GRACE

"Excuse me?"

The woman huffed. "Of course, you will play dumb. They always do." A seductive shake of her shoulders and she adjusted her proud stance. "I asked if you are the woman Dominic is sleeping with."

Okay, who the hell is this woman giving an attitude to? And who on earth is she exactly?

There was no doubt that her presence brought drama with it, so I decided to play along.

"What if I am the woman Dominic is sleeping with?"

She laughed a bit sinisterly, her humour-lighted face suddenly turned deadly at the end of the laugh.

"Well, I have an issue with you."

"Who are you? The thirtieth girlfriend in his list of my thirty girlfriends?"

What am I saying?

"I am his-"

"Diane. What are you doing here?" Mr. Powers' voice made both of us whip our heads in his direction.

Soon, Diane was all over him.

"Oh, Dominic. It is so nice to see you again." She placed her slim hands on his firm chest. "I have missed you so much Dom. I have."

I could not help myself. I rolled my eyes at the desperation oozing off her.

And the desperation was the worst kind because Mr. Powers showed a slight mix of discomfort and annoyance on his face. No doubt, she was an ex he didn't wish to see for any reason.

A low sound came from Mr. Powers as he peeled her hands off him. He took a few steps away from her before asking, "What are you doing here?"

The woman failed to read his resistance, or maybe she chose to ignore it.

"I told you, Dom. I missed you."

Mr. Powers glanced at me when a little sound escaped my lips after I tried hard to not let out a chuckle. The woman noticed the brief attention he gave me and she stepped back.

"So you are ignoring me because of her? Come on, get over yourself. You know you will come back to me at the end of the day. And..." She eyed me. "I don't even know what you see in this one. How do you even manage to have sex with her? She is not very pretty."

The woman appeared proud as she flipped her hair and grabbed onto his arm. She must have thought that her words burned me.

Oh well...

Let's just say I am enjoying the show.

Mr, Powers got rid of the hold she had on him once again. Then he dusted his suit.

"Why are you here, Diane?" he repeated, this time his voice was dangerously impatient.

"I came to see you!" Her exclamation was filled with disbelief.

He grabbed her hand and walked towards the entrance. "Let's go in and talk." Once they had made it inside, Mr. Powers turned to face me. "She is Ruby's babysitter, not the woman I am sleeping with."

The man searched my face for some seconds as though expecting to find a particular emotion etched on it.

"Oh," the woman said, her eyes filled with disgust she didn't bother to hide anymore. "In that case," she stretched her bag to me and I stared blankly while wondering what she was trying to do, "carry my bag for me."

"Diane," Mr. Powers warned her.

"What? She is a servant after all. Take my bag." She pushed the bag to my face.

"No," I replied. There was no need to sugarcoat my response.

A scoff and the woman dropped her hanging hand. Then, for some reason, she began to shorten the distance between us with short strides.

As she walked, she said, "First, you waste my time by pretending to be Dom's girlfriend, which is something that can never happen to you. Now, you are refusing to carry my bag?"

She didn't give me a chance to reply. Her hand swiftly and hotly landed on my cheek to my greatest surprise. But I did not let my reaction get cold.

My hand that held my struck face kissed hers almost immediately. And I made sure I gave back almost tenfold of the pain she subjected me to.

The woman was beyond surprised. As she held her cheek, her voice shivered as she called to Mr. Powers.

"Dom..."

The man shrugged in response and that greatly startled the man.

I must say that I love that the man knew when not to interfere.

And thank goodness he didn't butt into the matter. I was not done.

I walked to the woman called Diane. I grabbed her hand and gave it a meaningful squeeze.

Then, I warned, "I am not your fucking servant." I dropped the hand without mercy. "Diane."

Before the woman could say anything more, Mr. Powers reached for the trembling woman. I searched his face for a glimpse of what he thought about the whole issue but he was unreadable. And he maintained that look as he directed Diane up the stairs.

After a deep sigh, I turned to see Ruby and Jeremy Chalk staring hard at me.

A cheeky smile and I said, " I am sorry you had to see that. I kind of lost it after she slapped me."

"That was cool. You really don't take nonsense, do you?" Jeremy asked as I walked closer to them. After I gave a casual smile in response, he said, "Let's start this class then."

And once we had all settled, Ruby quietly confessed, "That woman is my mother."

My eyes widened in pure surprise. I never saw that coming. At all.

********

"Are you sure that slapping your mom is not a bad thing ?" I asked Ruby for the third time while I made sure the blanket around her was well tucked.

