Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) (11 page)
Read Prodigal Son (Jensen Family #1) Online
Authors: Michelle Day
“I stand firm to my belief
that he was punished accordingly.”
“Would you like to see his wounds
for yourself?” Monica now, the man nodded “Then I suggest you meet us at the
hospital tomorrow where these matters can be discussed with Paul, his doctors
and social services, in the meantime, I suggest you send someone to fetch
Matthew and have both of my son’s things ready for collection in the morning,
Matthew will be coming with us now.”
“I really don’t recommend
removing either boy from the school, while Paul has certainly challenged us, Matthew
has been a model student, I would suggest keeping them here but putting them in
the same dorm and on corresponding timetables.”
“I have no interest in your
suggestions, now are you going to get my son or do I have to walk through the
school shouting his name?” Monica raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Very well, I will have
Matthew summoned here, you are making a rod for your own back Mrs Jensen, your
boys will become unruly hooligans.”
“That’s quite enough.”
Michael’s stern tone stopped the teacher dead “Kindly wait outside until our
son is returned to us.”
Once Principle Baxter had
left the office Monica turned to her husband.
“Thank you for sticking up
for Paul.”
“I may not see eye to eye
with the boy Monica but he is my flesh and blood, I won’t allow him to be
mistreated. I dish out the punishment in our family; this institution has gone
way too far.”
“You aren’t going to punish
him further are you?”
“No, I think he may have
learnt his lesson.”
The following morning, the
three members of the Jensen family and Principle Baxter met at the hospital to
discuss Paul’s injuries. Matt was banished from the doctor’s office when a
representative from Social Services arrived to question the Principle further.
Nurse Cindy was doing her
final checks before handing over to the day shift when Matt entered Paul’s
room.
“Hey Matt.”
Paul grinned at his brother. His blood transfusion
complete, he was feeling stronger and was sitting on the edge of his bed in a
pair of pyjama trousers while Cindy applied ointment to his back and re-fixed
the temporary stitches.
“Dude” Matt grabbed Paul’s
outstretched hand and they bumped shoulders “You are a fucking legend at the
school.”
Paul laughed “I didn’t do it
for the notoriety; I just wanted to get home.”
“I owe you; we’ve been pulled
from the school, we’ll be going home and back to normality when you get out of
here.” Matt looked at the nurse “Hi, I’m Matt, Paul’s brother.”
“Hello Matt, I’m Cindy.” she
smiled at the cute blonde boy then turned back to her patient “I’ll change the
dressing on your arm before I go.” she gestured for Paul to stretch his arm
over the small treatment table she had rolled over to his bed and cut the
bandage off.
“Ah cool, you are going to
have some awesome scars.” Matt said as Cindy peeled the bandage away to reveal
two lines of stitches stretching from the inside of Paul’s elbow to his wrist.
Cindy tutted and proceeded to clean the wound.
“Let me know if I hurt you.”
“It’s fine, just a little
sore.” Paul answered her “I did a good job of ripping my arm up didn’t I?”
“You certainly did, you have
dissolvable stitches holding the muscle layers together, the one’s closing your
skin will only stay in about ten days, you are very lucky you didn’t damage any
nerves.”
“Yeah, I was stupid; I can’t
believe I forgot about the barbed wire.”
“Apparently, the vault you
did over the fence was impressive until you got hung
up,
the whole school is talking about it. Mum and Dad are going nuts at the school;
they have social services involved, the whole shebang.”
“And so they should,” Cindy
put in “No one should be beaten like this, the practices at that school need a
close looking at.” She gestured to Paul’s back, Matt walked around the bed to
see for himself.
“Holy shit, I didn’t know
they did that to you.”
“They held me down Matt
otherwise I would never had stood still long enough to take a beating like
this, there were two other boys who got more lashes than I did yet I seem to
have come off worse than them.”
“You need to tell social
services about the other
boys,
they may well need
treatment and aren’t getting it.” Cindy told him “Right, that’s you done, take
it easy today, no dancing in the hallways ok? I’ll see you tonight.”
“Thanks Cindy, see you
later.”
