Illegally Yours |+18|

4. You are safe with me, pretty.

Aaron.

"What you what?!" Evan yells at the other end of the phone.

I growl angrily because, my eardrum has burst!

"Will you stop yelling, you big asshole?"

"Well, then explain to me the act of extreme madness that you just did."

Again?

I've explained it over ten thousand times.

Okay, here we go again.

“I found a minor in the street and...”

“And you took her to live with you!” He finishes for me. “To a minor, minor, minor!”

“Evan...”

"You! Aaron Cooper! The most narcissistic, self-centered and damned self-righteous guy on the face of the earth! None of your employees like you because you don't say a f*****g hello to them, and now you're running to be the next Mother Teresa of Calcutta?!”

"Enough already!"

"It's good?!" he asks, ignoring me. "Is that! Now the girls are coming! You like it and…”

"Evan, shut the f**k up!"

"I just can't believe it!" I resist the urge to smash the phone against the wall. “You're twenty-nine years old, Aaron, twenty-nine! Not fifteen! I thought it was me who couldn't keep my d**k in her pants, not you! Did you f**k her already?!”

And I explode.

“No, I didn't bring Bess to live with me for that! She's a girl, Evan! What part of underage do you not understand?!” I peek down the hall to make sure the bathroom faucet is still running because I don't want Bess to hear me talking to this son of a b***h. When I hear the water continue to fall, I keep yelling: "And if I called you, it's not so you can give me the sermon of the year, it's so you can help me!"

“Do I have another option?” he finally asks with resignation.

"No imbecile".

"Best friend and boss in one package?" he asks sarcastically. "The best thing that can happen to you."

“Shut up and listen” I take the pizza that arrived a few minutes ago and start serving it on two plates as I speak: “I need your sister to help me with this. I have no f*****g idea what a woman needs and Bess has nothing but a torn and scruffy change of clothes in her possession.”

“Christine? My sister? Are you going to bring her into this?” I hear his loud laugh on the other end of the phone. “But you hate her! You say that she is childish, loud and flirtatious!”

"She's the same age as Bess, so I guess they can understand each other!"

His huffing and puffing only ends up stressing me out more.

Son of a b***h, he takes advantage of not having him around!

“Do I remind you of something, Aaroncito?”

“Aaroncito your grandmother”.

“Yes, that, Grandma! You have a great grandma” he says, ignoring my anger. “A lovely mother and a precious sister who, if you surely ask her for help, she will come to your rescue. Why don't you ask them for help, you big i***t?"

I omit the part where he calls me an i***t, sure that tomorrow I will collect all the teasing from him.

"No, I won't say anything to them. And if you open your mouth to tell them, I cut out your tongue and feed it to the piranhas, understood?”

"But why don't you tell them?!" He starts screaming again. "I'm sure your grandmother can help her, surely he will take her to live with her and..."

"No!"

Damn, son of a b***h.

Now he knows.

"I knew it!" I can even see his smile as he speaks. “You like it, you like it and you don't want anyone else to have it! You want her living with you!”

“Evan...”

“A f**k for going to jail! Are you seriously going to risk that much for a f**k?!”

"I'm not sleeping with her!" I scream, so about to go to his house and beat him up. “I just want to protect her, that's all! Are you going to ask Christina to help me or not?!”

"Yes, yes, I tell you" he accepts with a tired voice. “And what will happen next? Are you going to buy her clothes, surely all the toys she wants and what? What comes after that?"

"I'm going to take her to work with me at the company."

I slam one plate down and go back for the other, taking my time because I kind of need to calm down.

"Oh, you lost your mind," he says with a touch of hysteria in his voice. “You lost your f*****g mind! She's underage, asshole! She can't be given a job!"

"Since when is there an impossibility for me, Evan?!" I growl, because I f*****g hate being thought incapable of doing anything. “If I tell you that she will work with me, it is because she will. I am the boss and no one is going to question my decisions.”

“I am the boss, I am the boss! Well, that is not going to prevent you from going to jail for having a minor under your power!”

"Nobody will know!"

"Do what you want, Aaron!" He growls. "No! Don't do what you want! I also have part of your company and they can close it if they find out that we have a minor working there! They can charge us with child exploitation!”

Why does everything have to be taken to extremes?

“Everything will be okay,” I say quietly, because the shower faucet has already been turned off and I don't want Bess to hear me yelling. "Bess turns eighteen in two months and in two months classes start at schools, right?"

"Now what the fuck..."

"Surely she hasn't finished her studies," I mused. "So when she turns eighteen, I'll enroll her in your sister's school."

