Jamie Hill Triple Threat Read Free Page A

their backpacks and spread their homework out on the coffee table. Crystal smiled at them as they got to work. They were great kids. She’d never have agreed to watch them every day if they weren’t. Lord knows their father is a ruffian. She met Dave when she moved into the building six months ago. He and the boys were getting by, trying to form a routine after the death of his wife, Laura. Dave was hesitant when Crystal inquired how Laura died, until he finally admitted drugs were involved. An overdose of some kind, apparently, but he never wanted to talk about it.
    Dave was a handsome devil with curly blonde hair and just a spot of a beard. Crystal had heard of people being described with “bedroom eyes” before, but Dave’s smoky blues were the first she ever truly thought fit the description. She was attracted to him right away, and they hit the sheets before she realized that every other woman Dave met was also attracted to him. His problem was that he didn’t have the heart or the brains to tell any of them ‘no’. When she caught him in bed with an off-duty hooker, Crystal had herself tested for HIV and every other disease she could think of. She decided right then that if Dave wasn’t going to be choosy about whom he slept with, she damn sure had better be.
    He hadn’t appreciated her decision to cut him off, and they argued about it for days. He tried to hit her once during their negotiations, but he was drunk and Crystal came out on the top of that skirmish. She knew Dave fully believed what she threatened to do to him if he ever tried to hit her again. Once he realized she was serious, he decided he needed her more for childcare than for sex. He could get that anywhere. He paid her to watch the kids, and Crystal felt she was providing some structure for them. Dave was usually loaded when he arrived home, and she was a gentle buffer between him and the boys. She’d help him get them to bed, and then sneak out while he either fell in the sack with someone else or tried to make Crystal change her mind for the umpteenth time. A piss-poor way to live .
    She looked at the clock as the boys finished their snack. Almost nine . Dave was usually home by then.
    “Daddy’s late.” Mark saw her watching the clock.
    “A little.” Crystal shrugged. “He knew I didn’t have plans tonight. I guess he decided to go out for awhile.”
    Devon yawned and Crystal helped him wash his hands and clean up the table. She debated what to do, and by nine-thirty decided to take the boys home and put them to bed. She got their apartment key out of her cabinet and led them to the tiny unit next door. She felt strange going in without Dave, but it angered her that he wasn’t home and hadn’t called, so she went right on in.
    After helping the boys brush their teeth and change into pajamas, she tucked them in and kissed them goodnight. “Have happy dreams.” She pulled their door mostly shut, and went to watch TV on Dave’s sofa until he came home.
     
    * * * *
     
    Crystal woke to the sun creeping in through the window. Her back ached from sleeping on the sofa. She sat up and stretched, then looked at the clock and saw it was almost seven. “Damn,” she muttered, knowing full well that Dave had not come home last night. She went to his bedroom door and looked in just in case, but his bed was empty. She would have heard him come in. Swearing to herself, Crystal went to wake the boys up.
    “Where’s daddy?” Mark asked immediately, sitting up and rubbing his face.
    “I’d like to know that myself.” Crystal opened drawers and pulled out jeans and shirts for both boys. “I guess he stayed somewhere and slept it off. I imagine he’ll come around the diner today, telling me how sorry he is and asking how late I can work tonight.” She sent both boys off to the bathroom and then helped them dress. She found a box of Pop-tarts in their cabinet and gave them each one. Then she took them back to her place and sat them in