by M. S. Parker
Maybe this was what I got for being a self-centered ass.
Maybe I should have walked away then. Maybe I should walk away now.
Before I could decide to do just that, Allie saw me. Her eyes widened, and I backed up, ready to just…disappear. I couldn't be humiliated a second time. Not by someone I actually cared about.
I heard her calling me, but I didn't care. I was opening my car door when she caught up to me.
“Dammit, Jal! Wait!”
Giving her a disinterested look over my shoulder, I asked, “Why?” I managed to shrug even. “It’s not like we owe each other anything.”
“On the contrary.” She stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. “You're about to owe me something. It’s called an apology. Tao and I are friends. He’s my best friend and has been since kindergarten.”
Some part of me wanted to take those words at face value and accept them, but I wasn't an idiot. I'd seen the way they were together.
“I wish I had friends that good,” I said sourly.
“Stop being an ass, Jal,” she snapped.
“You can’t tell me there’s never been anything but friendship between you two.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I never tried to. The term is friends with benefits. Yeah, we’ve slept together. Guys aren’t the only ones who get lonely or go looking for a partner at night, Jal. Girls do it too. Tao and I are sexually compatible, but we’re not in love, not now, not in the past, not ever.”
I snorted. I couldn't look at her, not without thinking about her with him, wondering if she'd compared us, wondering what he'd taught her.
“Don’t you go giving me that look.” She jabbed a finger at me. “Not when I know you've had your fair share of casual sex. Do you have any idea how much easier my life – his life – would have been if the two of us could just fall in love? I wouldn’t have spent the past month going out of my mind over you.”
This time, she poked me in the chest. Hard. I caught her wrist and yanked her toward me, my body instantly responding to the feel of her curves against me. The band around my chest started to ease. “Friends.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Friends with benefits,” I murmured. “You sleep with him.”
“I’ve slept with him.” She stressed the past tense.
“It stops.” I kissed her hard and fast, needing to claim her, to make sure that she knew I wasn't playing around. That she didn't need a friend with benefits. Ever again.
“Well, yeah.” She rolled her eyes at me. “I thought that was obvious.”
I bent my head to kiss her again, but a movement from just beyond her had me looking up. Tao stood there, leaning against a light post as if he had nothing better to do.
“Don’t mind me,” he said with an infuriating grin.
I couldn’t keep from scowling at him, but he simply laughed. It was an easy sort of laugh, definitely not that smirk I’d seen in his eyes the last time. He approached, holding out a hand.
“Maybe we should try this again,” he said. “I’m Tao. Her best friend. And judging by the look I see on both of your faces, that’s all I am now.”
“Is it?” That snarl in my voice wasn’t anything I’d ever expected to hear from myself.
He laughed again. “Seeing as how you finally pulled your head out of your ass? Yeah.”
This time, he seemed to be laughing at me, but that was okay. I was pretty sure I deserved it.
Tao winked at Allie before shooting a look back over his shoulder. “Babe, you better take him back to meet your mama. She saw you take off running and came out to see what’s up. You know her. I managed to stall her, but it won’t work for long.”
Take me…wait, what?
Fuck me.
Panic seized me, and it only got worse when Allie gave me an appraising look, and she had the same laughing sort of smile on her face that Tao had.
“It has to happen sometime,” she said, her eyes twinkling.
“Sometime? Yeah,” I agreed. “Sure. But does sometime have to be today?”
“What’s the matter?” Allie winked at me and held out her hand. “Are you chicken?”
I pondered the question before I gave her a completely honest answer, “Well, yes. It’s not like I’ve ever done this before.”
“What?” The smile on her face was so bright and happy, so open, I wanted to kiss her again, and not stop. “Meet a girlfriend’s mom?”
I wasn't about to tell her that she was probably the first person I could ever really consider...I let the thought trail off. That small, panicked voice inside me didn’t want me to finish what I'd been thinking, but it came anyway.
I hadn’t ever had a serious relationship with a woman.
That didn’t matter, because up until now, I’d never wanted to have a serious relationship with a woman.
Hell, half the time, I hadn't really even liked the women I'd slept with. Friends with benefits had never been my thing because I didn't really have any female friends.
“Come on, you coward,” Allie said with a teasing grin. She took my hand and tugged me along behind her. As we rounded the corner, I looked up, and a cold sweat broke out across my neck.
Her mother was standing on the porch waiting for us.
At least, I assumed it was her mother.
She looked too young, but there were strong similarities.
Allie came to a stop and tugged her hand free of mine. I almost didn't let it go, but she was insistent. She signed to her mother, speaking out loud as she did so, but whether that was out of habit or for me, I didn't know.
“Mom, this is Jal, the guy I’ve been telling you about.” She smiled at me. “Jal, this is my mom, Malla McCormack.”
For a second, I was so interested in the gestures Allie was making with her hands, I barely heard her words. The signs were fascinating, fluid. Beautiful. I'd caught glimpses of sign language here and there over the years, but I'd never really paid much attention to it, like any other foreign language.
Malla came down the steps, and out of habit, I held out my hand. She shook it while I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do or say next.
