by Chelle Bliss
“Why?”
“He’s my brother, and I’ll vomit.”
“Fine. Are you still in bed?”
“Yes.”
I felt like I was on an episode of Family Feud in the bonus round with the way she was rapidly firing questions off at me.
“Get dressed and meet me for lunch. I think we need to go shopping again.”
“Why?” I grumbled and struggled to sit upright. “I don’t think I can walk around the mall.”
“Get your slutty ass up and get dressed. You need more lingerie and clothes. It’s time to throw out the tracksuits and keep that man coming back for more.”
I kicked off the covers and stood on wobbly legs. “I don’t think he cares about my clothes, Mar.”
“He’s Bear. He’s a badass biker. He doesn’t want Sophia standing next to him, with her glasses hanging by a chain.”
“Fuck off,” I told her as I spotted a note on the floor.
“You know I’m right. One o’clock by Macy’s,” she told me before she hung up.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and tried to focus on the blurry words.
Franny,
I didn’t want to wake you. I’ll call later. Rest up, sweetheart, I’m not done with you yet.
Bear
When I woke, my heart had been the only part of me that didn’t feel battered. But after reading his words and thinking of all the possibilities, it started to beat wildly. I collapsed backward onto the bed and clutched his note to my chest. The scent of him, musky and strong, clung to the paper.
Fuckin’ Maria. She was right. I needed to break out of my shell a bit further. I needed to shed my skin, ala my favorite tracksuits, and join the dating world again. To trap a man like Bear, I had to dress like a woman and not a grandma.
* * *
Walking through the parking lot, I had to stop more than a few times to rub out the aches in my calves. Each one a reminder of the delicious night I’d spent with Bear.
“Jesus,” Mar complained before I even had a chance to step onto the sidewalk. “I’m melting out here.”
“No one told you to wait outside.” I walked past her and opened the door, loving the feel of the air conditioning as it washed over me.
“I need something cold to drink before we start shopping.”
It was her code for getting my ass in a seat and prying all the details of last night out of me. “I’m not giving you the details.”
“You’re a cruel woman, Fran. Cruel,” she complained, following close behind me as her heels clicked against the linoleum flooring of the department store.
I stopped walking and spun around, narrowing my gaze. “How did you even know I was with him last night?”
“Joe told me.”
“Aha.” I pointed at her. “That’s my point. Nothing is secret.”
“What?” She shrugged before smiling. “He called to tell me that it’s all my fault. He knows I took you shopping, and he blames me for setting you two up.”
I walked away from her and headed toward the mall entrance nearest the food court. “Tell him to mind his own business.”
She caught up, standing at my side. “I did.”
I rubbed my neck and tried to ease the stress of the entire situation out of my muscles. “Fucking kids. They’re so goddamn nosy.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“I swear they’re trying to get us back for being good, caring mothers.”
As we were peering up at the coffee shop menu, she said, “You were a little over the top.”
“Shut up, Mar. I had one kid to look after. I got carried away. I can’t help that you pushed out a small army.”
“I hover. I know I butt into their lives, but sometimes they seem to forget that I’m the parent.”
“I’ll take a trip caf half non-fat mocha,” I told the pimply faced teenager behind the register.
She turned around and stared up at the menu. “I’m not sure what that is, ma’am.”
I looked at Maria and rolled my eyes. “Order me something sweet, please. I don’t know why coffee has to be so fucking complicated.”
Maria motioned toward the bustling food court. “Go find us a seat, and I’ll get the coffee.”
“Fine,” I grumbled under my breath as I walked away and found a seat nearby.
I glanced around the food court and felt like I fit in for the first time in a long time. No more elastic-trimmed pants and front-zip jackets. Those were gone and replaced by skinny jeans and form-fitting shirts. I couldn’t forget the latest high-tech bra from the store that reeked of too much perfume, just down the way from where I sat.
“Here,” Maria said, startling me as she placed some cold, blended beverage in a clear cup in front of me.
“What is it?” I stared at it like it had two heads.
“Some fracka something. I don’t know.” She pushed the drink closer to me. “It’s good. Just drink it.”
I wrapped my lips around the green straw and took a sip. To my surprise, it tasted amazing and hit the spot on such a hot, sticky day in Florida. “Thanks,” I said after licking the remnants of the concoction off my lips.
“So let’s talk trash.” She rubbed her hands together and smiled. “Tell me every dirty detail.”
I fidgeted with the cup, wiping away the moisture that started to dot the outside. “What do you want to know?”
“Is he big?”
“Um, his nickname is Bear.”
“I know, dumbass. I’m talking about his cock.”
“It’s pretty.” I giggled and felt my cheeks flush. “And larger than I expected.”
“Really?” She tapped her finger against her coffee. “Tell me more. If you leave anything out, I’ll tell Morgan.”
My eyes widened in shock. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. I’ve been known to blackmail a person or two. I have leverage, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
I sighed and knew it was futile to fight with her and keep quiet. She’d eventually get it out of me. And I was actually excited also—I needed to share what happened with someone, and Maria was the only option who could possibly keep my secret without judgment.
