Yeah, I doubted this would be over so fast, and wasn’t thrilled with suddenly having my sister in my personal sanctuary. I also couldn’t understand Danielle’s second argument. Since Ava was eighteen now, social services had no business with her anymore. So, even if they had any suspicions about their relationship left, they had no way to force Ava into another interview apart from calling the police. Then it would hardly matter where she lived. But after I thought about it while eating the sandwiches, I couldn’t deny that her first argument was decidedly more important. If letting Ava into my home would get social services off my back, I didn’t have much of a choice. They all watched me anxiously as I chewed.
“Fine. I have a spare bedroom ready that she can use.” I said, before turning to Ava and continuing. “But I only have a single parking space, so you’ll have to leave your car here. Though, I seem to already drive you around just as much as Mia anyway.”
When I stood up to put my plate into the sink, Claire embraced me in a tight hug.
“Thank you.” she whispered, not clarifying whether she was thanking me for accepting Ava into my home, or for helping with their money troubles.
“Sure. Not like I have an actual choice in any of this.” I mumbled as I removed myself from her embrace, causing her to regard me with a confused look before glancing towards her husband.
Once Claire took the plate out of my hand, Danielle grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the side.
“There is another reason I was hoping you could take her in.” she said.
“Oh?”
“Ava told me about the conversation you two had in the car a few days ago. Apparently you suggested she’d talk to me about her submissive tendencies making their way into her everyday life?”
“Yes.”
“I think you were on to something.”
“You think, huh?” I commented, trying not to sound too sarcastic.
“Tim ... Again, I could only give you the excuse that Ava doesn’t live with us, so I only ever saw her submissive behavior when we’re ... getting together. She seemed to enjoy it that way as well. I never knew they were encouraging it so much when we weren’t together. Creating some distance between them would help. In that sense...” she made an awkward pause, making it clear that she would ask me something I wouldn’t like. “I was hoping I could ask you to do something more than just letting her stay with you.”
“You need me to go the extra mile to fix the crap you all caused? Wow! That almost never happens!” This time, starting to feel exhausted again, I made no attempt to conceal my sarcasm. “Well, I gotta deal with Aaron’s shit anyways, so what do you need?”
She looked at me with a similarly questioning look I had gotten from Claire just a minute before, but decided not to push my patience by asking about it.
“You already know that she told me about the day you two got together. Just do the opposite of what she likes inside the bedroom when you’re outside the bedroom. She needs to understand that she can be a strong, focused, and independent woman, while still being submissive in bed. But only in bed.”
“Well, if it’s just that, no problem!” I didn’t bother to even try to keep my anger out of my voice. Yes, letting her live with me could actually get social services off my back, but why did the psychologist ask ME to deal with Ava’s psychological problems!? As if she was sensing my thoughts, she spoke up.
“Look, I’m sorry, Tim! I know this is a big ask, but after what happened over the last month, she kind of ... fixated on you. And, honestly, I can’t even blame her. When shit hit the fan, it wasn’t her Daddy who fixed it for her, it wasn’t her big brother who stepped up, it was you who single-handedly pulled our collective behinds out of the fire. And you did so, right after she watched you single-handedly take on three armed men to protect her. That kind of thing leaves an impression on a girl. Now that she spied on the two of us that night, and she learned just how far you were willing to go to keep us safe, it’s like you’re the new Alpha Male in her life.”
She grinned, hoping this would somehow appeal to me. She was wrong. Her smile died pretty quickly once she saw how utterly unimpressed I was. I had absolutely no interest in taking over responsibility for their family, and she must have seen that in my expression, because her voice was suddenly pleading when she continued.
“We only have a few months before she goes to college. If any of us has a chance to help her in that little time, it’s you! There is nothing I could do that wouldn’t require a lot more time. And while I know that you don’t think too highly of me right now, I know you well enough to be sure you won’t abuse that influence you have on her.”
I still wasn’t pleased with this, but as I mulled it over, and a plan started formulating, I began to see the appeal of having my own little fucktoy living with me. At least during the nights. I would JUST need to find a way to make her gain confidence in herself outside the bedroom. But when Danielle phrased it as ‘being a strong and focused woman’, I actually knew a possible way to do it. It worked wonders for me, so maybe it would for Ava too.
“Fine. I won’t make any promises on not abusing my power, but I think I have an idea. I’ll try.”
I moved to the hallway, grabbed Ava’s travelbag, and left the house without saying goodbye to anyone. I just couldn’t wait to get out of there. The drive was quiet, and when Ava saw my apartment, she immediately started familiarizing herself with it.
“This looks so cool!” she remarked after looking into every room. “It’s seriously lacking a personal touch, so it’s kinda like a hotel room ... but a nice hotel room! There’s even a huge TV in my room!”
I realized I was actually smiling. I was extremely proud of what I had done with the place, and her acknowledging it felt rewarding.
“It’s a Smart-TV and already connected to the WiFi. If you want to watch some shows on Netflix or hulu, just launch the app.”
“It’s nice to have a rich little brother!” she giggled.
“Yeah, not so rich anymore.” I commented under my breath, but ignored her questioning look. I showed her the connected bathroom after pointing out which room she would sleep in, and pointed out the pre-packed convenience kit in case she forgot to bring anything.
“Now, you probably know I’ll have to pick up Mia tomorrow morning, so unless you want to take the bus to school, we’ll have to be on the road by six-thirty at the latest. I’m sure the Millers won’t have a problem with you tagging along, since you and Mia are friends. I don’t know how long you need in the mornings, but I’ll definitely go to sleep now. Shout if you need something. The bed’s already made, just pull the comforter off and you’re ready to crash.”
As I lay in bed, I realized just how happy it had made me to hear someone compliment my handiwork. Though, I suspected a big part of Ava’s enthusiasm was because she saw all this as some kind of vacation. Her first home away from home, or something like that. She would certainly act the same when she left for college. Actually, I didn’t even know she wanted to go to college, until Danielle told me.
That caused my thoughts to drift to the conversation with Aaron. I needed to figure out how to make use of the stolen cash. That talk about college tuitions sparked an idea. Maybe there was a way to use Ava’s impending college departure, combined with my newfound fondness for renovating, to turn that cash into legitimate income. At least until I turned eighteen, and could open a few offshore accounts to clean the money myself. But most important of all, I’d have to learn how to economize, and quickly.