Making the Grade (Wicked Warrens, #4)

by Marie Harte

  She swerved to miss a turtle in the road.

  Brian swore, “Hell. A simple no will do.”

  “Sorry. Turtle.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Her heart raced. “Brian, moving in together... It’s a big step.” Despite what she’d told Dylan, she had odd moments when she wondered if she’d be enough for Brian. Because unless she won the lottery, she doubted she’d ever come close to his wealth.

  “It is. A step I want to take with you. Faith, I—”

  She jerked the car again, not ready to hear him.

  He glared at her.

  “Turtle,” she croaked, then cleared her throat. “How about some music?”

  He sighed. “Fine. But you owe me some dirty talk and a massage later.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “For meeting your mother and all.”

  “You didn’t have to come.”

  The music filled the sudden silence between them.

  “Yes, I did,” he said sometime later.

  But by then she’d lost the thread of the conversation. She’d turned down the dirt road to her mother’s trailer. They’d arrived.

  Brian burned with curiosity to meet the woman Faith wanted to keep a deep, dark secret. Though she’d asked him to come, he felt as if he stood on the edge of a precipice. Waiting to take a test. One wrong move and he’d topple into a life without her.

  He’d wanted to tell her how he felt so many times before. But the timing had never been right. And it sure the hell wasn’t right now.

  They pulled up in front of a ragged mobile home amid a plethora of bushes and what appeared to be a flower garden. This early in the spring, not much had bloomed, though a pot of pansies cheerfully welcomed them.

  Faith parked the car and they got out. “Remember. Don’t mention your company or your money.” She hadn’t allowed him to drive either, not wanting to alert her mother to the scent of wealth.

  Brian thought her ridiculous. How bad could her mother be?

  Except as they drew closer, he saw the trailer shifting.

  Faith rubbed her temples. “Oh no.”

  A hoarse shout, followed by a woman’s passionate moans, met them both.

  “Is she...?”

  “Yes.” Faith looked miserable.

  Brian could only stare, openmouthed, at the rocking trailer. “So we should not be a-knockin’.”

  She blinked at him with wide eyes before laughing hysterically. “Oh God.”

  “That’s what she said.”

  She laughed harder, and he hoped she’d calmed down some. Her poor face had turned bright red.

  The trailer door opened, and an older man left, tucking his shirt into his trousers.

  “Come again, Ralph,” came a voice from inside the trailer. Alice appeared moments later, just as Ralph took off in his SUV. She looked like an older version of Faith. Beautiful but worn, and with a body that didn’t quit in a silky robe that reached her mid-thigh and barely covered her breasts.

  Alice saw Faith and her face lit up. “Hey, Faithie.” She left the trailer to greet her daughter.

  Faith cringed and forced a smile as she accepted her mother’s hug.

  Alice pulled back and pinched Faith’s cheek. “Still not a cuddly kid, are ya?” She turned her attention to Brian and arched a brow. “Well, hel-lo. What did you bring me?”

  “My boyfriend, Brian,” Faith said flatly. “I called yesterday. We’re here to celebrate your birthday, remember?”

  Alice chuckled, and her husky laugh sounded just like Faith’s.

  “Whoops. I forgot. I have a standing appointment with Ralph. My bad.”

  Brian watched them with fascination. Alice didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest to be half-naked and caught sexing it up with the now-absent Ralph.

  “Brian, huh?” She ambled closer, then gave him a once-over that made him uncomfortable. “You’re cute.”

  “Thanks.” I think.

  “Be right back. You can come on in or sit out here.”

  Faith dragged Brian with her to one of the two ratty lawn chairs by a table outside the trailer.

  “So,” he said after Alice had disappeared back inside. “That’s your mom.”

  Faith dropped her forehead to the table and groaned.

  Brian couldn’t help himself and started chuckling. Soon he was laughing so hard he cried.

  “It’s not funny,” Faith hissed.

  “It so is. We should introduce her to my father.” Brian kept laughing until he felt light-headed.

  “Oh God. What a nightmare that would be.” She laughed with him, and the sight of her green eyes melting, her full lips curling with mirth, broke him.

