by Mia Knight
“I love your hair,” Mom said.
“Thanks!” She fluffed her hair. “I feel much better now.”
“Where’s your car?”
“I took a cab home. Can you drive me to the hotel after?”
“Sure. Did you have fun last night?”
“Yes. I went out with Shonda and a bunch of other people. I felt a little old dancing with twenty-somethings, but it’s all good.”
She snatched two bananas and a water bottle as she followed her mother out to the car. Her mother handed her the car keys, which she accepted without comment. Putting the old Toyota in gear filled her with nostalgia.
“You doing good, Mama?” Carmen asked as she ate her banana and drove.
“Of course.”
Her mother’s friends bullied her into participating in so many classes and clubs that her mother was barely home. She appeared to be happy, but Carmen wanted to make sure.
“Do you need money?” she asked as she pulled into a Starbucks drive-through.
Mom patted her knee. “No, thanks, honey.”
“Are you sure?”
“I have what I need.”
“You’d tell me if you didn’t, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, what do you want to drink?”
By the time they entered the dance class, Carmen was ready to cha-cha her ass off. She was the youngest person in the class, but that didn’t bother her in the least. She hugged and kissed her mother’s friends and was bathed in their heavy perfume. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. There were only a handful of men in the class. They made a big show of kissing her hand and making jokes like, “If I was forty years younger, baby, you’d have to make a run for it.”
Carmen was glad to see that she hadn’t overdressed. The room was a colorful mix of dresses, heels, and scarves. These women were dressed to impress. The instructors started the class with a walking step, which was torturously slow, but she passed the time by getting to know her rascal dance partner, Marv, a widower with two sons and a daughter in college. The class started to get more interesting when the instructors added side steps and rock steps. The pace picked up, and her brow became slick with sweat. Holy cow, no wonder her mom looked forty. Geez. She really needed to get back into her stripper workout classes. This cha-cha class was kicking her ass.
After the class, they went to a restaurant within walking distance. Carmen became the topic of conversation as the women offered their advice on love, loss, marriage, and tips to find an eligible man. Most of the women offered their own sons. She politely declined and said that she was happily single and independent. This started several heated discussions about whether it was better to be alone or with a man. She had to distract them with a platter of desserts and decaf coffee. In the middle of the commotion, her cell rang.
“Hey, Alice, what’s up?”
“Do you want to help with an animal adoption?” Alice sounded a bit breathless.
“Sure. When is it?”
“Next week. I contacted the shelters, and they’re overloaded, so I had to move up the event a lot earlier than I expected. We’re doing the adoption at Cimarron Elementary next Saturday at eight. I’m having a meeting here at five today if you can make it. We can do dinner after.”
“Okay, I’ll be there.” Carmen looked at the group of elderly people. Maybe some of them needed a furry companion?
“I tried to call Lyla, but she didn’t pick up. Can you check with her?”
“No problem.”
“Thank you so much. See you in a couple of hours!”
She snatched the bill from their pregnant server before anyone noticed and gave her credit card before she announced at large, “There’s going to be an animal adoption at Cimarron Elementary next Saturday. It starts at eight. Do any of your grandkids want a pet?”
She answered their questions to the best of her ability as the server asked her to sign the receipt. She added a large tip for the server who, despite being exhausted, had been kind and patient with the inquisitive, indecisive elders. Her new friends were shocked, and a bit outraged when they discovered she paid the bill.
“You can repay me by bringing someone to the animal adoption next Saturday,” Carmen said.
“You’re a good girl. Isabel raised you right,” a woman said and patted her on the cheek.
It took over fifteen minutes to say goodbye to her new friends. She linked her arm through her mother’s and was about to duck into the car when the server hurried out of the restaurant.
“I think you made a mistake! Did you add an extra zero to the tip by accident?”
Carmen put on her sunglasses. “No, I didn’t. Are you having a boy or a girl?”
