Something wasn't right. It was a gut feeling, but they were trained
agents and had learned a long time ago to go with those feelings. As
soon as he cut the engine off, they were out of the car. A quick
scan of the perimeter, as they approached the front door, didn't
show anything unusual.
The sandy haired man tried the doorknob. It was locked. He placed
his key in the lock, unlocked the door and preceded his brunette
partner inside. A glance around the foyer showed things were
definitely not how they left them a week ago.
Walking over to the staircase, the female picked up an article of
clothing that had landed on the newel post. "This is definitely not
mine," Amanda told Lee as she picked up the bra by its strap with
two fingers.
"Definitely not, the cup size is too small," quipped her partner,
Lee, who also happened to be her lawfully wedded husband.
He had moved past her up the stairs and bent down to pick up another
article of clothing. Amanda was enjoying the view of his sexy
backside but was also curious to see what he had found. The clue was
the final nail in the coffin. Since Lee had found a pair of size 5
ladies' underwear, and she wore a size 3, and they weren't her
mother's size, either, there was definitely no doubt now that
someone was in the house who didn't belong. She pushed past Lee and
approached the bedroom door that had music coming from inside. Her
hand on the doorknob, she didn't even bother to knock.
She entered the room, Lee hot on her heels, and shouted,"Phillip
Joseph King! What the heck is going on here?!!"
Phillip and the young lady he was with weren't the only ones to get
a surprise.
*****************************************************************
Lee stepped backward until his back met the wall of the hallway
outside Phillip's door. He didn't know what to think, aside from
thanking heaven that wasn't his actual son. Then he would have been
a little upset. Right now, he was scared. Looking to his wife, Lee
felt horribly guilty. He could not know what she was feeling and he
wished he did. In a minute, he would be able to read her like a book.
Amanda's face had gone from pale in shock to red in anger. That much
he could see. And now, she was about to speak.
"Didn't you hear me? I asked you a question, and I expect an
answer!" Amanda put her hands on her hips and stared menacingly from
her son to the blonde thing in his bed.
"Mom, I, I . . . can we get a little privacy?" Phillip's voice
cracked in embarrassment. He rubbed his face, trying to wake up. The
girl was obviously horrified but said nothing. She merely covered
herself up more with the sheet and sat with her mouth agape.
"Privacy?" Amanda screeched. "We will turn our backs, how is that
for privacy?"
Lee felt a shove and found himself facing the boy's bedroom window.
Obviously, the kids would have time to dress and there was no escape
route. Amanda was setting them up for an interrogation and this
would not be a Class C by any stretch of the imagination.
Lee felt a tinge of sympathy for the boy but was soon finding
himself getting angry, too. There were rules in this house, and his
stepson had certainly broken several.
First up, "no friends in the house without an adult present." Dotty
wasn't there, and neither had they been. Second was the, "no girls
in your room with the door shut." Phillip had clearly blown that
one, too. Then there was the lying thing. He and Amanda had talked
to Phillip about sex recently and asked him if he was seeing
anyone. Phillip had said no, then. Of course, that might not be a
lie; he might not have been seeing this girl as a steady girlfriend.
Still, he had promised to follow the rules of the house and had
broken that promise.
Amanda was at a right angle from him and he could see she was
peeking over her shoulder about every 15 seconds to see if the teens
were done dressing.
Phillip finally said, "Finished."
Lee hesitantly turned around again and was by Amanda's side in a
moment.
"What . . . is . . . going . . . on here?" his wife's questions was
one of barely controlled anger.
"N--"
"Don't say 'nothing.'" Amanda warned.
"We didn't mean it to happen, okay?" Phillip was pleading, not
really asking.
"What did you *think* would happen by breaking our house rules,
Phillip? We've turned our backs, literally, for the last time!"
"I, I don't know." the young man shrugged.
Lee eyed the girl as she stared at the floor, not moving. No way
would she be able to brush by Amanda.
"You know you are not to have friends in the house with no adult
supervision, and especially no girl friends. What were you thinking?"
"It's just . . . we had a study period together, I mean, a while
back. Got to talking, and then I just invited her over and . . . I
don't know!"
Lee wanted to say something, knowing that embarrassing Phillip was
now useless, especially not in front of the girl. Instead, Lee shut
up.
"Lee, take this . . . show her out." Amanda finally released him.
He nodded. Time for some investigation of his own. "This way. What's
your name?"
As they headed down the stairs she said, "Lori, sir."
Lee smiled. The suit always made people," sir" him. "Hmm, and how
long have you been seeing Phillip?"
"Uh, two weeks."
"Are you in the same class?"
"Yes, sir."
"Suffice it to say you will not be welcome to see him again for some
time, Lori?"
"Oh, yes, sir."
They were at the front door. "Goodbye, Lori."
Lee was going to join Amanda upstairs again but she met him at the
bottom of the stairs.
"Well, did he have anything to say for himself?"
"Not very much to me. He didn't use protection. She told him she was
on the pill."
"He believed that?" Lee wrapped a comforting arm around Amanda's
waist. "Even if he did, it's not 100%. Accidents still happen."
"Apparently." Amanda shook her head as they sat on the couch in the
den. "I told him not to come out of his room unless I called him."
"What can we do?"
"I don't know, Lee. I thought we did the right things. Perhaps not.
He says his hormones just took over."
"Maybe they did."
"I wish they hadn't."
"Me too. The question remains, what can we do?"
"I don't know. I'm thinking about taking time off from the Agency.
You know, a leave for a couple of weeks or something."
"That might solve the problem, temporarily, but we can't watch him
all of the time. We have to cut him loose a bit."
"Well, until we can get his wild oats under control, I think I may
find something to occupy his time so that he won't have time to
think about girls."
"Is that your final decision? I mean, I'm just his stepfather and I
am new at this so I don't know how this whole punishment thing goes."
"Time will tell. Especially if he doesn't dodge the bullet and Lori
becomes pregnant."
"That's true."
"Don't worry about your being new to the game. You've done fine so
far. I suppose I should start dinner. I will think more on his exact
punishment but I know tonight he is both setting the table and
clearing it. And washing the dishes, too."
"Jamie will be loving this." Lee thought a moment, "Amanda, we got
the dishwasher fixed last week."
"I know, but I haven't told the boys, yet, and I know you won't,
will you?" She gave him a deadly look.
"Absolutely not."
"Good. I'm going to start dinner." She gave him a peck on the lips
and walked away. Lee stared after her, somewhat dumbfounded. She
was behaving very calmly. However, he knew that was a temporary
calm, because a storm would brew if they were about to become
grandparents. She had said time would tell. He was going to have a
hard time being patient.
The End
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.