Chapter 2

The next day I got up to quite a few messages. I took it all in stride and got things going well. I sat at my computer and got lost hacking. I was pulled from my binary world by the doorbell. I found Corina standing there smiling at me. I invited her in and we sat in the living room. She looked around and complimented me on my taste. I then admitted to her I just had a very good decorator who did it all.

We chatted for a bit and then I asked her what she came over for. “Do I need a reason for coming over to visit my white knight?” I blushed at her nickname for me. “No you don’t. But since you are new here I figured that if you ever needed anything you would come to me first.”

Her complexion darkened a little and figured that was her blushing. “Well you’re right. If I do need anything you will be the first I will go to. Is that’s ok with you?” I took her hand in mine and nodded my head. “I will always do my best to be here for you.” There was enough implied meaning there that we both knew what we meant. We sat there for a few minutes just holding hands when she jerked back to reality.

“Oh, I almost forgot why I came over. I was wondering if you could show Darla and I around the area. I picked the house because of the schools and such but I really don’t know my way around that well.” “Sure I will. Let me get a few things done at work and I’ll come over.” She looked at me questioningly. “You are at work? For that matter I don’t really know what you do.”

I took her to my inner sanctum, something I hadn’t done for anyone else. When I opened the door she whistled. The lights were on a dimmer switch so the room was darker than the others. What got her attention was the four large monitors on the wall. There was also my three internally lit custom computer stacks. She looked around at all the book cases filled with cases, books, and equipment.

She turned to me with wonder in her eyes. “What is all this stuff?” I chuckled at her sense of wonder. “I am a professional hacker. That means that I get permission to see if I can break a company’s security and if I do I get paid to fix what was wrong. To do that I need top of the line equipment as well as examples of what I will be hacking into. That is how I had all the laptops laying around for you guys.”

She looked at everything and giggled. “You were right, you are a geek. But from the looks of things I would say a very well paid one.” She waved her arms around taking it all in. “What does something like this cost?”

“Well remember I have been building this over years. Adding new things here and there, upgrading, and expanding, but the value of everything here? I’d say somewhere in the area of fifteen to twenty thousand dollars.” He giggles stopped at that and her eyes bugged out.

“That’s like a new car.”

“Yes but you can’t make the kind of money it takes to buy a set up like this with a car.”

She blushed and ducked her head down. “Ok I think I kind of crossed a line here. I mean it really isn’t any of my business how much money you make.”

“And I am sure your mom has asked you that very question a hundred times since we met. I don’t think about how much money I have or how much I make. I just like to know that for the first time in my life if I need some it will be there.”

She looked at me with a small secret smile. “You know every man I have ever known couldn’t wait to show off his money to impress me. It was like they thought I was for sale or something, but not you. When you gave me all that stuff out of your storage I thought you were showing off but now I know you weren’t. You were just giving to me what you didn’t need but knew I did.”

I looked at her and simply nodded. She stepped closer to me and pulled me into a kiss that went straight to my toes, and curled them. When she pulled back she smiled at me. I couldn’t do anything more than blink at her.

“I don’t think I have ever met a man like you before. I am thinking I should keep you.” Then she snapped me back to reality. “So if you will finish your work here, I’ll go get Darla ready and waiting for you to show us the town.” Then she danced away and I heard the front door close. I felt like my entire world had walked out with her.

After getting things done and shut down I headed over to Corina’s. I rang the doorbell and the door flew open and I found a young girl wrapping herself around me. While I was unprepared for it I made sure to enjoy it. I wrapped my arms around the girl and gave her back the hug I was getting.

“Glen that computer is so cool. I watched a movie last night and there wasn’t any lag at all. That thing has some major power under the hood. Did you boost it somehow? I saw you gave it the max ram it can handle but you must have done something else.” I was surprised by the girl’s knowledge of computers.

“Your right I did max out the memory but it’s also the fastest memory the board can handle. I also put in a high end networking card and I can’t tell you what I did to the ATI card.”

“Oh my gosh that is so freaking amped up I can’t stand it. Thank you so much.” She then pulled me down and gave me a kiss that hit me almost as hard as the one her mother gave me. I began to pull back a little but she didn’t let go. I decided to stop fighting and enjoy it. She kept her lips on mine till we could hear her mother coming.

She let me go and turned around. “Hey mom I was right, Glen totally tweaked that laptop.” She yelled out just as Corina came into view. I stepped into the house and got out of the public eye. Corina had changed into something I would class as comfortable but bordering on business casual.

