Jayden stiffened angrily and began to rise out of his chair.
Ben pinned him in place with a glare. “I’m talking about your pay.”
Jayden blushed furiously and sat back down.
Rochelle was glaring at her son as well. “He should work for free for pulling crap like that!”
“That’s your decision but I believe a man gives honest effort when he knows he’s being fairly paid for it. I’m expecting Jayden to put in full days of work. He should be paid for that work. He’s a beginner but this is a real job.” Rochelle nodded to Ben who looked back at Jayden.
“Everyone on the worksite earned their right to be there. You’re the newbie. You’ll be expected to do a lot of grunt work. Can I rely on you to be professional and mature or am I going to be dealing with this chest thumping bullshit?” Ben said frankly.
Jayden nodded slightly.
“What does that mean?” Ben mimicking Jayden’s minimal movement.
“I’ll be professional and mature,” he said.
Ben nodded. “I’ll pay you $15 per hour to start and if you make it to the end of the project I’ll prorate that up to $20 per hour. I’m expecting this project to last between four and six weeks, at five days a week and eight hours a day. We get the job done early AND done right, there’s a bonus which covers the reduced time and then some.” He stopped to see Jayden’s reaction. Mental calculations were happening and struggling. “You could make close to $5000 in a relatively short time if you do a good job,” Ben suggested. Jayden smiled at the sound of that.
Ben held out his hand to shake. “Deal?”
Jayden hesitated then gripped Ben’s hand and shook.
Rochelle looked very pleased. Something else she needed to tell Ben popped into her head. “One more thing Ben. There’s a group of young men Jayden is not to associate with by court order. If he does and the police catch him he goes to jail, no second chances. The police will be passing through the neighborhood at random intervals and will be watching.”
Ben nodded and looked at Jayden. “How much do you want to avoid jail?”
Jayden looked at Ben seriously. “Very much.”
Ben nodded. “If you see them coming, just let me, the site foreman or Dominic know.”
The young man nodded.
Rochelle stood up and the men stood as well. “Thank you Ben! I really appreciate this!”
He opened his arms with a smile and Rochelle crushed herself against him with a happy smile. Jayden looked on with a conflicted expression.
Ben caught the look and frowned. Jayden still thought he was going to hurt his mother. Ben had no clue how to change his mind.
“I’ll pick up the safety wear tomorrow and Jayden will see you at nine on Monday!” Rochelle said and Ben nodded. They headed home and Ben made his way down to his workshop. He spent the better part of two hours working on the puzzle for the Australian company and felt a solution percolating in the back of his brain. He pushed back from the table and looked at the clock. It was almost dinner hour. He listened and the house was quiet. He walked upstairs and no one was there. They’d been shopping for groceries for over four hours? Something was wrong. He called Trish’s house and Lily picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Lily? This is Ben. I’m looking for Tina and the rest of the girls.”
“OH! They didn’t call you? They’re on their way home now. They… maybe I better let them tell you,” she said hesitantly.
“What happened? Are they alright? Lily, talk to me!” Ben exclaimed.
“They ran into a little trouble with a few reporters who were… persistent about getting information about you. I’d really feel more comfortable if you got the story from them- AH! They just drove by going to your place! Talk to you later!” Lily hung up.
Ben hung up the phone then dashed outside to see Trish pulling up his driveway.
Lucy was sitting in the passenger seat and was looking at Ben with a nervous expression. Ben began to feel a little ill. Karen got out of the back seat and reached back inside and pulled out crutches. She glanced at Ben and her lip was trembling. Ben pushed forward and looked in the back seat.
Tina was sitting on the seat with her right leg up on Penny’s lap. The lower half of her leg was in a cast. She looked over at Ben and he saw the black eye and the split and swollen lower lip.
The next thing he was aware of was carrying her cradled against his chest, carefully supporting her leg. Trish made it up his stairs before him and held the front door open. He set her down easy on the couch and Trish had the ottoman ready for her to rest her cast on. He knelt next to the couch taking in the bruises.
