AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I don’t push him or ask him to elaborate. I wait patiently while he works through whatever is going on in his head. It’s obvious that this isn’t easy for him. “She has… problems. Every year or so, I have to come out here, help her get shit back on track. Clean her place, get her caught up on bills. All of it. Then she usually does okay for a while, until it goes downhill again.”
“Problems?”
“The usual. Drugs, booze. It’s been an issue basically my entire life.” He’s not looking at me, his eyes are trained on the surrounding neighborhood, seemingly lost in memories. “She used to be able to hide it a lot better. She even managed to keep the same job for over fifteen years. But over the past ten years or so, it’s like she’s just given up.”
“So what are we doing today? Cleaning?” His eyes finally meet mine and there’s something in them I can’t quite read.
“You don’t have to help. I just figured you wouldn’t want to stay cooped up in the hotel. I’ll take care of it and you can just relax.” I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he is.
“Of course I’m going to help, Bash.” He opens his mouth to say something, probably to argue with me, but I cut him off. “Besides, the sooner we finish, the sooner you can take me to that other place for cheesesteaks.” It takes a moment, but Hunter’s lips finally pull into a soft smile and the tension almost completely leaves his body.
“Deal.”
Hunter grabs my hand and leads me to the third home in the row. He pulls a small set of keys from his pocket and unlocks it, letting us in.
“Wait here,” he says softly as he shuts the door behind us, then walks away, stalking through the house. I take a moment to look around. The front door opens right into a small living room. It could be considered cozy if it was for the dozen-plus empty beer and other alcohol bottles and fast food wrappers littered everywhere. There’s an interesting and distinct smell hanging in the air and I force myself not to wrinkle my nose at it. The carpet is a deep brown and it wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t have multiple stains and dried spills on it. The larger couch and loveseat were clearly very nice at one point. Probably on the more expensive side. I assume Hunter probably purchased them. But now they’re covered in garbage and discolored from probably a multitude of different spills.
Hunter comes back a few minutes later, a lot more relaxed than he was when we walked in. “She’s not here. I don’t know if she’s at work or not, but it’ll be easier to get everything done without her here.”
“She still has a job?” I wasn’t sure if she did or not with the way he talked about her before. A part of me kind of thought I would walk into a woman completely wasted and angry.
“Yeah. It’s not the same job she had when I was growing up. But she works at a WaWa in town. It’s only a means to an end for her, though.” I nod my head in understanding. Contrary to stereotypes, it’s pretty common for alcoholics and drug addicts to have jobs because it’s the only way they can keep up with their addictions. I still have so many questions floating through my mind about both Hunter, his mom, and his upbringing, but now isn’t the time to ask.
Without saying anything else, Hunter walks into the small kitchen and pulls cleaning supplies and extra garbage bags out from under the sink. I can tell he’s still trying to avoid having me help, but I don’t give him an option. I walk over to him and take a bag from his hand. With a resigned sigh, he holds out a pair of gloves for me and I give him a bright smile and take them before getting to work.
* * *
It takes Hunter and I a little more than five hours to get the entire house cleaned and livable again. I opened the windows and used at least three bottles of air freshener in order to get the smell under control. I spent over an hour scrubbing the carpet and couches in an attempt to get as much of the stains and spills out of them. They aren’t perfect, but I did a pretty good job. Hunter worked on most of the other parts of the house, though none of them were quite as bad. It’s obvious where his mother spends most of her time. Hunter kept trying to fight with me about taking over so I didn’t have to work so hard, but I wasn’t having it.
We finish putting the cleaning supplies away and doing one more sweep of the house. I can only assume that Hunter going through the drawers and cabinets is to search for any lingering drugs or alcohol. I’m not sure if he would throw it out if he found any, or just leave it and be angry. He seemingly doesn’t find anything, so he just leads me out of the house and down the walkway after he locks the doors. He hits the fob to unlock the car just as a voice calls out.
“Seb?” His entire body stiffens, and for a moment I think it’s his mother coming home. But when I turn toward the sound of the voice, I know immediately that’s not the case.
A beautiful woman, who looks to be about the same age as Hunter, jogs across the street toward us. “I can’t believe it! I thought that was you!” Without a single moment of hesitation, she pulls Hunter into a tight hug. He wraps a single arm around her, but it’s obvious that he’s not fully comfortable.
“What are you doing here?” He asks as he pulls away. His voice isn’t exactly rude, but uncomfortable.
“Just visiting mom.” She motions to a house across the street and a couple doors down. It’s one of the nicer, better looking ones. The lawn is well manicured and a bed of bright flowers sit on the edge of the small front porch.
“Right.” Hunter mutters, his gaze focused on the house for a moment.
“Yeah, I keep trying to convince her to move with me, but she refuses to leave the house. Since dad died, she just doesn’t want to let it go.”
“Makes sense.” I try not to be offended that whoever this woman is, she’s basically treating me like I don’t exist right now. Her eyes are trained solely on Hunter, and I’m really curious about who she is. As if he can read my mind, Hunter’s arms slide around my waist and I immediately melt into him. “Mel, this is Anya. Anya, this is Melanie. We grew up together.”
Melanie turns to me with a genuine, but surprised smile. I hurry and take a mental note of what I must look like right now. I wore a pair of simple blue jeans and a gray t-shirt. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, and I know that my curls are probably falling out of it. I didn’t put on any make-up this morning, since I didn’t think it would be needed. Melanie on the other hand, is dressed impeccably in a designer dress and her blonde hair is the type of straight that I could only ever dream of accomplishing. Her face is painted beautifully with expensive make-up.
“It’s so nice to meet you.” She sounds genuine, but I can’t help the niggling feeling that she’s judging me.
“It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Her face morphs for a moment, and becomes filled with curiosity. “So how did you two meet?”
“We met through her brother.” Hunter’s grip on my waist tightens slightly and it only has my own curiosity growing.
“You don’t live here anymore?” I ask, trying to keep the conversation light. Apparently there’s something funny about my questions because Melanie laughs and shakes her head.
“No, I live in the city. My husband works for JP Morgan, so we live close to his office.” Her words seem innocent enough, but for some reason they make Hunter tense up even more.
