Eternal Temptations (The Tempted Series Book 6)

by Janine Infante Bosco

  I take a minute to throw the bowl and spoon into the sink, figuring that’s how long I had until he made another mess out of something. Riggs baby-proofed the apartment, well, sort of. He bought those foam noodles you buy for the pool, cut them in half and duck taped them to every straight edge and sharp corner. I tried explaining to him they sold all sorts of gadgets, and he didn’t have to make his own but there wasn’t any way to convince him. The other day when Eric started opening the cabinets, I went to Babies R Us and bought the baby proof locks before Riggs engineered some sort of device to keep them closed.

  The thing about baby proof locks is sometimes they work so well the adults can’t open them either. The locks went out the window when Riggs wound up pulling the cabinet off the hinge. Now, if you look at our kitchen, there are chain links tied around the knobs, and every cabinet is secured with a padlock. I don’t even remember the code to open the fucking things and gave up trying to figure them out.

  I turn around just in time to watch Eric rip his diaper off and run around the coffee table naked.

  Please don’t poop.

  Please don’t pee.

  The doorbell rings as I chase Eric around the table, attempting to put a new diaper on before I had a bigger mess. I’ve learned how to put his diaper on while he stands. I’m like a damn magician when it comes to those things, that Brady Bunch lady ain’t got nothing on me.

  I grab Eric, lift him in the air as the bell rings again and yank the door open just as my sweet baby boy pees all over me.

  “Oh dear Lord,” my guest screeches in horror, forcing my eyes away from my wet t-shirt to the couple standing at my door. The woman is immaculately dressed in linen pants and a deep navy, cowl neck, short sleeve shirt that matches her leather pumps. Her blonde hair perfectly drawn away from her face, fixed in a stylish braid, her face had minimal make-up. She didn’t need make-up, a natural beauty that didn’t have a wrinkle on her flawless skin. If I had to guess she was in her early fifties and that’s only judging by the man with graying hair that stood beside her, dressed in a three-piece suit.

  I was used to the suit thing, my brother had spent most of his life hanging around mobsters dressed just like the man before me, but it was clear this guy wasn’t from that life. No these two people weren’t part of the get rich or die trying lifestyle, they were born wealthy; it was in their DNA.

  What I didn’t get was why the hell they were here, looking at me and my son as if we were aliens.

  “Can I help you?”

  Mrs. Fancy Pants opened her mouth but Mr. Three-Piece Suit was the one who actually spoke.

  “We’re looking for Robert Montgomery,” he declares, clearing his throat as he raises an eyebrow at Eric who is picking food out of my hair and flicking it at them.

  “Riggs isn’t home,” I reply, swatting Eric’s hand from my hair as I narrow my eyes at the couple. What the hell did he get himself into now?

  “Riggs? What is a Riggs?” The woman questions.

  The man inches closer to the woman’s ear.

  “That’s his alias,” he informs her.

  “I’m sorry, who are you people?” I ask gritting my teeth as my son pulls on my hair.

  “We’re Robert’s parents and you must be the girl he impregnated. Is this the child?”

  I didn’t even have a chance to dwell on the whole impregnated thing as my eyes bulged and threatened to fall from their sockets. Oh my God! These people were Riggs’ parents. Here I was with pee on my shirt, spaghetti in my hair and a naked baby on my hip.

  Yeah, their son really struck gold with me.

  I was the pick of the litter.

  “Oh my God! I’m sorry, please come in,” I say, moving aside and glancing over my shoulder at the apartment. For fuck’s sake it looked like a tornado hit the place. Then I remembered what I looked like, talk about a twister.

  They carefully step foot inside the apartment, stepping over toys and whatever else was lying on the floor. I watch as Riggs’ dad stares down at his shoes and my bra that lay beside his fancy loafer.

  I shake my head, bending down to snatch the bra and sheepishly smile at my—in laws?

  What a nightmare.

  I try to balance Eric in my arms as he tries to wiggle free from them, reaching out to his grandparents.

