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“Jesse?” Looking around where he’d just been standing, I felt my heart drop. Instantly, mom guilt set in and I was already halfway to thinking about what I was going to say to the cops who’d come looking for him. Then, I caught sight of his curly blonde hair at the front of the crowd.
I kept my eyes on him as I wedged my way past the rest of the women standing around. Just as I was within arm’s reach, the locker room door opened and Jesse slipped inside. I didn’t think twice about dodging the man coming out and charging in after my son.
“Jesse Oakley! Get back here!” I chased him past several rows of lockers and straight into a shower room. The steam and hiss of the running water didn’t connect in my brain until I was already standing in a puddle of soapy water. As those dots connected, I looked up and locked eyes with a man standing less than six feet from me.
2
***Olive***
“Oh,God!”Ispun around and slapped my hands over my eyes. “Jesse, cover your eyes!”
Jesse’s laughter was too joyful for my liking in that moment, after the situation he’d just led me into. “They’re naked, Mommy!”
“Jesus Christ, this is not happening.” I turned towards Jesse’s voice and peeked through my fingers. “Jesse! Come here!”
He was standing in front of a very naked, very large man who was doing his best to hide his privates from my son. Staring up at the guy, Jesse pointed at me. “That’s my mommy. She doesn’t have one of those. She has ta-tas.”
“What the fuck is happening?” One of three men standing in the shower room turned his body away from Jesse and looked over at me. “He’s going to lose an eye in here, sweetheart.”
I gasped at the image that put in my head and gave up my dignity to move farther into the room with them so I could grab Jesse. My sandals weren’t meant for shower room floors and I managed to slide as I passed the first guy. His hands snapped out and grabbed my arms to steady me before I could fall.
That left his trouser snake exposed and my eyes caught on it and refused to budge. I couldn’t even think the word cock in front of my son, but my eyes were glued to the one in front of me. It was very large and I gasped when it swung a little with his quick movement. I hadn’t seen a lot of them in my life but I’d definitely never seen one long enough to swing.
“Mommy, you’re all red.” Jesse splashed in the water like he was fucking Gene Kelley. “Aunt Lydie says when Mommy turns red, it’s because she doesn’t get layered enough.”
The guy holding my arms tried to cover his laugh with a cough. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I think I’m having a nice time.”
I reached out and palmed the top of Jesse’s head. Pulling him closer to me, I tried to speak like I wasn’t dying of humiliation. “I’m very sorry about this. We’re looking for his dad and he just charged in. Have y’all seen Taylor Clarkson?”
The man farthest away from me stepped closer, hand securely over himself. “Olive?”
The steam in the room made it hard to see his face when he was standing farther away, but the moment he stepped forward, I felt a brand new wave of humiliation slam into me. Andrew Walker. Taylor’s high school best friend.
“Olive. Wow.” He stopped himself from moving closer and shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re looking for my dad. He’s going to watch me while Mommy goes to work.” Jesse looked around. “Have you seen him? I saw his ding dong once. Aunt Lydie says it’s a cocktail wein-”
“Jesse Clark Oakley! You and your Aunt Lydie are both in so much trouble right now.” I slowly backed away, still doing my best to not look at the men. “I’m sorry. Just forget we were ever here. Taylor isn’t here, obviously, and that’s fine. Why should he be anywhere when I need him to be? It’s just a job interview and a source of income that’s going to support my son. That’s all! And now I’ve burst into a locker room and seen more ding dongs than I ever have in my life in a matter of seconds. This is just great. Everything’s great! I’m doing great!”
Andrew did move closer then and there were so many muscles moving at once and they were all wet and shiny that I nearly toppled over backwards trying to get away. He barked out a name and the man next to me caught my arms again to keep me from falling.
Jack, or at least that was the name he answered to, had shifted closer to grab me that time and I felt the distinct outline of his shaft pressing into my hip. He grunted and moved away as soon as I was steady on my feet. “Sorry about that.”
“Mommy has cooties now!” Jesse splashed a few more times, getting the bottom of my pants wet, and then gripped my arm and tried to hang from it. “Is Daddy not coming?”
I bent forward to grab Jesse and kept my eyes firmly on the floor. “I don’t know, Jesse. Let’s get out of here. I have to figure something out. I can’t miss this interview.”
“Olive, wait.” Andrew didn’t sound happy about what he was about to say. “Taylor left to hit up a bar almost thirty minutes ago. He’s probably three sheets to the wind already.”
My shoulders sank and Jesse suddenly felt too heavy to hold. As soon as I put him down, he was off jumping in puddles again. I dared to lift my eyes to Andrew’s and saw that he looked like he felt bad for me. Something about that pushed me past rationality. “Earmuffs, Jesse.”
Jesse knew when to be done playing. He slapped his hands over his ears and started humming to himself.
“I am so sorry to barge in on y’all and make a scene, but holy shit, I could snap that man’s spine in half right now. I drove for eight hours yesterday and I moved into an apartment that is smaller than my bedroom back home, not to suggest that my bedroom was large in any way. I’ve raised our son his entire life without ever asking Taylor for anything and he can’t be bothered to keep his word and do the absolute minimum? This is bullshit. I have a job interview to get to and if I don’t get it, I’m going to be eating scraps and standing on the street corners to make ends meet. All because Taylor Clarkson is a piece of shit! Honestly, how hard is it to just do what you say you’re going to do?”
I pressed my palms into my eye sockets and then blew out a deep breath and shook my hands out. Straightening my spine, I held my head high and forced that same brittle smile back on my tired lips. “You know what? It’s fine? Nothing about me complaining is going to help this. Especially to three naked men who probably can’t wait for me to get the hell out of here.”
“I could watch him.”
