I nod, "Yeah, it's probably going to be filled with old men and women who Mom and Harrison are going to show off to." Mom is selling our old house. The one that Dad took years saving for, the one that his life insurance paid for. She's moved into some other house, she's sent me pictures and has even picked out a room for me to have. No matter what, that house will never be home.
Lacey walks into my room, "I know that you're mad Mia, but your mom seems really happy." She puts her arm around my shoulders and pulls me into her body, "You should try and forgive her for not telling you and be happy for her."
I sigh, "I am happy for her, I just feel as though she's getting rid of any memory of Dad while she moves on. It's like she's forgotten him." My dad died five years ago from a brain aneurism. He served twenty years in the army only to retire and die anyway. It hurt, and I'm mad that my mom's trying to wipe him from her memory, remove all remnants of their life together. Am I next?
Lacey pulls away from me, "It's a good thing that I'll be there with you every step of the way. I'd better finish packing." She begins to walk out of my room.
"We'll leave in an hour, so be ready," I yell out and hear her grunt in acknowledgment.
Grabbing my phone off the bed, I call Mom to let her know that we'll be leaving soon.
She answers on the second ring. "Hey baby, have you left yet?"
"Not yet, we're just finishing packing up. We'll be leaving here in an hour," I tell her as I throw more clothes haphazardly into the bag. "I'm almost packed and Lacey's just finishing off too."
"That's good baby. I can't wait to see you. It's been too long."
I don't tell her that's her own fault, "I'll be there soon, Mom. What's the plan for this evening?" I know my mom, she likes to have plans, she makes lists too.
"I want you and Harrison to get to know one and other, so we'll be having dinner. It'll just be the four of us as Harrison's son won't be arriving until the morning." Her voice rises a pitch, and she’s talking a mile a minute. Guilt sets in for being so angry at her.
"Okay, I'll text you when we're leaving. It shouldn't be too long. I don't want to be driving when it's dark. Love you, Mom, bye."
"Love you too, baby, drive safe, and I'll see you soon."
I end the call and throw my phone back onto the bed and continue to throw everything and anything into my suitcase. I don't know why I'm bothering as I've got a closet full of clothes at Mom's. "Hey Lacey, you need any help?" I yell as I grab my phone and my bag and walk out of my room and toward the kitchen.
"No, I'm good. I'm almost ready." She yells back, "I just need to grab my toothbrush." She's so weird. I always have a new toothbrush when I'm traveling anywhere.
I grab my car keys off the kitchen counter, "We'll leave as soon as you're ready and stop somewhere for some food. I'm starving." I shout as I open the front door, I notice my ASU hoodie on the back of the couch and grab it, it’s one of the most comfortable hoodies I own, and I love wearing it while lounging around the house.
Her laughter follows me out of the house, "When aren't you?" Looking over my shoulder, I see her walking out of the house, her bag in her hand and a smile on her face. "But I agree, we should stop and get something to eat and use a restroom."
I laugh, "Any road trip we take, you need to pee every five minutes."
She shrugs, throwing her bag into the trunk of the car, "I get excited." She laughs.
"Like a dog."
She gapes, "Hey!" But she can't keep a straight enough face to fake outrage.
I stick my tongue out at her and walk past her back into the house. "Have you got everything?" I don't need to look back to see her rolling her eyes, "Don't roll your eyes at me, missy." I mock.
"Yes, Mom. I'm ready whenever you are." I hear the car door close, and I know that she'll be racing into the house in a few seconds so that she can go to the bathroom again.
I fill up the travel mugs so that we'll be fueled up and grab the bag of snacks I got ready earlier. Lacey and I love junk food. I'm crazy on candies whereas Lacey loves chips. We eat ourselves sick when we take road trips, but it's fun, and now it's our tradition.
"I need to pee," Lacey yells running past the kitchen and toward the bathroom.
"Hurry up, or I'm leaving without you." I take the bag of snacks along with the coffee cups and make my way to the door, "Will you please lock up?" I ask and wait for her grunt before going to the car. Thankfully Lacey left the passenger's side door open, so I place the coffee mugs on her seat and walk around to the driver’s side and get in.