  “I’m Lauren,” I say hopelessly, forcing a smile as I glance at Eric and my hope becomes restored. These people came here to meet their grandson, they don’t care about what the house looks like or what I look like for that matter. I smile genuinely as I turn to Riggs’ parents.

  “And this little guy is Eric,” I introduce. “Eric, say hi to grandma and grandpa.”

  Riggs’ dad coughs or maybe he was choking. I couldn’t be sure but his mother looked as if she was having a stroke. Her whole face turned red like a tomato, and the drop out nurse within surfaced, knowing that was a sure sign of high blood pressure.

  “Mr. Montgomery, can I get you a glass of water?”

  The man continues to hack up a lung, and I extend my son into his grandmother’s arms.

  “Hold him a second while I get him a glass of water,” I insist, placing Eric into her arms and watch as she holds him at arm’s length. “He doesn’t bite,” I add before taking off for the kitchen.

  Well, except for that one time when he bit my leg and drew blood. I grab the first cup I see, a Mickey Mouse sippy cup and fill it with water. I didn’t bother screwing on the cap with the crazy straw, something tells me these people are the type who use the fancy crystal my mother only breaks out on holidays.

  At that moment, Riggs comes barreling through the front door as I turn around.

  “Kitten, I’m home!” He calls, kicking the door closed as he continues to look at something on his phone. “And I’m fucking horny as—” I cringe as the words fly from his mouth and thrust the cup toward Mr. Montgomery, spilling it all over the front of his suit.

  “What the ever-living fuck is this?” Riggs stammers.

  “Riggs! Language,” I scold, eying our son.

  Mrs. Montgomery gasps as she peers over Eric’s shoulder and looks at her son for what I assume is the first time in years.

  “What the hell did you do to yourself?” She shrieks.

  Riggs pulls his sunglasses off and closes the distance between him and his mother, taking Eric from her before turning toward me.

  “Are you off your rocker? Why did you let them in here?”

  “You’re covered in tattoos!” His mother declares.

  “They’re your parents what was I supposed to do? Slam the door in their face?”

  “Yes, absolutely!” He hisses, shifting Eric into his other arm. “Are you okay? They didn’t try to sell you to the highest bidder did they?” He asks our son, examining him thoroughly before looking back and forth between his mother and father.

  “Robert,” Mr. Montgomery starts, clearing his throat as he wrings out his suit jacket.

  “Riggs, my name is Riggs,” he corrects, gritting his teeth.

  “Fine, fine,” the father says, holding up his hands in defeat. “Lenore, stop gawking at his tattoos for heaven’s sake, you are only making matters worse.”

  “It gets worse than a Satan tattooed on his arm?” She asks outraged. “Is that why you have an alias, are you part of some devil worshipping cult?”

  Riggs turns to me. “I’m sorry, Kitten, but I can’t duck my way out of this one. No, this one deserves a good old fashioned fuck,” he grunts, whipping around to face his mother. “Are you fucking shitting me, lady?”

  “Robert, Riggs, whatever the hell you’re calling yourself these days, we didn’t come here to cause any trouble,” Mr. Montgomery explains.

  Riggs raises his eyebrows as he stares at his father incredulously before narrowing his eyes and pointing an accusing finger at his father, then his mother, the finger moving back and forth between both parents causing me to become dizzy as I try to follow it.


  “Wait a minute,” Riggs says. “Wait just one damn minute. What the hell are you two doing together in the first place?” He turns to his mother. “Shouldn’t you be chasing after, what is it you're up to husband number five?” He asks before diverting his eyes to his father. “And you, how come you’re not off striking oil somewhere in the Gulf or wherever it is you dig holes.”

  “Fernando and I didn’t work out and your father doesn’t dig holes. If you paid any kind of mind to his business, maybe you wouldn’t be living like this,” She says, spreading her arms wide as she gestures to our apartment.

  Well now, that was just mean. Sure, the apartment looked like it had been ransacked by a pack of ninjas but we had a rambunctious toddler running the show. Didn’t she remember what it was like when Riggs was a baby?