Paul spent a further five days
in hospital as infection raged through his body and his temperature soared. The
wound on his arm had become so swollen that it threatened to burst the stitches
leaving the doctors no choice but to re-open it and clean it further, letting
the swelling subside before replacing the stitches.
Monica sent Michael and
Matthew home as there was little point in them all sitting in the hospital
especially as Paul spent most of his time asleep.
With the school under
investigation and the other two boys who had also been beaten at the same time
as her son now receiving treatment, Monica had time to meet with the families
of those boys and together they were pursuing the school and the local
education authority causing the school to be closed temporarily while the investigation
took place.
The doctors meanwhile,
assured Monica that allowing Paul to sleep was a good thing and she really
needn’t worry, her son was young and strong and would make a full recovery. The
nurses were in regular attendance, waking Paul in the morning to change his
sheets then carrying out their observations every half hour along with regular
sponge baths to keep the sweat from his body.
Cindy was surprised to find
that Paul was still her patient when she returned from her two day break. She took
over Paul’s care from her colleagues and encouraged Monica to take some time
away from the hospital assuring her that she would take good care of her son.
Over the next few days Paul’s
temperature started to come down as the antibiotics began to fight the
infection and he began to spend more time awake.
“Hey, you’re awake.” Cindy
smiled as she put the bowl she was carrying on the table. She came to Paul’s
side and took his temperature. “And your temperature is almost back to normal.”
“I feel fine.” he told her
“Do you know when I’ll be able to go home?”
“Well, you’ve had a few bad
days.” she soaked the sponge “Now that you are over the worst, I expect we will
let you home by the end of the week.” she had folded the sheet down to his
waist and now picked up the sponge.
“What are you planning to do
with that?” he asked.
“You’ve spent the last three
days bathed in sweat, we’ve had to wash you every couple of hours.”
“I’m probably capable of
getting to the bathroom and washing myself.” he told her.
“Don’t be daft.” Cindy
laughed “You haven’t eaten for three days either and you do still have a slight
temperature so you are not getting out of bed, besides, you haven’t got
anything I haven’t seen a hundred times before.”
“You may have seen hundreds
Cindy but you haven’t seen mine.”
Cindy slapped the sponge onto
his chest “Think again. Look, to save your blushes, I’ll let you wash yourself
but just so you know I have been the one washing you for the past few days” she
patted his shoulder. “Boy, you are going to be a lady killer when you get
older” she winked.
“Maybe I already
am
.” he grinned.
“Please you are just a boy,
you know nothing.”
“I’m a quick learner.”
Cindy laughed “Shut up and
get washed, I’m going to get some clean sheets and some PJ bottoms. I want you clean
by the time I get back.”
Paul was released from
hospital three days later. By the time he left the hospital, the scandal of the
school had hit the papers and the youngest member of the Jensen family had his
first encounter with the press in the hospital car park.
“Mrs Jensen, would you care
to comment on the role you have played in the closure of the school.”
Paul stopped a couple of
paces behind his mother as she turned her brilliant smile on the journalist.
“As you are well aware the investigation
is ongoing and as such I am unable to comment at this time.”
“Paul, how are you doing?” a
female journalist jostled through her male colleagues.
“I’m fine, pretty much
healed” he replied after glancing at Monica for guidance.
“Looking forward to going
home?”
“Absolutely, I’ve missed my
brother and sister and it will be nice to sleep in my own bed.” he answered
honestly.
“Have all your injuries
healed?” Sadly Monica and Michael hadn’t been able to stop the publication of
the goings on at the school or the information of their son’s injuries from
reaching the papers.
“I still have stitches in my
arm but only for another few days, once they come out I should be able to go back
to school.” his confidence growing, he stepped around Monica to get closer to
the female journalist as trying to hear her soft voice over that of her male
counterparts was difficult.
“You has us all worried when
the infection set in and your temperature went up” speaking quietly now, twenty
four year old Antoinette Savage was taken with the boys dark good looks and the
attention he paid her.
Paul smiled “It’s run its
course now, as you can see I’m back on my feet, thank you for your concern.” he
grinned.
