adorned flames || the housekeeper series. (3)

Chapter Fourteen

~Jacob's POV

I woke up to the sensation of a jackhammer to my head and the sound of a vacuum running. I had begged Dad throughout the week to let me crash in the guest room, and after coming home off of liquid courage, I exchanged a few words I'm not too proud of, and he caved after calling me a brat about a thousand times.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes, squinting due to the sunlight brightly shining through the room. That and the combination of the sound of the vacuum penetrating my eardrums and the hangover from last night made for one hell of a headache.

"Fuuuuck," I groaned, hopping out of bed to quickly brush my teeth and take an aspirin. After doing so, I opened the door and start on my way to the kitchen when I came across a fairly older lady vacuuming the carpeted stairs. She was fair-skinned, with thinning blonde hair and small yet noticeable wrinkles in her skin.

"Good morning!" she yells over the sound of the vacuum upon noticing me. It was weird seeing her around the house and not Al...and come to think of it, I haven't even seen Al since I got back. Confused, I nod in respond and continue down to the kitchen, where Stacey sat eating breakfast. I spotted Janelle in the family room watching some trash reality TV show, along with her room-stealing daughter.

"G'morning Jake." My younger sister Stacey spoke as I entered the kitchen.

"Morning." I replied as I grabbed the Apple Jacks off of the refrigerator and searched the cabinets for a bowl to put the cereal in.

"Hey, Stace. What happened to Al?" I questioned as I poured my breakfast into the bowl.

"He's not here anymore." She simply stated, taking another bite of her blueberry pancakes.

"What?! When? Why?" I sat down at the table with her, pouring milk into the Apple Jacks. I couldn't believe it. Al was like my father when dad was away. He was easily part of the family, how could Dad just give him up?

"Like...a couple months ago. Ask Dad's ho." Stacey chided, rolling her eyes. It was clear Stacey didn't favor Janelle any more than I did.

"Of course it was her." I scoffed. "And don't say ho." I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my sweats and pulled it out, waking the screen up to a text from an unknown number.

from: (310)-445-0727

hey, its tara from the club...i had a lot of fun last night, maybe we could do it again sometime?

I smirked at the though of last night's events. Despite Aliyah's snide remark about me being broke, I still managed to pull Tara by the end of the night. Things got heated, we went back to her crib and to put it simply...there's a reason she was crawling back to yours truly for more. I just might take her up on her offer...

"Sorry, I just don't like her." Stacey mumbled, snapping me back into our conversation. "She tries to make me like her with money and toys, but I don't want that. I want a mommy, not a Santa Claus. Plus her daughter is mean...I just miss when it was just us and Al in the house." She sighed, her shoulders slumped. I gotta admit, I felt a little bit of guilt. I hated seeing my little sister upset, especially over such a sensitive topic like the absence of a mother-figure in her life. It was clear that Janelle didn't know the first thing to being a step-mother, hence the bribery. I figured it was time for some long over-due brother and sister bonding time.

"You wanna hang out, Stace?"

~Aliyah's POV