Placing the book down onto the sofa, I stand, “Um, not just me. Mom will be expecting the both of us.”
She sways from side to side, “No, Mia, I’ll stay in my room while you get to know your stepdad.”
I groan, “No, that’s not happening. You’re here as a buffer.” I tell her as I open the bedroom door, “Besides, you’re a part of this family, you should get to know him too.”
“I hate you.” She grumbles, she’s dreading this as much as I am, her for different reasons though. She thinks I’m going to make things awkward because I’m mad at them for how they’ve gone about things.
“You love me really. I keep you fed.” I stick my tongue out at her as we begin walking down the stairs.
“Ah, there you two are, I was about to send out a search party,” Mom says as we reach the bottom step. “Girls, Harrison’s dying to meet you both.”
“Mrs. Brady, I can’t wait to meet him too,” Lacey tells her with an easy smile.
“Lacey, how many times have I told you to call me Tina?” Mom tells her with a shake of her head. It doesn’t matter how many times Mom says it, Lacey’s always going to call her Mrs. Brady. “I hope you’re both hungry, I went a bit overboard.”
I laugh, “How much did you order in?”
She smiles as we walk into the dining room, “Too much.” Mom can’t cook. She never has and never will; it’s one of the many attributes I take from her.
“Nonsense Tina, we’ll eat it all.” A tall, handsome man tells her as he pulls her into his arms. He turns to me as he lets go of her, “You must be Mia.” He holds his hand out for me to shake, I take it, grateful he’s not pulling me in for a hug.
“Hi, it’s nice to finally meet you,” I tell him as I shake his hand. Looking up at him. I suck in a deep breath as I’m confronted by deep brown eyes that are so familiar to me, they remind me so much of my mystery man’s. The man I had a one night stand with almost two years ago, the man I’ve constantly thought about since that night. Hell, I never even got his name, I’ll never know who he is.
“Your mom has told me so much about you, the both of you.” He looks to Lacey and shakes her hand too. “How’s college going for you both?”
“How about we sit down and begin eating. I don’t want the food getting cold. We can talk while we eat.” Mom tells us and pulls me in for a hug.
“Lacey, how is your engineering course going?” Harrison asks, a warm smile on his face as we sit down, Mom really did go all out, there’s plates filled with different foods. There’s steak, chicken, and fish. There’s also pasta, fries, potatoes, and a salad. Anything we could want, it’s here, but there’s way too much for the four of us.
I watch as Lacey’s face lights up, he’s treating her as though she’s part of this family. I’m starting to really like him, he makes my mom happy, and he doesn’t seem like an asshole. “I like it, it’s hard, but it will be worth it when I graduate.”
“What about you, Mia? How’s your course going?” He doesn’t sound as interested in mine as he did Lacey’s, but it’s what I’m used to, no one thinks majoring in English is anything spectacular.
“It’s good. I love the creative aspect of it. Writing is a way of expressing ourselves, just as art is for others.” I don’t know why I feel so defensive about it.
His eyebrow raises in surprise, but that smile is still firmly on his face, it’s not forced. “What do you plan on doing once you graduate?”
“I’m torn between becoming an English teacher or becoming an editor.”
He looks impressed, “Your mom tells me that you love reading. What’s your favorite book?”
I glance at Mom, her face turning pink while Lacey looks down at her plate and starts eating. “I like E.L. James, Carly Phillips, Harper Sloan, and Nora Roberts. I’d happily curl up with any one of their books.”
He frowns, “I’ve heard of Nora Roberts, but haven’t read any of her books, the others I can’t say I’ve ever heard of them.”
“Oh you’d have heard of E.L. James, she wrote Fifty Shades Of Grey.” Lacey pipes up, and I watch in amusement as Harrison’s face falls as he realizes exactly what Fifty is all about. “What about you, Mr. Brady, do you read?”
"I haven't read in a while. I like thrillers. Lee Child, James Patterson, Stephen King." He tells us as he reaches and takes a piece of steak.