“No problem.” she blushed, he
really was breathtaking.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“I’m sorry, I should have
introduced myself,
I
am Antoinette Savage.”
“Right name for your career
choice” he commented, Monica touched his arm, it was time to go “It was lovely
meeting you Antoinette, I plan to keep my name in the headlines so I expect
we’ll meet again” he winked then followed his mother to the car.
Paul was quiet during the
journey home, very unusual for him when he was alone with his mother. When
Monica questioned him on his silence, he pointed out that he had been stuck in
a hospital bed for the last week and didn’t actually have anything to talk
about.
“Your old school agreed to
take you back if you promise not to fight.” she told him.
“I’ll behave.” he answered
“Matt’s more than capable of taking care of himself and Tessa’s left now, I
have no reason to fight.”
“Actually, Tessa is
re-sitting her
A
levels so she will be there for the
next year.”
“She failed?” Paul asked
stifling a smile.
“She got lower grades than
expected even after a re-mark so your father and I have insisted that she
re-sit them. She’ll only be doing three days at school, the other two day she
will be doing work experience with your father.”
“Huh, sitting in his office
reading magazines all day.” he commented.
“Paul” Monica warned “You
just said you would behave.”
“Sorry, can we stop for
something to eat? I’m starving.”
Paul was to start school
after his stitches were removed. Matt had already joined Tessa at their
previous Secondary School and been reunited with his friends.
Monica was pleased with
Paul’s new attitude but couldn’t help but wonder how long it would last, even
Michael was for the first time enjoying his son’s company, expressing his
appreciation for the boys quick sense of humour and take on life.
Paul personally was going
stir crazy being stuck in the house, his only trips out so far had been to have
his stitches removed and a visit to a physiotherapist who gave him a list of
exercises to do to prevent the damaged muscles from becoming atrophied. He did
the exercises religiously as his right arm had started to look weedy in
comparison to his left through lack of use.
Midweek and
only a few more days until the weekend and then returning to school.
Monica had readied herself for her weekly shopping
trip to the supermarket giving Paul the choice of accompanying her and meeting
with her friends for coffee and a gossip before doing the shopping. The thought
horrified Paul so much that he opted to stay at home and even offered to make a
start on dinner.
The doorbell rang as he
tipped pasta into a colander. Leaving the pasta to drain, he went to open the
door.
“Hi.”
Paul smiled and stepped
aside. “Hey Suzie;”
“I’m meeting Tessa here when
she gets home from school, thought I’d drop by early and keep you company.” She
strolled by him and made her way to the kitchen then hopped up onto one of the
stools at the breakfast bar.
“It’s good to see you.” He
told her, turning back to the pasta and continuing the dinner preparations,
“Are you staying for dinner?”
“Yep, you’d better do some
more pasta.” She watched him as he worked, she could watch him for hours.
Already tall and broad shouldered although nowhere near as developed as he
would become a few short years from now, his movements were fluid and graceful.
“When do you go back to
school?” She asked.
“Monday,” he answered “Tessa
said you’d left.”
“Yeah, got the results I
expected so figured it was time to move on. I think I’m going to have to start
looking for a job soon though, Mum and Dad are really pissed off that I don’t
want to go to college.”
“So what will you do?” He
asked as he leant on the breakfast bar beside her.
“I don’t know. Personal
shopper would be my ideal job right now, you know, getting paid to do someone
else’s shopping and spend their money. Hell yeah” she laughed.
“You don’t actually plan on
working then?” he grinned.
“Cheeky,” she nudged him “Let
me see your arm”, she reached for his hand as he pulled the sleeve of his
sweatshirt up past his elbow and turned the inside of his arm towards her
revealing the raised red scars.
Suzanne bent her head and
pressed her lips to the top of the scar on the inside of his elbow then she
moved to kiss its end at his wrist. She heard his sharp intake of breath and
tightened her grip on his hand as she pulled him towards her lifting her lips
from his wrist and raised her face to him. He didn’t hesitate to kiss her,
moving closer to cup her face and slide his tongue along hers.