“I’m having one of each. But this tip is—”
“Buy the twins something from me,” Carmen said as she slipped behind the wheel.
“What’s your name?”
“Carmen Pyre.”
“Pyre? As in Pyre Casinos? You’re related to Gavin Pyre?”
Carmen resisted the urge to grimace. “Through marriage.”
“I heard the Pyres have been doing great things in the community,” the server said. “It’s a shame what happened at the hospital last week.”
“It is.” The hospital attack had slipped her mind since it had been eclipsed by later events. “If you want the twins to have a furry friend, there’s going to be an animal adoption on Saturday at Cimarron Elementary. You should come. It’ll be fun.”
“Thank you so much. You don’t know how much I needed this!”
“You’re welcome. Take care of yourself,” she said before she ducked into the car and started the engine.
“That was nice of you, honey,” Mom said, taking her hand.
“It’s the least I could do. What am I going to do with all my money?”
Her mother shuddered. “I don’t even want to know how much money Vinny left you.”
“He left me a bundle,” Carmen said with a shrug, “and I have investments of my own.”
“Are you sure you’re my child?” she asked, shaking her head.
“Of course, I am! How dare you?” Carmen asked in mock outrage and couldn’t resist singing, “I wanna be a billionaire so fucking baaaaad.”
“Carmen Marie!”
She laughed and tried to accelerate, but the old Toyota wasn’t cooperating. “Mom, we have to get you a new car.”
“No, we don’t. I don’t need to get everywhere in a hurry like you.”
“Still, this isn’t safe. What if your car breaks down somewhere? You know what you’d look cute in? A Lamborghini!”
Mom laughed. She grilled her mother all the way to the casino about what car she would like and what color. Pulling answers out of her modest and conservative mother was like trying to grill a guilty person about a crime. Her mother didn’t want anything and didn’t believe she should have more than what she had. Carmen didn’t believe in that shit. Her mother raised her, which meant she should have the best.
Carmen pulled up to the front entrance of Pyre Casino and kissed her mother on the cheek. “Thanks for inviting me to class. That was great.”
“You liked my friends?”
“They’re awesome.”
“What did you think of Marv?”
Carmen grinned. “He’s an old rascal.”
Her mother looked affronted. “Don’t say old, Carmen.”
“Fine. He’s mature and funny.”
“That’s better. What are you going to do today?”
“I’m gonna head to Lyla’s, and then I have dinner plans with Alice here later. Don’t wait up for me.”
She handed the valet her ticket and looked around for a familiar face even though the chances of running into Marcus were slim to none. She would be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that she had been hoping to run into him last night during their bar hopping. While she was still curious about his background and motives, she found herself more intent on discovering if he tasted as good as s
he remembered or if her adrenaline high made him taste better than any man she’d sampled since Vinny. She was almost disappointed when her car pulled up.
On the way to Lyla’s house, she called Shonda, who didn’t mention the club shooting at all and instead regaled her with tales of their exploits and extracted a promise that they would go out again soon. She agreed and asked if Shonda would put up a flyer in the salon for the animal adoption event as she pulled up to the Pyre fortress. When Carmen stopped in front of the house, she was met by Blade who guarded the front steps, arms crossed, expression grim.
“Hey, Daddy!” she called and was delighted by the sudden silence in the front drive as all conversation ground to a halt.
A muscle clenched in his cheek. “Don’t call me that.”
She baited the beast by going on tiptoe and giving him a loud smack on the cheek. “You know you like it,” she whispered before she moseyed inside.
Blade was too serious by half. Her father had been more bark than bite, and she suspected Blade was as well. She paused for a moment, listening for voices before she headed upstairs to Nora’s nursery. She burst into the nursery and came to a dead stop. Gavin and Lyla were caught in a lip-lock that was seconds away from being rated R. Seeing Nora’s parents getting it on within feet of their daughter made her feel a little better about hooking up with Marcus. Apparently, the nursery gave off some kind of sex pheromone that got people in the mood.
