Belonging to Lust

“So, your mother never really told me anything about your biological father. In fact when I’d ask her about him, she’d get very emotional and refuse to tell me anything about him. Do you mind if I ask you about your father? Like, where he is right now?” Heath questioned her cautiously before shoving a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. He could only assume that Yovela didn’t have a good relationship with her baby daddy, and that it had to have been a very traumatic experience for her because of how often she’d shut down on him and change the subject.

Zaiyia visibly froze in her seat. She honestly knew nothing about her biological father because her mother always avoided her questions about him too. Should she make up a lie about him to Heath, or tell him the honest truth? “Um, I actually don’t know anything about my father. My moth- I mean, my aunt would only tell me that he was a deadbeat jerk of a father, that’s all. Nobody I know knows anything about him or where he’s currently living.”

Heath slowly nodded, while his detecting eyes stayed glued to her face. He could tell she was lying about something but he wasn’t sure about what, specifically. “You must be missing your mom terribly. I mean, it seemed like only yesterday you were finally reunited with her after so many years, and then all of a sudden she disappears without a trace. Do you find yourself upset with her sometimes, when you think about it?”

Zaiyia eagerly nodded, a little bit surprised that he was able to guess her emotions that easily, even though she wasn’t trying to hide herself from him at the moment “Oh my god yes, but I wouldn’t use the word upset, more like ‘angry’ or ‘pissed off’. It may seem heartless but…I don’t actually miss her at all. The woman abandoned me, you know? When she does decide to finally comes back, I’m gonna be one of the first people waiting for her with a few explosive words in my arsenal that I don’t plan on holding back.”

Heath chuckled in support. “You and me both, kid.” Getting back on topic, he continued to question her, wanting to know more about her. “You are an only child, aren’t you?”

Zaiyia nodded. “Yeah, at least as far as full blooded siblings goes. I don’t know anything about what my father’s been up to so I can’t say much on his part.”

“Has your grandparents ever met him? Maybe they have an idea about where he could be.” Heath asked before drinking down the last of his orange juice.

Zaiyia shook her head as she chewed on her pancakes. “No, they never got the chance to meet him. He was in and out of the picture long before they could catch a glance of him. My father is a deadbeat mystery.”

Heath decided to steer the subject towards her education and away from her dysfunctional family. “What about your grades? What kind do you usually get? Should I be expecting some Ds and Cs on your report card?”

“You know what? Just for that!” Zaiyia playfully stuck her tongue at him before giggling. “No but seriously, I try to avoid getting Ds and Fs. A few Cs aren’t so bad. I try to stay around As and Bs mostly, if I can help it.”

They went back into silence before Zaiyia decided it was her turn to question him about his life. She didn’t know much about him other than the fact that he worked as a construction worker and he had a sister that came over to redecorate his house every once and a while…and that he probably looked amazing naked. She was curious about his past, as he obviously was about hers.

“I think it’s my turn to ask questions now, daddy. Why don’t you start off by telling me about your parents?” Zaiyia asked while batting her eyelashes so that he wouldn’t back out of the 20 Questions game. It wouldn’t be fair if he ended the game now, not when he was still a stranger to her and she wasn’t to him anymore.

Heath laughed at her big old puppy dog eyes and crossed his arms over his powerful chest as he leaned back in his chair. He kept his eyes on her face so that he could look at her beautiful features while he was forced to answer her questions. “Fair enough. My parents are dead.”

Zaiyia’s face fell instantly as she sat up straight in her chair and covered her mouth with one hand to prevent a sharp gasp from slipping out. Her eyes were wide as she fought to collect herself from his unpredictable answer. “O-Oh my god, I-I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you that question. Jesus I can’t believe how stupidly intrusive I can be!”

Heath reassure her that it wasn’t that big of a deal by brushing it off with a wave of his hand and recalling his past to her. “It’s ok really. They died in a car crash just after I turned 18, leaving me to raise my little brother and sister on my own. I never got the chance to drink irresponsibly or overdose on large amounts of drugs or knock up a local girl or two. I was pushed to grow up a month after my birthday.”

