Twisted Deceit (Deceit #3)

Chapter 28

Chapter 27

Even though I was feeling better, Dawn still wouldn’t let me do much around the house. The only lingering effect after a week was a slight cough that kept tickling my throat.

I didn’t have to tell her that I didn’t have that much energy; she just knew. Hence why I was stuck to being lazy. Her words, not mine.

I hated sitting around and not doing anything. It gave my mind too much time to focus on the little things that really didn’t matter in the long run. Logically, I knew that cleaning the house wouldn’t take me that long, but right now, I was watching Dawn do it all.

“Don’t give me that look,” she shot me a fake glare that contained no heat at all. “I survived keeping this house clean without you for years. I can certainly pick up the slack while you rest.”

I felt so useless. It’d been a week. Why couldn’t I at least help do something? Anything?

“You really hate just doing nothing, don’t you?” Dawn shook her head, like she knew that answer already. “Since you seem so determined, you can empty out the dishwasher. But that’s the only thing you get to do today.”

I perked up, content to at least do one thing, no matter what it was.

Dawn laughed quietly as I slowly got up from the couch. I knew if I stood up too fast, a dizzy spell would hit and Dawn would take away the one chore she graced me with.

I almost laughed at myself. A few years ago, I’d never thought that I’d be asked to do dishes, or clean, or anything else that I do. Instead, I’d be begging for my chore to be done and over with.

Thankfully, other than that one time where the past made a bad reappearance, there hadn’t been any other times over the week. Jasper had texted me a few times to check in, but otherwise he hadn’t stopped by again, either.

I still wasn’t entirely sure what to think of him. He was nice, and apparently a part of me trusted him enough to let him touch me the way he did. Or I was just that desperate for human touch.

I shook my head at that last thought. I wasn’t desperate at all. I knew if I needed a hug, Dawn would happily give me one. Jasper was just a different type of person. Someone that was calming, and knew how to not overreact and make me panic.

Which, given his job, he should know how to do that. His job was filled with kids who had issues with panicking, or other mental disorders, so of course he’d know how to deal with my own issues.

I had to wonder, why did someone like Jasper get born to parents who only wanted to have money. He certainly didn’t act like he had tons of money, preferring to keep things simple.

So close to being eighteen, I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I’d go. Sure, Dawn told me more than once that I was welcome to stay here for as long as I wanted, which I was definitely going to take advantage of. I wasn’t willing to move to the city, where a few places with programs could help me get into. The busy city life wasn’t what I wanted for my life.

I wanted to keep the peace and quiet of being out here.

“Dawn?” I found her in the laundry room, the dishes long since put away, and I even wiped down the counters. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

“Yeah?” She poked her head out of the room to see me.

“You. Don’t….date?” My voice was quiet, like it normally was these days when I talked. But that didn’t matter to Dawn. As long as I was trying to use my voice, she’d be happy.

With just the two of us, it was easier to talk more and more. There were times I still clammed up, but it was all part of the process.

“I’ve never found someone worth my time. A few here and there, but when they find out my views of waiting until marriage, they tend to leave me high and dry. I’m happy enough to stay single for the rest of my days. Plus, I got you. You were all I wanted and was – is – my total focus.”

Surely, I couldn’t be her entire life?

“The only thing I gave up was my family, but seeing as how they treated both of us years ago, I wasn’t missing out on anything. You are worth it and more. I wasn’t going to give up on you, and I never will.”

She answered more than one question that had popped into my head.

“Once you are feeling one hundred and ten percent, and not a day before that, Mrs. Lee asked if you wouldn’t mind going over there and helping deep clean some of the rooms that her grandsons have gotten through. She’ll pay, of course. And I’ll be happy to buy whatever cleaning supplies you could need.”

Wide eyes, I nodded a bit too quickly.

I knew Mrs. Lee saw me like her own grandson after spending enough time with her, and with how often I made sweet, but healthy treats, to take to her. But I didn’t expect her to want me to help clean up her house. Some of those rooms hadn’t been cleaned for years, and I tried my best to not look in them when I was over.

“I’ll let her know tomorrow, then.”

Over the last few months, I've learned some new tricks to clean certain areas. The world of technology was amazing.

