The Fox Who Owned the Henhouse

For the first time in a long time, Corey's future seemed promising to him. A bright smile covered his face as the eighteen year old high school student walked the short distance back home. The reason for his smile still tingled on his cheek; it was a soft kiss from his long time crush Ashley Grant.

"I can't believe it," Corey thought to himself. "She said yes! Even better yet, she asked why I waited so long."

The image of the blue haired girl looking at him through her adorable glasses kept replaying through his mind. Her sun kissed California skin had blushed as he tried and failed not to stumble over his words. It was something that promised that things were changing for him and his struggling family.

With finals over and summer vacation beckoning, Corey felt reborn hope his stepfather Quinton would find better work in his field, that his mother Evelyn would get more hours, that his side gig as a photographer would bring in some extra money so they could finally move out of those horrible apartments. The apartments that now stood in front of him.

Gallinero Point Apartments looked innocent from the outside, with fresh paint and some decent landscaping, but they were actually horrible places to live. From carpet that shed more than a dead dog to bug infestations, Corey hated the entire complex. The place was in a prime location however, and also the cheapest in the city of Costa Dorada (known to locals simply as Costa, it was a small city on the coast of California).

The worst thing about the apartments though was the man who owned them; Anthony Blake. Corey couldn't stand the man. The city's former police captain, Blake had a reputation for being a greedy, rude, and obnoxious landlord. He also was rumored to be a perverted creep. Corey didn't know about anything specific but he did hate the way the man looked at his mother. Sure, she was attractive, but he didn't have to be so obvious about it when looking at her body or standing so close to her cascading red hair when his stepdad wasn't there. Corey's mother Evelyn had him when she was young, meaning the age gap between her and Blake visually had the appearance of a very dirty old man despite him only being in his fifties lusting after a young mother. The only good thing about him was that he lived on the other side of town….

"Wait…is that his car?"

The white Ford Crown Victoria stood out like a sore thumb. It was a huge former police car with windows so tinted it had to have been illegal. Not only was it odd for Blake to be at the complex on a Friday, he was parked in front of Corey's building and in the assigned spot of his stepfather's car.

Corey felt a gripping feeling in his chest. He had known his family was not doing well financially, but maybe his mom and stepdad had kept the worst of it from him.

"Maybe we're getting evicted?" Corey thought. Soon the possibility that he would have to move back east with his grandparents and away from his new girlfriend flashed through his mind. He thought it was the worst thing possible, but he was sadly mistaken.

The door to the apartment, which was always causing trouble, hadn't closed all the way and Corey could hear his mother talking to Anthony Blake.

"Corey might be home soon though, let's go to the bedroom and get this over with," his mother said with a venomous yet defeated tone.

"Don't rush me now, Evelyn. I'm the one doing the good deed," Blake said, his voice moving more distant as he spoke.

Corey heard a door close and the voices became mumbled. He assumed they must have gone into a room, but there were only two bedrooms and the bathroom. Where could they have gone except….

The sweet tingle of the kiss on the cheek was replaced by a painful numbness. Corey wasn't stupid or naive, at least not to the level that would make him ignore the implications what he just heard. He didn't have an idea of what to do though. The sudden emotional whiplash of his day being filled with promise and his mother breaking her most special promise to his kind stepfather was too much for his young mind to process.

Corey suddenly felt exposed standing outside the front door with his ear against the cracked opening. He wanted to run, but the idea of leaving his beautiful mother alone with the orcish Blake was too much even for his fog filled mind. Instead he put in his earbud headphones, quietly entered the house, and went to his room; which was across the hall from his parent's bedroom.

Corey's bedroom door was open, and so he softly closed it when he entered. Then, as if overcome by a tiredness he slowly and quietly laid down in his bed. His headphones would cancel out the sounds in the house other than his heightened breathing and heart rate; he desperately didn't want to hear anything. He didn't want to think about let alone hear his beautiful mother, with her long red hair and sweet voice, having to do anything for Anthony Blake so they could keep their home.

Corey then let out a soft sigh and shook his head.

"Stupid," he thought to himself. He started to think that she's probably just showing the ugly bastard the water damage from last month or that their window was horribly insulated. "He's the landlord after all… I really do read too many hentai manga."

Corey then thought of Ashley again and the promise of a bright summer for him and his wonderful family. With his mind calmed down by what he would call common sense, he took off his headphones not feeling like he needed them anymore.

He instantly regretted it…

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