“You have a little brother?” Zaiyia questioned with interest, hoping that he looked exactly like Heath and was around her age. If that was possible, than maybe she could stop googley eyeing her mother’s boyfriend and turn her interest to someone closer to her age.

“Yeah I do. Actually both Maverick and Anneliese are fraternal twins. They’re both 27 at the moment.”

“Is it rude of me to ask you how old you are?” Zaiyia hesitantly pried, not wanting to offend him as she placed her fork down onto her empty plate. Most women didn’t like to reveal their age, this Zaiyia knew, but she wasn’t so sure about how men felt about telling people their age.

Heath gave her a slow yet sexy smirk. “Too old. I’m 34.”

And still looking fine as hell, Zaiyia wanted to say, but she knew better not to, and instead brushed two long braids back over her shoulder. “That’s not so old. So tell me, what are your siblings like?”

Heath looked over her shoulder at the clock behind her on the wall, deep in thought. “Um, my brother Maverick is the trouble maker, he always been since our parents died. Anneliese has been acting out as a mother to the both of us ever since she and her husband started having a family of their own. It’s almost like having three kids of her own awakened some kind of maternal need to be there for us since we lost our mother long ago, I don’t know.”

“Now that would be funny to see, your little sister scolding you like a mother would. Are your grandparents still around?”

Heath shook his head. “Also dead, but at least they died peacefully. And for the last question, my grades were ok growing up, they could have been better, but still they were at least passable.”

Zaiyia laughed at him as she drank the last of her orange juice. She had a nice laugh that was very infectious as well as lovely to hear. There was nothing funny to him about his grades yet he couldn’t seem to hold back his laughter because she found it so funny. Heath was once again reminded on how beautiful the young 16 year old was. She’s been living with him for a while now and still he hasn’t been able to find a flaw about her, physically or mentally. Zaiyia was just all around perfection, and any boy her age would be lucky to be in a relationship with her. Their laughter slwoly died once their eyes connected once again.

Heath dropped his gaze when he realized how long they had been staring at each other in silence. He had to mentally curse himself for making the moment awkward, and peeked back up at her to see if she had noticed. The smug smile on her face gave him his answer and not only did it embarrassed him even further but also it confused him. What was she feeling so smug about? It wasn’t just because she caught him staring at her…he could tell that much. No, it was also because of something else.

Before he could ask her, a small beeping sound cut him off. Heath looked down at his watch to see that it was time to get going to work, or else he’d be late. Zaiyia already figured that his watch was telling him it was time go and she couldn’t help but feel dismayed that he was leaving already. Knowing there was nothing she could do about it, Zaiyia got up to grab his lunch pail in the fridge that she made before his breakfast. She had to get up extra early to get both his lunch and breakfast done before he woke up.

By the time Heath had pushed his chair back and got up, Zaiyia appeared at his side holding out his lunch to him. Heath’s lips spread into an exciting grin at what could be expected for his lunch later.

“Oh hell yeah, now this is right here is gonna make sure today remains a good day. Thank you, Zaiyia.”

Zaiyia tried not to not to overly gush over his compliment right in front of him and instead shrugged her shoulder like it was nothing. “Oh you know, it was nothing really. I hope you enjoy it.”

“Hey, if it’s anything like everything else I’ve eaten that you’ve made so far, it’s gonna be the highlight of my day. I love me some good food.” Heath complimented her one last time before waving goodbye as he headed towards the door. The moment she heard the front door close, Zaiyia rushed off into the living room to watched him from the front window, wishing he didn’t have to go, and that he would stay and compliment her more. When the last of his truck disappeared from sight, Zaiyia stepped away from the window and with an ache of loneliness in her stomach, she headed off back to her room to sleep through the remaining two hours left until her alarm goes off.