Lover for Pay: The Escort & the Teacher (manxman)

XIV - Family

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning London woke up to a brightly lit room. The life of the city could be heard through the windows, and he lay there beneath the covers in his boxers. When he turned over, disappointment crept up on him when he found the space Marbell filled the night before empty. Instead, a note was placed on the pillow. Stretching his tired muscles, London sprawled across the bed as he read the delicate handwriting.

London,

I'll be back from the office at twelve. You should take the kids out for a meal at the diner up the street. It's called Jessie's, I'm sure you'll like it. Be back soon.

Love you.

Marbell xoxo

Although he was a bit nervous to go out on the streets of Manhattan without knowing anything about it, London thought it'd be nice, too, taking Joyce and Henry out on his own until Marbell got back. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth in the elaborate bathroom before dressing in jeans, and a dark green D.I.Y. muscle tee that he'd cut to have baggy openings that showed a fair amount of his torso. Whenever he wore it, he wondered if it was technically even still a shirt since it hardly covered him.

After tugging on brown lace up boots, London went to the bedroom Joyce had been sleeping in. The little girl was already wide awake, and had dressed herself in long, bright yellow socks with bumblebees on them, as well as an orange and white striped dress. Her hair was wild in crooked pigtails and several flyaway strands, butterfly clips and knockers stuck here and there. "Whoa," London walked in on her about to clip her bangs back, "Very nice work, Joyce."

The bouncy girl smiled big for her brother and held a green ribbon out to him, "Bracelet," she said, "Tie for me, pweas?"

London picked his sister off the floor, holding her against him as she giggled with rosy red cheeks to match her hair. "How's about I dress you like a princess since we're going to go see princess toys today? How does that sound?"

Joyce nodded excitedly, "Cinderella?"

"Yeah, Cinderella."

Trading Joyce's choice for a blue ruffled dress with white lining at the hem, London brushed her hair back into the best bun he could, taming her strays with crystal-like barrettes and white ballet slippers on her feet. "There we go," London looked her over, happy to have her dressed nicely now instead of a crazy mismatch. "I'd say you could be your own princess, you little munchkin."

With Joyce ready and her teeth brushed as well, London searched for Henry. He wasn't in the third bedroom down the hall, nor was he in the living room. It took him a good minute to walk through the humongous apartment to find his kid brother, and the boy had been in the home theater, not having moved from that spot since last night. The room was spacious, one entire wall completely filled by a massive screen, and there were low comfortable couches that looked like personal beds as they rose like steps to the back wall. There was an empty pizza box on the floor as well as a Coca-Cola liter bottle beside it.

The menu screen for an alien movie was playing on repeat, and Henry was sleeping across the front row of cushions. London picked up the garbage as Joyce went to go jump on her brother, waking him up with her roughness.

Annoyed by the mess, London said, "You could have at least cleaned up before crashing in here. This isn't our house, Henry, you can't just leave a mess behind like this. It's disrespectful."

Henry rubbed at his eyes as Joyce tugged at his shirt. "Sorry," he yawned, turning off the movie, "It's comfortable as fuck in here."

"Go get ready to leave, we're going out to eat."