A Timeless Place

Chapter 33

"His love roared louder than her demons."

Monopoly Battles And Second Surprises

I lay on my back that night, looking up at the ceiling from on top of my covers as a silly smile remained plastered into my face, as if the curve of my lips was carved onto my face.

Mase and Renee had left shortly after Wes and I re-entered the house, informing us they had class the next morning and promising a visit in a few days' time to properly go over the guest list with Marie. After giving their farewells, they left the house hand in hand.

This left the four of us to play monopoly, an all time-favourite at the Bane household apparently. I found out Wes always started out badly, with little to none properties and falling on everyone else's and slowly losing all his money until he was close to bankruptcy and had to work hard to build his way up. Andrew and Wes were mainly in competition while Marie modestly played throughout the game. She was also the banker to prevent the two men from cheating.

"Sometimes the competition gets to them," she'd shake her head as she slapped Wes' hand away from the bank money.

Even though by some stroke of luck I owned all the dark blue's of Mayfair and Park lane. However, I still managed to lose to Wes by going bankrupt when I entered the side of the board that was all Wes', complete with all four houses and hotels.

"YES!" he shouted in triumph, swiping away all my earning and properties in victory.

"Now it's game on, son," Andrew squinted his eyes at Wes challengingly.

"This'll take a while," Marie had sighed. "So, dear, how are you going with school?"

Marie and I had talked endlessly for the next two hours while Wes and his father had continued battling on, both almost going bankrupt about three times each. Both refused to give up. They had even mortgaged half their properties to keep playing. We spoke about school, her primary school teaching job, about the different kinds of children she taught and then as every mother loves doing, talking about her children, especially Wes in his childhood years.

"He was a rebellious child, that Wes," she looked far off, a reminiscing smile on her kind face. "We had to be careful in letting him watch any show. Once, after he watched Spiderman, he was convinced he could stick to surfaces."

I smiled in response. Wes had told me this during our little confession session at the beach when he had kidnapped me on a date. But it was nice hearing it from his mother. It made me somehow feel closer to Wes by already knowing a part of his childhood.

"But the problem was that he was convinced it would only work if he was naked. Mason's doing," she sighed. "So he stripped off all his clothes and threw himself down from the top of the stairs to stick to the wall."

"Mom!" Wes protested, flipping his head towards us as he rolled the dice. It was a three and a five.

"You should have seen the look on the paramedics face when they came rushing in to find a naked little boy sprawled on the ground in the middle of winter! They almost called child services!" she shook her head, still that small smile plastered on her face as Wes face-palmed himself.

Just then something hit my balcony door and I screamed, bolting upright and switching on my bedroom lamp. It was Wes! Smirking through the darkness on my balcony. His pearl white teeth was the most distinct feature through the night.

I stood up, tugging down at the pajama top I was wearing. I stood in front of Wes on the opposite side of the door with my arms crossed over my chest. I raised an eyebrow at him without opening the door.