1. The Old Block (Meet the Atkinsons)


    Date: 5/28/2015, Categories: Taboo, Author: shrpsf, Rating: 25, Source: LushStories

    It was not a typical afternoon at the Atkinson’s but it was clear, by the easy smiles and small talk, that everyone was trying their best to keep it as close to normalcy as possible. Any discomfort at the stranger in their midst was kept to themselves, hushed up by the muted chimes of silverware against bone china. Every so often, someone would have an objection to the placement of chips or salad or carved roast on the table, but such petty dissonance was easily quieted by a polite shuffling of food into an arrangement that suited most, if not all. But not everything at today’s lunch was so easily resolved. Sitting at the foot of the table was a man who looked every bit as out of place as the cheap petunias that hardly filled the giant vase in the living room. Marcus Hobbs knew that he should have binned the bouquet as soon as he pulled up the expansive driveway that welcomed him to the Atkinson abode. His son was an Atkinson now. Or rather, Marcus Jr. had made a Hobbs out of one of them, the pretty redhead seated two places away from himself. And what a catch she was; Marcus was just dying to get out of his Sunday best, kick back with a beer and interrogate his only son as to how on earth he managed to land the scion of this wealthy family. But first, he needed to get through this formal introduction to the Atkinson’s and said son whom he was meeting for the very first time. He had to admit, the dinner was delicious and the pleasantries flowed as freely as the wine, but it ...
    felt as though introductions had barely begun, what with everyone sticking to obvious chatter about the ‘lovely’ English weather and any news they had caught in the papers this morning; sometimes the conversation would take a turn for the alien, honing in on Bahamas vacations, who the girls met at the Ascot races or who the men had shared a nightcap with. Although everyone at the table seemed to be swept up in the flurry of exchanges, Marcus could feel the discreet hawk eye of the Atkinson matriarch following his every move. Like her daughter, her do was a flash of bright red, owing to a long lineage of recessive genes that dictated this striking shade. She gave him a sweet smile every time his gaze fell on her. It was nowhere near as vibrant as her offspring’s, but the smoothening of fine lines took at least a decade off her age which Marcus guessed was around his own. They were both unaccompanied by significant others, Marcus having lost the woman he loved to a fiery temper – his. It was a trait he had always regretted and the reason he had never met his son, Mark. Until today, that is. “Mr. Hobbs?” The redhead spawn, his daughter-in-law, peeked over from her husband’s side. “If you don’t mind my saying, I think I have a very good idea where Mark here gets his good looks from.” Her grin drew his glance like a magnet away from her mother who piped, “Oh yes, young Mark is very much a chip off the old block, physically speaking.” The emphasis on ‘physically’ would have come off ...
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