Bully Moves in Next Door Pt. 09

Being home was tolerable, pleasant even, when he was exercising or at work. But when he wasn't, it was awful. I'd come home from work to find him staring idly at the screen, splayed out on the couch in nothing but his underwear and slides, beer cans littering the coffee table from hours of drinking while watching tv or playing Call of Duty.

Mom completely enabled his behavior too, stopping whatever she was doing when he would call out, "Julie, get me another beer."

I'd often catch her checking him out, eyeing his almost naked body from behind the computer at her desk, drinking in his rippling muscles and smiling to herself whenever he let out a burp or scratched his balls. He'd catch her sometimes and smile drunkenly at her before gesturing to join him on the couch. She'd happily skip over, laying herself across his body before engaging in a heavy make out session which eventually led to them going upstairs to fuck, which they did constantly and without any inhibition. Multiple times a day, loud and passionate.

If this was the extent of his behavior, then I could deal with it. But it went beyond that. He made every decision in our house. Not just what we had for dinner but what we bought or didn't buy, where we would be going and at what time. He seemed to relish in making all our decisions for us, particularly since mom ceded complete authority to him and deferred to whatever he decided, unwavering in her support of him as the head of the household.

If I hadn't heard her declare her love for him, I'd be able to tell just by the actions she took; constantly doting on him, doing what he told her too, serving him like the king she saw him as.

She also began dressing up a lot whenever they went anywhere together, regardless of the occasion. So much effort went into doing her hair and make-up as well as putting together outfits that were sexy and showed off all her assets. Her wardrobe was replaced over the course of several large shopping trips. The modest, flowing sundresses she normally preferred were discarded in favor of tight miniskirts, form fitting dresses, and halter tops that showed plenty of cleavage; clothes carefully picked out to put her body on display for him, never showing enough to be outright slutty but just the right amount to let everyone know all the goods she was packing underneath.

In public, they looked almost mismatched, this gorgeous older blonde all dressed up walking with a twenty year old muscle headed douchebag wearing mesh shorts, a tank top, and slides. Mom would stand tall and strut with her chest thrust out, proudly showing off her body and that it belonged to Stanley. I could see it in her face when I was with them. She enjoyed the looks of desire other men gave her, leaning into Stanley to indicate that only he had the pleasure of enjoying her. I'd watch their looks turn from desire to envy as each one of them took in the arm casually draped around her shoulder, a sign of Stanley's ownership that said, "You can look but I get to fuck her." He reveled in their envious glares, happily plastering a sleazy grin across his face as they strolled around together.

I was often made to tag along with them on their outings. "Family time," Stanley would call it. But I think he really just wanted me to see him showing off mom as his whore.

Once, on a trip to the mall, we ran into a group of people that Stanley and I went to high school with. Neither of us were really friends with any of them but we all were well acquainted with each other.

The three of us were in the center of the mall where it branched out into four separate wings. Stanley sat on a low half wall, his feet planted firmly apart, while mom stood in between his legs with her arms encircling his neck. Victoria's Secret bags were on the floor next to them as they kissed, Stanley's large hands slid down her back and came to rest on her ass over the material of her tight skirt.

I sat on the same half wall a few feet away, trying my hardest not to appear associated with them. The mall was filled with passerbyers who would raise their brow quizzically as they took in the sight of my mother and Stanley making out.

They broke apart to take a breather, mom resting her forehead against his.

"I can't wait to put on that little lace teddy I just bought for you," she told him, biting his lower lip.

"Good, I love having you all dressed when you present yourself to me."

"It's what you deserve," she tells him before pressing her lips to his again.

I shudder from embarrassment and arousal as they resume kissing. A few minutes later is when I recognize the group of people heading in our direction and quickly whip out my phone to stare down at, watching them out of the corner of my eye and praying they don't notice me or Stanley.

No such luck. As they passed by I heard one of the guys, Drew, greet Stanley, who reluctantly pulled away from mom to look over at them.

"Sup?" He greeted him back. Mom gingerly took a seat on his lap and one of Stanley's hands automatically started caressing her inner thigh, the other sliding around her waist. She threw her right arm around his neck and begins gently stroking his bicep possessively.

