Chapter 24

Listening to Mom crying through the bug I had on her phone was surprisingly hard for me. I suspected it was because of the definitive end of her marriage, and her crying about this caused conflicting feelings in me.

On one hand, I could still understand why she would be saddened by the end of a twenty-year marriage, and I wanted to comfort her. On the other hand, it made me wonder if she would have rather stayed with him despite everything that happened.

When Mom made it back into my apartment a few hours later, she had cleaned up well enough to not show any signs of her crying. To my big surprise, though, the very first thing she did after stepping through the door, was to embrace me in a tight hug. She didn’t say anything while holding onto me, nor did she answer when I asked where that hug came from, but when I wrapped my arms around her shoulders to return the hug while holding her head to my chest, she, again, simply took a deep breath as if to take in my scent.

After about a minute, she simply let go of me and walked into her bedroom.

I had not called her while she cried in that bathroom. I wasn’t trusting myself to not make a stupid comment about the possible reasons for her emotional outburst and reveal that I listened in on her. Instead, I had decided to prepare her favorite meal, placed a bottle of white wine in the fridge, and let her speak at her own pace if she needed to.

It worked. As soon as she stepped out of her room after changing her clothes, smelling the frying catfish and hush puppies, her face relaxed into a smile. Then she stepped into the kitchen, hugged me from behind, and held onto me while I worked on dinner.

This even intensified when Ava returned from her shopping trip to Ikea with Maggie and John. Not only did my sister immediately pick up on Mom’s mood, she seemed to also reach the same conclusion as I had. So, instead of asking what happened, she simply joined us in the dinner preparations by asking me to talk her through preparing the tartar sauce.

Mom’s mood improved a lot as she silently watched her children prepare a family meal. The smile on her face when we finally sat down and ate was warm and happy.

When we sat on the couch afterwards, I had Mom and Ava cuddled up to me on either side, each holding a glass of white wine, and it took a while of silence before Mom felt like talking.

“The counselor decided today that we no longer have to attend any more sessions.” she said out of the blue. “She’s going to inform the judge, so the divorce can continue.”

Ava and I both thought about that for a few seconds.

“And ... how do you feel about that?” Ava asked.

“Scared, to be honest.”

“Why?”

Mom sighed.

“The fact that your father left Tim alone in the hospital had her realize that our problems go beyond what she could work on. Her job was to try and make us find some common ground. Overcome our differences to the point we could work together. In reality, Aaron would need to work out his differences with Tim, and not only is that outside her expertise, it would definitely take more than the twelve sessions the Judge had ordered.”

As Mom explained this, she had wrapped herself around my arm, in addition to holding my hand in both of hers.

“But, why does that make you scared?” I asked, still not understanding her emotional outburst.

“When the judge hears about that, there’s no way for Aaron to gain custody of you.” I snorted at that, like I would’ve ever gone along with that anyway. Though, she ignored it to instead continue in a low voice. “But, with me being basically unemployed, homeless, and penniless, I’m not sure I will be awarded custody either. I can’t lose you again, Tim. I just can’t.”

I couldn’t help it. Despite the dire mood, that last statement of hers made me extremely happy.

“Mom ... I’m pretty sure that’s not how this works.” I smiled.

“It’s not?” Ava managed to ask first.

“I don’t think so.” I said while shaking my head, before turning my attention back to Mom. “If the state hates one thing, it’s giving away money. And if you don’t get custody, while Aaron can’t get custody, the state would have to pay for me. So, you’ll get custody.”

It was a poor attempt at a joke, but it worked. I felt her body relax against me and saw a weak smile appear on her face before I continued.

“Seriously, though. Remember what your lawyer said in January. Because of my apartment, there’s a chance the judge won’t give you the house with the custody ruling. But, let’s be honest here ... I’m still a minor. They can’t just assume that I’ll be able to keep making rent, so it’s likely you’ll get the house until I graduate high school. Though, if they argue that you could pay the rent with your alimony, we’ll just stay here. Either way, you’re not homeless.”

“You really mean that?” she asked pensively, her eyes glazing over. “You’d be fine with me staying?”

