The Bad Boy's Secret

~Chapter Two~

☀~️🍁~❄️~🍃
"Change is hard at first,
messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end."

-Robin Sharma.
🍃~❄️~🍁~☀️

With the hot, blazing, Californian sun burning down on my skin and the slight taste and smell of salt lingering in the air from the ocean attacking both my tastebuds and my nostrils, I grab hold of a large box marked 'Anna's shoes' from the back of the removal truck and clumsily take it back towards the house; my now supposedly home.

"Careful with those, they're my pride and joy." Anna states, emerging from the front door again, no doubt to flirt some more with the delivery drivers 'assistant'.

In my seventeen years of living, I've never known someone to have their priorities ordered the way Anna has hers.

'Flirt now, unpack later' so it seems.

I simply offer her a dramatic eye roll before pushing past her and entering the house. The front door leads straight into the living room where I'm instantly greeted with the homely smell of cinnamon and cherries; a scent that will forever remind me of Christmas. The walls are painted a simple cream colour, although the various framed photos that decorate them creates a certain energetic vibe, resulting in the walls being anything but bare.
At opposite ends of the room sits two large black leather sofas and in the right corner, a matching arm chair.
The entire space emulates a safe environment and is by far the nicest house I have yet to step foot in.

Having spent all my life living mostly in two bedroom apartments, it doesn't take much to impress me.

I allow my eyes to scan to my right and notice there sits a rather impressive T.V system with all the latest gadgets hooked up to it. Above it, hangs a framed photograph of Jack, Hannah and Emily attending what looks like some sort of formal event.

I recognise both girls from previous photos Jack used to email us and I can't deny that Hannah is quite possibly the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. With long, rich, coffee-like hair and matching chocolate-brown eyes, her features stand out marvellously from her flawlessly pale skin. Her friendly smile seems to radiate warmth and immediately causes unwanted images of my mom to start filtering through my mind, creating an unsettling sensation to spread throughout my entire body.
Quickly disregarding those thoughts, I cast my attention to the little girl in the photo, Emily, and instantly see some resemblance between her and I. She has the same mouse brown hair as her dad and therefore, me, which hangs loosely past her shoulders and wears a similar smile to mine. Although we've never met, just simply looking at her picture automatically draws me to her presence and I feel almost protective over the sweet, innocent girl staring back at me, my little sister.

"They'll be here soon." Jack says, coming up from behind and startling me in the process.

He gestures towards the photograph and smiles with pride, while I reply with what I can only hope is a polite smile.

"DAD!" screams a very excited, sweet voice that has both me and Jack turning around to locate the source.

Out of nowhere comes tumbling a small figure, almost knocking Jack over with the sheer force in which it comes running in at, making me both smile and frown at the obvious unbreakable father-daughter bond displayed in front of me.