  He had to say it. “Faith, I love you.”

  She sputtered. “What?”

  Her mother stepped outside, now dressed in jeans and a tight sweater. “So where to for dinner?”

  The moment broken, Brian took them out to Alice’s favorite restaurant in Appling. They ate at a small diner with to-die-for strawberry rhubarb pie.

  Though Faith kept shooting him looks, she made no mention of his confession. Alice entertained, doing her level best to find out the state of his finances. But every time he readied to tell her the truth, not concerned in the slightest, Faith interrupted.

  “Well, Mom. We’d better get back. Happy birthday.” Faith tugged the check from Brian’s hand, but he pulled it back.

  “I have this.” Brian stood to pay, and after giving the cashier the bill and a tip, he returned to see the women glaring at each other over the table. “We all set?”

  “No, we aren’t.” Alice glanced up at him. “So what’s with you and my girl? She’s being awful protective.”

  “Of you?”

  “Of you,” Alice muttered. “God. I’m not trying to steal him away, Faithie. Is it wrong for your mother to know about your man?”

  Tired of letting Faith worry and twist in the wind, Brian took charge. He sat next to her, grabbed her by the hand, and put their clasped hands down on the table in front of her mother.

  “Alice.” She’d told him to call her that. “Faith is the most beautiful, smart, exciting woman I’ve ever met. I’ve asked her to move in with me, and if she’ll say yes, I’m eventually going to ask her to marry me.” Like, in the next week.

  Faith stared at him, not blinking.

  “Well, damn. Tell me more.” Alice grinned, and in her smile, he saw Faith.

  “I love her. But she’s shy. She’s an independent woman, and she doesn’t want to marry me for my money.”

  Alice’s eyes narrowed. “You’re rich then?”

  “Rich is subjective. I’m comfortable.” He took a deep breath, then let it all out. “Oh hell, I’m just going to lay it all on the table. I have my own home, car, business. I’m financially set. Socially, I have friends but don’t get along with my father. My mother is an absolute joy. And my sister is a wonderful woman, who happens to be in a relationship with two men.”

  Alice’s jaw dropped. “No shit?”

  “No shit.”

  Faith remained acutely quiet. He didn’t know if he should be worried or glad she’d finally let him speak.

  “Huh.” Alice stared at him. “So you love my Faithie?”

  “I do.”

  “Well?” Alice turned to Faith. “What’s the deal?”

  “I don’t know.” Faith sounded stiff. Not good.

  “How do you not know? He’s handsome, loaded and in love. Snap him up, girl.” Alice turned to him. “So how rich are you?”

  “Aaand we’re going.” Faith shoved him to move out of the booth.

  He slid out and stood. “Faith, hold on.”

  “No. We’re leaving. Come on, Mom. We’ll drive you back.”

  Alice sighed. “Girl can’t stand to talk about money. Well, how the hell can you survive without it, I’d like to know?”

  “Do you invest?” he asked her mother as they left the diner.

  Faith shot a furious look his way before
slamming into the car.

  Brian held the front door open for her mother, then climbed in the back.

  “I do, as a matter of fact. I have a savings account at the bank. Ralph’s the manager there.” She grinned.

  “Nice. How about a 401(k)?”

  She asked him questions about investing, which he answered, and he promised to have a look at her books, if she’d like.

  They pulled in front of her home, and Faith parked the car. She had yet to speak since the restaurant.

  Alice seemed pleased with the discussion as she got out of the car with Brian. She gave him a rough hug. “You are quite a man, Brian Goode.”

  “Thank you.” He liked her. He couldn’t have said why. She’d felt him up a little, embarrassed her daughter with direct questions about his finances, and made no bones about sleeping with men for money. But she had a strange goodness about her. Not an innocence or purity, but a decency at odds with her daughter’s apparent anger.

  “You treat her right,” Alice ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “She’s a good girl. Not like me.” Alice laughed. “A little too stiff, but she has a good heart.” Alice sighed. “Can’t handle a tickle and tumble though. Good luck with that.”

  Brian grinned. “Nice meeting you, Alice. I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

  “Count on it. And make sure you tell me if I’m losing money or not. I’ll mail you my statement.”