Turning the engine on, I quickly reach for the volume as 'Living on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi comes on and nearly blows my eardrums, I always forget to turn down the music before I get out of the car. A bang has me looking in the mirror to see Lacey locking the door. I quickly send Mom a text, letting her know that we're about to leave.
"Okay ready this time." She huffs as she climbs into the car.
"You sure?"
She slaps my shoulder, "Yes, now let's get going before I need to pee again."
I put the car into drive and glance at her, "You need to see a doctor about that." I smirk as I pull out of the driveway and onto the street.
"No I don't, it just happens whenever we go on a road trip. I get excited."
I snicker, "Then see a vet."
"Har-har, funny. So how much do you know about your new family?" She uses her fingers to make quotation marks as she says family.
"I don't really know much about them, why?"
She makes a weird noise, and I glance at her. She's looking down at her hands, "What?"
"Your new brother is Hudson Brady, Mia."
I shake my head, "And he is?" Up until Mom married Harrison, I had never heard of Hudson.
She sits forward, her hands clasping her knees as she brings her feet up onto the seat. "Mia, Hudson's dangerous. I've heard things about him, nothing good."
I frown, "What do you mean dangerous?"
She's silent, and it freaks me out. She obviously knows about him; otherwise she wouldn't have mentioned it. "Lacey?"
She sighs, "Look, I personally don't know him, but when Greg heard me mention your stepdad, Harrison, he asked if your new brother was called Hudson. When I told him it was, he told me things."
I press my foot against the break as we come to a stop sign, once the car has fully come to a stop, I turn and look at her, "Told you what?"
She holds her hands up in surrender, "Greg said that Hudson's involved in some pretty shady things."
I roll my eyes, this sounds like bullshit, "Oh yeah, like what exactly?" I ask as I put the car into drive again.
"Guns, drugs, and anything that you shouldn't be doing, he does. Greg said that Hudson's some sort of boss or something like that. Although it's all hearsay, no one actually knows for sure."
"Okaaayyy and I'm a fairy princess." I laugh, "Lacey, Hudson's twenty-seven, do you really think they let men at that age be bosses of organized crime?"
She claps her hands, "See, that's exactly what I said. Most of those bosses are like old, in their sixties or something like that."
"We watch way too many crime dramas, but yeah, I think Greg's full of shit. Anyway, we'll meet him tomorrow morning, he won't be attending dinner." I'm intrigued, I want to find out more about him. Mom's not really told me much other than he's twenty-seven and he lives in San Francisco whereas Mom and Harrison live in the Hidden Hills. A far cry from where we used to live in Oakland. It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Cali, so much has changed since I’ve been there. Hell, I’m not even going to Oakland.
"He's probably out killing people." Lacey laughs at her own joke, "Are we staying at your mom's the entire evening?"
I shake my head, she loves a good party, "I'm not sure, I'm not real hip with the Hidden Hills people and where they like to party. If things go south at dinner, we can always go to Oakland."
"We'll see where the night takes us." She replies, you'd think she was a hippy with the
crap she comes out with sometimes, but she's not, she's just happy to get her buzz on wherever and whenever she can.
"Oh look, an IHOP, fancy a late breakfast?" I ask her, wanting pancakes. We're ten hours away from Cali, and we’re only an hour into our trip. No doubt we’ll stop at least twice more. But it’s the fun of having a road trip.
Lacey moans, "Pancakes." We're both crap cooks, so we usually eat Ramen noodles or PB and J sandwiches. We rarely eat take-out either, so when we do we eat loads.
I pull into the parking lot and Lacey’s climbing out of the car before I’ve even turned the ignition off. I shake my head, she loves her food, or she needs to pee again.
"This can't be right?" I say to Lacey as we pull up outside a fancy house, I knew the Hidden Hills was full of huge houses, but damn this is something else. It's huge. When Mom told me she'd moved into a new house, this isn't what I had envisioned. This must-have cost a bomb.
"The directions your mom gave say this is the right place." Her eyes are wide and full of awe, I'd say much like mine are. "Mia, God, this house is freaking huge!"