“What rooms?” Which one could I start on first? My fingers are already itching to get busy. Or maybe it was the thought of having something to do that I knew I was comfortable with.

“You’ll have to talk to her, but it sounded like it was almost every room. She wants a deep clean of everything before painting, or upgrading some areas.”

That left me with too many options.

“Write down what items you need from here, and what stuff you need to pick up. Or we can go get the stuff you want this weekend together.”

I nodded. My outings were getting easier to handle, but it was tempting to take the easy way out.

I no longer jumped every time a male got too close or raised their voice. I hadn’t freaked out over things some people would consider simple.

It was a long and slow process, but I was getting there.

I was getting better at picking out things that I needed. Wants were still not something I was great at, but Dawn didn’t push more than I could give.

Back in my room, I found one of the many notebooks and pens, as there was no shortage of those in the entire house, and sat in the middle of the bed. Without thinking too much, I pulled the stuffed animal to my lap before starting on the list of cleaning supplies.

“Why are you cleaning?”

I jerked, dropping a rag that I had been using to do one final sweep of the doorframe.

“Don’t scare the poor boy, Jasper,” Mrs. Less huffed. She had sat down not too long ago at the table with a cup of tea. She had been talking about the latest drama of one of her shows she always watched.

“Koda shouldn’t be the one cleaning. I said I’d take care of it all.” Glancing at Jasper as I bent to pick up the rag from the floor, he didn’t seem too upset. Maybe more annoyed than anything. And tired.

“You have a full-time job. You can’t do everything around here on your own. Trace will be going back to school next week. Koda is more than capable of helping. Plus, I’m paying for his time.”

“Grams,” Jasper sighed, folding his arms across his chest. I turned enough to keep both of them in my visual. More to see how they interacted than in fear. “I said I had it all under control.”

Given how dirty the kitchen was when I began, I didn’t think Jasper really did. Between him trying to clean out every room, and working and getting his brother to places, he really didn’t have enough time to deep clean, either.

Mrs. Lee also wanted to hire someone to paint eventually, but before anyone could get in here to do that, the walls needed to be scrubbed down, along with everything else.

The kitchen was the first room so far, since it was mostly cleaned out and decluttered already. Mrs. Lee was still working on getting rid of more stuff from some of the drawers and cupboards, but otherwise it wasn’t overly cluttered.

“So do I, Jasper. I know when my own grandson needs some help around here. God sure knows I can’t do much to help.” With that, she stood from the table, tea gone cold or forgotten. “But since you’re home, I’m going to go back to my shows.”

“And where is your cane?”

“Pfff,” she waved a hand through the air. “I don’t need that for a few feet of space.”

“Hardheaded woman.”

“I heard that!”

I shook my head, returning my full focus back to the wall. Doing so hid my smile, because although Mrs. Lee was getting up there in age, she was as strong headed as anyone else could possibly be.

“You really don’t need to clean for us, Koda.” Jasper stepped closer; arms still folded across his chest.

I shrugged, not really minding one bit. It gave me something to do, and I enjoyed Mrs. Lee's antics.

“What time did you even start?” He looked over the work I’ve done.

I held up nine fingers, which made me drop the rag again. I glared at it, but at least I think I was done with it for the day. The kitchen was as good as it was going to get until new paint was applied. That was not something I knew how to do. Although, I could probably learn how to do it.

“So right after I left.”

I nodded once. I had made sure to wait until Jasper had left before coming over here.

“I take it you’re feeling better, at least.”

Another nod.

“Well, I guess the least I can do for your troubles, is order some take out for us?”

Looking around the counters, I spotted the notebook that I left there hours ago.

No thanks. Roast in crock pot

At the mention of food, my stomach growled. My cheeks heated.

“Did you eat lunch?”

I shook my head slowly. I had forgotten all about it, actually. Most of the time, I didn’t eat that meal anyways. Dawn had told me more than once that I couldn’t skip meals, but it had yet to stop me. I ate snacks though. Sometimes. Just not today.

“How much more work do you have in this room?”

Clean up my stuff

I planned to leave everything here, stashed away in the hall closet that wasn’t being used. I’d be back tomorrow to work in another room.

Leave it all in closet

Just in case Jasper thought he needed to help take everything back to my house.

