Chapter 10

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"So... what do you think?" Ben asked. I watched Nicole bite her lip before she smiled sadly.

"I think it's great that you're trying to get him back into school, but he's not that bright. He gets money really easily by himself though, so I don't think he needs school." She said, "But if you really want to push it, I guess you can try to force him. He's stubborn. I doubt he'll listen to either of you."

It was still pretty early in the morning and Ben and I had decided to speak to Nicole about getting Stanley back into school. I was happy that so far Ben had been doing more talking than I had; maybe he had decided to try to do the father thing now that there was proof of it.

"Not that bright?" Ben raised his brows. "Exactly where does he get money from?" He added tilting his head.

"Car washes, stuff like that."

Ben gave a snort of disbelief and I will readily admit that internally I had the same reaction. Car washes? Stanley doesn't really seem like one to do that type of manual labour.

"So, I'll just get to it then?" I asked.

"He probably won't go; you'll be wasting your time, but try if you insist." I looked at Ben hoping he would defend Stanley but he shook his head as he met my eyes.

"I think she's right. Look, Jordan. He just... he doesn't seem like the school type. He seems like... Sergio – and me if my mother wouldn't have killed me if I even thought about quitting school." Ben said.

"You both agree that we should try though?" I asked slightly resenting the woman across the table more with every day I knew her.

"Sure. I uh... have a meeting. Can I go?"

"I'm headed towards the docks. I can drop you off if you're going somewhere on the way." Ben stated as he got up.

"That would be great. I'll get my bag."

"Tell me how it goes?" Ben said turning to me, "I'm sure you'll make it happen. He's the problem. You want me to speak to him?"

"I'd rather you didn't," I said frowning at him slightly. They would probably just end up fighting.

"Got it." Ben and I looked to the hall when Nicole spoke.

"See you later." I said.

I watched as Nicole and Ben began leaving but Ben stopped suddenly feeling his pockets. I chuckled grabbing his keys from the counter in front of me before I tossed them at him and he caught them swiftly blowing a kiss back to me making me laugh.

"I love you, have fun at work!" He called.

"I love you too." I called back before I heard him shut the front door.

I finished the breakfast I had been eating wondering where Nicole had to be so early in the morning when she didn't have a job. I tried really hard not to judge people, I usually gave most people the benefit of the doubt, but the longer I knew her the more I disliked her. Something about her...

I shook my head. It's probably just how dethatched she is to Stanley that's getting to me... I was incredibly close to my mom and I valued family a lot and my best friends were from good families so it had surprised me how Stan and his mother reacted to each other – just like I was surprised by the fact that Ben had stopped speaking to his parents long before we met.

I cleaned my plate and put it away before I grabbed my car keys but stopped. I can't lock Stanley in the house... I guess I'll have to wake him.

I made my way to his room and knocked on the door before I pushed it open after receiving no answer. I was surprised to find him seated on the bed.

"Good morning." I said. He didn't look like he was in a hurry to go anywhere, he was in just his boxers and his bed was a mess, as was his curly hair.

"Why do you keep bringing up school?" He asked frowning at me.

"One, I'm a teacher so I'm obligated to and two, you're fourteen. You've only been out for a few months so it won't be that hard to put you back in. Like I said, if you're going to be living here, you're going to school." I added.

He clenched his teeth in annoyance. Ben and Nicole had told him the DNA test results last night, and Stanley brushed it off like it made no difference to him.

"What do you want this time?" This time? I nearly laughed.

"I have work. I need you to lock up." I said.

"Lock up? You're leaving me here by myself?" he sounded surprised.

"Yeah, why? Do you sell household items for drug money?" I asked. I almost choked on air in surprise as he cracked a small smile before it disappeared.

"Maybe when I've been here longer, I'll consider that. You do have a lot of nice stuff." He said. So he's not on drugs. Well, not anything hard, I'm guessing.

"There's money for pizza if you get hungry."

"You left money for pizza?" He asked.

"Yeah, on the fridge." I said. He stared at me looking slightly confused but still keeping the annoyed expression that pretty much never left his face unless he was tired.

"Are you really naïve or just stupid?"

"Neither, I'm hoping you're hungry enough not to buy cigarettes or weed with it – there's no smoking in this house by the way." I said. He looked shocked and I smirked. "Remember to lock up if you go anywhere, Stan."