  “It’s really not as bad as it looks,” I argue.

  “Don’t do that, shit, Lauren,” Riggs interrupts, pinning me with a glare, shaking his head. My eyes widen at the use of my name and not the nickname he was so fond of.

  The Tiger meant business.

  “We don’t owe these people shit, least of all an explanation as to how we live,” he chastises before turning his glare onto his parents. “Now, you don’t get to show up on my doorstep and ridicule me and my family.”

  “Robert if you would just let us speak—”

  “Ain’t nothing you say I want to hear,” Riggs seethes as he caresses Eric’s back mindlessly. Eric leans his head against his dad’s chest and starts to calm.

  “We don’t even know who you are anymore,” Lenore comments, shaking her head as she shoves a hand at him, letting her eyes travel the length of him. “You look like a street thug, not a Montgomery.”

  “Lenore, that’s enough,” Mr. Montgomery shouts.

  “You’ve got ten seconds to get the fuck out of my house before this street thug drags your ass down to the gutter,” Riggs threatens.

  “I told you we should’ve called,” Mr. Montgomery hisses, grabbing Lenore’s elbow before piercing his son with a look. “We’ll go for now, but we’ll be back. We came here for a reason, son.” He diverts his eyes to mine. “It was nice to meet you, Lisa.”

  “Her name is Lauren,” Riggs hisses, grabbing my arm and pulling me to his side. “Get out,” he demands. “And do yourself a favor, forget the reason you came here. Neither of you are welcome in my house or around my son,” he grounds out.

  I stare at Riggs’ parents, albeit they were rude and thought the sun shined out of their asses, but they were still his parents, still Eric’s grandparents. I kept my mouth shut and watched Mr. Montgomery’s face fall and Lenore’s remain perfectly frozen in place. She had a hard face, nothing inviting and loving about it and made me thank God for my mother. Maria Bianci was crazy as hell but she would give you the shirt off her back and was always there for me and Anthony. Lenore Montgomery, or whatever her last name was these days, was not the mother you rushed to in your time of need.

  I glanced back at Riggs as he kept his eyes trained on the door.

  “Out,” he hollers, startling Eric who was falling asleep in his arms.

  Mr. Montgomery reaches into his pocket and extends his hand, offering me his business card.

  “Lenore and I would like to get to know our grandson,” he explains as I take the card from him. “It was nice to meet you, Lisa,” he adds.

  “Lauren, her fucking name is Lauren,” Riggs mutters, taking the card from my hand, before he walks toward the front door and pulls it open.

  His parents hesitate a moment before starting for the door. Mr. Montgomery pauses in front of Riggs, lifting his hand to Eric’s head but deciding against it at the last minute.

  “He looks just like you,” Mr. Montgomery says before walking out. Riggs slams the door behind them.

  I stare intently at Riggs, watching as he takes deep breaths through his nose and releases them through his mouth, mindlessly running his hand gently down Eric’s back.

  “Riggs,” I start, not really knowing what to say. We never spoke much about his parents but I knew enough to know they were estranged. Riggs washed his hands of them long ago and never looked back. He took his own detour away from the lifestyle of the rich and famous and found what made him happy. He found the Satan’s Knights and then he found me. Still, watching him interact with the people who brought him into this world, the resentment he harbored toward them so evident, it made me want to peel back the multi-faceted layers of him and discover who he was before the MC, before the name Riggs, when he was simply Robert Montgomery.

  “I’m going to put Eric down for his nap,” he says, snapping out of his trance as he walks off toward the baby’s room.

  I stare after him a moment before turning around and groaning as my eyes scan the mess. I’m pretty sure I failed at making a good first impression on Riggs’ parents, I suppose we’re even now. After all, he did gag my mother the first time he met her.