“Sure.” I shrugged. “It’s a little cramped right now, but by the time the divorce is through, Ava will live in that condo John bought.”

“Oh, Darling, thank you!” Mom proclaimed while throwing her arms around my neck and placing a wet kiss on my cheek.

Ava had a big smile on her face as she watched this spectacle, but her happiness suddenly deflated.

“What is it?” I threw a questioning look in Ava’s direction, but it took her a moment to answer.

“I’m sorry. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t be happier here. But ... I’m still sad about the house being sold. That’s my home. I grew up in it.”

She actually sounded extremely sad. So sad, in fact, that Mom quickly untangled herself from me to rush over and wrap her arms around Ava instead, trying to soothe her with soft cooing words. It didn’t seem to work that well. I had no idea how much this meant to her. And, hearing the way Mom spoke to Ava, it became pretty clear that losing the house she raised her children in was hurting her just as much.

Watching this display, my thoughts drifted to the stack of cash in my bedroom. Now that their marriage counseling failed, it would be roughly a month before the judge worked through the petition and came up with a ruling. After that, there was a mandatory waiting period of sixty days before the divorce became final. That would give me three months. That is, if Aaron stopped fighting it.

Remembering the meeting with her lawyer, I knew there was no way I could clean enough cash to buy out Aaron by myself. Even if I found a way, I would still be a minor and couldn’t buy the house, though I suspected he wouldn’t let me buy it anyway. I also didn’t think I could take out a loan against the new house and condo to pay off Aaron through the holding John had created, because those two simply weren’t worth enough.

However, this was obviously extremely important for Mom and Ava. So, I made a quick decision, despite my better judgment.

“There’s one thing we really need to talk about with your lawyer.” I said, pulling Mom’s and Ava’s attention back to me.

“What is it?”

“The joint accounts. I have no clue how they’re handled in a divorce.”

“The what now?” Ava asked.

“In a divorce, they split their assets. That means everything that has value and either of their names on it. I’ve had a joint account with Mom and Aaron for a few years now, and I have another joint account with only Mom since January. When we opened the new one, I transferred what little money was left after Aaron paid for Logan’s tuition into the new account, but now I have no idea if we owe Aaron half of what was in there. I also don’t know if he’s entitled to half of what’s in the new one, since we opened that after she moved out, but before she started the divorce.”

“No! That’s entirely your money!” Mom protested. “That’s your salary. We never contributed a single cent to your bank accounts.”

“Yeah, but your names are still on the accounts.” I shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know if they count as yours.”

“Let me find out, then!” Mom declared, got off the couch, and walked into her bedroom to get her phone like I had hoped.

As soon as she stepped through the door, I seized the opportunity to get off the couch myself and walked into my own bedroom to call John, asking him to meet me in the condo the next day. I would have to be there anyway, since someone - namely me - had to assemble all the furniture the girls had picked out today.

By the time I finished the call and walked back into the living room, I found my visibly distraught mother sitting on the couch, a shell shocked expression on her face, while Ava was desperately trying to comfort her. When she noticed me coming closer, Mom’s expression turned to pure anguish.

“Darling ... I’m so sorry.” she pleaded. “You were right. Aaron’s going to get half of your money as well.”

“What!?” Ava shouted. “But ... you said you two never put any money into his accounts. That’s ... how!?”

“She said that, regardless of who deposited the money, it technically counts as part of my estate because the bank has me listed as a co-owner with unrestricted access. And therefore ... It’s a marital asset. If it was a savings account we opened for you as a child, or a custodial account, it would be safe. But...”

My mood soured the moment I heard the word “custodial”. Two years ago, when Mom took me to the bank to open that account with me, she wanted to open a custodial account. I fought her tooth and nail on it, because I didn’t want to have to ask for their permission every time I needed to use the money. The change in my mood must have been reflected on my face somehow, and Mom misinterpreted the reason for it. She immediately started crying while continuously apologizing for still causing so much trouble.

I swallowed my anger, sat back down next to her on the couch, and simply hugged her. It took a long time until she had cried herself out, though by that time, she had stopped apologizing. Instead, she had started basically begging me to not leave her over this.

