This Cruel Love

“It’s almost midday, angel.”

I groaned and snuggled down farther into the bed. I didn’t care that it was so late, I’d had the best sleep ever courtesy of him and his mind-blowing orgasms.

“I’m off to the club. I need to get on top of the paperwork that Cill’s been avoiding for the last few weeks. I’ll try not to be too long, okay?”

He didn’t need my permission to go to work, but I thought it was beyond sweet that he was checking in with me. Justin would’ve just gone without a second thought.

“You take as long as you need. I’m just going to enjoy this warm bed for a little longer.” I stretched out and buried my face into the pillow next to me that smelt like him. He groaned at my little kitten-like display.

“When you’re rolling around all naked like that under the covers, you make it hard for a man to leave you. Literally.”

I bobbed my head up from the bed to see his impressive erection tenting under his sweats and couldn’t help but laugh. He crawled over me, but I stayed determined and gently pushed him back.

“Easy tiger. I’ll take care of you later. Go get the boring stuff over with first. You can’t avoid work forever.”

He gave another animalistic growl and turned on his heels and out of the bedroom. I loved playful Jackson. He could be a puppy one minute and a lion the next, and I loved both. I loved him. He was my absolute everything.

I lay in the bed napping for a while, then decided I had to start my day and get proactive. I couldn’t spend the day in a sex coma, no matter how good the sex had been.

I showered and got ready and then headed out to the kitchen to make a snack.

“Did you have a nice lie in, love?” Sylvie was busy in the kitchen, crouching down under the sink and cleaning the cupboards out.

“Sorry. I’m so lazy just lately. I’d have got up sooner if I’d known you were here.”

“Don’t apologise to me, I love a good lie in.” Sylvie pulled herself up on a huff and puff. “It’s not usually my day to work, but I wanted to get these cupboards sorted out. It’s been bugging me for weeks now, but I always get distracted with other jobs when I’m here.”

“I think you work hard enough. I hope he pays you well.”

I grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl for my late breakfast and clicked the coffee machine on.

“I’d do it for free, but he won’t let me. He insists on paying me. We don’t spend it though. I put it all into an account, you know, in case he ever needs our help. We call it our Jackson rainy day fund.”

I was dumbstruck. Did Sylvie have any idea how much money Jackson had? He didn’t need help, but it was the cutest and kindest thing I’d ever heard. That she saved all the money he paid her, and would give it back to him in a heartbeat. This woman really was one in a million.

“You sure don’t act like any employee I’ve ever met. How did you meet Jackson?”

Sylvie popped a pod into the coffee machine for me and proceeded to make my coffee, even though I was quite capable of doing it myself. That was just her way. She liked to be the one in charge, the mother hen.

“Sit yourself down, love, and I’ll tell you all about my boy and how he came to be in our lives.”

She popped the steaming mug of coffee in front of a stool at the island and jumped up onto the stool opposite.

“I’m guessing he didn’t advertise and interview you.”

Her eyes glazed over as she tilted her head upwards and started thinking back over the years gone by in her head.

“He must’ve been about sixteen or seventeen when we first met him. He wasn’t the dashingly handsome m

an you see every day back then though.” Her expression dropped slightly, giving away a hint of sadness behind her proud eyes. “He was scrawny, hungry, and in need of a good shower when we first saw him.”

“So you met him on the streets? He’s told me a little bit about that. He didn’t tell me about you though.”

“He’s a proud man, Ryley. He wouldn’t like to admit to anyone what times were like for him back then. We’ll never forget though. He broke our hearts quite a few times in those early years.”

I dreaded to ask the next question, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Was he cruel? Did he hurt you?”

“God, no!” Sylvie looked offended, but then smiled warmly at me, as if to ease my guilt. “We wanted to help him, but he’d never let us. It broke our hearts to know he was on the streets and not with us.”