Tease: A Kings of Korruption MC Novel (9 page)

I give him the best response I can come up with.
 
“Good for you, Mouse.”
 
He beams at me and opens his mouth to say more, but I start the motor up on my bike, revving it loudly before I peel out of the parking lot.
 
Mouse can figure out his own shit.
 
I have things to do today, and the first on the list is calling Laynie to cancel this fucking dinner.

I hadn’t even finished my breakfast yet when the phone calls start.
 
Knowing it’s my mother, I finish eating and put my plate in the dishwasher, letting it ring.
 
In the time it takes me to have a shower and fix my hair, she’s called three more times.
 
With each ring of the phone, my anger builds.
 
The fifth time she calls, I answer it.

“Hello, Mom.”
 
I know she can hear my annoyance — I don’t even try to hide it.

“Well, it’s about time!
 
I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning.”

“I know.
 
I was busy.”

“Too busy to answer the phone when your mother calls?”

Gritting my teeth, I make an effort to remind myself that matricide is illegal and that this is my mother, and I love her.
 
“What can I do for you, Mom?”

She lets out an exaggerated sigh, making my annoyance turn to outright aggravation.
 
“Daniel is coming home tonight for the weekend.
 
Are you still coming with him?”

Crap!
 
I’d forgotten all about that.
 
“Uh … actually, no.
 
I –“

“No?
 
What do you mean no?
 
You and Daniel come home the second weekend of every month!
 
It’s a tradition.”

I want to scream at her.
 
Tell her to leave me the hell alone and to back the fuck off – but I don’t.
 
“I know.
 
It’s just something has come up.
 
I uh …. I have a date.”

Silence.
 
“A date?”
 
Why does she sound like I just told her I wanted to run off to the Arctic to become a fucking penguin?

“Yes, a date!
 
I have those from time to time!”
 
I can’t believe her.
 
It’s like she thinks nobody would ever want a date with me just because I’m blind.

“Well, who is this boy?
 
What does he do?”

What
does
he do?
 
“He’s not a boy, Mom.
 
He’s a man.
 
I don’t know how old he is, but I think he’s around my age.
 
And I don’t know what he does.”

“Don’t know!
 
Laynie!
 
You can’t go on a date with a strange man!
 
Honey … what are you thinking?”

Aggravation is lost to full-on anger.
 
“I’m thinking that this is the first guy in a long time that doesn’t treat me like a fucking cripple!
 
I’m thinking that he’s a good person!
 
I’m thinking that my own mother should know me well enough to trust my judgment.
 
And I’m thinking that I need to get off of this phone before I say something I’m going to regret.”

“Laynie Marie!
 
Don’t you take that t –“

“Goodbye, Mom.”

I disconnect the call and flop down onto the couch.
 
God!
 
She is so infuriating!
 
Before my accident, my mom and I were close.
 
My whole family was close.
 
I don’t know if it was losing Garrett or me losing my sight that’s made her into the neurotic “momster” that she is, but I can’t take it anymore.

I’ve put up with it for nine years now, and she’ll be lucky to survive it until ten.
 
I don’t know how my dad puts up with her.
 
I guess it’s because he spends most of his time in the garage just to get away from her special brand of crazy.
 
I moved to Ottawa to get away from her myself.
 
I needed to escape.
 
I wanted to go to Toronto, but Daniel lives here, and it was a compromise I agreed to avoid giving her an early stroke.
 
Plus, I love my brother.
 
I like having the opportunity to spend time with him without my mother hovering like a low-flying helicopter.

After texting my brother to let him know I’m not coming with him tonight, I decide I need an escape.
 
Remembering the new book I’m set to review, I decide to spend the morning listening to it and lose myself in the world of hot bikers and their bitches.
 
Reading has always been an escape for me and with audio books becoming more and more popular, it has made my life so much easier.
 

I make myself a cup of coffee, put on my earphones and curl up under my favorite blanket, letting my newest book boyfriend sweep me off my feet.

TRAVIS IS LATE.
 
HE was supposed to be here forty-five minutes ago, and I’m beginning to think he’s not coming.
 
Disappointment causes my heart to feel heavy.
 
I’d spent the entire day nursing my hangover, cleaning my apartment, and cooking this meal.
 
I’d worked hard on it.
 
I wanted to make it perfect for him as my way of thanking the cranky son-of-a-bitch for all of his help.
 
Now, looking back, I don’t even know why I’d invited him.
 
He barely speaks, and when he does it’s more like a growl.
 
He’d turned down my invitation at first, and I hadn’t pushed so why the hell had he accepted if he wasn’t even going to have the decency to show up?

Shaking my head, I drain my first of many glasses of wine and wander to the counter so I can wrap the baked dish in foil.
 
Might as well put it in the fridge and use it for the next few nights.
 
Good thing I love manicotti.
 
I empty the last of one bottle of wine into my glass and am just trying to decide whether the three bottles I have left is enough or if I need to walk to the liquor store when the door buzzer sounds.

My belly erupts in a storm of flutters and my heart pounds with excitement.
 
He did come
.
 
Hurrying over to the buzzer, only stubbing my toe once on the way, I press the bottom button and make an effort to sound uninterested.
 
“Hello?”

The thirty seconds it takes for him to answer feels like a year.
 
“It’s Travis.”
 
My excitement fades a little.
 
He doesn’t sound happy to be here at all.

I press the button to let him in, not responding.
 
Turning from the wall-mounted buzzer, I quickly pinch my cheeks and rearrange my breasts.
 
“All right, Dex.
 
How do I look?”

Dex doesn’t answer, but he does come and stand beside me while we wait for the knock on the door.
 
When it comes, I call out, “Coming!” and proceed to stand there a little longer.
 
I don’t want him to think I’m too eager, and besides, he’s very late.
 
Let
him
wait for
me
now.

After a minute, Dex gives me a nudge.
 
Figuring he’d waited long enough, I walk casually to the door and open it wide, schooling my features to be free of any emotion.
 
“Hello, Travis.”

“Hey.”
 
Silence surrounds us once again.
 
“Drinkin’ again?”

I arch my brow and hold up my glass.
 
“Yep, and I’m just about ready for a top up.”
 
I take a step back, allowing him to follow me inside.
 
I hear the sounds of Dex’s collar jingling as Travis greets him.
 
“You’re late.”

The jingling stops.
 
“I am.”
 
He’s closer now.
 
I can feel the heat from his body and his breath on my cheek.
 
“I wasn’t going to come.”

My breath catches.
 
“Why did you?”

“Because you wouldn’t answer the phone when I tried to cancel.”

The disappointment I’d felt earlier returns.
 
“I had my phone off.
 
My mother was driving me up the wall.”
 
Taking a sip of my wine, I motion toward the door.
 
“You can go if you want to.”

“No.
 
I can’t.”

I frown.
 
“Why not?”

“Cause that shit smells fuckin’ delicious, and I’m starving.”

“You’re right.
 
It does.”
 
I put one hand on my hip and point my glass toward the kitchen.
 
“That’s because I spent all afternoon getting it ready.”
 
I turn and head for the kitchen.
 
“I already put it in the fridge, since I assumed you weren’t coming, but I guess I can get it back out and heat you up a plate.”

I hear him following me and am instantly self-conscious of the table setting I had made.
 
I’d set this up just like a date.
 
The table is set neatly with linen napkins and a trio of pillar candles in the center.
 
He didn’t come here for a date.
 
He came here to eat, and because I didn’t answer the phone so he could cancel.