As quickly as it started, the
kiss was over, Pauls released his grip on her and stepped back;
“I can’t.” He shook his head.
“Why not?”
she asked “We’re alone.”
“I told Mum I’d behave,
Tessa’s due home within the hour and I don’t know when Mum will get back.”
“It’ll be fine, come on
Paul.” she moved towards him.
“Suzie, no, I have to at
least try to make an effort after all the trouble I’ve caused.”
“So I was just a holiday
fuck?” she demanded, hands on hips.
“No!” he frowned “Not at all,
I just need some time Suzie, all eyes are on me at the moment, they are all
watching to see what I’ll do next, getting caught with my pants down buried in
you isn’t a good move right now.”
“By the time you’ve finished
justifying yourself we could have had a full on session, be dressed and decent
before anyone came home. Why don’t you just admit that you used me and don’t
want me anymore?” she shouted.
“I didn’t use you, I
wouldn’t. I can’t tell you how much I want you, not a day goes by without me
thinking about you, just having you this close is torture but things are good
right now, I have the opportunity to do the right thing, please just let me do
it.” He thrust his hands into his pockets and looked at her through his
eyelashes.
Suzanne melted, the puppy dog
look had worked,
she huffed “Don’t
take too long to do
the right thing.” She softened “I won’t wait forever and you will have a whole
lot of making up to do.” She warned.
A slow smile spread across
Paul’s face as his mind played all the possible scenarios of making up with her
“I’m sure trying to be good is just a temporary condition, once that’s over I
will do whatever you ask of me.”
Paul had his final physio
session on Friday then spent most of the weekend with Matt and his friends
playing video games, swimming and hanging around in the local park watching
girls and kicking a ball around.
As soon as the Jensen twins
walked onto the school grounds on Monday morning, Paul was summoned to the head
teachers’ office for a pep talk on the behaviour expected from him. He agreed
to all the terms implied and gratefully accepted the late note he was handed
for his History teacher.
Paul received somewhat of a
heroes’ welcome from his friends and a fair few of the other students as Matt
had loudly told the tale of his brothers’ rule breaking and daring escape. He
found himself surrounded by people waiting to see what he would do next which
he found largely irritating, the up side being lots of attention from some very
pretty girls.
By his third day back at
school, he was becoming more than a little irked by the group of students
following him around watching his every move. He removed himself from his
friends and sought the company of his sister who wholly disapproved of his
actions and would make a welcome change from the fawning adoration he currently
received from a majority of the student body.
Sitting opposite his sister
and moaning about his supposed heroics he actually felt better when she laughed
and said:
“Not so much a rebel without
a cause, more like a rebel without a clue.”
“Exactly,” he replied “I
could smack Matt for opening his mouth but as I’m being a good boy I’ll just
give him an evil stare instead.” He grinned at his sister.
“You aren’t fooling anyone
with this good boy act you know. You are one of those people who will always do
things your own way Paul, you might give the impression of towing the line but
I know you, I can see your thoughts turning to just how much you can get away
with.” She chided.
Paul was about to reply when
an older boy sat next to Tessa “Hi Tess,” he smiled at her “How’re things?”
Tessa sighed and made the
introductions between the two boys, explaining to Paul that the newcomer, Carl
had transferred from another school about a month ago.
“How come I don’t know you?”
Carl asked.
“I started Monday and I’m a
lower year than you,” he gestured to his uniform. As sixth formers Tessa and
Carl were allowed to wear their own clothes.
“Ah, so you had better go
back to people in your own year.” Carl dismissed him and turned to Tessa.
“Actually, I’m quite
comfortable here.” Paul replied
,
smirk fixed firmly in
place.
“Well, just be quiet, Tess
and I are still trying to get to know each other.”
“I already know her.” Paul
answered folding his arms across his
chest,
he smiled
and leant back in his chair.
“Oh
really?”
Carl rounded on him “How
do you figure that out, you only started Monday?”
“I started Monday this time
around,
I’ve been to this school before so therefore, I know
Tessa better than you do.”
“I doubt that very much.”
Carl scoffed.
