I slapped my hands over my mouth, looking at my mother now rolling in laugher. Her hands were cradling her stomach because she was laughing so hard. I knew what she thought. She thought that I still had feelings for Brad. Well, I did, but I was not about to tell her or anyone else that. It was embarrassing enough, I slipped up and said what I had.
“Yes, dear, we sure do.”
I went to correct her, but she shot me a narrowed glare that told me not to even try it. I stood up, dusting off my knees. I looked to my mother to see that she was smiling at me gently. She could read me like a freaking open book and there was nothing that I could do about it. I hated it sometimes that she was that good, but other times I loved that about her. I didn’t have to voice my pain to her, she just knew when to console me.
After some time, she opened her arms to me, and I stepped into them, hugging her back as hard as I could. Just feeling her arms around me instantly made me feel better. I sighed, before snuggling my face into her neck. I took a deep inhale, letting her perfume fill my lungs. She started swaying back and forth, rubbing my back.
“Mom, should I have forgiven him?” I breathed into her neck.
“That’s the only way to truly move on, sweetie.”
I knew she was right. Hell, there wasn’t a time when she wasn’t. But that still didn’t make what she said any easier to take. I didn’t want to forgive him. I wanted him to suffer just like I had all those years. But then a thought had come to me, maybe he had been suffering all those years. Brad had no one to talk to about what happened. I had Henry and my mother. So he’d had to silently stew on what he did this whole time. God, it must have been so hard for him.
But Brad being the cocky ass I remember him being, it looked like he got along just fine. Even if he was dying on the inside, he’d never show it on the outside. That was just the way he was. However, I learned his tricks early on in life. I knew when he was hurting. He would either resort to sex or being a cocky, arrogant bastard. There was no in-between with that man. You either took him the way he was or not at all. I guess that’s what I fell in love with—his bluntness.
I sighed. My heart and head were in two completely different places. I couldn’t handle not knowing something, staying in limbo. I was a go get ‘em type of girl. I didn’t wait for anyone. “Mom, do I really have to spend so much time with him?”
She nodded her head, releasing me from her embrace. “Yes, dear. You and he need to get along for the sake of me and his father. I want our families to get along and be able to be in the same room as each other without kneeing them in the balls,” she finished with a chuckle.
My head snapped up at her. “How did you know about that?”
“Now you come off it, Claire. I’m not dense. I can tell when a man has been kneed in the family jewels, and that boy was definitely packing a whopping on him last night.”
I chuckled. “Damn, can’t get anything past you, can I?”
She shook her head. “You can try, but you won’t succeed. I’m your mother; I have eyes in the back of my head, and very great hearing.”
I bellowed with laughter. “Oh my God! This entire time you’ve made me think I got away with it. You sneaky little thing.”
I began cleaning up the disaster zone she called her bedroom. We worked in silence for a few moments before she realized what time it was. Her look of horror told her that we were both going to be late for something. She hurried me out of the room, grabbing her keys in her haste to get out the door. She told me to get cleaned up and that Brad would be here in thirty to pick me up.
I grumbled, making my way up the stairs. Opting for a bath instead of a shower, I set back in the bubble bath I drew, putting my earbuds in and relaxed, letting the heat seep into my muscles and loosen them up. Since I didn’t have to put makeup on for the fitting, all I had to do was put my hair into a bun. Releasing a contented sigh, I drifted off for a few minutes.
I woke up a little while later, disoriented. My music had long since quit playing; I took out my earbuds and tossed them onto my phone. Noticing the water was now cold, I stood up from the bath. I was in the process of reaching for a towel when the bathroom door opened. Instead of going ahead and grabbing it and putting it around myself, I froze. The further the door opened, the more of Brad I saw.
My eyes widened and I gulped when I saw a look of desire cross his features. His eyes visibly darkened as he scanned my body; I could literally feel his eyes on every inch of my skin, giving me goose bumps of excitement. I licked my lips about to tell him to leave, but nothing would leave my mouth. The sight of him looking at me with such need excited me.
“Fuck … me,” he forced out.
I blushed, looking down to the floor. I didn’t know how I did it, but I broke the trance I was under. Grabbing the towel off the rack, I wrapped it around me. Stepping out of the tub, I looked through my lashes at him. Seeing that he made no move to get out of my way, I knew this was not good. My mother wasn’t here to save me, and at this point in time, my libido was speaking for me. I wanted nothing more than to rip his tight black shirt off his body and lick every single fucking inch of him.
“I didn’t know you were already here,” I stated shyly, making a move to go around him. When he stepped in that direction too, I looked up at him. “I would already be ready if I knew it had gotten so late.”
I made the mistake of looking down, seeing his designer jeans tented with a huge bulge. I groaned, not meaning to. I really didn’t need to see that, to torture myself with memories of what he was packing between his legs.
From the looks of it, his zipper wouldn’t last much longer. I had to make a break for it now, or by God, I’d probably take care of him. It’s bad to say, but damn, just knowing he wanted me made me wetter than hell.