"Have you read Harlan Coben? He writes some amazing thrillers like Drop Shot, One False Move, and Tell No One." I'm in my element now. This is safe ground, I love talking about books. I love almost every genre out there. I'll give anything a go once. Indie authors are my favorite as their work is so unique, it's like a diamond in the rough.
He shakes his head, "No, I must say I haven't."
Mom laughs, "He'll be buying those books now to read."
"You were right Tina, she is extremely passionate about books. The way her eyes light up when she recommended Harlan to me. She'll be fantastic as either a teacher or an editor."
I can feel myself begin to blush, "Thank you." I say and put my head down and start eating.
The dinner goes amazingly well, better than I had expected. The conversation flowed, and there was no awkwardness. I honestly came here thinking I'd hate Harrison, but it's quite the opposite. I like him, he and my mom seem really happy together. My dad's gone, and Harrison will never replace him. I know that now, so I'm just going to take it as it comes.
“Mrs. Brady, when is your party?” Lacey asks practically bouncing in her seat.
"Tomorrow evening, there will be at least two hundred guests here for the party," Mom says matter-of-factly as if that’s a normal thing to say.
I blink as Lacey gasps, "Two hundred?" I ask, making sure that I heard her correctly.
Harrison laughs, "Yes, two hundred. We never did celebrate our wedding properly and tomorrow night is a party to do just that."
Damn, that means that we have to attend.
"As I was saying..." Mom continues, "It's a formal party which means you both need new dresses."
Lacey and I look at each other and smile. New dresses, that's fine, we can make a day of it. "Cool, we'll go shopping in the morning."
"You can take Barney. He'll be your personal chauffeur for the day. Also, he has my credit card so you can buy whatever you want."
I instantly shake my head, "Thanks for the offer, but I thought Lacey and I could have a girls day and go shopping and relax before the party."
"Tina," Harrison says, there’s a warning to his tone giving my mom a pointed look.
"Mia, listen to Harrison, okay? He's being nice and wants to treat you girls to a new dress." Mom tells us and gives Harrison a soft smile. I'm confused, I have no idea why she's so dead set on us spending his money, that's not who I am, and that's not how she raised me, but the pleading look in her eye makes me keep my mouth shut and nod.
"Excellent, Barney will be outside at nine-thirty ready to take you wherever you need to go." Harrison says as he throws his napkin onto the table and stands up, "Thank you for a wonderful dinner Tina, I'm just going to my office to make a couple of calls. I'll be down in a while." He kisses her cheek as he passes by her and walks out of the door.
"Want to tell me what that was about?" I ask Mom as soon as he's out of sight.
"Yeah, that was weird," Lacey comments, looking as suspicious as I feel.
Mom sighs, "Look, girls, Harrison is rich, extremely so. Barney is head of his security along with his driver. Harrison has a lot of enemies, and he doesn't want you girls caught up in the crossfire of someone trying to get at him. So please do as he says, he's only got your best interest at heart."
"Okay Mom," I say although I don't agree with it, I'll do it because I'm not wanting to argue with her or Harrison about it.
She smiles. "Good. Now, have you spoken to Sarah recently?"
I frown, "Yeah, I spoke to her yesterday, why?"
"Her mom's worried about her. She hasn't once been home since leaving for New York." Mom t
ells me, and I already know she hasn't, why would she when her life was shit when she lived here in Cali? "Dorothy was wondering if you had spoken to her and if you had that maybe you could talk to her about coming home?"
I sigh, "No, Mom, I won't. She has her reasons for not wanting to come home, and I completely understand those. I won't badger her to do it."
"I know she went through a lot while she was here. The bullying was horrendous, but Dorothy really misses her." Mom continues and Lacey shakes her head. She's met Sarah, it's something I've not told Mom, but Sarah comes and visits us sometimes and vice versa.
"Funny, she didn't seem to give a rat’s ass about Sarah when her husband was beating on her." I say as I get to my feet, "I'm not asking her, Mom, and I can't believe you would even ask." I'm so pissed off right now, how dare she, she knows what Sarah went through trying to escape the hell that Oakland brought and yet she doesn't seem to give a crap.
"Mia, I asked, and you've said no. That's all there is to it. Don't get upset." Mom pleads with me.
