Chapter 2

Grace Wilson cursed her life one more time as she left the big box store to head home for the night. That asshole Frank from HR hadn't left her side all night, constantly watching her with his creepy eyes. He had taken a liking to her dark looks. She wasn't Goth but she did like to dress in black and she and her co-worker Heather had taken to wearing black lipstick and smoky black eye shadow. With her pale skin, long straight raven locks, and curvy, well fleshed body she attracted more than her fair share of admirers.

Heather's long, wavy white blond tresses, blue eyes, and her rail thin model's body was a perfect counterpoint to Grace's more 'full figured' look. She was saving up for a nose job as she hated the largish one she was born with and her braces only had one more year to go. They hung out together whenever they could as their work schedules allowed.

Grace's job as a cashier had been the only one she'd been able to get since graduating and as her salary was keeping the family in their home and fed she couldn't afford to lose it. Her mom's disability cheque wasn't enough to keep them going and Ed's paycheque from his part time job in the home center helped but it was her money that kept them going. Now Frank was potentially threatening that by acting like a skeeze.

She got into her car in the employee lot which was far from the door and sparsely lit. She put her phone in the cup holder between the seats as she prepared to leave.

Suddenly there was a tapping on the driver's window glass and she jumped. She looked left and there was Frank looking in her window with his greasy smile. She rolled the window down.

"What is it Frank? I'm on my way home. Isn't it time for you to go home to your wife?" she reminded him.

"Aww Gracie don't be like that. You should be nicer to me. I can do things for you. Nice things that will make your life so much better. All you gotta do is some nice things for me," he said, slurring a little. Great, he was drinking on the job.

"Thanks but no thanks Frank."

"I can also make things really bad for you if you're not nice to me. Think about that!" he growled.

Grace looked up at his piggy little eyes and sighed. It was true. He could.

"Take out your cock."

Frank suddenly grinned and quickly looked around but no one else was in sight. He was also partially hidden by the other cars. He quickly unzipped his pants and tugged his flabby little dick from his pants.

Grace had to struggle not to laugh then not to gag as the stench of him wafted in the window.

"Mmm bring that beast in the window," she said with a seductive tone. He grinned and leaned in against the side of the car. He couldn't see her but he was expecting to feel her mouth on him any second.

Grace leaned away as far as she could and took some photos with her phone's camera. He had his hands on the window sill so she got them in the shot as well with his distinctive school ring. She grabbed her heavy metal travel mug and slammed it down as hard as she could on one of his balls on the window ledge.

With a scream of pain Frank crumpled to the ground beside the car. She saw he was clear so she drove a few feet away.

"Frank? I just wanted you to know I have some very disgusting photos of your junk sticking in my car window. I'll send you a sample to your work address when I get home. You pull any crap like that again, I will see everyone you know gets a copy. You leave the women at the store alone now. Understood?" When he whimpered and nodded she began to move forward but stopped once more. "Oh and take a fucking shower with soap you smelly bastard!" He whimpered once more and she drove away.

Maybe she should have warned him earlier about her anger management issues.

When she got home all she wanted to do was take a shower to get Frank's smell out of her nose. She stepped inside and her sinuses filled with the most wonderful scents of cooking food. Grace looked in the living room and there was her mother in the recliner, drunk or stoned or both. She hadn't expected the smells of cooking to have come from her efforts but it would have been a nice surprise. At one time she was an excellent cook and Ed would watch her for hours. Since the accident at the factory and her subsequent chronic pain, she hadn't felt disposed spend any time in the kitchen.

Following the delicious scents Grace stepped into the kitchen doorway and smiled at Ed, the mountain of a man who stood with his back to her. She couldn't get over how he'd grown from a normal sized little boy to this broad shouldered, hard muscled man. She trembled. If he hadn't been raised as her brother she would have been all over him. That thought made her stomach twist nervously like butterflies were duking it out inside her. She loved her 'little' brother but sometimes she got so confused.

She must have made a sound as he looked over his shoulder at her and his face lit up with a happy smile when he saw her standing in the kitchen entrance. "Welcome home. I'm making your favorite! Chicken and Chorizo Paella!" his deep voice rumbled out. She smiled in return and studied his innocent face. Fair haired, light yellow blonde to be specific, reasonably styled and short. She cut his hair so they could save some money. He had amazing pale blue eyes under light brows. His nose had a bump on it where it had been broken and badly reset. It had character. He had nice lips and was almost always smiling. His jaw was strong and square. The overall combination wasn't classically beautiful but still pleasing to look at. He turned back to finish cooking.