  Yeah, we were awesome at meeting the parents.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Staring down at my son, I brace my hands on the edge of the crib and watch him sleep peacefully, knowing he’s the only cure to the anger flooding my veins. It’s pretty much a mind fuck to think the one thing that calms me and brings me back to focus is my son. I was so scared to be a father and not just because I was the pimp daddy of the MC world but because I had no fucking idea what being a dad entailed. I don’t have memories with my father, and my mother’s a nagging witch who still tries to use me to keep up with appearances. They hired a fleet of nannies to raise me and when I was old enough to break free from them I fled like a nun running away from a whore house. If it wasn’t for my best friend Bones and his mother, who was our housekeeper, I wouldn’t know how to be a man.

  “Don’t worry little guy, those vultures won’t get a chance to sink their claws in you,” I promise as I grit my teeth.

  Fuck that.

  I press a kiss to my son’s head before turning to leave him to his nap and face Kitten. Running my fingers through my hair, I let out a groan knowing I’m about to be interrogated by my favorite feline. I was in no mood to rehash my shitty childhood but I knew Lauren wouldn’t let that shit die. She’s a woman, asking questions came with the chromosome. I blame this shit on my dick, if I wasn’t horny, I wouldn’t have come home early, I would still be at the clubhouse. I never would’ve laid eyes on the two people I never wanted to see again as long as I lived.

  Kitten is waiting for me in the living room nervously biting her lip and staring into space. She lifts her head when she hears me walk into the room and pushes her glasses further onto the bridge of her nose.

  “Riggs—”

  “Why would you let those people in here?” I interrupt.

  She blinks, her big blue eyes narrow as she stares at me with confusion.

  “They’re your parents,” she says incredulously.

  “No, they’re not,” I insist, waving my hand between me and her. “You and me? We’re parents. Those two assholes don’t know the first thing about being parents. For fuck’s sake, you were there, you saw how that woman held our son. She held Eric like he carried the Ebola virus.”

  “So maybe they’re different—”

  “Different? God, Kitten, open your eyes,” I growl, losing my patience and my sanity, and losing it with the person who didn’t deserve this side of me. Still, I couldn’t help myself and unleashed the fury building inside my gut since the moment I stepped foot inside this apartment and saw my parents with my family.

  “Baby,” she starts, closing the distance between us as she runs her hands down my arms, lacing our hands together. “My eyes were open and yes, your mother needs some work but your dad? I don’t know,” she shrugs. “He looked sincere. He looked at you and he looked at Eric…he cared.”

  “Don’t you think for one moment those people came here with good intentions. They found out they have a grandkid, not too sure how the fuck that happened but whatever.
Eric carries the Montgomery name, and that shit means a lot in my parents’ world. They look at me and then our kid and they don’t want him to turn out like me, they need someone to rule their fucking empire after they croak.”

  I pull my hands away from Lauren’s and run them over my face in frustration.

  “They figure they can mold him to be the perfect heir,” I continue, tearing my hands away from my face and pinning Lauren with a hard stare. “I don’t want them near Eric.”

  “Riggs—” she starts.

  “Lauren, it’s not up for discussion. I don’t want them near him or you for that matter.”

  “So if they show up here again, then what? Slam the door in their face?”

  “Yes, and if you have a problem doing it then call me and I’ll come home and take care of them.”

  “Riggs, people change. Why don’t you take a few days to think about it, maybe even give your dad a call and hear him out? Give them the benefit of the doubt. Who knows, maybe finding out they have a grandson is a second chance for them—maybe they can right all the wrongs they did with you.”

  I fell in love with Lauren for many reasons but mainly because of her heart. She’s good people, loves big and fights hard for what she believes in. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman but right now I wish her heart was a little bit smaller, her will to fight for what she believes in not so strong. I wish she’d realize not everyone is worthy of a second chance.

  She closes the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my neck and peering up at me from the rim of her glasses.

  “I’m not doubting you have your reasons for feeling how you do but I always wished my dad would’ve walked back into my life, that he’d realize what he walked away from and want to be a part of my life, especially after Eric was born. My dad isn’t coming back, Riggs, and while your parents didn’t walk away from you they came looking for you. Your father is the only chance Eric has of having a grandpa.”