“I guarantee it.” Paul
glanced at his
sister,
she was smiling, enjoying the
exchange.
“With the obvious age gap and
knowing which particular type of company Tess likes to keep, I am certain you
are just being juvenile and trying to create a scene.” Carl lent forward to
impress his point.
“Ok,” Paul leaned in too “For
starters, she hates to be called Tess, her name is Tessa and that’s how she
likes to be addressed. I also know the type of people she likes to surround
herself with and am in fact good friends with several of her girlfriends. I
know where she lives and where she works, I also know the person she works for
exceptionally well. So you see, quite clearly, I know her better than you.” he
finished.
“You’re bluffing.” Carl
challenged.
Paul shook his head “Nope, I
know her better because I’m her brother.” He grinned then held out his hand,
“Paul Jensen, nice to meet you.” He dropped his hand when Carl didn’t move, he
turned to his sister. “Tessa, that was a little sneaky of you not to introduce
me properly.”He admonished her.
“You only have one brother.”
Carl blustered.
“I have two, Matt and Paul
are twins.” Tessa said firmly “Now if you don’t mind Carl, Paul and I would
like to get back to our conversation” she waited for him to leave before
turning back to her brother “See you don’t have to use your fists, thanks for
that though, he’s been on my case since he started here, perhaps he’ll back off
a bit now.”
Everyone was quietly amazed
that Paul appeared to be behaving himself and even though his relationship with
Michael had once again begun to deteriorate, school and home life seemed fine.
The twins turned fifteen in
the October half term, as both of them had expressed an interest in the newly
opened leisure centre and gym, Monica presented her sons with fully paid up gym
memberships which went down a storm with both boys spending a majority of their
free time there.
Matt managed to get himself a
Saturday job at a local bakers who would find work for him during the school
holidays as well, he also started doing a little work for Michael, spending his
Sunday’s in his father’s study going through the accounts of Jensen
Incorporated’s smaller customers, something he showed a natural aptitude for
and receiving a small wage from Michael.
Getting fed up of being woken
early every Saturday, Paul thought perhaps he should look into getting some
weekend work as he hated it when Matt would pay when they teamed up with their
friends in the evenings, lack of money was seriously cramping his style.
Monica mentioned to him that her
good friend’s gardener was on extended leave and she had offered Paul’s
services on the weekend to mow the extensive lawns, do a bit of weeding, clean
the pool as well as a little maintenance work around the house for which he
would receive a reasonable wage and use of the pool any time he pleased.
Kay Morello had been Monica’s
friend since primary school; she had been Monica’s maid of honour and was
Tessa’s god mother. She had been invaluable when the twins were born, stepping
in to babysit at a moment’s notice, she had watched her friends children turn
into stunning teenagers and loved them all dearly. She was more than happy to
have Paul helping around the house and garden and pay him well for the work he
did.
Kay had married well and had
had a deeply loving relationship with her husband, she had been devastated when
he had died suddenly and would be forever grateful for the support Monica had
given her. Her husband had left her well provided for and she lived her life
comfortably, filling her days with coffee mornings and various sporting
activities. Having no children of her own, she had taken an active role in the
raising of her friends children and had remained close to all three throughout
the years even having her say about the boys being sent to boarding school much
to Michael’s annoyance even though she had agreed with him that it would be
good for them.
Paul arrived with Monica just
after nine the following Saturday morning. Kay set him to work on the lawn, not
a difficult task as she had recently invested in a ride on lawn mower for her
regular ageing gardener and Paul had lots of fun on the machine, whizzing up
and down the huge expanse of grass while Kay entertained his mother and another
friend with tea and toast on the patio.
Having finished the lawn,
Paul set to work on the pool, looking forward to having a swim once he’d
finished cleaning it.
“I may have a few jobs Paul
could do.” Edwina, Kay’s other breakfast guest and mutual friend told Monica.
“I’ll let him know.” Monica
replied, she would have to keep a sharp eye on Edwina, a divorcé with a
penchant for younger
men,
Monica was more than aware
that her sons’ physical appearance would appeal to her friend.