  By mail, he had a feeling she meant snail mail.

  Brian got back into the car while Faith hugged her mom through the car window.

  “Bye, baby.”

  “Bye, Mom.” Faith waved, then pulled away.

  After five solid minutes of silence—he’d timed it—Brian took the plunge.

  “Faith?”

  “Don’t talk to me.” Her fingers looked bloodless gripping the steering wheel.

  “What did I do?”

  “Don’t. Talk. To. Me.”

  He sighed and leaned back against the headrest. It was going to be a long trip back to the city.

  Chapter Eleven

  Faith pulled in to Brian’s driveway and sat there, so angry she didn’t know what to say.

  “Come on, Faith. The silent treatment is wearing thin. Just what did I do that was so wrong?”

  Oh. His smugness annoyed the crap out of her. “You’re not better than me, Brian. Or my mother.” She tacked that on out of allegiance to her mother, but they both knew she didn’t mean it.

  “What are you talking about?” He sounded annoyed as he straightened in his seat.

  She put the car in park and left it running. “The way you handled her. Just because she’s low class, and yeah, we caught her shacking up with some guy, she’s just....she’s my mom.”

  “Faith, I know,” he said quietly.

  “All that bullshit about loving me and marriage. You didn’t have to put on a show. Not for Alice.” Not for the woman who’d bend over and say pretty please if he dangled a twenty in front of her.

  “Faith, I wasn’t bullshitting you. I mean it.”

  “Yeah, right.” She gave an ugly laugh. “Poor little Faith Sumner. I should consider myself lucky to nab a rich guy like you. A nice man who patronizes an old tramp and has the younger one wrapped round his finger.” The ugly words continued to pour out, her shame over her humble roots and her mother’s crass behavior too much to endure. So she lashed out at the convenient target—Mr. Nice Guy.

  “Faith, stop it. I—”

  “Save it. Just get out. I don’t need your pity, and my mother doesn’t need your bigwig financial advice either. Don’t help her. Don’t help me. Just back off.”

  Brian scowled and put his hand on the door latch. He glared at her as he pulled it back and opened the door. “You’re the one with the bug up your ass. Not me. I thought your mother was fun, honest and open about who she is and what she values. Yeah, she likes money. We all do, Faith. But she loves you. If you weren’t so judgmental about the way we’re all supposed to fit into your neat little world, you’d see that.”

  He left the car and shut the door behind him. “Call me when you can see straight. I’m here. You’re the one leaving.”

  He just stood there while she backed out of the driveway and drove away. The stupid rich bastard.

  She wiped her eyes, unaware she’d been crying, and decided to give men a break for a while. Brian hadn’t deserved her vitriol. Just like he didn’t deserve to be shackled with some poor white trash trying to make good.

  She sniffled and drove home, feeling worse about herself than she had in a long time. She’d hurt Brian by being a real shit, and she didn’t know how to fix that without coming to some hard truths.

  The biggest one being that she didn’t deserve Brian, as much as she wished she did. Nice guys like him didn’t date the daughter of the town whore. They fucked and moved on. If he was smart, he’d turn his back and leave her in the dust. It was what she’d do.

  She spent a miserable week at work trying to forget Brian’s smile, his laugh, his body in hers. As her meeting with Rex approached, she faced it with dread. Would Brian have confided in Rex about her? About her mother? She’d never mixed work with her personal life. For all the people at HLE knew, her mother lived close. And that was it.

  For the past seven years she’d worked her tail off to be taken seriously as a vital asset to the company. Seducing her coworkers and sleeping her way to the top never entered her mind. The thought that Rex had seen her naked, and would soon be a client, made the experience ugly. Dirty.

  She couldn’t meet his gaze when he entered, and concentrated on shoving everything but business to the back of her mind. When she felt confident she could do that, she extended her hand.

  “Mr. Samson.”

  “Faith.” He nodded and smiled. No recriminating stare, no sexual advance, just a meeting between professionals.

  She eased into business and spoke at length from the file in front of her about what they could offer him. He asked smart questions, and she gave him the answers he needed.