“Well go get some shoes on so we can go out.”

“Where are we going?”

“I asked Glen if he would take us around the area. He knows better than I do where to shop and I figured it would be a nice way to spend the day.”

“SHOPPING? Yay!”

The girl ran to her room and returned in a flash. “I thought it would be easier if we took my vehicle. That way you can sit back and watch where we are going without worrying about driving.” Corina came over and hugged my arm. “Lead on good sir.” That made me smile as I knew it was a reference to my new nickname. We headed back to my house and piled in my SUV. Darla was impressed by it and kept bouncing from one side to the other till her mother told her to pick a side.

She decided to sit right behind me and since a rear view mirror was not that much use in my truck I adjusted it so I could see her easily. She saw that and smiled at me. Then she tried to make me blush by giving blowing me a kiss in the mirror. We headed out and Corina and I began to talk about the area. To tell you the truth I wasn’t all the knowledgeable about the area I lived in. I mean I knew where the good places to eat were, where the mall was, and I always shopped at the warehouse store. I took them around and we had a wonderful time of it.

I will say that Corina never let me get very far from her and if she did then Darla was right there to take her place. We did get a few looks but it was usually men checking out the beauties I was with. When I couldn’t answer the questions I was asked I always had my smartphone there to bail me out. When we hit the mall Darla was like her mother in the fact she fluttered like a humming bird from shop to shop and isle to isle.

I could tell the girl liked shopping but never asked for anything. I also remembered that while the house was now filled out her room was rather Spartan. A few posters and such but I could tell that they had been very frugal in their home life. While the girl was off on one of her forays into another store I got her mother’s attention.

“Hey I have a question. Would you be upset if I got a few things for Darla? I mean we did so much for you and the rest of the house but her room seemed kind of bare.” Corina looked at me with that same shy smile. “Well truth be told she and I have had to share the same room for most of her life. That meant she didn’t ask for much and didn’t have much in the way of making it her space. It’s one of the things I have wanted to change once we get a little ahead.” She kind of looked off into space. “But I’m afraid it’s going to be a while before we can safely do much. That being the case I will allow you to spoil her a little but not too much.” I smiled at that and waited for the girl to come back.

“Mom you should see the bedspreads they have in there. They have the cutest ones on clearance too.” Corina looked at me and I gave her a nudge that I wanted her to take the lead on this. We went into the store and they both oohed and ahhed over a few different sets. I also saw that Corina looked at a few that I knew would only fit her bed. Eventually I could tell that Darla was torn between two of them for herself. I walked over and asked if she liked them and she said yes but didn’t know which she liked best.

I took both of them and tucked one under my arm. “Well it’s not fair to make a lady chose too hard sometimes.” Then I reached over and snagged the one her mother had picked up and put back at least twice. “That goes for moms too.” They were both shocked while I walked away to the front of the store loaded with bed sets.

I set them down and paid for them. I turned around and saw that Darla was being held by her mother with her head against her shoulder. I asked the lady to bag everything and went to stand with two of them. I could hear Darla was crying and I gently rubbed the girls back while looking at her mother trying to figure out what was wrong. “Glen she hasn’t had anyone do something like that before. She’s just a little shocked.” When I called her name I swear the little girl shrank a little.

“Darla, are you ok? Weren’t those the ones you wanted?” The girl could only nod. “Darla, I just wanted you to have some things for your room. It’s your room now and I thought you should have some things that tell everyone that it is your place and no one else’s. Would you let me help you do that?” She looked at her mother and Corina nodded that it was ok with her.

The young girl smiled at me through all of her tears. In that moment I was in love with her. I’m not talking sexually, but I knew that this little girl now had my heart. I opened my arms and she gave me a big hug. Her head came to the middle of my chest and I bent a little to rest my chin on her head. We stood like that till I noticed that the girl in front began to worry.

“Ok Darla we need you to fix yourself up. I think the lady up front thinks I may be squeezing you to death.” This made the girl realize that she was in the middle of a mall store crying. “Oh no, this is so embarrassing.” She snuffled and wiped her nose and eyes. She tried to look like nothing was going on while she walked up and took two of the bags off the counter. I looked over at Corina and she had the sweetest look on her face. I noticed a few tears as she held her head high and walked to get her bag from the front.