Then Malla spoke. I blinked, hoping I didn’t look as confused as I felt I instantly felt like an asshole because I knew being deaf didn’t mean a person couldn’t speak.
“Hello, Jal.” She glanced at Allie, eyebrow arched and I did the same out of habit.
“She’s making sure she’s saying your name right,” Tao said from behind me, nudging me with his shoulder.
Oh.
Years of business training finally kicked in, and I managed a smile. I handled multi-million dollar deals without blinking, I could handle being introduced to a woman’s mother, right?
“Hello, Mrs. McCormack,” I said, squeezing her hand politely before starting to let go.
But she held on.
“You’re not what I expected,” she said, her words a little louder than necessary, but clear and concise.
And her gaze was direct, like she was staring right through me.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Finally, I said, “I hope that’s a good thing.”
“So far, it is.” She let my hand go but continued to study me. After a moment, she nodded. “If you hurt my girl, you’re going to regret it.”
I had no doubt that she meant it.
“Hurting her is the last thing I plan on doing,” I said honestly.
She snorted indelicately. “If you two want to make this work, both of you will hurt the other at some point. That’s how relationships work. But there’s hurt…and then there’s hurt. You know which one will make me angry.”
Tao walked past me and slung an arm around Malla’s neck, kissing her cheek. Then he looked at me. “And she’s like the Hulk, my man. Trust me, you won’t like her when she’s angry.”
Allie signed for her mother, and Malla rolled her eyes.
“Idiot child,” she said, shaking her head. Then she turned and headed u
p the steps. “Why don’t you come inside, Jal? We’re having lunch soon.”
I looked at Allie, silently pleading for her to say that we had to go.
“You're not getting off that easy,” she said as she wrapped her arm around mine. “Consider it your apology.”
8
Jal
“Dropped.” I studied my lawyer over the rim of my crystal glass. “Just like that.”
Adam lifted a shoulder. “I wouldn’t say just like that. It’s a sticky situation, but not for you.”
“What do you mean?” Putting the bourbon down, I leaned forward and studied the man across from me. When he didn’t answer right away, I felt the tension inside me starting to rise.
He’d called me, told me he had news, asked to meet. It'd been a full fucking week without answers, and now Adam was jerking me around with vague ones.
“Look, are you going to talk to me or–”
“Settle down, Jal.” Adam tossed back his bourbon and put his glass down with a distinct click before rising and pacing over to the far wall. “You’re clear on this. Clear as day, okay? But it seems that either Kendrick or his idiot associate tugged the wrong tail too many times. One of them is going to hang over this.”
“Ahhh…” I looked down at my hands, trying to figure out how I felt about that, how Allie might feel if her dad ended up in trouble.
“Chances are it will be Hammerstein,” Adam continued. “He went a little over the line, I think, in his job to frame you. Seems he had some dirt of his own he was trying to hide, and you were a good fall boy.”
My hand tightened on the glass. It could have been relief I felt. Or it could have been something else. I had no idea, and I didn’t want to think about it too long either. As pissed off as I was with Kendrick, I didn’t want to complicate things between Allie and me, not when we were just getting started.
The old bastard wasn’t worth it.
“You can always pursue civil action against both of them,” Adam said softly, as if he’d read my mind.
“No.” Shaking my head, I looked away. “Asshole should pay for what he tried to do, but maybe he already is.”
Adam didn’t respond for a moment, and when he did, I wasn’t surprised he’d connected Allie to whatever had happened on Kendrick’s side. “He’s asked for my…legal advice on a few issues. I told him I’d take it into consideration. He’s also asked me to pass a message onto you and to Allie. Apparently neither of you are taking calls from anybody with the last name Hedges.”
“The entire Hedges family can kiss my ass,” I said sourly.
“That seems a bit extreme.” Adam tipped his bourbon in my direction. “I’ve met the younger one – Mallory. She’s a nice kid. The black sheep of the family, from what I understand.”
I knew what he was talking about. My mother had been scandalized when Diamond had confided in her about the family’s shocking secret – Mallory was a lesbian. It was one thing to have some distant relationship involved in an alternative lifestyle, as Mom had told my father. Another thing for it to be your own child.
I'd always liked Mallory. I was glad when she moved to Boston and started her own life there. Adam was right. There was one decent member of the Hedges' family.
I didn't count Allie. She wouldn’t consider herself one of the Hedges. She was herself.
And I loved who she was.
* * *
Allie looked beautiful. She also looked nervous. Dressed in a soft green sheathe that accented her eyes and complimented her skin, she walked next to me as we wound our way through the maze of tables and a gauntlet of servers.
I knew not everybody was staring at us. Most of the people here weren’t that rude. But it sure as hell seemed that way. I definitely felt like I had a hundred sets of eyes on me, and if I was this uncomfortable I couldn’t even imagine how Allie was handling it.
Resting my hand on her spine, I felt the tension there and said, “Breathe. You’re better than any ten of these people combined.”
“Yeah?” She gave me a slow look. “Including you? Your folks?”
“Well, maybe five of me.” I winked at her. “There’s only one of my dad though. You’ll like him.”
