I darted straight up in the bed and came face-to-face with a woman only money could buy. If they were casting for The Real Housewives of Carterville, she would have landed the role as head housewife. I would say her hair had already turned white but she had too much class and/or pride to age prematurely. Therefore, I presumed she dyed it a light and very pretty shade of platinum. Her eyes were blue but ten shades darker than Lucas's were, and stared through me as if they could mentally open every piece of baggage I had. Feeling exposed under her watchful glare, I pulled the covers tight against my chest.
“What the hell, Mom?” Lucas asked and pulled me closer to his side.
His mom? What the heck?
Jennifer’s mouth distorted into a look of disgust. The sickened look was almost in total contrast with the more depressed one I witnessed on Wes’s the first time I met him. Jennifer placed her hands on her hip and stuck out her head like a chicken. She appeared almost comical.
“Of all the girls you could fu —” Jennifer paused when she realized what she was asking, but I guess she didn’t care because she went on to say, “Why are you screwing her?”
“Again, I’m asking you, what the hell?”
Anyone could easily hear the distaste in Lucas's voice.
“Do you have any clue who she is?” Jennifer asked in a voice even more appalled than she previously spoke in.
“I know precisely who she is, and as if it is any of your business, we didn’t sleep together. She took care of me. Those new meds kicked my ass, if you even care.”
“She knows about that?”
It baffled me she still was more concerned with who I was than the fact her son had been suffering.
“Yeah, what’s it to you.” Lucas sounded more like the man who left me on my front lawn the first night than the Lucas I had grown to love. Love, what the heck?
“You won’t tell Candice; the only girl you’ve ever cared about.”
A shiver wracked Lucas’s body so hard, I physically felt it. Jennifer never noticed. She kept on being indecorous and talking.
“I can’t even talk to her mom, my best friend, because you don’t want Candice to know. Then you tell her,” she said and pointed to me, her lips curled into a scowl. “Do you have any idea what she means to this family?”
Jennifer waved her arms in the air, and almost appeared to be half-crazed. I glanced back at Lucas. His nostrils flared, and if looks could kill, Wes Carter would have been planning his wife’s funeral.
“Candice has never been or will ever be the girl I care about. She’s the girl you pushed on me. And no, Mom, I don’t know what Annie means to this family. Why don’t you delight us both with that information?” His tone grew eerily calm.
Lucas worked his fingers deep into my hip. The rage in his voice laid just beneath the surface, but Lucas remained in control. Jennifer, on the other hand, froze in fear. Literally, petrified.
“Mom?” Lucas said.
Jennifer slapped a hand against her hip as if to bring herself under control. “She means nothing to me. She has no future. Just like her mom.”
I bounced out of bed and Lucas’s arm, stunned. “You knew my mother?”
Of course, she did. My mom worked for her mother-in-law and had somewhat of a relationship with her husband.
“Yes, I did. She ruined my life. Just like you will do to Lucas’s. So, I won’t tell you again to get out of my house.”
“Do I need to remind you whose house this is?” Lucas said when he stumbled up behind me as Jennifer turned away from me and left the room.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me on the top of my head. It was such a loving gesture, and I felt it from the tip of my toes to the top of my head. “Sorry, precious, I can’t understand that myself.”
“How the hell did you turn out normal?” I twisted around to bury my face onto his chest.
“What do you mean?”
“Not to hurt your feelings, but your parents are screwed up.”
“They’re screwed. I told you. I’ve always believed I inherited some decency genes from some long lost relative I’ve never had the joy of meeting.” He kissed my forehead, and I heard him mumbling to ten. “Come back and lay down with me.”
“I don’t think I’m welcomed here.”
“She has no say who I can and can’t have over, and I want you here.”
“Thank you, but I think it’s time for me to go,” I said and used my hands to push off him.
“Don’t leave me,” Lucas pleaded.
Watching Annie walk away after all I admitted to her was a pain like no other. I wanted to rip my mother’s throat out. She had never been much of a mom to me but talking to Annie like that took it to a new level. A level I didn’t even think she was capable of achieving.
I had to remind myself she was my mother and I owned her something for that fact, but I didn’t own her much. My mom, however, did deserve a talking to. It was the only reason I allowed Annie to even leave. I grabbed the cane leaning against the bed and walked to the living room where I found my mother fuming. She had her arms crossed, tapping a foot, and staring daggers at me.
I wobbled and caught myself with the aid of my cane. The new medicine wasn’t the cause of the unsteadiness I found myself experiencing, the reason was the rage I was having toward my mother. The rage I was trying to compress.