“Aaron...”

"The school Christina goes to is all girls, right?"

And again me and my f*****g mouth.

"It can not be true!" Evan whimpers in my ear. “You took over the girl! This is very serious! You really want it for yourself! Are you going to enroll her in a girls' school so that no man will look at her or what the hell with her?!"

I carry the sodas to the table and control myself not to break them in my hands.

"I'm just going to make sure she has everything, Evan," I say, convincing him and myself. “She will work with me for the next two months, I will pay for her to finish school and when she thinks she can protect herself, then I will let her go.”

“Do you listen to yourself and do you believe it?” He snorts again. “I know you, Aaron Cooper. You are possessive of what is yours and I can swear that you already owned that girl.

"No, I haven't done anything..."

"Lie to someone else, asshole, not me."

"And I told you no."

“Fine, whatever. I'll help you with whatever you need just because if I don't, you'll surely get my ass out of the company, or am I wrong?"

"No, you're not wrong."

A growl from his part brings a cocky smile to my lips.

"I'll tell Christina to be at your apartment tomorrow at eight, is she okay with my king?"

"Yes I accept. "That time is perfect."

"And Carmencita, your secretary, the only woman apart from your mother who puts up with you, she scheduled all the meetings you missed today for tomorrow, did she already tell you?"

"Yes, I know".

"Stop fooling around with the girl and focus on the business, will you?"

I want to tell him that my time with Bess is never a waste, but I know that if I say it, it will only bring me down.

“Okay” when I'm about to hang up, I remember to ask him for the most important thing. “Get him a fake ID. She is called Bess Lee. I expect that for tomorrow and without fail, Evan.”

“Aaron, what the fuck...”

I hang up just as I see Bess peeking into the room.

Fuck, hell, s**t, big hell!

I focus on her face, not allowing myself to look down at her breasts where I can clearly see her n*****s through her shirt.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

"Are you cold?" I manage to ask, while turning my back on her and pretending to put the plates back where they belong.

Oh, of course she's cold, Aaron. Her breasts waving at you are the answer.

"Yes, a little" I hear his voice behind me. “Can I help you with something?”

"No!" I make a fist of my hand because I can swear she's taken a few steps closer to me.

Don't touch her, don't touch her, don't touch her...

"Are you okay?"

Finally I turn to look at her and...

Shit!

I don't have that much willpower.

I take Bess by the hand and drag her down the hall to my room.

Once inside, I open my closet and look for that damn pink plush coat that my sister's boyfriend gave me for last Christmas.

Damn, the i***t Jared had to serve me for something.

Quickly, and perhaps a little roughly, I put Bess's coat on.

And I breathe, I finally allow myself to breathe calmly.

"Oh thanks!" Bess gazes at the coat excitedly, waving her arms from side to side, unsuspecting the perverted images that flashed through my head.

"Did you like the shower?" I ask, looking at how clean it looks now.

Her hair is dripping with moisture and I resist the urge to ask her to let me dry it.

“Yes, did I last long in there?” she asks with some concern. "Sorry if it took me so long, but it was so exciting!" She takes a strand of her long brown hair and brings it to her nose, sniffing it. “The shampoo smells delicious! By the way, I noticed you didn't have any soap and…”

"What?" I ask, confused. "There was no soap?"

Weird, I swore I saw a body wash in there.

"No, there wasn't" she denies. "But don't worry, I washed my body with the same shampoo... do you want to smell?"

And she brings an arm up to my face, holding it up to my nose so I can smell it.

I swear I'm trying, but I can't resist. So I give a little kiss on her delicate skin.

Bess smiles at me, pleased with my show of affection.

So she likes me to be cuddly?

Well, I can be affectionate.

Just affectionate, not perverted.

I put my arm around her shoulders and pull her close to me as we walk out of the room. She immediately puts her arm around my waist and clings to me as she continues to tell me how her shower went.

Something inside me is touched to see how trusting she is with me.

Her trust is the best gift anyone has ever given me, so I promise to keep that trust intact.

"Are you sure there was no body wash?" I ask her when she's done telling me how good she smells or how clean she feels. "I can swear there was a new jar in there."

"Yes," Bess nods. "Of course there was shower gel, but I didn't use it because I didn't know what it was for."

"Bess, pretty." I change the direction we're going and lead her back to the bathroom. "The bath gel works like soap, but liquid."

Once inside the bathroom, I take the jar of product and take it to Bess. My pretty looks at me curiously, her head c****d to the side as she watches me with those devilishly beautiful eyes.