"How've you been, man? Haven't seen you since Aaron's rager after graduation."

"I'm good, been keeping myself busy. You know how it is."

He offers Drew a knowing smile.

"Yeah, I see you went and caught yourself a milf," Drew answered, finally taking notice of mom, scanning her up and down.

"Sure did," mom answered confidently.

One of the other guys says, "Damn Pachis, so which of our classmates are you playing step daddy to?"

The group laughed, clearly taking the rhetorical question as the joke it was meant as. My hands went numb and I turned my head toward Stanley in fear, a desperate, pleading look in my eyes. We made eye contact, and for a couple of seconds, his face was expressionless, giving me a flutter of hope that he wouldn't say anything. But then a large smile slowly spread across his face, and he nodded in my direction.

"Kyle Finnegan," he answered with clear distinction.

Eight heads suddenly snapped in rotation to look at me. Some mouths dropped open while others eyes grew wide. There was a heartbeat of silence as they all processed what he'd said along with my presence only a few feet away, then the collective outburst ensued.

"No way!"

"Oh shit, didn't see you there, Kyle."

"Is that actually his mom?"

"And are you really dating her?"

"Let's go, stud!"

My cheeks burned hot in humiliation as I stared back at the kids I went to highschool with, some of whom still went there. Two girls at the back exchanged astonished glances as they attempted to hold back laughter, covering their mouths with their hands.

"I actually just moved in with them," Stanley continued. "You all should come by to chill sometime."

"Oh, that'd be so nice," mom interjected. "It's been so long since Kyle had any friends over."

I finally looked away, unable to bear their mixed looks of surprise, amusement, and pity. The humiliation of it all was just too much.

They chatted only a minute or so longer, then left with a few of the guys promising to hit Stanley up on Snapchat soon. Drew mockingly called out goodbye to me, his voice tinged with hilarity. I held out my hand in a small wave, not even bothering to look their way.

Once they were gone, mom said, "What a nice group. You really should invite them over soon. Wouldn't that be nice, Kyle? Seeing some of your school friends again?"

I merely nodded, not wanting to drag this conversation out any longer than need be.

"We'll see about it," Stanley told her. "I haven't had a chance to show you off to any of my friends yet."

He grinned at her and she giggled before leaning in for more kisses.

I wanted to get out of there so badly, but Stanley declared he was hungry and led us to the food court. I sat down opposite them at a table and watched them eat their lunch; mom had a salad while Stanley tore into a double bacon cheeseburger. My appetite had long ago left me and the space on the plastic table in front of me remained empty.

The group of people we knew from school showed up on the opposite end of the food court a bit later, and I saw them looking over at us and whispering. I stared down at the table, taking occasional glances up to see if they were still there.

"You have a bit of dressing on your mouth," Stanley said to mom.

He reached out and wiped off the glob of ranch that clung to the edge of her lips with the tip of his index finger. When he didn't make a move to clean it off with a napkin, mom leaned in and took his finger in her mouth, slowly sucking it clean while making eye contact with him. Stanley smirked back at her.

"Good girl," he complimented.

Glancing up again, I saw several people in the group with their phones out, pointed in our direction. I hurriedly looked away, feeling my cheeks redden again. Stanley returned to his burger, smiling to himself, and I wondered if he had done that on purpose, to give them all a show.

Thankfully we had left after that and managed to avoid that group on our way out. I was quiet and sullen the entire ride home and neither mom nor Stanley paid me any mind. They both disappeared upstairs as soon as we got home, to "put our stuff away", but the sounds of their sensuous rutting started up not long after the bedroom door shut behind them.

Alone in my room, I listened as the noise of their sex picked up; the moaning, grunting, and thudding of the headboard clear even through their closed door and mine. My erection popped up just as they began, but I only pulled it out to jerk off when the talking began.

"Fuck, you were all over me in the mall," Stanley grunted out. "You like touching me like that in front of people I went to school with?"

"Yes, I wanted them all to know I was yours!"

"You want me to fuck you in front of them too?"