“Can you not control your dick at all? She’s just using her body to get in your wallet,” my mom said.
I shook my head in disbelief then stalked over to her and stuck my finger in her face. “No one, I mean no one will talk about Annie again. Not even you.”
“That girl’s mother is the reason I lost the most important part of my life. I’ve lived my whole life under her shadow. I won’t allow her daughter to walk into my home and take my son from me too.”
“Remember who this house belongs to, Mother.”
“I can’t believe you’re turning on me for some girl you just met.”
There had never been any arguing with my mom. She was always right in her head and she wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s opinion.
“Annie’s mom has been dead for twenty years, whatever she did in the past, get over it, because Annie means something to me and she’s not going anywhere.”
I waved my hand in the air before jerking the keys off the coffee table.
I hadn’t been to a jobsite in a few days. Maybe a little work would get my mind off everything?
As I climbed in my Jeep, I saw Annie kneeling in front of her mother’s grave.
Chapter 20
Annie Prieto
The entire sky was lit in a rainbow of colors from red to yellow to orange as a new day greeted me with her warm embrace. It was as if God knew I needed a gentle hug.
I had raced out of that house, hoping and praying I didn’t have another run-in with Lucas’s mom. She hated me, and I had a deep suspicion her hatred for me stemmed from my mother.
On top of the hill, my mother’s tombstone mocked me in silence. I took out in a jog. Having no one claim to have known her was surreal but having someone spew hate at her was a stab to the heart.
I reached her grave in record time and kneeled in front of her tombstone. I stroked my hand over her name. I was a jumble of emotions. The primary one being confusion.
I fell down on my knees. My instinct was to fight, protect what was left of my heart. But I no longer had it in me to fight, so I cried.
“Mom, I’m more confused than ever. You might not have made an impact on the town but you left your mark on the people who did know you.”
“Her daughter has too.”
When I looked up, Lucas was leaning heavily on his cane. The muscles in his arms bulged and with or without the cane he was the most beautiful specimen of a man I’d ever laid my eyes on.
“Lucas,” I whispered and wiped at the tears pouring down my cheeks. “Maybe I don’t belong here.”
I stood up to face him, and he let the cane fall to the g
round and wrapped his arms around me. My face was pressed up to his t-shirt and I inhaled deeply, simply to take more of his scent in. Not just the smell of his cologne or aftershave, but ... him.
He kissed the top of my forehead. “Don’t say that. It sounds like you are wishing us away.”
“I’m not, but I think everyone else is.”
“Who gives a damn what everyone else does or even thinks? I like whatever we have going on.”
“Friends?” I asked.
“The best of friends.”
I hated the word friends. But I was stupid or naive because if that was all he was willing to give I would be greedy and take it.
He nuzzled my neck just below my ear with the scruff on his chin. “Forget about my mom. If I listened to half the crap that came out of her mouth, I’d be half crazed. Remember, she's the one who screams I’m just like my dad every time she’s mad, and … well, you met my dad.”
I couldn’t hold it in another minute and burst out laughing.
“Now, that’s the sound I love to hear. Are you going to forget everybody else and just worry about us?”
I nodded but it was an all-over body nod. The kind of nod that swept through your body and exploded into a million yeses.
“Good, I had this really great nurse last night and actually feel better this morning. I’ve got some business to take care of and you have some Mommy-time to catch up on. How about I go and text you later?”
I held on a few minutes longer before letting go. I wasn’t sure, but something told me our relationship had taken a turn that was more than friendly and we both needed to take a few moments to process.
Lucas: I dream of those eyes, those lips, that face, and that amazing body ... Ok, that’s enough about Me and Your Dreams!! Swimming soon?
I laid a pencil down and glanced from my cellphone to my latest sketch of Lucas. He was correct about one thing: I dreamed about the smug bastard a lot.
Annie: You did look hot today. I almost got a tan just looking at you
Lucas: You know what? I always thought God was showing off when he made me, (I guess he was LOL!!) but then I met you and was WOWed at what a MASTERPIECE He was capable of making. So, when do I get to see this Masterpiece in a bathing suit?
Annie: Already told you I’m not going back to your house. Your mom made it clear I wasn’t welcomed.
Lucas: Good thing I’m the Master of my universe. Not her. How about Saturday morning?
Annie: Saturday night is the banquet at the club.
Lucas: Night, not day. So, what’s your question?
Annie: You’re going to win this battle, aren’t you?
Lucas: I always get what I want, precious.
And things he didn’t, because he had me hook, line, and sinker.