Ben’s hands began to shake. “Tina? Are you ok?”
She nodded. “Our baby is fine too.”
“What- what happened? Why didn’t you call me?” Ben asked in an anguished voice. Tina just shook her head and rested back against the cushions. Ben could see the pain on her brow.
Trish was standing behind him. She sighed and rubbed her hands together. He noted the bruised knuckles and a few cuts. His eyebrows went up. Karen and Penny entered the house loaded down with grocery bags and Lucy followed with the rest. They went straight into the kitchen.
“Trish?” Ben said staring at the woman.
“Tina and the girls came over at around 2pm and we spent some time talking then we piled into my car and went to get the groceries. We spotted three reporters following us around, taking pictures, basically being fuckheads. Lucy contacted store security and had them thrown out.” The woman in question came in and sat carefully next to Tina and held her hand.
“When we were on the way out of the grocery store they showed up again and the assholes blocked our way. They were talking shit to us about you. Then Tina got up in the face of the fat one and verbally tore a strip from him. It was amazing to see. His face just kept getting redder. We were all stunned until he shoved her away from him. He hit her pretty hard and she went over a display of washer fluid and hit the sidewalk badly. Lucy leapt after her and caught her before she rolled out onto the road. That’s when I hit the fat fuck! I put him down quick. The other reporters tried to get some but got a crushed nose and a punch in the balls for their efforts. Store security showed up, dragged them away and called for an ambulance for Tina. We followed the ambulance to the hospital. Her leg is broken but it’s not a bad break and should heal well.”
Ben’s face was showing his rage. Jaw clenched, muscles trembling, facial scar flaring, he looked like someone’s imminent death.
“This is why we did not call,” Tina’s weakened voice wobbled as she touched Ben’s tight jaw. “You might have killed him or at least injured him badly. Our baby needs a father, not prison visits.”
Ben blinked at her and felt his rage slowly fade. She was right. He would have killed the man. Quickly and without a shred of remorse. He’d done it before. It was easy. That thought gave Ben pause. It was actually a little frightening. He closed his eyes and shuddered. When he reopened his eyes he gently lifted Tina’s hand and kissed it.
“I’m so sorry Tina! This should never have happened. It has to stop. The harassment has to end.”
“What are you going to do?” she whispered nervously.
“There’s a reporter. I met her the other day outside the house. Rochelle knows her or knew her from college. Anyway, she offered to ‘tell my story’, defuse the mystery about me so the public will lose interest,” he explained.
Trish snorted. “Ben, the more I know about you the more I want to know! I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”
“Alternately we all run away. Hide in a yurt in Mongolia. I don’t think they have the Internet there.” It was Lucy’s turn to snort but she raised a hand to cover her smile. Ben gave her a smile.
“I think we better put Tina to bed. The doctor gave her some pain killers but not the really strong stuff as Tina won’t risk the baby’s health,” Lucy explained.
Ben nodded and Lucy went down the hall to prepare the bed. Trish helped Ben carefully lift Tina. Once they reached the bedroom Ben set Tina down on the bed and her brow eased a little.
“Can I get you something?” Ben asked. “Hungry? Thirsty?”
“Water?”
Ben immediately brought her some cool water from the bathroom and helped her drink some. Tina nodded and he laid her back on the pillow.
“I think I will sleep now.”
“Of course! I’ll just keep an eye on you,” Ben said but she gestured for them to leave.
Trish and Lucy gently pulled him from the room.
When the door closed Lucy touched Ben’s chin and turned his face to hers. “Tina knows you love her. It hurts her to be unable to take care of you as she wants. Please let her rest and get better.”
Ben blinked at her and looked back at the door. He finally nodded and pulled Lucy into a fierce hug. The woman melted in his arms with a happy sigh.
Trish was watching them both with interest. She’d never seen a dom/sub relationship at work before. She was surprised how much control subs had over their dom.