I glance up at the clock on the wall. It's ten-thirty. I didn't realize how much time had passed since we came down for dinner at nine. "I'm going to bed. Lacey wants to go for a run in the morning before we go shopping. Goodnight," I tell her as I walk away. I'm taking myself away from this situation. I'm still mad and Mom's acting as if she did nothing wrong when in fact she knows she did.
"Mrs. Brady, thank you for a wonderful dinner, I'm going to turn in now too. Today has been a long day, and I find when traveling, I'm always tired just a little bit more than I usually would be. I'll see you in the morning." Lacey tells her diplomatically as she walks up beside me, her lips pursed into a thin line.
"Oh, of course. I should have known you'd both be tired. You've had a long day. Get some rest, so you're ready for the party tomorrow." Mom says taking the plates from the table and stacking them on top of one another.
"Goodnight Mom," I say as I exit the dining room.
"Are you going to call Sarah?" Lacey asks as we reach her bedroom.
"Yeah, she deserves to know that her mom's been trying to get her to come home. God, I hate that woman, she must be after something." Sarah is going to be pissed, and rightly so. Knowing Sarah though, she's going to call her mom and tell her to stop asking, she won't be coming home.
"Okay, I'm going to try and catch up on some of the course work that's due for when we get back."
I laugh, "You're such a nerd."
She pushes me away, "Says the woman who reads for fun. Night Mia."
“Night Lacey,” I say and watch as she closes her bedroom door.
Walking past Harrison's office, I hear him talking. Well, more like growling. "What do you mean you won't be here for breakfast?" Everyone's mood seems to have dropped. "Hudson, your ass better be here for the party. Tina's excited to meet you. She's going to be upset now that you're no longer attending breakfast. She had hoped you'd meet Mia before the party."
I continue walking past his office and up the stairs, I need to call Sarah and then crawl into bed and read.
Reaching into my pocket, I take out my phone and dial Sarah's number. She answers right away. "Hey Mia, wishing you had stayed home?" She laughs, I've told her about Mom marrying Harrison and that I wasn't looking forward to meeting him. "What's he like?"
Walking into my bedroom, I close the door behind me. "He's actually really nice, not at all what I had imagined," I tell her as I climb onto the bed and lie down. "Mom asked about you today."
"Oh yeah? Is she missing me?" She laughs, "Oh shit, you're silent, what happened?"
She knows me too well. "Okay, so your mom's been asking mine about whether or not we've been speaking and if we had could I get you to come home?" I'm still so angry about it.
"Christ! I've told her a million times before. I can't go home Mia. I'm finally happy with my life." Sadness creeps into her voice, and I know that she's not really happy, she wants more, but that's not going to happen yet so she's dealing with it the best way she can.
"I know, so how is Allie?" I ask her, "I miss her."
"She's good. She's finally starting to sleep through the night. I couldn't take much more of the lack of sleep. I was like a zombie." She does sound much better, maybe she is happy?
"I told you, Sarah, come to us anytime, Lacey and I love Allie, and we'll watch her while you catch up on sleep." I wish we lived closer. She's alone with a ten-month-old baby and no support system around her at all.
"I love you both. You don't know how much your support has meant to me."
Tears spring to my eyes, "Have you had any more thoughts about Jagger?"
When Sarah fell pregnant, she was scared. At first, she had no idea what to do. When she hit the six-month mark she decided she'd go to San Fran and see Jagger. He'd gotten back with Carina while she'd been gone, hell they could have reunited the next day for all we know. Sarah toyed with leaving them be and telling them, but ultimately she wanted her baby to know her dad and called Jagger. He didn't answer, but she got a voice message from Carina, they knew she was pregnant, how I don't know. The message left on her voice mail was horrible, and I hate Jagger for not having the balls to call Sarah himself. If he didn't want the baby that's fine, but to have Carina call and be a bitch wasn't necessary.
"I still haven't decided yet. I'm thinking I should contact him and let him know that I had Allie and if he ever changes his mind that she'd love to see him. I'm not a spiteful person Mia, I would never withhold Allie from him, he's her dad, and I would love if they got to have that bond that you had with yours. I was so envious, but it was so beautiful. That's what I want for my baby."
