An unknown father

An Unknown Stalker is the first book.

Stephanie

Waking up to the sound of two boys snickering, I peek my eyes open to see what they are up to. Lucas and Vincent are off to the side of my bed with a bowl of water, about to grab my hand. How the hell did my seven-year-old and his best friend learn of this prank? But then I realize Alex is still here and on my couch because he's decided not to go until my brother Mathew tells him the threat is gone and what his next task is.

My brother is with his fiancée, Darlene, this morning after proposing to her last night. They've had some intense times lately, with Darlene becoming pregnant with twins and having a stalker who ended up being her ex-brother-in-law. They needed some time together, so I took her son for the night. We had a little campout in the living room, but it seems like the boys are trying to pull one over on me this morning.

The boys put my hand in the warm water, and I yelled out loud, scaring them so badly that the bowl flew up and spilled all over them. Laughing, I climb out of bed and chase them out of my room into the living room, where I see Alex sitting on my couch still in his pajamas looking sexy as hell, not that I will tell him that. I know he feels the sexual tension between us too but he's a total ass to me when we are alone. He gives me a weird vibe about him, and there's also a familiarity there, too, and I can’t tell if it's chemistry between us or a strong attraction on my part.

"Did you tell the boys about the warm water trick?" I ask him with my hands on my hips.

"What trick?" he asks, lifting a mug to his mouth and smirking before he takes a sip.

"Right," I say, rolling my eyes at him.

Figures he’d be an annoying jerk this morning before I even had a cup of coffee and was awake enough for a snappy comeback. The boys come running around the corner from Lucas's bedroom, chasing one another with Transformers in hand. It seems the boys have moved on from being pranksters.

I get a mug from my cupboard and fill my cup, adding some creamer from the fridge because coffee is gross without it. Sitting in my oversized chair, I pull my feet up, taking a sip.

Feeling eyes on me, Lucas and Vincent are both watching me, and I have a feeling I know what they want, and as soon as I offer to make them breakfast, Alex is in the kitchen offering to help so he gets fed too. He is good at getting free meals out of me, which doesn't bother me much since this is when I get to annoy him the most.

"You both want breakfast?" I ask both boys.

"Yes!"

"Thank you, Auntie Steph," Vincent says with a smile.

Darlene is such a great mom, her son has the best manners, and he's very thoughtful about things. From what I have seen, she has done a great job with him pretty much all on her own. I understand that feeling since I have raised Lucas by myself.

I guess not all by myself since my parents and brother help me out, but I'm not particularly eager to rely on them much since they both own businesses and are busy people, and now with Mathew and Darlene starting a family together.

My Dad and stepmom own a local store named after them called Jack and Jill's, and Mathew has a P.I. business as well as owning the apartments we all live in. It hadn’t been easy to raise our sons this far on our own, but it takes a village, and now we have one another when we need each other.

Sometimes I worry that I am doing damage to Lucas with him not knowing his father, but it's complicated, and I don't want to tell him I slept with his father, completely wasted, and then woke up alone.

I don't know his name or recall much about him other than he had to be a smooth talker because he got me into bed with him the first night we met. I was completely trashed, and I believe he was too, but we managed to end up in a hotel room by the bar we met at. I blame his charm and the Tequila shooters, but I have no regrets about making my son that night.

After drinking at another bar with a friend and then going to a second bar, he was slurping a shot from my belly button. I recall the bartender told us to get the hell off his bar, or we would be escorted out by police. We laughed and drank in a corner of the darkened bar until I could barely stand. His face is still a blur to me after waking up. It's like I know his face and I can almost remember it, but then his image is gone again, always elusive.

I remember an impressive sized penis and he was taller than me but other than those snippets it's a complete blank. I often wonder if someone slipped something in my drink due to the memory loss of that night, but I don't recall anyone else besides the bartender and the charismatic man who was making all the right moves.

"Why are you still here? Darlene's stalker has been caught!" I'm annoyed by Alex’s presence.

Shaking off the memories, I head into the kitchen.

"Did somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" Alex asks all chipper.

"I woke up with kids giggling with a warm bowl of water because some dumb shit decided to tell the kids it would be a fun prank" I spit at him.

Not denying it and not caring what I say, Alex folds up his blanket from the couch and starts cleaning his mess from my couch quickly.

I'm mixing the pancake batter, and like clockwork, every time I am in the kitchen, Alex comes in and assists, but mostly just gets in my way.

Turning to get the blueberries from the fridge, I crash into Alex's naked chest. Scurrying away from him, I go back to focusing on the pancakes for the kids and trying not to focus on Alex and his hard chest. He looks like he spends hours in the gym, but I know he isn't because most of his time is spent around me and Lucas.

Adding butter to the heated pan, I start to make the kids some pancakes while Alex snickers, watching me flip a few onto a plate. Once I had enough for the kids, I got the milk out and syrup on the table as well as some cut-up fruit to add to it. Placing two plates down with pancakes and two glasses of milk, I yell for the boys and go back to the stove to finish making pancakes for Alex and me.

I have the urge to not make him any but I just can't do it, it's not like I hate him, he just annoys me with his snarky attitude, and the way he looks at me. It's crazy at times, he makes me uncomfortable, but I like his eyes on me because I think he’s hot. Sometimes he looks like he's studying me, but not just me, he watches me with Lucas and how we interact with one another, like he's making sure I'm a good enough mom or something. It's just a feeling I get because, besides the looks, his mouth is spouting the opposite of me. He can be so arrogant and rude.