We made a few more purchases through the mall but both of them did their best to keep me under control. We still had to make two trips to deposit bags in the truck though. By the end of it all both mother and daughter were chatting away like crazy. I told them I needed to stop by the warehouse store for a few things and they agreed. It seemed they had never been in one before.

When we walked in the man at the front checked my membership card and then welcomed us in. Both of them just stood inside the door looking at it all. I headed over to customer service and asked to have them make new cards for Corina and Darla. When they came over to me I had them present ids and fill out the paperwork. Soon we were walking along and I had a new family membership.

We walked the isles and they both were overwhelmed by it all. Corina was amazed at the money she could save and Darla was just awed by all the things surrounding them. I could still remember the first time I had walked in here. The vast amount of stuff was overwhelming for those who thought Walmart was major shopping.

I picked up a few things and even Darla and Corina got a few things. In the end I still insisted on paying and by now they both knew better than to argue. We got home and the three of us hauled it all into their house. Darla disappeared into her room and I sat with Corina in the kitchen. “Glen you kind of went overboard today. How am I supposed to get her something for her birthday or Christmas after everything you did today?” “Well how about this year you get her things she wants rather than just things she needs?” She smiled at me because she knew what I meant.

Darla came running in after about half an hour. “Ok, Glen I want you to see my room.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I followed her in and looked around. Her bed now had her new bedspread and the pillows had matching cases. On top of the bed were the few posters she had picked out. And other thing we had bought were set out for the world to see. I made happy noises as I looked around.

“Hey if you can hold on for a few let me go back to the house and grab some poster putty. You can put your posters without making holes on the walls.” She nodded and I left. As I left I told Corina where I was going and that I would be right back.

When I got back I knocked on the door and there was Darla. She grabbed my hand and dragged me through the house to her room. It took a while but eventually all her posters were put just where she wanted them. She smiled and spun around her room. Then she launched herself through the air and bounced on her bed. “It’s wonderful, just wonderful. It’s like I always dreamed what my room would look like when I was growing up and this is it.” She patted the bed next to her and when I sat down she pulled my arm around her.

“I like this. Would you mind if I thought of you as something more than a family friend?”

“What do you mean sweetheart?”

“Well I never had a dad. Mom has had a few boyfriends but they never gave me a second look, but you are different. I know you and mom aren’t dating or anything but I like to think that the way I feel right now is what it feels like to have a dad.” I gave her a little hug. “It’s not that you bought me all this stuff, it’s that you cared about me today. No one other than mom and grandma has ever treated me like this and I don’t want it to stop.” She turned her head and began crying on me. I wrapped my arms around her and just rocked her. I stoked her head and let her get the pain out.

We sat there like that for a while and eventually she stopped crying but we didn’t let go of each other. I looked up and saw Corina standing there. I smiled at her and shrugged my shoulders. She walked over to me and gently kissed me on the forehead. Then she walked away and gently closed the door a little.

“Darla, no matter what kind of friendship your mother and I have I want you to know that I am here for you. You can tell me anything, ask me anything, and ask me for anything. I may not always give you the answer you want but I will always be honest with you.”

She smiled up at me with those huge dark eyes. “Thank you Glen, I needed someone like you all my life and now I have you. I’m never letting you go.” Then she gave me a sweet kiss and a hug. We got up and joined her mother. Corina was sitting in the kitchen looking out at her back yard. When we walked in she turned and smiled at us.

“Well that took a long time? Did you guys get things sorted out?” I knew what she meant and said I thought so. Darla agreed and asked if her mom wanted to see how it looked. They left and I waited for them to come back. It took a while but when they walked in they were both smiling at me and my life brightened up.

We talked for a while and then Darla called Jenny on my phone. She invited her over to see how her room now looked and a few minutes later a black and white blur went by. As I sat there Corina got a drink for me and we listened to the squeals echoing down the hall.

We talked about dinner and Corina asked if I would like trying out her cooking. She said she wasn’t up to her mother’s ability but she was good. I agreed to have dinner but I told her I still needed to get home and do some more work. As I got up to go Corina came over to me and gave me a very long hug.

I got home and felt like today was a dream that I never wanted to wake up from. I’m still not sure why I did it but I went into my bedroom to stretch out for a second. Just before I lay down I looked out the window and saw directly into Darla’s room.

I could see Darla and Jenny talking animatedly. The door opened up and Corina walked into the room. Both girls listened to the woman and nodded their heads. It was then I noticed that Darla’s computer was on and an evil thought ran through my mind.

