Forbidden Fruit
It was a few days later that we find the sturdy form of Pablo Robles lying on a deck chair, gazing into the swimming pool at Melinda's apartment complex. He had his shirt off, exposing his tempting chest and brawny arms to the sun, and in turn the sun was caressing him with its warm, attentive rays. As had become the custom for the last couple of months, Pablo was spending the time brooding and thinking about his future.
He found out what Malo had done to his house, because he'd been there when the workman measured and installed the new windows. Of course Pablo had gotten angry, but Melinda and Junior had quickly corralled him into the living room and explained to him that everything had been taken care of.
Junior had quickly taken over that conversation. Excitedly, his youngest son started recounting the day's action sequences, starting with him squaring off against big, bad Malo, and claiming he'd held his own against the volatile thug. To Pablo, it looked as if Junior had gotten the worst of it, with his black eye and the huge bruise on his arm. He also heard about the later altercation between Frankie and Malo that sounded a lot more decisive. A good part of him was glad that his sons had stood up for themselves, and that nothing had happened to his youngest daughter Amanda.
Another part of him worried that maybe Malo lied about things being over and done with. Maybe the thug was still carrying a grudge against Pablo's family. His offspring had similar suspicions. As a result, Melinda recommended that while things should be returning to normal soon, they should still keep Amanda on the move until they were certain it would be safe for her.
The result was that Amanda was getting shuttled between his house, Melinda's apartment, Vicky's rented room, and the houses of a couple of her high school friends. His youngest daughter would even change up her hair, wear baseball caps and switching sunglasses. She'd don clothing she wouldn't normally be seen in, in order to conceal her identity while she was being moved around.
To Pablo, it looked as if Amanda was relishing the attention she was receiving, and even taking advantage of it. This bothered him a bit at first, because he compared it to the selfish ways of his wife Lorena and his daughter Melinda. The concerned father had to remind himself that his youngest daughter was nothing like those two vultures. As a result, his misgivings over Amanda were quickly dismissed. She was just a kid, he reasoned, finding herself in what amounted to a celebrity spotlight. Amanda was basking in its glow for the spectacle of it because she knew it wouldn't last forever.
Melinda had just gone to Vegas, while Vicky and Frankie were both off at work. Since Pablo was on his two days of liberty, he'd been saddled with the chore of moving Amanda back and forth. Early that morning, he'd picked her up from her friend's house. He'd driven Amanda to Melinda's apartment, because his stripper daughter had granted them permission to use her place while she was out of town. While Pablo could think of a few other things he might be doing, other than babysitting an eighteen year-old girl, at least he was staying out of his house where he and his wife were still not getting along. The atmosphere back home threatened to become hostile at any given moment.
The father and daughter had both taken naps in Melinda's apartment; Amanda on Melinda's bed, Pablo on the living room couch. Because he'd picked her up so early, they'd both gotten bored fairly quickly. As the sun had begun to infiltrate and warm up the apartment, and to announce to them that it would be a nice day, both Amanda and Pablo had roused up. Pablo had gone over to make scrambled eggs, combined with what few edibles were to be found in Melinda's fridge. They ate, speaking seldom and mostly sitting around quietly, as they both were caught up in their own little worlds.
As the time crept closer and closer to noon, however, the day's heat prompted Amanda to declare that she was going into the pool. The teen fled into Melinda's room to change. She returned in a royal blue two-piece bikini, conservatively cut, and she urged her father to put on the extra pair of swimming trunks he'd brought along, just in case he did end up in the water. Since Pablo hadn't been in a pool in some time, he went ahead and changed.
Amanda had openly gawked at him as he stepped back into the living room. He wasn't wearing a shirt, exposing a very muscular upper body considering his age of forty-four, and the only thing he had on was the pair of brown beach trunks on his waist. All of a sudden his young daughter looked nervous, and at the brink of losing her composure. Amanda quickly turned and made her way outside.
Pablo followed her out, mentally reminding himself that this was his eighteen year-old he was looking at, and that she was still a kid. For a very long time he'd been unable to shake that innocent image from his head. Then he remembered some of the not so innocent things she'd done recently. The worst of these were when Pablo had been asleep in his rec. room, and he'd caught her trying to give him a blowjob. Amanda had tried to seduce him right then and there. On another occasion, she'd brazenly gone into the living room one night, fully naked, and had squirmed over his clothed body in the dark until she'd gotten herself off.
Amanda wasn't a little girl anymore; Pablo was only now beginning to comprehend this. His eyes took in the beauty of her evolving and maturing form. She had a lean figure, and she was shaping up to be as tall and pretty as her older sisters. Amanda's hair was a soft shade of brown and flowed down to the center of her back. The teen's waist was narrow and emphasized the eye-pleasing, broad curves of her butt. Her back and shoulders were slender and sexy. Her complexion was light and slightly tanned, and her breasts were the size of ripe peaches. They rounded out perfectly and jutted like soft, little beacons for a man's attention.
Amanda glanced back to make sure Pablo was coming, before she went over to the shallow end of the pool and stepped in. Her father was being relegated into being a mere watchdog. Pablo knew that his daughter didn't like to be ogled at or flirted with openly. She would always shy away from strangers, even handsome ones, and seek some sort of refuge until they left her alone. It was such a stark contrast to how bold she'd been with her own father, that Pablo had never been able to figure that out. Random guys flirting with her, Amanda couldn't handle, but jilling off on top of him was okay?
They didn't have to wait long for the hounds to come out. It began subtly, with curtains being inched open, then with the complex's young men either peering out their front doors or from their little balconies. The most adventurous of these potential suitors would brazenly take a stroll around the pool, pretending to be checking the mail from the wall-mounted boxes nearby, or otherwise meandering their way over to the parking lot as if they'd forgotten something from their cars.
All was well, until these enticed males would stare too long in Amanda's direction, or utter some sappy come-on line at her. Then, like a timid fledgling, she would hurriedly swim over to where Pablo lounged and engage her father in steady conversation until said male would become discouraged and walk away. Only one handsome young man had dared approach Amanda while she was in the company of her dad. That is, until he got a good look at the older man's brooding and sour countenance. Even this potential seducer soon pursed his lips and changed his mind.
"Why can't these jerks just leave me alone?" Amanda frowned, after the most recent of these unwelcome males was rebuked. "Do you see me asking any of these assholes to come over here and talk to me?"
"You don't have to ask them. They know a cute girl when they see one."
Amanda swam closer to him. "Did you just compliment me, daddy?"
Here we go, Pablo thought, abruptly changing the subject. "So, uh, I saw that Frankie was growing a goatee. What do you think about me growing one?"
"I think you'd look good with one. But don't ignore me. I asked you a question. Were just complimenting me and my figure?"
Pablo sighed. "Yes, you could take it that way. You're turning out to be a very attractive young lady. I can see why all these guys are coming around trying to talk to you."
"I know you like me." Amanda smiled at him.
"Of course I like you. You're my daughter."
"That's not what I mean and you know it." His daughter replied. "You know what? I know some secrets about you."
"Stop right there." Pablo held his palm out. "I get enough of that bullshit from your mother and Melinda. I don't want to hear it from you, too."
Amanda pouted prettily. "I think you'll want to hear these secrets."
"No, I don't."
"I know you fucked Carmela." She kept talking anyway, distancing herself from her father with a single backstroke. "I know you're fucking Melinda and I know you're fucking Vicky."
Pablo could only stare at his youngest daughter in shock. Did the whole goddamned family know what was going on between he and his daughters? Maybe the whole fucking neighborhood knew! Instead of trying to deny it, he simply said, "How did you get them to tell you?"