"Huge? It's humongous.” It's bigger than any house I've ever seen before. It has black iron gates that hide it away from the outside world, so much glass. The windows look as if they go floor to ceiling. It's beautiful. My mouth's open wide as I just stare at it, this place must have cost a fortune, money that I know my mom doesn't have. I feel very uncomfortable with the fact I'll be staying somewhere so extravagant.
The gates begin to open, and I turn my gaze to Lacey, "Ready?" My pulse racing, I'm nervous and yet excited to see what this place is like but also to see my mom.
Her face breaks out into an enormous smile, "Am I ever, my heart’s pounding with anticipation. I'm so glad that you invited me to come with you."
I laugh as I pull into the driveway, "You shouldn't thank me just yet, we've only just got here. This could end disastrously."
"I must make sure I have popcorn if it does."
I park my car in the driveway and get out of the car, hearing the gates closing, peering down, I gasp. The view is amazingly beautiful. We’re so far up in the hills that we can see for miles. Mom must love it here.
"Mia." I hear the softness of my mom's voice, and I glance to the door to see her standing there with a beautiful smile on her face. She's decked head to toe in black. She looks stunning, yet expensive. Before Harrison, Mom would dress in whatever she could afford, right now she looks like she walked straight off a runway.
"Hey, Mom." I say as she wraps her arms around me, "You look beautiful."
Her arms tighten around me, "Thank you, Mia, it must be where you get it from." We both laugh, "It's good to have you home." She whispers as she releases me,
"Lacey," Mom says as Lacey walks up to us, she doesn't hesitate to also pull Lacey into her arms to give her a hug.
"Hey, Mrs. Brady." Lacey says returning the hug, "Mia's right, you look beautiful."
Mom steps back and smirks at us both, "So how much crap did you eat on the way here?"
Lacey and I glance at each other, "I have no idea what you're talking about." I tell her with a straight face, if anyone looked in my car they'd know we stopped off at most gas stations along the way and refueled with anything and everything.
"Mrs. Brady, we're having a wonderful dinner this evening, would we ruin that by eating crap?" Lacey goes overboard with the lie, her lips twitch with a barely concealed smile.
Mom laughs as she shakes her head, "You two are as bad as each other, I don't know which one of you is the bad influence."
"She is." We both say as we point at each other.
Mom just shakes her head, "You two." She says, before turning to walk into the house, "Come on, let's get you inside, and I can show you to your rooms."
I gasp when I reach the front door and catch a glimpse of the inside. Classy. It's the only way that I can describe it. The floor to ceiling windows add so much light to the hall, and it's a huge hall at that, dominated by a marble staircase. The walls are white, and the tiled floor is white with a few black lines per tile, it looks amazing, and I'm worried about staying here in case I break something.
"Mom, holy shit." I breathe in awe, turning to look at her.
Her eyes light up in happiness, "This is my dream house. I'm so fortunate to have it." Her voice soft, but her smile is bright and radiant. She's happier than I have ever seen her. "Come on, I'll show you to your rooms, and you can explore the house later." She takes my hand and leads me toward the stairs. "Lacey, you'll be on this floor with Harrison and I, if that's okay?"
I turn and look at Lacey, her eyes wide as she takes in everything around her, "Of course Mrs. Brady, I'd have been happy with the sofa."
"That would never happen Lacey." She says as we walk up the stairs, "You're just here on our left." Mom says as she reaches the door.
"Thank you." Lacey replies softly as she opens the door and gasps, "This is bigger than our entire house."
I peer into the room and see that she's right, it is bigger than our house in Arizona. There's a king-sized bed, and like the hall, it's white, even the bedding is white. As I take a step inside the room, I see the floral print on the other wall. It looks phenomenal, and it's so Mom.
"Mrs. Brady, this is awesome." Lacey has a smile as big as Mom's. "Can I move in permanently?"
Mom laughs, "Want to see Mia's room?" She asks, and I glance at Lacey. We're both wondering what it's going to look like. "Once Hudson arrives, he'll be on the same floor as you, I want you both to get along, I know he's quite a bit older than you, but he's your brother now."