"She doesn't like me and I don't like her. So, I don't care if someone beats her up," Ruby replied, while she hugged her teddy bear to her chest.

Her response weighed on my heart. With a little frown on my forehead, I sat by her bed, played with a few strands of her hair, and queried, "You don't like her?"

"Fiona said I shouldn't hate people. So I can only say that I don't like her. The last time she stayed over, she hit me for going into Daddy's room."

The bitterness in the little girl's words made me let go of the remaining questions on my mind.

"That's fine, Ruby. Goodnight."

"Grace... Thank you for deciding to live with us."

Her appreciation made me recall what her father told me earlier about her health status. While I prayed that Ruby was in good health regardless, I smiled and planted a kiss on her cute cheek.

"I moved in because I didn't want you to be too lonely." I reached for the lampstand on our right. "Goodnight, Ruby."

The brightness in the room dimmed significantly and the girl returned my night wishes with a soft tone.

Once I made sure nothing was amiss, I tip-toed out of the room and made for my new room.

After Ruby's lessons, I took care of the room to suit my taste. I might have slept for hours in the room the other night, but I highly doubt that I would be able to sleep properly for a while now that I have moved in. Hence the little rearrangements whose little familiarity I hope will help me sleep better.

I gently pushed the door open and a yawn accompanied me while I closed it.

I was already in my PJs, so I just needed to jump into bed.

But I couldn't do that. Mr. Powers was seated at the edge of the bed.

"Sir..."

The book in his hand was forgotten when he looked up at me. Without meaning to, my eyes toured his body and I wondered what he was doing in the room at the same time.

The man was wearing an oversize tank top. And that meant his arms were bare. And that also meant that I was a tad distracted.

But before I could stare any further at the built beauties that were his arms, I quickly caught myself. After clearing my throat, I managed to say, "Uh, sir..."

"Have your seat, Miss Sands."

After a few feet dragging, I walked to the bed and sat a little distance from him. For the fear of being mesmerised by his eyes, I looked down at the white tiles, my ears waiting for him to say something.

"Thank you, Miss Sands." His voice was low and threateningly closer to me than I thought it would be.

That feeling made me look in his direction. But, funnily, he was yet to move an inch.

"Uh... It is okay. I doubt I did anything good." I smiled and looked away again because... His eyes.

Damn! His sexy eyes!

I recalled the earlier incident with my nightgown. There was a particular look in his eyes that just drew me in, closer and closer and closer.

Damn it! How am I going to survive moving in with them if he affects me this much with just the beauty of his eyes?

And, judging by the thing that happened in the morning, I don't think my hormones are as safe as I thought they were.

"I am thanking you for helping me with Diane," he said after many seconds passed.

"Eh?" I was surprised.

If I knew better, he should be spitting vicious words at me for slapping, not just any woman, but Ruby's mother.

"Diane is a huge pain in the ass. I have been looking for a way to get her out of our lives. Your slap worked wonders and gave me an opportunity to do so."

"Oh..." I had no idea why, but I nodded to his words while I gripped the ends of the mattress with my hands.

But when Mr. Powers placed his hand on mine, I felt my entire body stiffen. His warmth settled on my skin and it became hard to look away. I could not even tear my gaze off him.

"So, I want to thank you for moving in and for chasing Diane out of our lives."

The man was not even drawing on my fingers yet I felt so jolted by his little touch as it lingered.

But I was able to break away from the spell of the moment. After a light chuckle that had a hint of nervousness hidden in it, I pulled my hand away.

"Well, in that case, you are both welcome."

Another light laughter and I looked away while I tried to rub his touch off my hand. But the feeling that came with his touch persisted.

So, I decided to distract my mind with small talk.

"Is Diane really someone you and Ruby dislike?"

"Something like that." The man got up, his book still tucked in his other hand. "Well, goodnight Miss Sands. See you tomorrow."

Oh, good. Finally.

"Goodnight, sir."

I walked him to the door but I made sure not to glance at him. And once I closed the door after him, I hurriedly held onto my chest which was feeling a pounding that was more than normal.

Fuck!

All the man did was touch my hand and I am now on the verge of becoming a breathing mess.

"Listen to me Grace," I started to talk to myself, "calm the fuck down. He is not suggesting anything with his gestures, so stop being affected by them."

I walked back to the bed.

"Don't lose your mind over someone you obviously can't have. He has a girlfriend that he loves to bang, so stop losing your head."

A deep exhale followed and I climbed onto the bed.

That should do the work.