I couldn’t believe how utterly broken she seemed. If nothing else, this just served as yet another proof of how frightened of losing me she truly was, making it clear how taxing the past few weeks had been on her. Though, to my surprise, I did not just feel compassion for her. Somehow, in the very back of my mind, I started feeling a little annoyed. Irritated, even. However, I did my best to not entertain that unexplained mood swing and concentrate on getting Mom to calm down.

“Mom, it’s okay. It’s not really your fault.” I said, trying to make my voice as soft as possible.

“No! It’s not! It’s not fair. He just took all of your money for Logan. You just started saving up again. And now it’s taken away again! I’m so sorry!” she just continued to sob.

This whole thing had backfired tremendously. I hadn’t really thought about the joint bank accounts, and Aaron getting half of my shit was as much of a surprise to me as it was to them. I only asked her to clear that with her lawyer to get her into her bedroom, so I could sneak away and call John. I didn’t want to make her feel even worse than she already had, and grew a little desperate - or more like impatient - to get her to stop crying.

“Mom! I was the one who demanded a joint account. The bank recommended you open a custodial account, but that would’ve meant I couldn’t do anything with the money without getting you or Aaron to sign off on it. I told you that this was my money, so I should have unrestricted access. This was my own decision. And I was also the one who encouraged you to start the divorce. None of this is your fault.”

Shifting the blame away from her caused her sobbing to lessen in intensity, but that was it. So, I changed tactics.

“Okay, look. Yes, it sucks. But I don’t blame you, and I’m pretty sure we’ll manage. If this is what it takes to be done with the whole deal, so be it. My bank account was steadily filling up, so it’ll continue to fill back up after this is over. And, honestly, ... it’s like you said. He just emptied it. There’s not much I’ll lose. Trust me, nothing will change.”

Almost all of this was a lie, of course. It pissed me off more than I could put into words that, thanks to the cash I had cleaned through my developer pages, Aaron would, once again, take thousands of dollars from me. And I couldn’t do anything about it besides trying to lessen the amount he’ll get.

If Mom or Ava suspected that I had just told them a white lie, neither of them chose to show it. Mom’s mood improved at least to the point where she finally stopped sobbing.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah. But, I admit that I’m less than thrilled about handing Aaron my hard earned money. So, tomorrow, we’re going to HCC and enroll. Both of us. That’ll be a little less he’s getting from me, and you can tell the judge that you’re in school instead of being unemployed.”

“Hm” was her entire reply, and also the last thing we heard from her for the rest of our time on the couch.

When it came time to go to bed, Mom was still clinging to my arm. That didn’t change when I got off the couch. I couldn’t tell if she was doing so to seek comfort or to literally hold on to me, but I felt myself reminded of the time I came home after being assaulted in front of the house. Back then, she also refused to let go of me, and, just like then, it caused mixed feelings in me as I still had no idea how to handle it. Though, I did remember how she wordlessly decided to crawl into bed with me that day, and, as expected, she did the same thing now.

I surprised myself again, as I had to stop myself from groaning internally when I came out of the bathroom and found her already under my covers. The irritation and annoyance I felt over her neediness grew with every second she was forcing herself onto me, and I just couldn’t understand why.

Again, I pushed my feelings down, lifted the sheets up, and lay behind her. She instantly scooted back to press herself into me before draping my arm around her. I noticed she wasn’t wearing much, apart from one of my shirts she must’ve grabbed while I was in the bathroom.

“I’m sorry.” she whispered. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess.”

I didn’t answer. I felt my patience slip away. I just wanted to fall asleep and spent a few hours blissfully unaware of the shit my father was piling onto me again. But I also knew that she had to talk this through, or she wouldn’t get over it herself.

“I guess I’m just a little stressed. And I didn’t have much chance to release ... I mean ... The last few weeks ... months ... were...”

She didn’t finish that sentence, but I understood what she tried to say. I had seen the texts on her phone, the discussions with the rest of the family who implored her to stop punishing herself and join them again. Maybe...

