Damaged

Ten

"So just fuck work today, huh? Leaving me hanging to deal with your clients as well as mine?" James chuckles to me as we slowly wind our way through the parking lot, Peri snuggled sweetly in my arms after being unable to resist my offer to carry him over the uneven and cracked pavement.

"I had most of everything rescheduled already. I was planning to spend the day with my little Princess anyhow... just didnt expect to spend the first half the day in the E.R." Peri's beautiful brown eyes redirect themselves to openly stare at my face at the nickname, cheeks flooding with color before bashfully tucking himself under my chin and covering his face with his hands.

Adorable.

I hadn't actually meant to let it slip without asking him how he felt about it first, but his reaction tells me that maybe he doesnt mind it. I hope not...the thought had crossed my mind more than once... dressing him up in pink lingerie and making him mine... just skimming over the fantasy in my head has me biting bite a groan.

The frustrated kiss I press to the top of his hair makes James chuckle at the two of us before he opens the passenger side of my BMW so I can set Peri inside without having to jostle him in order to get the door before leaning against his Benz with a smile as I get my boy settled.

How he had managed to get a parking space next to mine who knows
.
Peri doesnt even adjust himself after I arrange him carefully, leaving off buckling him up to give James a chance to get out all of his normally pushy questions and comments so he wouldn't end up texting me and interrupting our salvaged afternoon. I had an idea that hopefully would make up for Peri having such a rough morning, though how he would take it is currently up in the air. He could love it or he could end up defensive and pissed at me.

My little Angel's eyes go wide as he takes in the luxury vehicles before leaning more fully against the supple leather, "What do you two do for a living?"

James stares at me for a moment before he laughs, "You two really havent talked, have you?"

...
Pereskia
....

"We both work for the same law firm, Sweetie." Arnold croons before palming the riot of curls matted to my head, most likely making the tangles ten times worse. The look in his eyes alone at the contact is almost worth the fact that I'll have to brush it tonight. His face gets so warm when he smiles at me like that... its disarming. The information though is not so much. Talk about making me feel inadequate.

Arnold's face falls as I fold in on myself, but its James who finally asks the question I start to dread... maybe I wouldn't if I hadn't technically officially quit this morning via my older brother. Giving lessons at the studio had been my main income... and the only thing remotely close to a normal job that I could lay claim to with two Lawyers standing in front of me.

"Do you work, Peri? Or...Well?"

Arnold's brother isnt necessarily the most gentle at phrasing things. I know what he had been about to say. People always questioned whether or not I was capable of working. Of whether or not I'm able to function enough to be an active member of society.

...
Arnold
....

"My..My family owns an art studio...I was giving lessons in the morning... I stopped just recently.." Peri avert his eyes before they snap back up to mine and then to my brother's, his face draining of its flush and going pale, "I'm still technically working... it's just hard to think of what I do as a job. I'm not a bum, I promise! I'm still painting... just not teaching it...They dont sell often but I-its enough." It makes my heart leap when his sentences string together smoothly for the most part, and it makes me wonder if its tied directly to his seizures or stress level. The more strength he seems to regain as the afternoon trudges on the easier it seems for him to communicate.

That must be the studio time his brother was talking about this morning when he came to stress my baby out.