Neither of us talked about my mom. We didn’t have to. I’d already explained that she was a friend of Diamond’s and that pretty much said everything that needed to be said.
The maître d had offered to escort us to my parents’ table – they were regulars, after all. But while I didn’t come with them as often, I knew where to find them so I’d declined the offer.
As I caught sight of my dad, I reminded Allie once more, “Breathe. I hear it’s good for you.”
“Ha, ha. Smart ass.” She took my hand. “I feel like I’m a guppy being thrown into the shark tank.”
“You’re not. You put up with Diamond and Paisley for years. If you can handle them, you can handle anybody here. You’re no guppy.” I raised our hands and kissed her knuckles. “If anything, you’re a stingray.”
“I'm a what?”
“You ever seen one of them move? Elegant and just as deadly as a shark. But a lot prettier.”
She laughed. “Thanks. And FYI, I’d rather be dealing with Paisley and Diamond. Haven’t you heard that saying about the evil you know?” Taking a deep breath, she smiled at me then. “Let’s do this.”
I squeezed her hand as we came to a stop by my parents' table.
My dad was already on his feet, his light blue eyes sparkling. Mom was sitting there, drinking a mimosa, and judging by the glassy, bright look in her emerald-colored eyes, it wasn’t her first. Probably not even her third or fourth.
Great.
“Dad. This is Allie Dodds.”
Allie held out her hand to Harold Lindstrom, Sr.
He studied it for a moment.
Now we really were the center of attention.
My father was laid-back, and for the most part, he was content to let my mother set the course. But Harold Lindstrom, Sr. came from old money. While I'd been the one in the family to increase our wealth, he hadn't done anything to hurt the family name either. He was still the one people looked to as an example.
From the corner of my eye, I saw my mother sit up a little straighter, and I started to feel a little sick. I'd thought for sure that this was something he'd stand up to her about. Was he really going to–?
Dad caught Allie up in a tight hug.
“Hello, Allie.” He squeezed her once and then let go. “My boy has told me so much about you…including how you stepped up to deal with that ugly mess a few days back. That prick – excuse my language – takes a lot to stand up to him. I understand you’ve known him since you were young.”
“I…yes, sir.” She nodded, giving me a bemused glance.
I gave my head a minute shake. I hadn’t told him about her connection to Kendrick. That wasn’t my place. If she chose to, she could. Otherwise, it would remain her story. As far as I was concerned, Tyson McCormack was her father.
“Come. Sit.” He pulled out the chair where I’d normally sit, putting her right next to him. I took the only other open seat, sitting across from her. “Are you hungry, Allie? We held off ordering because we knew you were on your way.”
My mother didn't even look at Allie when she spoke, “Yes, and you know your father doesn’t do well if he doesn’t eat by a certain time. It was rude of you to ask that we wait so long, Jal. Really.”
Allie’s cheeks flushed, and my temper flared.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t realize that extra half hour was going to make Dad keel over.” I gave my old man an appraising look. “You hanging in there okay or should we call for paramedics?”
One corner of his mouth twitched. “I think I’ll do alright, boy.” He studied my mother a moment and then leaned back as a white-coated server appeared to refill coffee and offer some to Allie and me. We both accepted, and Allie asked for cream and sugar.
“I detoxed from sugar over a year ago,” Mom said loftily.
“I’ve never felt better. It helps a woman remain youthful as well.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Allie liberally spooned two helpings of sugar into her coffee – twice as much as normal.
Damn. I already knew it wasn't a good idea to get on her bad side, but this was something else.
“I personally prefer things in life a little sweet, but to each their own.” She gave my mom a charming smile.
Dad hid a smile behind his cup. I didn’t bother hiding mine.
While my dad peppered Allie with questions, my mom tried to find some way to get under Allie's skin. Each time Mom found a way to take a potshot, I felt my temper growing thinner. Allie handled it all with aplomb.
Right up until my mother said, “I hear your mother used to scrub floors for the Hedges. Among other things. Is that true?”
Allie set her coffee cup down. I was already glaring at my mother. But before either of us could respond, my father cleared his throat.
“Ginny, that’s enough.”
My mother whipped her head around and stared at him.
I did, too. Ginny? I’d never heard anybody called my mom Ginny. She always insisted on using her full name. Ginnifer. And made sure it was spelled correctly, even if it wasn't being written down.
Then I realized what else he said.
Dad sighed and reached for one of the flaky croissants that had been brought out a few moments earlier. “I’m tired of this game you’re playing. I was tired of it a long time ago, but you rarely stooped so low, and never in public. You rarely went against friends or those who mattered to our son, so I stayed quiet. But you’re going to stop. This is ridiculous.”
He looked at Allie and smiled even as I sat there with my mouth hanging open.
“You’re more than welcome in our family, Allie. Don’t worry, Ginny will come around. She loves her son just as much as I do, and in the end, what she wants is for him to be happy.” Then he looked at my mother. “And if she’d actually stop sulking and worrying about her petty friends so she could take a good long look at our boy, she’d realize that he is happy.”