I was now her big spoon, with her head resting on my left upper arm, and my right arm draped around her midriff. On impulse, my left hand slid underneath her shirt, with my fingertips trailing along her skin. As they passed her belly button, I felt a light tremble travel through her body and heard her gasp. It didn’t deter me, and as my hand traveled up her soft body, my arm pushed her shirt up, exposing more and more of her skin. If she needed release so I could sleep, I would give her that release and be done with it.

“Baby!” she almost whined when my hand took a firm grasp of her breast, and I felt her hard nipple press into my palm.

I still refused to speak. Instead, I let my right hand travel downwards her body and pressed it against her lower stomach, right before my fingertips would rest on her pubic bone. Her breathing was heavy by now and she gyrated her naked ass into my groin, causing my dick stiffen in record time. For some fucked up reason, me getting hard at that moment irked me.

Feeling the hard nipple still pressed into my palm, I stopped kneading her breast to instead pinch that protruding little pebble, and was instantly rewarded with another needful moan from her. Then I finally parted the fingers of my right hand and allowed my fingertips to slide down on either side of her clitoris, which caused her entire body to twitch.

I continued by sliding my fingers down even further, massaging her labia while rubbing the palm of my hand over her clit. And then it happened.

“Oh, Baby! Yes! Thank you!” I heard Mom’s panting. “My Baby Boy is so good to his Mommy!”

I frowned, finally understanding where all this annoyance I felt towards her had come from. Before I could even say something about it, however, she spoke again.

“Be a good boy for Mommy, Baby.” she moaned.

Suddenly, I just wanted to finish this. I no longer cared about getting her properly warmed up, or making sure she was sufficiently wet. I just pushed my right hand further down to cup her entire sex, roughly kneaded it for a second, and then plunged two fingers into her canal.

As soon as my fingers were buried so far inside her that the heel of my hand was now pressed against her clit, I felt her instantly climax. Her inner walls contracted around my fingers as she stretched her body and stiffened. After a few seconds, she spoke again.

“Oh GOD! Baby!” she paused for a second to catch her breath. “Mommy needed this so badly! It’s been so long! You’re so good to Mommy! Such a good boy!”

Ths was, again, the wrong thing to say, as I felt outright anger well up inside me.

I didn’t want to hear her happy moaning. I didn’t want to hear how much pleasure I was giving her. I didn’t want to hear what a good fucking boy I was. Couldn’t these people take care of themselves for once!?

My left hand, which had played with her breasts and nipples until now, quickly moved out of her shirt. Before she had a chance to protest, it covered her mouth, stopping her insufferable declarations of pleasure. Then I continued my assault on her sensitive sex.

My fingers inside her started moving with vigor, though I kept my fingertips pressed to her upper walls in an effort to look for her G-spot. I did find a patch of tissue about the size of a grape that felt spongy, but lacked the walnut texture I had felt within Mia and Tess, so I wasn’t sure if it would work. I attacked it regardless.

I kept my hand firmly on her mouth and muffled her squirming moans, even when she raised both her hands to grab my arm and I felt her nails dig into my skin. Though she only held onto it, not attempting to pull it away.

“Why is it always my job to make you happy?” I growled without letting up on my assault. “Why is it always me that has to take care of your needs and make sure you’re happy!?”

This got her attention, as her eyes grew wide and locked onto me.

I removed my hand from her mouth long enough to pull my left arm out from underneath her and roll her onto her back. It quickly clamped down onto her mouth again before she had the chance to say anything.

Leaning over her, my fingers still working inside her, I looked directly into her eyes.

“Logan messes around with fucking rapists, so I have to risk my fucking life to fix it for you. You fuck up Ava, so I have to let her move into my home to fix her for you. Aaron pisses away your bank account, so take mine instead! After you spent years not giving a shit about me, you one-sidedly decide to move in here, regardless of what I think about it! Now I have to give away what little I have left, to get rid of your damn husband! Why is it always me who gets to deal with the consequences of your bullshit!? And now YOU complain to ME about being stressed and needing release!?”