"I do, I do! They'll watch and see you taking what belongs to you!"

"God damn, you skanky hoe!"

I beat my cock faster, their talk about him fucking her in front of people we knew driving my arousal further and further until I blew my load.

A few hours later, I'm playing video games when my phone buzzes in my pocket. Mom and Stanley still hadn't come out of their room, having sex once more about forty five minutes ago.

I pause the game to retrieve it and see that it's a text message from Patrick, my old chemistry lab partner. The text read, "Is that your mom?", and attached was a video.

My heart sinks, and when I click on it, I see that it's a screen recording of a Snapchat which shows mom sucking on Stanley's finger during lunch this afternoon at the mall. The Snapchat is captioned, "Stanley Pachis out here having his finger sucked on by Kyle Finnegan's mom!"

It's zoomed in, having been recorded from afar, but it's clear enough to tell that it's Stanley in the Snapchat. Both him and mom take up the entire frame, obscuring me from view.

I delete the text and block Patrick's number, then decide to turn my phone off altogether, but not before I text Sarah to ask if we can hang out. Once I get the ok from her, I shut off my switch and head out front to wait for her, not really wanting to be here any longer. Feminine giggles echo from behind mom and Stanley's door as I hurry down the stairs.

As abhorrent as it was to be around them now that they were officially together, the silver lining that I initially clung to was that I'd be away at college soon enough, and then I could finally find the peace I so desperately wanted. But, just like everything else in my life save my relationship with Sarah, that proved to also fall apart.

With the breakup and Stanley moving in, it had completely slipped my mind, and it wasn't until I was speaking to one of the admissions advisors that it finally surfaced.

"So you're move-in date is next week," she was saying, "and after that, there will be freshman orientation."

"Sounds great, I'm really looking forward to it."

"Now, the payment for room and board is due on the same day as your tuition. What kind of payment method are you using?"

I open my mouth automatically, ready to say that my soon-to-be stepfather was paying by check, when it finally hit me. My eyes grow wide, and I feel the breath leave my lungs as a sudden wave of panic slams into my chest.

No. How could I have overlooked this? Had I gotten so used to the idea that college was set to be paid for that it didn't even register when Tim and mom broke up that he'd no longer pay for it?

It was only when I heard the woman on the other end say, "Hello? Hello? Are you still there?", that I realized I hadn't responded, my mind going blank with blind panic.

"I... uh, I need to double check on that," I whisper hoarsely. My vision starts to swim.

"Ok, well the payment date is coming up quite soon, so keep that in mind and get back to us as soon as you can."

"I will," I tell her before hanging up. I feel the phone slip out of my hand and fall with a soft whomp onto the bed.

I run my hands through my hair out of stress, my mind racing a mile a minute as I try to simultaneously comprehend the entire situation and come up with potential solutions.

This can't be happening. I have to do something. I can't let everything slip away like this, I just can't.

Pulling out my laptop, I quickly switch it on to do some research; on loans, financial aid, bank robberies, anything. When mom calls me down for dinner several hours later, I'm exhausted and my eyes are bleary from staring at a screen up close for so long.

I must be wearing my emotions on my face when I sit down at the table because mom asks what's wrong.

"I was talking to the school today. They reminded me that payment for everything is due soon and I'd completely forgotten about it."

"How do you forget about paying for school?" Stanley asks.

"Well... Tim was going to pay for it," I say gently.

"Ah," is his response.

"Yeah, so I've been frantically trying to figure out how to come up with the money last minute."

"Can't imagine it's going well," he says, taking a swig of beer.

"It isn't."

Mom gives me a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. You know if we had the money that I would help you out."

"I know," I tell her. "But, there might be something else you could help me with."

I see Stanley's eyes narrow slightly across the table.

"What is it?" She asks.

"Well, it's too late to apply for financial aid, the deadline has long since passed. But I still might be able to take out a loan in time."

I pause, steeling myself before forcing out the next part.

"I just need someone to cosign the loan for me."

There's a beat of silence as what I said hangs in the air and I hold my breath in anticipation of what she'll say. She finally opens her mouth to speak but Stanley cuts in before she can say anything.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," he says firmly.

