Chapter 6: Family

For the first time, the first time, since this whole sordid ordeal began, I felt like garbage. How the fuck did this happen? How did I suddenly become the scum of the earth? I was a stranger, a total stranger to myself. I couldn't believe ... that this was me. That, I had done these things.

I had no idea what to do. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. How could I face Jenny? What should I tell her? Through all my soul searching, I finally remembered why I became a landlord in the first place. Because I fucking wanted to help people. Can you believe that? It was so long ago, I had forgotten myself. Boy, had I forgotten.

I read about Habitat for Humanity and how they build houses for people who don't have good homes, and I thought to myself, "I want to do that." I thought that by becoming a landlord, I could offer decent homes to low-income people who needed help. What the fuck happened?

It just ... it just turned into a business. I got screwed over way too many times by people who took advantage of me. I had to learn to be hard on people, to evict people. Otherwise, I'd be in the poor house and nobody would have a home, including me!

Somehow, I had forgotten all that. I was scum. I was going to kick Jenny out of her home. She had become so desperate, she offered me sex for rent and I said yes.

I knew what I had to do to set things right.

It took all of my courage to make that trip to Jenny's apartment. I stood in front of her door a nervous wreck. Finally, I just did it. I just knocked. There's no turning back now.

The door opened and Jenny's beautiful, smiling face beamed at me. She was so beautiful. My guilt surged through me at the sight of her. I wanted to cry.

"Hey, stranger!" she said with a smile. "I've been waiting for you. Get in here!"

She was so happy to see me, so eager to invite me into her home, she obviously had no idea what I'd done.

As the door closed behind me, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to compose myself.

"I was wondering where you'd been," Jenny said. "I don't want to get behind on my 'payments', you know!"

She looked like she was getting ready for a workout. She was wearing black spandex pants, a black sports bra and a little pink halter top. She was the cutest thing. I was determined to set things right with her.

"Jenny, look about your payments," I started. "I've changed my mind."

"What? What's wrong," she said. She was emotional, probably scared that I was going to kick her out.

"Now, don't worry, sweetheart," I said. "I'm not kicking you out. You can stay here as long as you want."

"But ... you said it yourself," she said. "I can't afford it, not without, you know, our deal."

"Forget the deal," I said. "Just stay for the winter. We'll get payments going when business picks up in the summer."

"You're just letting me stay here? For free?" she asked incredulously. She shook her head. "Oh, I can't do that. I don't take charity. I've earned my keep everywhere I've gone." She was very serious. She didn't like what I was saying at all. What was with her? I thought she hated our arrangement?

"Then, I'll find work for you," I said. "Real work that you can do. Honest work, like what Mr. Raymond does. Something you can do, some painting! Yes, this whole building needs a coat of paint. What do you say?"

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. Was she ... was she going to cry? "All of a sudden you want me to paint???"

"Jenny," I grabbed her by the shoulders. "I'm doing this for you. So, you can do something decent, something honest. So you can be a good mother to Katie, someone she can be proud of."

"No," she said. She was sad, but angry, too. "Something happened! You weren't like this before. Something happened to make you change your mind. I demand to know what! I deserve that! I deserve to know what happened!"

She was yelling at me. She pounded on my chest with her fists. She was furious. God, what do I do now. How do I tell her?

Suddenly, the look on her face changed. She was staring at me, but not at my face. Her brow wrinkled in confusion. She snatched something out of my pocket. A piece of paper I'd never seen before.

"This is..." she read it with a look of disbelief on her face. "This is my mom's handwriting. It's her address ... Oh my God!"

She gasped.

I was confused at first. Where did that come from? Then it hit me. The piece of paper Kathy shoved in my pocket before ... the incident. I never even looked at it. And I'm such a slob, I must've grabbed the same old shirt without washing it.

"Are you ... are you fucking my mom?" She looked at me, right in the eyes.

I was dumbfounded. I didn't answer. I couldn't answer.

Then, she shocked me yet again. She started ... laughing.

"Is this what this is about?" she said. Her beautiful smile had returned. "Do you want to stop visiting me because you're afraid I'll be mad at you for seeing my mom?"

She laughed her head off.

"Oh, God, you're sweet," she said. She gave me a big hug. I still didn't know what was going on. "Stupid, but sweet.

"How many times have I told you? You're not my boyfriend." She was lecturing me again. "We're not some kind of couple. It's just business. I don't care if you're seeing my mom." She tucked the paper back into my pocket. "You're entitled to date whoever you want. You're both adults!

"Come here, you!" she said as she pulled me close to her. We hugged for a long time. I inhaled deeply and took in the sweet smell of her shampoo, it had become so familiar to me now. I loved it.

"Oh, Jenny," I whispered as I held her close. I thought ... I thought we would never be like this again.

"Now!" she said loudly, taking a step back from me. "I still owe you a 'payment' for this week, and don't you try to worm your way out of it!"

She pulled off her top, exposing her beautiful little breasts. Oh, how I loved them! My cock grew hard at the sight of them. Once again, my hormones began to cloud my reasoning. I knew, I knew in my head and in my heart that I should say "NO!" I knew it.

Jenny bent over. Her gorgeous breasts swung pendulously as she slipped out of her shorts. As she slid out of her panties, my willpower drained away. We were going to do this. I wish ... I wish I were a better man. I couldn't help myself.

She walked up to me, naked as the day she was born. "Get undressed, silly," she said smiling. She started to undo my belt for me. Like a robot, I unbuttoned my shirt. She slid my pants down and fished my erect cock out of my boxers. She began stroking it earnestly.

"And you wanted to make me paint!" she said with a slight tone of indignation. She took me in her mouth. I was hers.