“I thought you loved me, Grandma?” Chris pushed his lip out in an expert pout.
Grandma reached over and pinched his cheek. “Oh, it’s so nice having a con artist join the family.” He winked at her and reloaded his plate like a good boy. That and he was probably afraid that she was going to whack him again. Madison considered it for a moment and agreed that she probably would.
“He’s been gone for over two weeks you know,” Jill decided to comment.
Madison pushed away from the table. “If you’ll excuse me I have some papers to grade.”
“You have a big mouth!” Chris snapped.
“It’s fine, really. Goodnight, guys.” She took her time walking upstairs. She was in no hurry to hide in her room and cry herself to sleep again tonight.
He broke her heart. There was no other way to describe it. The area around her heart ached day and night for him. It felt like a part of her was destroyed.
She paused in front of her door and looked back at his when she heard something. She could see the lights were off in his room, but weird noises were coming from inside. She couldn’t fight the hope that soared to the surface. She turned around and raised her fist to knock on the door and froze.
“You like that, baby, don’t you?” a woman asked.
A man grunted. “Mmm, I’m going ride you all night, big boy.” Realization dawned on her. The weird sound was the bed springs squeaking.
She put her hand over her mouth. “Oh god.” Tears spilled down her face.
“Mmm, these handcuffs were a good idea,” the woman said. “I can keep you on your back and up all night.” A loud masculine moan erupted.
“Do you like f**king my ass?” the woman asked.
“Yeah,” he groaned.
Madison stumbled back to her door, crying. She slammed the door shut and threw on the light. “What an ass**le,” she muttered.
“I completely agree. Now if you don’t mind some of us are trying to sleep.” Ephraim flopped over onto his stomach.
Madison’s head whipped back into the direction of his room and back at him. “If you’re here then who’s-“
“In there f**king the transvestite prostitute?” he finished for her.
“Yes…wait, did you say transvestite?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Ephraim, who’s in there?”
“Just the guy who’s been blackmailing you for the last four months. After tonight you’ll never have to worry about him again and you’ll have all your money back. Now, could you shut that light off? That prick’s kept me up the last two nights.”
She looked stunned. “You have Joshua’s father in there? Wait, he’s not g*y.”
Ephraim buried his face in the pillow and laughed. “No, he’s not. He also doesn’t know that she’s a he. He also doesn’t know that I have a camera in there right now with night vision that’s capturing this momentous occasion. He will know very soon what’s going on. Before he leaves here he will sign custody of Joshua over to you and your grandmother.”
“Why..how….I don’t understand.”
He flipped over onto his back. “It’s simple I had the bank account traced to one Trevor McGuire who resides in New Mexico. I did a little check on him, married, two children at home but he has custody of three children. I did a little more research and found out that Candy lost custody of Joshua when he was six months old.”
“She didn’t even show up for the court date,” Madison whispered.
“That’s what I found out. They kept him for four months until his wife put her foot down. She couldn’t handle two little boys of her own plus Joshua. So, Trevor pawned Joshua off onto a few relatives, but none of them were willing to keep him. Finally he gave Joshua to your mother while retaining full custody.”
“I didn’t know that part.”
“I figured. When Candy was eager to move here for the free ride and welfare she forgot one very important thing.”
“She didn’t have custody and she never asked permission to take Joshua out of the state. She probably figured Trevor would never notice. He hadn’t seen Joshua in five years.”
“But he did find out. Your mother, even though your grandmother was under the assumption that she had custody of the kids, attempted to get welfare on the kids’ behalf. New Hampshire contacted Trevor and Trevor hunted you down and threatened to take Joshua back and put you both in prison for kidnapping.”
“He had no case against me and he knew that. He wanted money though.”
“And you were to pay twelve hundred dollars a month until Joshua hit eighteen.”
“Yes.”
“And you really thought that was going to work?”
“I was trying to buy time until I figured out what to do. I can’t lose him. He’s more than a brother to me. I’ve raised him. I couldn’t give him up.”
“So, that’s why you put yourself in such a large hole. You didn’t want to lose Joshua?”
“Yes.” She wiped a tear off her cheek.
“Baby, why didn’t you come to me? I would have helped you.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t do that to you.”
“Were you afraid that I would rip his throat out or lose my job?”
“Both.”
He sighed heavily and held out his hand. “Come here.”
She walked over to the bed and took his hand. He pulled her onto his lap, making her straddle him. She released his hand and pulled her heels off, letting them drop to the ground.
Ephraim cupped his hands on her h*ps and pulled her forward. “Can I have a kiss? I’ve missed you.”
Her hands dropped to the bed on either side of his face as she leaned over him. “I don’t know. I thought you said you were done with me.”
His hands gently caressed her hips. “I’ll never be done with you. I’m sorry for being such an ass**le, but you hit a bit of a nerve for me.”
“About babies?”
“Yes.”
“So, you can’t have babies? You know that for sure, don’t you? You tried with that woman?”
He raised his head to brush his lips against hers. “I don’t know anything for certain, baby. I have no clue. As far as that woman is concerned the answer is no. I never slept with her. She wanted to years and years ago. Her Master, who at this very moment is not too happy with me, tried to make a deal with me and offered up twenty females to me to see if I could impregnate any of them. I could keep the babies in return the master wanted to be like me.”