Looking at her underneath me, tears were streaming down her face. Her eyes were contorted in sorrow as she let go of my arm so she could place her hands on either side of my face and carefully sweep her thumbs over my cheeks, directly underneath my eyes. At the same time, though, her hips were still grinding into my hand, I could see her stomach muscles spasm, and I could still hear her muffled moans.

Suddenly, her legs parted, as if to either grant me better access or invite me to go further. I thought it was time I got something out of this whole mess myself, and quickly climbed in between her now widely spread thighs, but refused to remove my fingers from her gushing pussy.

“Lift it up!” I said firmly, while pressing my fingers strongly against that spongy patch on her upper walls.

Her body shuddered as her eyelids fluttered, but she complied by pulling her feet towards her ass. Then she planted them on the mattress to either side of my knees and pushed her hips upwards as far as she could manage. It was just high enough.

I readjusted my hand, so my fingers could stay inside her without my hand being in the way for what I had planned next.

“Baby!?” she asked, as soon as I took my left hand off her mouth to grab my cock instead, lining it up with her opening. Without pulling my fingers out of her, I shoved my cock inside her as well.

“OH FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKK!” she wailed upon the sudden intrusion. “MY GOooOoOOD!”

I didn’t care. This was for me now, not for her. I recklessly slammed myself into her until I bottomed out and her arms thrashed around underneath me. My fingers were now lodged in between the shaft of my cock and her pussy walls, my fingertips pressing into her G-spot stronger than before. Simultaneously, the tip of my cock was stimulating her A-spot, and it seemed to be almost too much for her.

As I continued to repeatedly slam myself into her almost violently, I also started rubbing the palm of my hand against her clit. With this, I had to make quite the effort to hold her hips up, as her own legs seemed to lose all of their strength.

“You Bitch!” I growled through gritted teeth. “You fucking Bitch! You happy you have such a good boy, who keeps taking care of you ungrateful fucks!? After all these years of not giving a single shit about me, I’m still here for your pleasure. Must be nice, huh!?”

She didn’t try to answer anymore. She held my face in her hands while moaning her delight, as I buried myself balls deep into her over and over again. After a few minutes of this, however, I reached my limit. Just as Mom removed her hands from my face to instead hide her own behind them as if to hide her shame, and let out yet another loud orgasmic scream, I emptied my balls as deep inside her as I possibly could. Her knees were quaking and I had to push my arm underneath her to hold her up.

As soon as I shot my last spurt of cum into the depths of her canal, I collapsed on top of her, my face resting on her collarbone. To my big surprise, despite what I had just done to her, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and held my body against hers.

“Shhh. It’s okay, Baby.” she cooed. “Let it out. I’m here. I’ll hold you.”

At first, I had no idea what the fuck she was talking about, but I was too exhausted to care either. That changed when I felt the wetness on her skin, and suddenly realized that it wasn’t sweat. I was crying!

As I lay there, trying to hold in my own sobs, I felt the mattress shift behind me. Then, two slender arms added themselves to Mom’s, which were wrapped around me. And, finally, Ava’s face appeared next to mine, placing a slow, affectionate kiss on my cheek.

Replaying what just happened in my head, I finally understood the real reason for the sorrow in her eyes. I must’ve been crying the whole time I fucked her. That was why she had swept her thumbs over my cheeks, because even then, there were already tears on my face for her to wipe away. She wasn’t sad about me insulting her, she was sad about me hurting.

“I hate you for abandoning me like this.” I said quietly, after I had regained at least some control over my voice.

“I know.” Mom whispered. “And I deserve it.”

“I hate this situation we’re in. Every time something finally goes right for a change, another major screw up happens that I have to deal with.” I added, noting how neither Mom nor Ava loosened their grip on my body.

“Hm” I heard from both of them, while feeling Mom nod her head in acknowledgement.

“I can’t keep up if it continues like this.” I admitted, in an even lower voice than before, and, this time, it took them a few seconds before answering.

“I know, Baby.” Mom said, matching my low volume. “I know we screwed up. It was wrong of us to pile all of this onto your shoulders. I know how much damage we caused you.” She paused, and started lightly scratching the back of my neck. “We only have to get through this divorce. I swear to you, Baby, I will make up for everything I did! Whatever it takes, I will help you heal. And I will take care of you instead of being a burden!”