I went into my office and got everything up and running. As I set my programs to work I pulled up Darla’s computer on my network. I looked around and then turned on her webcam. Normally when the webcam comes on a light turns on but my hack kept it off when it was in listening mode.

I turned part of my mind to programing while another part listened to the chatter of the two girls. I heard a door close and looked over. I could see two shadows on the wall as I could only see part of the room. “So what really happened today?” “Oh Jenny it was so sweet. Glen took us out shopping and when he bought this new bed stuff for me I cried like a baby. When he saw me crying he rubbed my back and I got chills all over. He was so gentle and sweet with me I started crying again.” “He got these for you?” ‘Yea these and all of this new stuff. He wouldn’t let mom pay for anything. I was afraid to look at half the stuff at the mall cause I was afraid her was going to buy it for me.” “Are you kidding me I would have taken it for all I could.” “Oh no. I mean yeah usually if some guy wanted to buy me stuff to get to mom I would have, but not Glen. He was doing it because he wanted to be nice to me. I don’t know how I knew the difference but I did.” “Uh oh, I think someone is falling in love.” Jenny teased. “I think you are right.” And I heard Jenny gasp out loud. “No not like that girl. I mean I think I really do love him. I mean if all I ever get from him again is a hug I would be happy and if he wanted to throw me on this bed and take my cherry I would do it and be happy forever.” “Wow Darla, that is intense. I guess if I was in your place I would feel the same.” From then on it was a blend of girl chatter that didn’t mean much to me. I heard a cell go off and Jenny said that she had to go home. I kept on working when I heard Corina come into Darla’s room. “Darla can I talk to you?” “Sure mom what’s up?” “I wanted to talk to you about Glen.” I heard the bed as they sat down to talk. “This afternoon I came in and found you and Glen together.” “Mom it wasn’t anything bad.”

“I know sweetie. It’s just that I heard you two talking and then it got quiet. I looked in and saw him rocking you in his arms and the two of you looked so right, you know what I mean?” “Yeah I can tell you it felt right too. When he held me like that I didn’t feel weird or in danger. It felt like he was supposed to do that with me. It was like when you hold me but different.” “Come on Darla tell me. You are hiding something and I want to know what it is.” “Mom, I know you like him and I mean more than a friend like. When he is around you are happier than I have ever seen you. But when he is around I feel the same way.” “Oh sweetie, you mean what I think you mean?” “I think so mom. When he held me I didn’t care about anything but feeling his arms around me. I felt so safe and loved I didn’t want it to end.” “But sweetie he’s different from us. He doesn’t know who we are and what we are like. He’s white and was raised so much differently than us. My heart wants to reach out to him. When I kiss him I feel it go through me like I was hit by lightning but I just don’t know if he can accept us for the way we are.” I heard Darla start crying and I reached over and turned off the link.

Things went on like this for about a month. I never again tapped into Darla’s webcam as I was afraid of what I might hear. I did however keep a close eye on Jenny and Darla’s chat logs. The girls mostly talked about what they had done that day when they weren’t constantly together. Every once in a while I would hear a bit of juicy gossip about what was going on in Brian’s house.

The relationship between Corina and I was moving along well but just when I thought it might be getting deeper she seemed to pull back. I really liked what we had and decided to let her set the ground rules, but I can tell you it was really starting to get frustrating. She was no longer quite as reserved as she used to be around me. When I would come over to the house for a visit, or to help fix something I was almost always welcomed with a hug and a kiss. When she and Darla would come over to watch a movie Corina would curl up next to me and pull my arm around her.

I guess that was why I was willing to be so patient with her on the physical level. I figured that if I couldn’t have the physical closeness that I knew we both wanted I would settle for emotional closeness. I was beginning to have a different relationship with Darla. Unlike with her mother she began to become more openly physical around me. She was no longer embarrassed for her mother to find her hugging me, sitting on my lap, or curled up next to me.

There was however one time that I got a little worried. I had gone over to their house for dinner as had become the norm with us. Earlier that day I had bought an online subscription for Darla to a music website. I knew she loved music as more often than not when I came over she would be bouncing to the house with a headset on. The subscription would allow her to download music to her MP3 player. That way she had an infinite source of music.

I was going to tell her as soon as I walked in the door, but when Corina opened the door I forgot all about it. The woman I was slowly falling in love with was standing there dressed in the same crop top and shorts that I had seen her in a second day we had known each other. Her smile lit up my heart and with so much of her body being displayed to me any thoughts I had were now gone.