearing will be called fourth, and you’ll need to have your attorney present.”

“I don’t have an attorney. I’ve said this to you before. I don’t need one because I’ve done nothing wrong. And if I’m going to be called before him fourth, why do I have to go so early? That’s the stupidest thing that I’ve ever heard. Making me get up early so that I can wait on his ass all morning? No. You’ll make arrangements to come back and get me when my time is ready.” He just went on about how things were going to work as if she didn’t say a word. “I’m not going to be getting ready then. As I have said, I don’t need to be there at that god-awful hour, so you can just make arrangements to help me out. That’s the least you can do.”

“The least I can do is whatever I told you. It’s going to be up at six-thirty, leave by seven to be there at seven-thirty. That is what is going to happen. If you’re not up and ready to go, then I’ll drag your ass out so that I’m on time with my duties. That is the way that it’s going to be.” She’d just see about that. Where was her daughter to pay off people when she needed her to? “Lights out at ten tonight because of the early hour.”

“We’ll just see about that,” she said aloud this time. “You people are not being very nice to me, and I’m going to have to go over your heads to get you to pay attention when I speak.”

Gilda was sitting on the side of her cot when the entire room went black. Not even the moon could penetrate the darkness, and she hated it. The black of night had never been anything that she cared for, and right now, it was ten times worse. She didn’t have her little nightlight to guide the way in the event she woke to use the bathroom. Fucking people.

~*~

Taylor was about as needy as she’d ever been. Working the lines at the new building just to see if the scanner was working well nearly had her sobbing in pain with her need so high. As soon as she found Jack, she was going to strip him down and take him on the first hard place, even if it was the dining room table, and have her way with him. This was his fault because he’d not been in bed when she’d woke this morning, and she’d been needing him all day.

“I’m nearly a mile from where you are, and I can feel you. What are you doing that has you so worked up?” She told him that she needed him. “And I you, my love, but I told you I had to go to the fish market first thing this morning. You told me that you’d be right as rain. I take it that you’re not.”

“No, I’m not all right. What did you do to me before you left? I’ve never in all my life, especially not with you around have I ever felt like I’m being strummed like a guitar string.” He told her that he loved that saying. “Love it or not, Jack Anderson Tucker, I’m going to jump your bones as soon as I get home with you.”

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