He gave a nod staring at me with his eyes narrowed and I chuckled before I walked out. That went better than expected...

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I had just walked out of the staff room when my phone began ringing, I didn't have to check the screen to know who it was because everyone knew not to call me at work and only Ben knew exactly when my breaks were.

"Hey, Babe."

"Hey, I have to stay at the docks late tonight, don't wait up."

"Really?" I frowned.

"I'm sorry. It's just the paperwork of the late shipment that has to be finished or will delay everything else. Anyway, how's it going? I'm asking because I know how much you want to get him in – don't get mad, I'll drive him to school. Not every day, but a couple of times." He said.

"Good, you can drive him tomorrow and fill in what's rest of the paperwork while you're here, you'll probably need Nicole with you, they need some documents I'm not sure she has, I'm hoping she does..." I said.

"Wow, parenting is so demanding." I gave a chuckle hearing him sigh. "Right, I just called to tell you about staying late and... to hear you, so I'll be getting back to work now." I felt myself grin like an idiot at what he said.

"Have fun." I said before we hung up.

The rest of school went by swiftly before I made my way home and found Jordan on the couch with pizza and his phone.

"Hey." I greeted. I only got a nod in response, his eyes not moving from the screen in front of him before he suddenly got up closing the box of barely eaten pizza and placing it o the coffee table.

"You can have some." He stated before he began to make his way to the door but I caught his arm. I ignored how his eyes glared towards my hand and didn't let him go.

"Where are you going, when will you be back?" I asked. He seemed to think about his reply for a couple of seconds before he spoke.

"Walk, two or three hours." He replied.

In three hours it would be about 7 PM. Not too bad. He was probably going to do more than walk, but I knew he wouldn't tell me what his other plans were so I just gave a nod and he left.

I decided to clean the house while everyone was gone because I didn't have much school work to do right now. Our housekeeper had just gone on pregnancy leave and, as usual when she was away, Ben and I would take turns to clean things up whenever we could.

I cleaned most of the house (well, dusted and swept basically. I was too lazy to do any more) before I ended up in the basement and smiled. My youngest brother, Ezra, was about thirteen and liked to sleep down here when he came over, I also occasionally used it as a studio so it was kept pretty neat. Ezra liked places with shallow roofs, he considered them cosy; at our parent's house, the attic was his room. We used the attic here as more of a storage room.

I began to sweep the room but stopped as I reached the bed and smiled at the memory of Ben and I finding the little hiding place beneath the wooden floor when we first moved in. It could be found if you studied the wood a little since the wood where it could be opened was slightly worn because of the hands that had pried it open previously.

I pushed the bed aside wondering if we had left anything down there. We barely used the hidden area after initially finding it because we always forgot that we put things into it and would end up looking for the item for months until we looked into the floor out of curiosity and found it. We both pretty much lost interest in it after about a year. It should be empty, save for some dust.

I pried at the floor for a few seconds before I got the wood up and gasped at the sight.

Money? It was pretty much filled with currency.

Why was there so much money in here? You would swear our bank accounts were about to be frozen or something, Ben was pretty paranoid about not having money on hand but this was a little ridiculous. Why hadn't he mentioned that this was here? I shook my head. It was a tad dangerous and basically just unnecessary. I would ask him about it later... Maybe he was a hoarder and I never knew about it? I began to close the board but I stopped as my eyes caught a contrast of black beneath the stacks. I was sure the cubicle was deeper and that the bottom was the same shade of brown as the rest of the floor. Did he cover the money? Why?

I unpacked some of the stacks uncovering a few black bags and grabbed one of the small square bags, it felt nothing like money. It felt like a bag of flour.

I tensed. Flour? No way...

I bit the inside of my cheek furrowing my brows suspiciously as I drew the package closer to me before I pulled my car keys from my pocket.

I swear to god if this is what I think it is...

Stabbing the key into the package I felt a little afraid of what I thought might be in it, I drew the key across the plastic creating a slice across it before I pushed the opening apart sticking my fingers into the bag. I pulled my hand back to take a stunned look at what had stuck to my fingers.

I wasn't too familiar with the white power covering the tips of my fingers, but I definitely knew what it was.

What the hell was this doing in our house?

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