I roll my eyes, "He's hardly my brother, Mom." I'm excited to meet him, but I don't want to be forced to spend time with him while I'm here, what if we don't like each other? That would be so awkward.
"Just try and be nice." She warns me as we walk up another flight of stairs, whoever decorated this house sure loved the color white. It's everywhere, each and every wall has white on it, not to mention the marble staircase along with the tiles. I'd be surprised if there was a room that didn't have white in it.
"Okay," Mom begins, and I watch as excitement grows in her eyes. "So, I wanted you to feel at home here." She seems nervous.
I frown, "Okay, Mom."
She opens the door to a room, and I'm speechless, it's not white, it's a deep maroon color. The room is bigger than Lacey's, and that's something I didn't think could be possible. There's a sofa in the corner and beside it is a small bookcase. Walking into the room, I walk over to the bookcase and run my fingers across the spines of the books that are there. Mom went all out. She bought books from my favorite authors. Nora Roberts, Harper Sloan, Carly Phillips, and of course E.L. James. I love the story of Christian and Ana, it's such a beautiful love story.
"Thanks Mom," I whisper, tears stinging in my eyes, she’s so thoughtful with the little things she's added to my room.
"I just want you to feel at home here Mia," She gently strokes my hair, "I miss you so much," she whispers, she sounds as though she's going to cry. "I'll let you two get sorted. Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours. So no rush."
"Thanks Mom."
"Thanks, Mrs. Brady."
Lacey and I say at the same time, I stick my tongue out at Lacey, and she returns by sticking her middle finger up at me while making sure that Mom can't see her.
"I'll call you when it's ready," Mom tells us, giving me another hug. “I’m glad you’re here.” She whispers before walking out of my room leaving Lacey and I alone.
"Holy shit Mia, this place is awesome. I can't wait to explore and see what else is here."
I nod, "Me too, but first let's grab our bags, and then we'll start snooping." Although all I want to do is curl up on the sofa and read a book.
There’s three floors. The first floor is where the swimming pool, Jacuzzi, gym, and movie theater are, along with the kitchen, dining room, and what Lacey and I refer to as the ballroom although Mom said it’s the entertaining room. Th
e room is three times as big as our house in Phoenix. That’s not an entertaining room, that’s a ballroom, it’s where the party will be tomorrow. The second floor houses the master bedroom and three other rooms, one of which Lacey is using, Harrison’s office, and a spare bedroom. The third floor is where I am staying. There’s only two bedrooms here, and a huge sitting room. Mom thinks Hudson and I could use it to get to know each other.
Four
Mia
“Mia, Lacey. Dinner’s ready.” Mom calls out, and I glance at Lacey, her pale skin is so noticeable in this light, as is the dark circles under her eyes. I wonder if my appearance is as haggard as hers? All I want to do is get in the shower and then collapse on the bed. Maybe even sleep for a week.
“Ugh food,” Lacey groans and I can’t help but laugh, “don’t say it, Mia.” She warns me.
I laugh harder, “I told you not to eat anything else.” I smirk at her as she climbs out of the bed. “Coming, Mom,” I yell. Harrison hasn’t come home yet. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the window.
“Do you think your mom would mind having a housemate?”
I shake my head, “For the fifth time Lace, I don’t think Harrison and Mom want you crashing their newly wedded bliss.”
She pouts, “This house is amazing. I want to live in it forever.”
This house is indeed amazing. There’s a freaking swimming pool. I’ll be making use of that while I’m here. Lacey found a wooded trail that she wants us to run tomorrow, we try and get out whenever we can, most of the time we don’t. We’re too lazy, but I have a feeling that tomorrow morning Lacey will be making me.
“What about college?” I ask and get flipped off in the process. She despises college, I’m the only reason she’s able to make it through. “Lace, you’re majoring in engineering, you’re like a rocket scientist.”
She rolls her eyes at me, “Engineering is nothing like rocket science. It’s better. You really should go downstairs before your mom calls a search party to find you.”
Forbidden Lust (The Kingpin Book 1) Page 3