“One of these days, we should get a sitter and go out. Just the the of us,” Malcom said into the curve of my neck. His lips tickled the sensitive skin there and I was already wet for him.
“I heard that!” Skylar shouted from the living room.
Malcolm rolled his eyes and let his head go back to hit the wall. “How is it that we have a teenager who won’t leave us alone and we’ve never even gone on a real date?” he mouthed to me.
“I heard it and I approve. A night at the shelter won’t kill me,” Skylar retorted.
“She’s good,” I said, throwing a thumb over my shoulder. “Yes, I will go out with you seeing as how our teenager approves.” I didn’t mean for it to come out like that so I slapped a hand over my mouth. Typical Claire move.
“You are a fucking good mother even if you’re not biologically one,” Malcolm said, his face taking on a serious expression.
“And you’re an amazing father,” I whispered back to him. It brought tears to my eyes. Malcolm grabbed me and kissed me so ferociously it stole the breath from my lungs.
“I want to make you mine,” he growled into the kiss.
My heart pounded in my chest against the massive wall that was his.
“Saturday night?” I asked him.
He nodded his head, both hands still grasping my hips. His black hair flopped down over his brow like it usually did after we made out. I ran my fingers through its thick sleekness so much when we kissed, that I loosened any gel he’d put there in the morning. I loved him like this. Undone. Hunger in his eyes when he looked at me.
At the shelter, Isla had hired a new social worker named Trudy to take the weight off of both of us. True to his word, Malcolm had found her, vetted her, and paid for her entire salary. He also arranged for a bonus the first week, when I wanted to stay by Skylar’s side. Trudy was more than competent and it took a great deal off of my workload to have her around.
Malcolm also had some guys coming in from the club. It was Isla’s jurisdiction and she was happy to have the help. They didn’t interact much with the clients, but they did the heavy lifting and even some emergency plumbing when a pipe burst.
Saturday night couldn’t come soon enough. I was desperate to lose myself in Malcolm and drown in his touch. I could kiss him for eons, but I, too, wanted more. I wanted to feel him inside me. I wanted to make him lose control and get lost in my body.
“Time to get up!” I said. I yanked the blankets off of Sky and she threw a throw pillow at me in protest. I liked seeing her like this, a relaxed teen, being rebellious and taking things for granted. “We’re gonna be late. You know how Isla is about time.”
“Time is money, so stop nickel and diming me,” Sky mumbled, imitating Isla. This girl made me laugh, and always drove me a little bit crazy.
“You haven’t seen her pissed off yet, either. Those episodes are memorable. That broken window in the front hall? That wasn’t from an angry runaway as Isla likes to tell the story. That, my dear was Isla’s reaction to an ICE raid that took two of our kids. Isla’s coffee cup smashed that window in after they drove away with Jose and Beto, two brothers who were some of Isla’s favorite kids.”
I yanked the other pillow from under her head and whacked her with it. “Get your ass up, girl. You don’t want to piss her off on the day that you’re spending the night at her house, do you?’
“That’s tonight?” Sky asked. She wagged her eyebrows at me, a slow smile forming on her lip. “Oh, look, Claire you’re already blushing.”
“You don’t worry about my blush and get your butt up and in the shower. Unless you want to use the communal at work—best luck with the hot water.”
“Claire, you know I’ve worked the streets, right. I know what sex is. You don’t have to shelter me so much.”
My heart seemed to liquefy and spill onto the floor. Of course I knew. Of course she was wise beyond her years when it came to sex work. But I hated it so much for her. Hated that her innocence had been stolen so that she could survive. I hated every man that had ever taken advantage of her. Skylar might have been a teenager selling her body, but she looked like a little girl and that made it all the worse. Men were stupid disgusting pigs, except for Malcolm. He was her hero, and I believed in my heart that Malcolm was single-handedly restoring Sky’s trust in men.