“Good, although I don’t think you need to help. I really do have it under control.”

Don’t mind

“Don’t you have school, though? Surely, you’d have something better to do than clean.”

I shook my head. Ask Dawn. She’ll explain

“Or you could just explain,” he hedged.

Ugh .

Homeschooled. Sorta. Past is a mess so learning is different for me.

Hopefully that explained well enough. If not, Dawn would happily tell him all about it.

“Don’t you want to go to public school? Be around kids your age?”

Heck no. I shook my head quickly while tossing the rest of the cleaning supplies into the mop pocket. The idea of being around a bunch of other people for eight hours a day sounded like a second hell. As long as Dawn let me learn how I wanted, I would never step foot into a school building.

“It’s not healthy to only have a few people you surround yourself with.”

Same thing Dr. Shaw had said more than once. It still was better than being where I came from.

Working on that. Go shopping. Went to store alone now

“That’s good.” He seemed like he had more to say, but was holding back. Before he could say whatever was on his mind, I waved towards the door, hoping he understood that I was ready to head out.

“I’ll walk with you, if that’s okay.”

I shrugged, although I could make the way on my own.

Jasper waited until I was out of the house, shutting the door behind us before he stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked beside me.

“You know, you could try selling some of your baked goods at fairs around town. I bet they’d be a great hit.”

I tilted my head slightly. I hadn’t thought of that. But that would mean there were people, and I didn’t mix well with them.

“Dawn and I would both be happy to help you find a smaller one to start off with. To see how you liked it. Your treats are amazing; better than those fancy cookie places that are all over. Not to mention overpriced.”

True , I thought. I had tried a sugar cookie that came in a pink box, and I was disappointed by the price, and the flavor. It tasted mostly like flour and left a sour taste in my stomach for hours afterwards.

“It’s not something you have to do, but it’s an idea. It would be better than cleaning houses, at least.”

But I didn’t mind cleaning. I was good at it. But baking was easy, too.

“Hello Jasper. How are you?” Dawn asked, opening the back door.

How long had she been there waiting for me?

“Good evening,” he dipped his head.

Dawn opened the door, allowing us both inside. I went straight to the sink to wash my hands. The smell of the roast was strong enough to make my stomach growl again.

“Oh no thanks,” Jasper answered one of Dawn’s many questions. “Grams need to eat, so I’ll order some take out. Maybe it’ll entice her to eat more than a few bites.”

“That woman,” Dawn shook her head. “If she wants to keep living in that house, she has to eat. Maybe Koda can remind her to eat lunch tomorrow.”

“If he remembers to eat, too.”

I turned, shooting him a glare. A moment later, it registered that I was glaring at another male. Never before had I given anyone such a look, other than Dawn, who had the power to hurt me.

Deep down, I knew Jasper wouldn’t dare hurt me.

“Well,” Dawn said, trying and failing to hide the humor in my reaction. “I guess one of us will have to text him around lunch time to make sure they both eat.”

“Or, I can extend my lunch break and bring them food.”

I shook my head. There was no way anyone needed to take time out of their day just to make sure I ate. I wasn’t going to die by skipping a meal here and there anyways.

For once, I actually wanted to use my voice, to speak up against their planning. But nothing came out, even as I opened and closed my mouth a few times. My throat clogged up, making my voice unable to work.

Huffing, I grabbed the closest notebook, jotting down something that was close to my thoughts instead.

I’ll eat. Don’t have to bring food. Can take care of myself.

I had to nearly shove it into Dawn’s hand to get her to take it. When she read it, all she did was raise a brow.

“I know you can take care of yourself,” she said slowly, patiently. “And I know you skip meals more than you will confess. But if you want to keep cleaning for Mrs. Lee, then you have to take time out to eat.”

I almost always ate dinner and hadn’t once complained about not wanting to. Even when Dawn made a few new things that I wasn’t a huge fan of.

“I think Mrs. Lee would like to have company to eat lunch with. It’d help her. She gets lonely during the day.”

Was he really going to try to pull that card with me? She was an adult as much as I was. Well, I was almost eighteen, but close enough to being an adult anyways.

I huffed again, folding my arms across my chest. It didn’t appear like I was going to get away with not eating lunch while I cleaned Mrs. Les’s house.