"I know you're not a spiteful person Sarah, the fact that you're willing to call him says everything. Maybe you should send him an email?"
She laughs, "An email? Mia, what century are you in?"
"Look, everyone needs an email address for their phones. Besides, you can attach a picture of Allie. Because seriously, who could say no to her? She's such a happy smiley baby." Talking about her makes me miss her even more. I really need to take a trip to the big apple and see them both.
She sighs, "You're right. I'll do it tomorrow. I'll type out an email and attach a picture of Allie. God, what would I do without you?"
"You'll never have to find out. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Mia, for everything."
"Goodnight Sarah."
"Night Mia."
I end the call and just lie here, I'm physically drained. I feel bad for Sarah, she's been through so much, and yet she's a fighter. She's an amazing mom to Allie and a great friend. I'll arrange a trip with Lacey for us this summer, it’ll be good to see them both.
As soon as I close my eyes, I'm haunted by those deep brown eyes of my mystery guy. Every night he invades my dreams. Our night together replays over and over in my mind. My hand goes into my panties, and I let the images of us together play out as I begin to play with myself.
Five
Hudson
The sound of my cell ringing has me looking at Jagger, "It's my dad, tell everyone the meeting is in an hour, anyone not in attendance better be dying or else they're going to wish they were." I say through clenched teeth.
"Will do Boss." He tells me with a smile. The man is a fucking sadistic sonofabitch. He comes across as a sweet southern boy, but in actual fact, he's a stone-cold killer. He's my right-hand man, everything he does is on my say so.
"Hey, old man, everything good?" I ask as I answer the phone, noticing Jagger's smirk as he leaves my office, he'll have the boys rounded up and ready for a meeting. If anyone disobeys, he'll deal with them.
"Less of the old, thank you. I'm just calling to see what time you'll be here in the morning?"
I close my eyes and silently curse. Shit, I forgot about that fucking breakfast. "Sorry Dad, there's been a change of plans. I won't be there for breakfast."
"What do you mean you won't be here for breakfast?" He growls. The old man's pis
sed.
"Dad, I'm sorry, but I've got business to take care of."
"Hudson, your ass better be here for the party. Tina's excited to meet you. She's going to be upset now that you're no longer attending breakfast. She had hoped you'd meet Mia before the party." His voice vibrating with anger.
"Dad, I'll be there. You left me with a fucking shit storm that I'm trying to sort out. So it takes precedence over a breakfast. I'll be there for that party."
My dad used to run my business until he met Tina, he fell in love, and she told him that she wouldn't be with someone who lived the life he did. So he did the only thing he could do to keep the woman he loves. He gave up the title of boss and handed it to me. I was grateful, it was something I had been working toward. I always knew that when my father stepped down, I would take over, but no one expected it to happen this quickly. At twenty-seven, many believe I'm too young, that I'm too much of a hothead to lead this organization, and yet, here I am. I'm cleaning up the shit my father left us in. He went into business with the cartel, something I had strongly suggested against but he didn't listen, and now I'm stuck with a fucking piece of shit as my business partner.
"Watch it son." He warns me, "I may no longer be in charge, but you had better show some damn respect."
I laugh, "I do, I've shown you respect my entire life and yet when I told you not to do business with Juan, you chose to ignore me, and now I'm having to deal with his shit."
He sighs, "I know, okay, but think of the long run. Juan has connections down south that we don't have nor could we ever get."
He always thought of this business like a game of chess. Always at least one step ahead, most of the time he was four or five steps ahead, he planned everything out to a T and yet, he didn't plan for Tina to happen. Falling for her fucked everything up, she consumed him, and this organization suffered. Yet he jumped into business with Juan Álverez, of the Álverez Cartel without listening to the protests and now I’m stuck with the fucker.
"I still don't trust the guy. He's a liability. Not only that, my own men don't think I'm capable for this job. They're waiting on me to fuck up."
Forbidden Lust (The Kingpin Book 1) Page 4