She couldn't stop her eyes from traveling over his body as his back was turned. Though it made her squirm with guilt to think this way about Ed she thought his body was incredible! Hard, dense muscles and lots of them. Huge arms hanging from broad shoulders, and supported by his broad chest and powerful back. He didn't look overinflated like those professional bodybuilders but he did look ripped! Every t-shirt he owned was stretched almost to death over his torso. At home he wore sleeveless T's as they were more comfortable for him.

His legs were sexy as hell too, currently hidden in sweat pants. She knew her brother preferred to wear baggy pants but she didn't understand why he liked that look considering how great his legs looked. She'd even bought him a pair of stretchy but tight jeans using her employee discount but she had yet to see him wear them.

Grace spun around and made a bee line to her room before she did something she'd regret. She knew her brother loved her so she had to protect him from her lustful thoughts. It would destroy their relationship.

She got cleaned up and into her own comfy clothes. Before she forgot she sent off the incriminating photo to Frank's work email. She was sorely tempted to send it to his wife too but she contained her rage once more with difficulty. She returned back downstairs just as Ed placed the plates on the kitchen table. She noted there were only two plates.

"Mom's not eating?" she asked.

Ed's face showed his upset. "I tried to get her to eat earlier but she just screamed at me to leave her alone. I think her pain is bad tonight. I'll save some for her for later."

Grace looked at Ed and wondered how he could still show so much compassion for a woman who had never said a single nice word to him since the day he arrived. It was more a sign of Ed's strength of character than her mother's.

"I'll carry her up to her bedroom after I do the dishes," he said.

Grace had a momentary flash of Ed carrying her instead, up the stairs to her bedroom in his strong arms to have his way with her. She trembled and he noticed.

"Something wrong? Your food not taste good?" he said looking concerned.

She forced her mind away from those evil, lewd thoughts and smiled weakly at her brother. "No! Everything is fine! It tastes wonderful! I was just thinking of something unpleasant from work."

They ate for a while in silence both enjoying each other's company and the excellent food. Grace had to restrain herself from wolfing the paella down. As he'd said it was her favorite.

He tried to put a casual expression on his face as he asked her a question. "Speaking of work, did you find out if you have tomorrow night off? It's our final playoff game for the state championship. It would be nice if you could be there."

"I'm sorry Ed. I wish it was possible but I was asked to work a double shift tomorrow. Mary Carson broke her ankle and they're short staffed. And we need the money," she winced seeing his look of disappointment which he quickly hid behind a shrug and a smile.

"Score a touchdown for me Ed!" she grinned as he rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I do," he groaned for the hundredth time.

She smiled at his frustration. "What is it you do again?"

"I knock people down," he huffed.

She could always catch him with this little game of hers. At first she used to worry that Ed might be simple minded but he was actually quite brilliant with some things. Ask him to repair something and he'd figure it out and get it working in almost no time. He was a really good cook as mixing ingredients in the proper proportions in the right sequence at the right time intervals came to him naturally. Ask him to deal with math and he'd struggle but he'd get to the answer, eventually. Ask him to explain what was going on in any TV show involving human interaction and he'd get the surface stuff but miss most of the nuance. He was innocent in that way. Intrigue was beyond him. He was what you saw and people who weren't confused him.

If he weren't so easy going and just big he would probably have had a much harder time in school. Speaking of which…

"Have you asked out that pretty brunette at the card shop yet?" she asked him. Her love life may be on extended hiatus but that didn't mean his had to be.

He blushed. "No!"

"Why not?" she pushed with a grin on her lips.

"I don't have time for a girlfriend!" he smirked back. That was her favorite excuse for explaining why she wasn't dating. The 'I don't have time' excuse had been her automatic response for years. She shook her head at his victorious grin.

"You know you shouldn't take such pleasure in using that excuse. It's not like it's made me hysterically happy," she said in a rare moment of self-reflection.

"You deserve to find someone special," he told her sincerely, looking at her with his beautiful blue eyes.

She snorted angrily as her mind went to Frank in the parking lot sticking his dick in her window. He was the perfect example of the kind of masculinity she was surrounded with now in her life. Well, them and Ed who she couldn't have. Her anger flared again and she pressed her thumb against the side of the bridge of her nose as pain spiked behind her eye. Dammit! It was another anger induced migraine.

She heard the scrape of a chair then she felt his hands, his wonderfully large and powerful hands massaging the knots out of her neck muscles before they got a chance to really get started. Soon she was putty under his strong grip. The migraine dissipated as he worked her muscles. God his hands felt so good on her body! She wanted more and began to moan but locked that down in a squeak. She pushed herself to her feet as she felt her emotions start to go off the rails.

"Thanks for dinner, Ed. I'm going to bed. Not feeling well," she blurted and rushed upstairs. She closed her bedroom door and managed to drop onto the bed to smother her sobs in her pillow. Life was so fucking unfair!