Gavin lifted his head and glared at her over Lyla’s shoulder. “What do you want?”
Lyla shoved him away and turned. “Oh my God! I love your hair!”
“I was due for a change.” She gave Gavin a steely smile. “What do you think of my hair, Gavin?”
“I don’t give a shit.”
Clearly, Gavin wasn’t happy that she interrupted, but she didn’t care. She approached the crib and looked down at Nora, who was fast asleep. She had to clasp her hands together so she wouldn’t grab the baby and smother her with kisses.
“I missed her.” She loved Nora before she was born, but the latest turn of events bonded her even more to the baby. Shit, between her, Lyla, and Gavin, Nora would never need a crib to lie in if she didn’t want to. They would gladly hold her all she wanted.
“Where have you been?” Lyla asked.
“And why didn’t you stay there?” Gavin asked rudely.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m just visiting.”
“You’re always welcome,” Lyla said and shot Gavin a warning look. “Ignore him. He’s insatiable at the moment.”
She held up both hands. “Oh, my God! Are you guys trying for another baby? Because if you are, I’ll leave.”
“No,” Lyla said and glared at her husband.
“You want our kids to be close together, don’t you?” Gavin asked.
Lyla’s eyes flared. “We never talked about having more kids.”
“We haven’t had a chance. I think we should have a couple.”
Lyla waved her hands as if she was clearing away smoke. “I don’t want to talk about this right now.” She turned her back on him. “Carmen, you’re dressed fancy.”
“I just came from cha-cha with Mom.”
Gavin left the room with an irritated growl. The moment he left, Lyla sat in the rocking chair and moaned with her hands over her face.
“What’s wrong?” Carmen asked.
“I don’t know how Gavin gets over stuff so quickly,” Lyla said in a muffled voice. “Once he’s done with something, he’s done. I’m still trying to process that Steven Vega is the man who haunted me all these years, and Gavin is talking about kids.” She dropped her hands. “Between Gavin, my mom, and Nora, I can’t even think about having more kids.”
“You don’t have to decide right now.”
“I know he’s going to bother me about it tonight. Once he latches onto something, he doesn’t stop until he gets it. He’s such a bullheaded ass.”
Carmen had to resist the urge to do a dance. She would be ecstatic if Lyla got pregnant again. She could already imagine a little boy with his father’s grumpy disposition. She would make sure to do her godmother duties and embarrass the hell out of Gavin Jr.
“How’s your mom?” Carmen asked.
“I haven’t been to see her yet. I’ve been catching up on sleep, but the hospital says she’s stable. She’s in and out of consciousness. Her memory is cloudy.”
“Hopefully, it stays that way.” It would be a blessing if Aunt Beatrice’s mind erased the horrors of being gang raped and tortured.
“Yes.” Lyla twisted her hands together. “She’s going to be in the hospital for a while. After she gets out, I’ll ask her if she wants to live with us, but I have a feeling she won’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“She told the nurses she doesn’t want to see me.”
“What?”
Yes, Aunt Beatrice went through a trauma, but cutting herself off from her daughter wasn’t going to help matters. When she lost Vinny, she clung to her family for all she was worth. She couldn’t understand Aunt Beatrice wanting to be alone.
“Do you want me to go down there and talk to her?” Carmen asked.
“No, I’m going back tomorrow. If she’s up to seeing people, I’ll let you know.”
“Alice asked if I wanted to help with the animal adoption next Saturday. I said I’m down. We’re having dinner at the casino tonight. She said she couldn’t get in touch with you?”
“Gavin.” Lyla rolled her eyes. “Now that he’s out of the underworld, he doesn’t want any distractions. He wants his four months back. It’s like he’s trying to fuse us together, but I need time to feel like a person again. My head won’t accept that it’s over yet.”