“We both will.” Ava added with conviction, before kissing my shoulder.

I didn’t know if I could believe them. Not because I questioned their sincerity or intentions, I was past that weeks ago. I simply had no idea if it was even possible for them to deal with whatever came up in the future, because they had relied on me to deal with the real hardships. I didn’t know if I wanted to do this anymore. But, at that moment, I chose to cling to that hope of them stepping up. I pulled myself closer to Mom, followed by Ava pulling herself closer into my back.

“My beautiful Baby Boy.” Mom softly cooed while stroking my hair. “Sleep now. Tomorrow it’s going to be better. I promise.”

I don’t know if it was the physical exhaustion, the muscle relaxation my orgasm had caused, or the emotional drain I was under, but I did just as Mom told me to and was asleep within a minute.

When I awoke alone the next morning and the memories flooded my mind, I noticed three things.

First, I felt strangely liberated. I had no idea why, but I felt even better than after that epic thanksgiving-blowout, where I finally, after years, had the chance to air out all my grievances with the entire family.

The second thing I noticed, however, was that, despite the positive side effect, I was fucking embarrassed! I was a working, self-reliant man who takes care of shit ... and I cried like a damn child in my mother’s and sister’s arms because daddy was mean to me. Fuck. My. Life! I would have loved to simply sneak out of the house and avoid Mom and Ava for the following few weeks, but I had to take Mom to the college campus and enroll at some point.

Finally, after I came to terms with what I did, my third realization set in. Guilt.

Just a few mere days ago, I had told John how I don’t see sex as a casual recreational activity, how it actually meant something for me, and how I would stay faithful to my girlfriend. And then I went ahead and fucked my Mom. Somehow I didn’t think Mia would just accept that, even after she gave me permission to do it with my sister.

Shaking my head, I got out of bed and collected a few clothes. While I was in the closet anyway, I also packed a sizable amount of cash into my sports bag for my meeting with John later that day. Then I snuck into the bathroom to take my shower and get dressed.

I felt mildly relieved when I realized that I wasn’t just alone in my bedroom, but that I was actually alone in my apartment. I had no idea where Mom and Ava went so early on a Saturday, but I suspected they probably just went shopping, so I grabbed the sports bag full of money, as well as my barely touched toolbox, and drove to the condo.

Four hours of lifting, carrying, and assembling IKEA furniture had me sweating like a pig, even in spite of the relatively mild late march temperatures. Staying true to the safety standards I had established during my apartment’s renovations, I had managed to rip my shirt full of holes already, so I simply discarded it. So, when the family suddenly walked through the door, answering the question of Mom’s and Ava’s whereabouts and allowing them to see me shirtless and covered in a sheen of sweat, the first thing I heard was Maggie whistling at me.

“I have to say, little cousin.” she said while sauntering over to my side, where she wrapped one arm around my waist and started trailing the scars on my torso with her extended index finger. “Seeing you like this, with those scars giving you that bad boy look ... Maybe we should get together some time.”

She looked up at me with a suggestive smile, which I initially returned with a grin.

“Yeah? You know who else thinks that?” I replied with a raised eyebrow, that dropped before I continued with a firm and clearly unamused voice. “My girlfriend.”

She looked rather rattled as she quickly backed away, but I appreciated that she got my meaning without a need to explain any further. Maybe that reaction was harsh, but the guilt I felt over what I did with Mom the night before had returned with a vengeance as soon as Maggie put her arm around me.

And, honestly, while I may have forgiven her parents, that only happened because they actually put in an effort to earn my forgiveness. Just like the new feelings I developed for Mom and Ava only existed now because they redeemed themselves by reversing the damage they had done and continuously showing that they cared for me. Maggie, however, was still the same superficial bitch I had come to know her as.

“Now, now, Pumpkin!” Grandma entered the conversation with a playful chiding voice that instantly had me on edge, since the last time we spoke to each other wasn’t exactly on good terms. “She gave you a compliment. A well deserved one, as I see. Take it as one.”