I stare at him despondently.

"How come?"

"Why should your mother be saddled with your debt? Is that fair to her?"

"But I'll pay it back, every cent. I swear!"

"How? It took you ages to finally get the job you have now. What makes you think you'll be able to find a decent paying job after graduating to help pay off a loan like that?"

I'm hot with humiliation, and I try my hardest to hold back tears.

"Please," I beg him, my voice cracking. "I need this."

"Well we won't always get what we want. It's about time you learned that. You've been handed everything your whole life, never had to work for any of it. If you really want this that much, then you'll have to work hard for it, just like everyone else. So the answer is no."

He took another swig of beer while I turned desperately toward mom, hoping she can rectify this in some way. I'm met with the same sympathetic look but I can see the resolve in her eyes too. She's sticking by Stanley and his decision.

I stare down at my plate in despair, tears pricking in the corner of my eyes.

"Oh, don't cry," Stanley says dismissively, thunking his beer down. "It's not like you won't ever get to go. You'll just have to earn it, and it will actually mean something when you do. You should be thanking me really."

I look up at him sniffling and he stares intently back. Pushing the chair away, I get up and stalk out of the room. The sound of a chair scraping across the floor behind me is cut off when Stanley speaks.

"Don't follow him. He needs to start taking care of himself."

The chair softly scrapes back into place, which only makes everything worse. I shove my feet into my shoes and slam the front door behind me as I clomp down the steps.

Sarah pulls up to the curb about fifteen minutes later and I climb in before burying my head in her shoulder to ball my eyes out.

I can feel her soft hands caressing the back of head as she comforts me while I cry. We go back to her place and talk for hours. She listens while I tell her about what happened and calms me down when I keep getting upset.

She knows all the right things to say to make me feel better, telling me how I can always start during the spring semester and how she'll help me apply for financial aid.

By the time we go to sleep, I'm still upset but I feel much better than I did whenever she first picked me up. We cuddle together on her bed and the last thing I remember thinking about before passing out is just how lucky I am to have someone like Sarah in my life. I really don't know how I'd get by without her.

------

Stanley celebrated his 21st birthday a few weeks after moving in with us. He threw a small party early in the afternoon and invited over some of his friends as well as his dad and brother, Wade.

Sarah's car is parked on the curb outside of our house and I sit in the passenger's seat staring out the window at Stanley and his friends crowded around his truck at the far end of the driveway. Both doors were open and rap music was blasting out of the speakers. I can feel the thud of the bass in my chest even from this far away.

"You sure you don't want me to be there with you?"

I turn and look at Sarah, an imploring look etched into her face, and offer her a small smile.

"Yes, I'm sure. Meeting Stanley is one thing but while he's with his dipshit friends is a different story. I couldn't subject you to that."

"I know, I just hope to meet your mom one day soon. Even if her boyfriend is a terrible person, she's still your mom."

"Yeah," I nod my head. "Maybe one day when he's at work, you can come over for lunch or something."

"I can deal with him, Kyle. I've been dealing with assholes like that my whole life, you don't need to shield me or whatever."

"It's just embarrassing more than anything else. This whole summer has been crazy and it's still super weird to have my mom dating some douchebag I went to school with. Especially with how quickly their relationship has moved."

"Well, whenever you're ready, I'll be there for you. You know you can always count on me."

She took my hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. I smile at her again, then lean in for a kiss.

"Text me and let me know how it goes, ok?"

"I will."

I open the car door and step out onto the sidewalk. Sarah pulls away as I wave to her, then I slowly turn toward the driveway, inhaling deeply as I steel myself. Today is going to be so obnoxious. Mom and Stanley had gone out to dinner last night to celebrate his birthday, so I spent the night at Sarah's. However, both of them made sure to let me know that attendance today was mandatory.

"It's our first celebration as a family," mom had said. "We should all be together, sweetheart."

That she had referred to all three of us as a family had made me shudder, and it still did. I don't care how much she loves him, I would never consider Stanley Pachis as anything remotely close to a member of our family.