Later in the day, my brother Mathew and Darlene come in with huge smiles as she flashes her ring at me, looking worn out but very much in love. I am betting they didn't get much sleep last night, which is why I didn't call and bother them early this morning, even though I desperately want Alex gone.

"I hope your night was special," I tell them with a big smile.

"It was perfection," Darlene says, looking at Mathew with so much love on her face.

"Thanks for taking Vincent for us last night. The time was exactly what we needed," Mathew says.

"It was not a problem, you know I don't mind taking Vin anytime. The boys have the best time together," I tell them.

Mathew is not looking like he's in work mode, but I have to ask him because the faster I get rid of Alex, the better for my sanity.

"So what's the plan now? We are done with the watchdog thing, right?" I ask, sarcastically looking in Alex's direction quickly before looking at Mathew for an answer.

"I want to wait a little longer until I hear what they plan to do with Ryan before I stop everything, so in the meantime, I think Alex needs to stay put and either Drake or I will be with Darlene," he says.

“Great,” I grumble, feeling annoyed about it all.

I guess a few more days won't kill me but I can't say the same for Alex if he keeps being a jackass to me in private. He's almost passive-aggressive towards me, and I can't figure out why.

"Well, the sooner the better," I say, looking over at Alex and then at Mathew.

"I won't be held liable if something happens to him," I snicker.

Alex stayed quiet the whole time I protested having him around, which surprised me, but he is very different around Mathew. He's probably scared of him, like most guys are, since he's a big guy who looks intimidating. Alex is not small either, but not as muscular and not as stocky as my intimidating brother. Mathew has a presence about him and usually gets what he wants.

Mathew and Darlene get Vincent all ready to go and head back to their place since they have movers coming to help get everything out of their old apartment and into the new place that Mathew built for them out of two apartments. I am still jealous of all that space they have; my brother and Darleen deserve to be happy with all they have gone through.

Later on, I make sure Lucas has his swim stuff. I decide to take the kids swimming while Mathew gets things moved into their new place. I find my blue and gray camouflage bikini and throw a long t-shirt over top of it and slip my slides on. Walking into Lucas's room, I see Alex pumping up his floaty for him while they talk to each other in low voices.

Alex sees me standing in the doorway, and his eyes follow up my legs and then finally land on my face. He hasn't stopped ogling my body since he walked in on me masturbating when he first started being my watchdog full-time. That was a humiliating experience at the time, and I try not to blush when he’s looking at me like he is now. If I was looking for a fuck buddy he'd be perfect but I am an asshole magnet and I don't bring men around my son.

Heading to the pool, I see Darlene sitting poolside in her swimsuit with a huge grin when she waves us over. The boys can swim and hopefully, we can have some girl talk without little ears or Alex's nosy butt within listening distance.

Sitting at the table, I adjusted the umbrella so it would shade us as Lucas joined Vincent in the pool.

Alex comes over, pulling a chair up and sitting to my left, with Darlene taking the seat on my right. Darlene and I look at one another, knowing we can't gossip if he is sitting with us, so we both glance at him at the same time with looks of annoyance. Getting a clue, Alex clears his throat and goes to the pool, pulling off his shirt and removing his flip-flops as he goes. My eyes follow the way his body moves, even though I think he's an asshole he is still nice to look at.

"Thank you for setting up things with Jill and taking Vincent for us," Darlene says.

"Anytime our boys have a great time together and I can still get things done around the house or work done in the office," I tell her.

Darlene has a huge smile on her face, and I know it's because she wants to talk about her romantic night with Mathew, but she knows I don't like hearing details because he's my brother.

"I can't wait for this guard duty to be over with! I know you don't mind the guys you have watching you, especially my brother, but I need Alex gone as soon as possible." I vent.

"What's the deal with you and him? Is it because he saw you in a compromising position? He's cute, maybe he could become something more?" Darlene asks.

"He has you both snowed with how polite and nice he is, just so you know! He is a total ass to me all the time when no one is not around and he is always watching me," I tell her.

"Well, he is supposed to keep an eye on you, isn't that his job?" she says with a laugh.

"It's not like that, it's intrusive, and he makes me uncomfortable. I feel like running away from home at times, and that's crazy because I love my apartment, well, when it's just Lucas and me," I say.

After venting again about Alex, she offers to bring it up to Mathew again and see what she can do to help, which is appreciated. She told me a little about her proposal night and how romantic it all was, and then told me the movers came early and got started, so she was told to leave because Mathew wasn't going to allow her to lift a finger or move anything. He's still overprotective, which I remember all too well from when I was pregnant with Lucas.

Mathew was very supportive and held my hand up until the birth, then my stepmom, Jill, was there for me. More and more, I wonder what more I can do to look for his father. I want to see if Mathew or Marcus would look into it with what little I recall, and then see what he can find out. If he's a loser or a fuck boy then I am thinking it best not to tell the guy that he has a son. I can tell Lucas when he's older, and he can decide if he wants to find him or not at that point.

Not everyone would agree with my decision, but I don’t want my son to be hurt or disappointed.

After a while at the pool, we head back to my place to get out of the sun and eat some lunch.