Chapter 21
Lucas Carter
A shapely leg stepping out of the French doors was the first sign Annie had finally emerged from the bathroom. I’d been sitting on the edge of my chair, ready to go pull her out of the house myself. It had taken me all week to convince her to swim with me in the first place. I finally clinched the deal when I told her swimming was the one time I felt normal because the strength in my arms made up for the weakness in my legs. I could be pretty damn persuasive when I wanted something, and Annie in a bathing suit was a view I’d wanted for a while.
Her feet softly padded down the back steps. Her shoulders were slumped; her chin was tucked firmly against her chest. My oversized high school football jersey covered whatever bathing suit she happened to have on. The usual confident and prideful Annie was totally unsure of herself, but she didn’t have any reason to be. Just seeing her in my jersey brought a roaring, prideful beast inside of me alive. Candice used to wear it on game days in high school, and once I let Harper wear it simply to piss Candice off. Not once did I even give it a second thought. But watching Annie stroking the hem as it glided over her curves, I felt like an animal marking his territory. I loved the feeling.
“It took you long enough. I thought maybe you had made a run for it,” I said, stood up from the chair I’d been sitting on, and walked over to the side of the pool.
“I tried. Some bastard had locked the front door.” She laughed and pulled on the left sleeve of the t-shirt she was wearing.
“Sounds like it was a smart bastard,” I replied, and dove into the water, covering my semi-erection.
How many girls had I had over to swim and not one had ever gotten me hard even with a lot of flirting and suggestive moves? But Annie only had to show her legs to get my hormones surging.
“Jump in, precious. The water feels amazing.” And PLEASE take off that damn t-shirt.
Annie jerked on the hem of the shirt again. I should’ve maybe took a lap to the other end of the pool. At the very least divert my eyes from her. But I simply couldn’t look away. Instead, I let my eyes outline her every curve.
My blood surged in my most intimate part as Annie slid her shirt over the flattest stomach before loosening her grip on it, letting it fall back down over her hips.
I turned and dove underwater trying to calm the hell down, repeating over and over in my head, friends, no more, no less.
I swam the entire length of the pool before I came up for air, then gripped the edge of the diving board and hung on it with one arm. Annie was walking down the steps. Her eyes found me and her magical smile appeared.
Damn, what is she doing to me? Does she even comprehend how wonderfully perfect she is?
I refused to move, wanting her to come to me. I guess I needed to have my ego stroked a little. She took her time, leisurely making her way to where I was. When she got within a couple of inches of me, I closed the gap separating us. She wrapped her arms around my shoulder, interlocking her fingers on the back of my neck. My fingers traced the hem of her shirt and worked it up until my hands had a firm grip of her sides. She was tiny, my large hands completely encompassed the entire width of her waist.
“Are you sure it’s okay I’m here? Your mom doesn’t seem to like me much.”
“Precious, it doesn’t matter what my mom likes or doesn’t like. I own this house not her.”
Annie started to say something but stopped. I was sure digesting what I’d revealed. My grandfather had legally signed the house over to me shortly after my birth. He held a lifetime deed on it, but after his death only six months earlier, it had come under my complete ownership. Another unknown fact I didn’t share. Annie was actually the first I’d even told I owned it. And like everything else, she didn’t start doing any math in her head. She didn’t care what I owned. She was there for me.
“And I want you here,” I added.
Another one of those gorgeous smiles started to appear but she nipped at the corner of her lips to suppress it. Annie took a deep breath and glanced down at our bodies before hoisting herself up and locking her legs around my waist. “Why?”
She honestly wondered why? At the same time, she set every nerve in my body into a blazing flame.
He squeezed me tighter against his chest and traced the contour of my ear with his tongue before whispering, “Why? I have no idea. I just know I do. Maybe it’s because you’re my best friend.”
There was that word I was beginning to despise — friend. That word sounded flat coming from his lips.
We both glanced down at our bodies tightly intertwined with each other’s. I willed my legs to release him and did a backflip out of his arms and into the water. The lines were starting to stay blurred between us.
We spent the next few hours swimming and basically goofing off. Never once crossing the friend line again. In all fairness, Lucas acted regretful. I wasn’t sure if he simply regretted our occasional stepping over the line or if he truly wanted more.
His next move didn’t answer that question, either. He started a fire in a small fire pit on the far corner of the patio. I took a nose-dive off the diving board and when my head floated above the water, I found Lucas standing at the edge of the pool, holding a
towel. I pushed my wet hair off my face and knocked the water from my ears.
“Come sit by the fire with me?” he said in a husky tone.
I pushed myself up on the side of the pool and snatched the towel from his hands. Lucas ran a hand through his long, unruly hair. “Why don’t you trust me?” he asked.
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