“Guys communicate through sex. It’s his way of reassuring himself that you’re both alive.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I think like a man,” Carmen said with a shrug. “And it’s what I’d do if Vinny was alive.” On second thought, it was what she’d done with Marcus. It took every ounce of control she possessed not to turn her head and look at the spot where they’d done the deed. Her fingertips tingled just remembering his hand collaring her throat.
“I don’t think I can help with Alice’s event. I’m too …” Lyla wrung her hands.
“It’s fine. You can’t do everything, and there will be other events. Other than your mom, how are you doing?”
Lyla stared at her with eyes that revealed her conflicted, rocky emotional state. “I don’t know.”
Carmen wrapped her arms around her. “You did what you had to, Lyla. You did good.”
“Carmen, I killed my dad,” Lyla whispered.
“If I killed him, would you hate me?”
Lyla considered her for a long moment. “No.”
“It was either Nora or him.”
Although Lyla’s expression hardened, she still said, “It’s not that easy.”
No, it wasn’t. No amount of logic could erase the bonds of blood. “You’ll get past it. Are you breastfeeding again?”
When they returned home after their near-death experience, Lyla had some harebrained idea that her breast milk was contaminated. Carmen was sure that a psychologist would have an explanation as to why Lyla was convinced that breastfeeding would turn Nora into a sociopath. The fact that Lyla was afraid of infecting Nora was proof that she wasn’t psychotic. Carmen witnessed Lyla shut down completely, like a soldier who did what had to be done—no emotion or second-guessing, just action.
“Gavin made me breastfeed.” Lyla crossed her arms over her chest. “Then he got turned on, which is why we were …” She waved to the spot in front of the crib where Carmen caught them making out. “Did you know men are turned on by breastfeeding?”
Carmen considered. “I’ve never thought about it, but it makes sense. I mean, they like to suck on boobs anyway. I guess if they do it when you’re lactating, they get something extra. I can see how they’d—”
Ly
la held up a hand. “I don’t want to know.”
They left the nursery and started downstairs.
“It’s weird without you here,” Lyla said.
“Well, your husband needs to fucked regularly, and I need to get a life.”
“What do you mean, get a life?”
“I’ve been taking care of Mom, and then I moved in with you. I’m thinking about traveling, helping Alice, partying my ass off, going back to my stripper workouts … and I want to get a kickass hobby. What do you think it should be?”
Lyla gave her a wan smile. “I have no idea, but I know it’s gonna be nuts.”
As they passed Gavin’s office, she saw Angel sitting across from his cousin in a slick black-on-black suit that made her stop in her tracks. Fuck. She’d hoped he didn’t own a suit. She was a sucker for a well-dressed man. He looked as comfortable in his current ensemble as he’d been in jeans.
The cousins looked nothing alike. They were both tall, but while Gavin bulged with muscles, Angel was lean. If Gavin didn’t tailor his suits, they would look ridiculous on him. Instead, he looked like a buff, dangerous god. No amount of prettying up could disguise Gavin’s intensity. Angel lacked Gavin’s aggressive energy. That could be a problem for him. The dogs in the underworld wouldn’t be able to resist testing him even though he was a Roman. She should know. Vinny’s relationship with Gavin didn’t keep him alive.
As if they sensed her regard, Gavin and Angel turned their heads. She shook her head. They didn’t look alike, but their hot factor was definitely off the charts. They oozed testosterone, had arrogance to spare, and were definitely all male. They rose from their seats and started toward them. Her thumb began to throb, the same one he’d sucked on last night. She tucked her thumb safely away and tried to shrug off the sexual vibes emanating from him.
“Carmen,” Angel said with a smile.
The asshole she talked to on the phone was gone, and Mr. Smooth was back in place.
“Angel,” she acknowledged coolly.
Lyla glanced at them, and then her eyes got big. “Oh, my God.”
Gavin glared at Carmen. “No.”
“You keep saying that like it’s gonna make a difference,” she said.
Angel chuckled and pulled his ringing phone from his pocket. He glanced at the screen and held the phone up as he answered. “Hey, Luci.”