By the time I finished telling her every detail, down to the way he tasted, she was sweating and holding her drained yet still perspiring cup against her neck. “Well, fuck. That’s hot.”
“Yeah,” I said and drained the last bit of fracka-whatever from my glass, but I still felt parched.
“Are you going to see him again?”
“Yep. He wants to see me again, and I can’t say no. Especially after last night.”
She straightened in her chair and leaned forward, becoming serious. “How are you going to explain this to Morgan?”
“Um,” I mumbled and mimicked her by leaning forward too. “What is there to explain? I’m an adult, he’s an adult, and it’s none of his fucking business.”
She laughed and bit down on her lip. “It’s about to get really interesting around here.”
I crossed my arms on the table and lowered my voice. “He doesn’t need to find out.”
“Keep living in your dreamland.”
“Just keep your trap shut.”
She pretended to zip her lips. “My lips are sealed.”
At least I knew I had a little time until the shit hit the fan. Morgan hadn’t even entered my thoughts last night when I’d crawled into Bear’s lap. He smelled too good and spoke to me too sweetly for my body not to respond. I hadn’t expected it to be…so…so amazing. I hadn’t planned on him being a gentleman with a raging sexual appetite more befitting a twenty-year-old. But the only thing I knew was that I wasn’t willing to walk away from him just yet.
“Are we going to shop or sit here all day?” I asked when I felt stiffness start to seep into my leg muscles.
“Let’s go get my girl some gear that screams ‘fuck me.’”
“Great.” I rolled my eyes and pushed back the chair, letting it scrape against the tile ju
st to annoy her.
By the time we walked out of the mall, the sun had set in the sky and the cement let off heat in waves that looked like a mirage. “I’m exhausted,” I said as I threw ten bags of clothing, underwear, shoes, and bras in the back of my tiny little SUV.
“Go home and nap. Recharge for round two,” she snickered while she fished her keys out of her purse.
“I could use some sleep.”
She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “I have to get home and cook dinner. Sal will be home soon from the golf course.”
“Make him take you out,” I told her as I slammed the door closed on the back of my SUV.
“No way. I’m cooking, and he’s eating.” She waggled her eyebrows up and down, and I pretended to vomit.
“I’ve got to go.”
“Bye,” she said as she laughed and walked toward her car in the next row.
“Talk later,” I called out and waved.
“Only if Sal unties me!”
I glanced toward the sky and sighed. She always had to leave me with the most disturbing mental images. I needed to scrub that one from my mind if I was ever to have sex again. “Fuckin’ Maria,” I muttered as I climbed into my car that felt more like an oven than an automobile.
Even after the air conditioning blasted me in the face the entire way home, looking like some old, haggard supermodel in an eighties’ rock-band video, I was still hot. But the heat wasn’t from the sun. It was from the memories of last night, playing in my head like a porn video.
When I walked through the front door with my hands full of packages, the phone was ringing off the hook. Before I could get to it, it switched over to my answering machine.
“Fran?” a man said, but the voice didn’t sound familiar. There was urgency in his tone as he spoke. “It’s Johnny. I need to talk to you.”
I tossed the bags to the floor and went running to the phone. “Hello!” I sucked in a breath, trying to recover from the long run across my living room. “Hello,” I repeated when I didn’t hear anything. “Fuck!” I stared at the phone, knowing he’d already hung up.
I hurried up and dialed the one person I knew would want to know. “Bear,” I said as soon as he picked up. I didn’t even give him a chance to say hello. “Johnny just called.”
“It’s Morgan, Ma.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and glanced down at it, confused. Did I dial the wrong number? “Morgan?” I asked and placed the phone on my shoulder so I could pick up the clothes scattered across the carpeting.
“Yep. It’s me. What did he say?”
“Nothing. Just that he needed to talk to me, and by the time I got to the phone, he hung up.”
“I really wish you had caller ID sometimes, Ma. I’m going to call my buddy at the phone company and have the number traced. If he calls back, play along and try to get his location from him. Okay?”
“I will. Promise.”
“And, Ma?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“We’ll talk about why you called Bear instead of me later.”
“Bye, Morgan,” I groaned and disconnected the call before he could say anything more. I peered around the living room and tipped over onto my ass. “Fuck.”
Just like Lucy, I had some ’splaining to do.
Chapter Eleven
Bear
I flipped through a file Sam had gathered about Johnny when I walked into my office and found Morgan talking on my phone. “Why are you behind my desk?”
He held up a finger, but he didn’t look up. Sitting down across from him, I kicked my feet up on the desk and shuffled through the information.
“He just called her.” He then rattled off Fran’s phone number, and I glanced up at him and narrowed my eyes. “Trace it and get back to me with a location,” he told the person on the other line before hanging up the phone.
“Who called your ma?”
He glared at me and leaned back in my chair. “You know her number by heart already?”
“I’ve called her about the case enough that I have it memorized.” I fucking lied my ass off because I wasn’t ready for the talk.
“We’ll talk about it later. Johnny just called her.”