  After an hour and a half, he called the meeting to a halt. “Excellent, Faith. You sold me on HLE. I’ll have my guys draw up the papers, and if you get a contract started, we’ll work some numbers. I have a good feeling we can make this happen.”

  She smiled, genuinely pleased to have accomplished something this week besides bad dreams and a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Rex sat back in his seat and crossed his ankle over his knee. “Now let’s talk about Brian.”

  Her grin faded. “I’m sorry?”

  “Something you should be telling him, I’m thinkin’.”

  She stiffened. “Oh? What did he say, exactly?”

  Rex frowned. “Nothing. Nothing at all, and I’m worried.”

  “Why?” Brian hadn’t told his best friend anything?

  “He fell hard for you, Faith. I mean, hard. He hasn’t been this gaga about a woman since Sienna Stevens. Back before she used him and threw him over for the captain of the football team in college. A girl out to get whatever she could from whoever had the most to give.”

  “That’s not me.”

  “No, it’s not.” Rex studied her, looking for something. “What the hell did you do to him? The guy’s head over heels in love with you. Knowing Brian, he told you, despite my advice to keep his feelings close. The moron has a thing about honesty, something I’ll never understand.”

  She gave a wan smile at his joke, then sobered, feeling her eyes start to burn that signaled oncoming tears. No. Not here at the office.

  Apparently Rex saw something, because he rose and locked the door to her office before sitting down again. “Faith?”

  “He can do much better than me. That’s all I’m saying.”

  Rex raised a brow. “Why? Are you another user? Trying to get sex or money from my boy? Maybe a connection to ramp up your business? Did you use him to get to me?”

  She laughed angrily at that. “I did
n’t even know you knew him. So how does that compute?”

  He shook his head. “Exactly. All I know is that you were like two peas in a pod at the fund-raiser. He told off his father, you told off Darcy Boob-Job Stanfield, and it was a thing of beauty to see you so in tune with each other. Next thing I know, he’s planning to wine and dine you until you move into his place. Except now he’s not talking to me or anyone, just working like a demon. And you’re pale and look miserable.”

  “It’s none of your business,” she said sharply, feeling terrible all over again. Brian was unhappy?

  “Come on. You can tell Uncle Rex. I’ve seen you naked.”

  She sputtered and swore. “Shut up.”

  “I’ll never tell. Swear.” He twisted an imaginary lock over his lips, but she couldn’t stop blushing at the thought it had really been Rex Samson touching himself while she and Brian...

  “Just go away,” she said, feeling miserable.

  “Happy to, if you’ll talk things out with Brian. If it’s over, just let it be over. Tell him. The guy’s in love with you, Faith. Brian doesn’t do anything halfway. If you’re not feeling the same, let him down easy, okay? For me.”

  She tried to laugh but it came out as a sob.

  Rex rounded her desk and caught her in his arms with a hug. “Oh, sugar. You’re as fucked-up as he is. You’re just sexier about it. Even with your mascara running.”

  She hiccupped. “Shut up.”

  “Please. Talk to him. I don’t know what happened between you, but he’ll make it right. He’s a great guy. He loves you. You’ll never find a more loyal, trustworthy—”

  “Stop already. It’s not him. It’s me.” Faith pulled away.

  “How’s that?”

  “I’m not good enough for him, okay?”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m white trash. You can dress it up, but at the end of the day, we are as we’re made.”

  “Bullshit.” He shook his head. “If you don’t want him, fine. But don’t sugarcoat fear with some melodramatic family crisis. Unless you’re sleeping with your daddy and your uncle and secretly the mama to your best friend’s new baby, this drama is played out.

  “None of us come from money except the Judge. Brian walked away from the man with nothing but college debt. He worked his ass off to make a man of himself. Not to get rich, but to get character, as he likes to tell me. Hell, my parents were just like his. They have a history in this town, so the Judge likes them. But they were dirt-poor while I was growing up. Daddy invested and made some cash. Big deal. We’ve all been where you are. Brian sure the hell has. Difference is, he’s not using his past as a crutch to keep him from finding someone to love.