Sea Breeze 01 - Breathe

hard it is to be pregnant.”
    I wanted to remind her I’d tried to keep her from getting pregnant by sacrificing food money to buy her some stupid condoms, which didn’t help at all! However, I nodded and walked inside with her.
    “I’m starving, Sadie. Is there anything you can fix up real fast? I’m eating for two these days.”
    I’d already planned what we would eat for dinner before I got home. I knew Mom was helpless in the kitchen. I’d somehow survived the early years of my life on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Somewhere around the time I turned eight, I realized my mother needed help, and I began growing up quicker than normal children. The more I offered to take on, the more she gave me. By the time I turned eleven, I did it all.
    With the noodles boiling and the meat sauce simmering, I went to my room. I slipped out of my work clothes and into a pair of thrift-store cutoff jean shorts, which happen to be the core of my wardrobe, and a T-shirt. My wardrobe was simple.
    The timer for the noodles went off, letting me know the food needed to be checked. Jessica wasn’t going to get up and help out anytime soon. I hurried back into the small kitchen, took out a spaghetti noodle on a fork, and slung it at the wall behind the stove. It stuck. It was ready.
    “Really, Sadie, why you toss noodles on the wall is beyond me. Where did you get such an insane idea?”
    I flipped my gaze up and over at Jessica. She was kicked back on the faded pastel couch, which had come with the apartment, in my bikini.
    “I saw it on the television once when I was younger. It has stuck with me ever since. Besides, it works.”
    “It’s disgusting, is what it is,” Jessica mumbled from her spot on the couch.
    She couldn’t boil water if she wanted to, but I decided to bite my tongue and finish with dinner.
    “It’s ready, Mom,” I said as I scooped a pile of spaghetti onto a plate, knowing she would ask me to bring her one.
    “Bring me a plate, will ya, honey?”
    I smirked. I was a step ahead of her. She rarely got up these days unless she absolutely had to. I slipped a fork and spoon onto the plate and took it to her. She didn’t even sit up. Instead, she placed it on the shelf of a belly she’d developed, and ate. I placed a glass of sweet iced tea down beside her and went back to fix my own plate. I’d worked up an appetite today. I needed food.

Chapter Two
    JAX
    Ms. Mary had the staff waiting when the limo pulled up in front of the house. I didn’t wait for the driver to open my door. I was free to not worry about impressions here. I could do what I damn well pleased. I stepped out of the limo and stretched, smiling up at the house that represented freedom to me.
    There was no threat of girls gone crazy beating down my door. I didn’t have any places I needed to be. No interviews. Nothing. I could go lay out on that beach all damn day and no one would bother me. Life was good in south Alabama. My mom wasn’t here yet, so I had time to go in and see Ms. Mary. Get some sweet iced tea and a buttered biscuit before dealing with her.
    Ms. Mary came bustling out the door before I made it up the steps. “Master Jax, you look like you’ve lost ten pounds since I seen you last. Come on in here and get yourself some good food. Growing boys don’t need to be so skinny.”
    I’d actually put on ten pounds since she’d last seen me, thanks to my new trainer. But I wasn’t going to argue with her. You didn’t argue with Ms. Mary. Even my mom knew that. “Hello, Ms. Mary. You’re looking more beautiful than the last time I saw you.” It was something I’d been telling her every year for the past five years. Her wrinkled cheeks would turn a bright pink from the compliment.
    “Hush now, boy. We both know that ain’t true. But my biscuits, them’s something you can gush over.” She was proud of her culinary abilities, and I was pretty damn addicted to them myself. It was why I paid her well to stay on all year even when I wasn’t in residence. I liked knowing I could come here whenever I wanted. Having it kept up during the year gave not only Ms. Mary a job, but some of the staff as well. Ms. Mary only had to hire on extra help for the summers.
    SADIE
    Things went much smoother the next day. I didn’t have to be searched, and I was even given a card to show at the gate when I arrived from here on out. Fran even smiled at me once. After lunch Ms. Mary sent me to the third floor, which housed most of