I take her hands and pour a fair amount of the liquid soap onto her.

"Rub your hands" I ask.

She immediately does so, causing foam to begin to build.

I look at her face, and she always captivates me with that look she puts on when she discovers something new.

Her eyes shine, illuminating her face with its own light.

And I want to show her everything, I surprise myself with that thought.

I want to be the one to teach her everything she doesn't know.

"It's foam," she says, smiling with her characteristic enthusiasm. "I'm lovin 'it".

“Yes, and the next time you take a shower, it is with body wash that you will wash your body, understand?”

She nods, still playing with the foam on her hands.

I smile.

"Come, let's wash you up to go to dinner."

That immediately gets her attention.

"Diner?"

“Yes, there is pizza. Have you had pizza?"

"Yes, I have eaten pizza."

And as quick as lightning, she washes her hands and runs off to the dining room.

I follow her, unable to help but laugh on the way.

When she entered the room, I find her already with her piece of pizza in her mouth, already probably on her third bite.

I shake my head as she laughs at her effusiveness.

In the world I live in, people have already lost the ability to get excited about anything. Nothing makes them happy. Any luxury for them is something as normal as seeing the sun every day.

Bess isn't like that.

The smallest thing that can be insignificant for anyone, for her is something extraordinary.

And it's refreshing to find someone like that.

So full of life.

"Can we watch TV?" She asks me when she's finally finished gobbling down the pizza. This time she hasn't eaten slowly and I love that she has. It's a sign of how comfortable she feels with me.

"Let's go watch TV" I accept when I see that she is dying to do it.

I sit on the big sofa and invite Bess to sit next to me. She immediately jumps on the piece of furniture and sits in a lotus position, looking at the television. With the control in my hands I begin to pass the channels, giving her the opportunity to choose what she wants to see.

"There!" She screams as she walks past a pet documentary. Exactly, dogs. "Can you leave it there?"

I nod, not telling her that I hate pets or any slimy animal that sheds fur.

More than the TV screen, I watch Bess's happy face as she excitedly watches all the puppies flash by on the screen. Soft giggles escape her mouth as she sees the hilarious maneuvers the dogs do.

Without being able to help it, the question comes out of my mouth: "Have you been kissed, Bess?"

Seriously Aaron? Really?

She immediately looks up at me, big brown eyes staring at me in wonder as those lovely cheeks fill with color.

"Kiss? In the mouth?" She asks.

Seat.

"Yes, pretty. Have you been kissed before?"

She narrows her eyes at me for a moment, as if she's pondering whether or not she should tell me.

Apparently she decides that she is going to do it.

"One of the reasons why I don't want to go back to a foster place, is that."

Right away, that catches my attention.

"Did they ever try to get on you, Bess?" I ask under my breath, because the thought of someone trying to take advantage of her innocence makes me want to break something.

"Sure" she nods immediately. Meanwhile, I make fists of my hands, trying to control my bad mood because I don't want to scare her. “At the Street house, the foster family I was in when I was twelve years old, one of the sons, Jordan, tried to put his lips on mine once they left us home alone.”

“And how old was this Jordan guy?”

"Mmm..." she thinks for a moment. "Thirteen, I think."

I sigh with relief.

So he was a boy.

“And it happened again? Did something similar happen to you?"

"Yes," she nods again, looking at the television. “Several times he tried to do it, but it always ended up hitting him and stopping. He stopped when I got my razor and threatened to cut out his tongue if he tried again."

I bite my lip to keep from letting out the laugh that wants to escape.

I calm down when I decide I should continue; I need to know if anyone has ever hurt her.

“What about anyone else? Have they tried something similar with you?"

"Are you talking to me about s*x?" She asks bluntly, surprising me a bit. "Because the answer is no, I have not been sexually abused."

I nod, satisfied with that answer.

However, I need to know more.

“But did they even try? Take advantage of you?"

She thinks about it for a moment.

"In the last foster home I was in, the father sneaked into my room one night and tried to take the sheet off my body."

"What?!"

“I stabbed him in the arm and didn't come back. Since then, I have lived on the street.”

Most holy child Jesus, why didn't I find her before?

I reach out my hand to take hers. Bess jumps a little, but when she sees that it's me, she relaxes and allows me to hold her delicate fingers.

"You're safe with me, pretty" I tell her. "You know?"

Her brown eyes look at me for a long second where she has me there, held by an invisible thread.

Then she says the words that fill me with immense pleasure and satisfaction.

"I know, Aaron."

And I promise myself, I'll keep her safe with me.

Always with me.