I threw the folder on the edge of my desk and leaned forward. “What exactly did he say?”
Slippery fucker. I couldn’t believe he had the balls to call her after running off with fifty thousand dollars of Race’s money.
“Just that he needed to talk to her.”
“What the fuck is there to talk about? He stole money, lied, and ran away.” My hand started to shake and I fisted it, then I released it because I couldn’t pound Johnny in the face.
“I don’t know. It’s funny how she called your phone and not mine.”
“What?”
“I was in here dropping off a file when her number flashed across the caller ID.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to come up with some bullshit excuse. “I’ve talked to her more than anyone about the case, so it’s only natural she called me first.”
“Listen, Bear. You’ve been a great friend to me for years now, but what in the fuck were you thinking, taking my mom to the Neon Cowboy?”
I crossed my arms in front of my chest, cocking my head at the man and the question. “What’s wrong with it there?”
He scrubbed his hand across his forehead and exhaled loudly. “It’s dangerous. It’s no place for a woman her age.”
I held my hand out and stopped him from continuing. “Hold up. What kind of shitty statement is that?”
“Well, it’s true. It’s a biker bar. My mom isn’t really the typical clientele.”
“You go there.”
“But I’m a man.”
And here I’d thought the younger generation wasn’t a bunch of sexist pigs—my mistake. “There’s nothing wrong with that bar. Your mom wanted to go, and I had no problem taking her with me.” I eyed him with suspicion. I assumed it had more to do with her being there with me than the actual type of bar it was. “Where should she be?”
“I dunno.” He shrugged. “Church.”
I couldn’t hold my laughter in as I doubled over and slapped my leg. “You’ve got to be shitting me, man.”
“Just don’t bring her there again. And—” He cleared his throat, and I knew what was coming next. “I’d appreciate it if you kept your relationship strictly professional. I don’t need my mom to become another notch in your belt. If you get my drift.”
“Kid.” I shook my head because I knew he had a set on him, but I wasn’t going to cater to his dreams. I wasn’t about to confess my love or tell him how many times I’d already fucked Fran either. “Your mom is a grown-ass woman. She can make decisions for herself. I’ve treated your mother with nothing but respect, and I’ll continue to do so, but you don’t get to decide what type of friendship your mother and I have.”
Leaning forward, he pinched the bridge of his nose, and I was ready for him to leap across the desk. “I’ve seen you with enough women to know what you do, Bear. I’m trying to be nice and talk to you man-to-man, but I won’t stay so cordial for long. Friendship only goes so far, my friend.”
The phone rang, but just as I was about to answer, Morgan grabbed it first. “You got it?” he said to the caller and grabbed a pen that sat near the top of my desk calendar.
Fuck, don’t look at what it says.
I spent the morning scribbling Fran’s name around the edges while I made various phone calls. He didn’t give it a second look but jotted down a number on a blank space.
“Thanks, Tim.” He tapped the pen against the calendar and stared straight at me as they continued to chat for a few more seconds. “Well,” he said as he hung up the phone. “Looks like he’s in a small town in Georgia.”
“I can leave now,” I told him because it was partly my case too.
“No, I’ll go. You stay here in case he’s already gone.”
“Okay.” I smiled. “I’ll keep Fran bu
sy.” I knew that would piss him off and make him sing a different tune.
His face reddened. “Like hell, you will. Get your shit, and let’s get out of here.”
I got to my feet quickly and grabbed my cell phone off the desk, shoving it in my pocket. “I’m ready.”
“Don’t you want any clothes? We’ll probably be gone at least a night.”
“I have a bag just in case of emergencies.”
“Of course you do,” he grumbled and gave me a sideways glance as he stood.
Although I always loved a road trip, especially when it could lead to some trouble, I wasn’t exactly thrilled about being trapped in the car with Morgan. “I’ll run and get my car.”
“No. I’ll drive,” he corrected me. “You’re just coming so I can keep an eye on you.”
“I’m not twelve.”
“No, but you’re making the moves on my mom, and I can’t be worried about you instead of having my head in the game.”
I wasn’t about to tell him that I’d already made my moves. He’d probably shoot my ass before I even had a chance to defend myself. “Anything you want.” I smiled wryly.
* * *
We made it to the tiny town outside of Valdosta before sunset. Most of the drive I slept since Morgan decided he didn’t much feel like talking to me.
“What a shithole,” I said as we scouted the tiny bar where the phone call had originated from.
“I’ve been in worse.”
“Excuse me.” I waved the lady bartender over. “Hey,” I said with a smile to the almost pretty woman behind the bar. “We’re looking for someone and hope you can help.”
She looked me up and down, her lifeless eyes drifting over to Morgan for a second. “You gonna order something?”
“Yeah, we’ll take two Millers.” I slid a twenty on the counter. “Keep the change, doll.” I winked.
She smiled brightly before snatching the money away and shoving it in her front pocket with her bony arms. “Lots of people come in and out of here.” She dug in the beer cooler under the bar, but she never took her eyes off us. “I don’t know if I can help.”