The sigh she let out was one I’d grown far too familiar with over the years. It said that she knew he was probably up to no good, but didn’t want to hear it. It didn’t take a genius to realize Frank got that particularly nasty trait from our mother.
“No, but, I can only assume you’re calling me with bad news, and if that’s the case, I’ll just tell you right now, I don’t want to hear it.”
Of course she didn’t.
“Not my place to tell you, anyway,” I grunted. If she wanted to go to her grave thinking her baby boy was perfect, who was I to disabuse her of that notion . . . ridiculous as it was. “But I have been curious about something.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“Do you know why Frank and Marin broke up?” I was met with complete silence. “Mom?”
“I don’t want to talk about that. Such a mess. Just be glad your brother’s finally free of that wretched woman.”
“But I thought you were hoping he’d propose to her one day. You said she was like a daughter to you.”
Her tone grew hard, the mother happy to hear from her son all but gone in the wake of her defensiveness. “Yeah, well, things change. Now, I’m done talking about it.”
I felt a pressure beginning to form behind my temples, a pre-cursor to a stress-related headache directly related to my family. “But you haven’t said a word.”
“And I’m not going to. Your brother went through enough with that breakup, and I’m not going to dredge it all up again.”
Squeezing my eyes closed, I dropped my head forward and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. “Christ, don’t you ever get tired of defending him? Of cleaning up his messes?”
“It’s what mothers do,” she stated with finality.
It wasn’t. It so fucking wasn’t. Mothers were supposed to teach their kids to make good decisions, not make excuses for them every time they fucked up. They were supposed to push them to be functioning members of society, not coddle them so they never truly cut the apron strings.
“You see how your attitude isn’t helping him, right? He needs to start paying for his own goddamn mistakes.”
I didn’t realize my voice had risen in frustration until Titan came loping back over with his tail tucked and his ears lowered as he watched me tentatively.
“If you’re done, I think I’ve had enough of your attitude for one night,” Mom said haughtily, and I knew anything else I had to say would fall on deaf ears. Beating my head against a brick wall would be less painful.
“All right. Goodnight, Mom. Love you.”
“And I you.” With that, she hung up, and I lowered my phone with a defeated sigh just as the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind me made me whip around.
Marin
I woke up in a foggy state of disorientation, confused by my surroundings for a few seconds as the rusty gears in my brain clicked back into action. I remembered I was in Pierce’s house, lying on his couch.
I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes, looking at the time on the cable box beneath the TV. It was about a quarter to eleven. I’d been asleep for about an hour.
With a yawn, I pushed myself to my feet and stretched my arms high over my head just as I heard a loud voice coming from the direction of the backyard.
With a jolt, I spun to look out the French doors and sucked in a breath. I didn’t know how long he’d been home, but it was enough time for him to change into something more relaxing. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him so casual, in sweats that formed very nicely to his firm ass, and a tee that hugged him from behind, showcasing the broad width of his back and his tapered waist.
From where I stood, I could only see him from behind, and it was a sight that made me all kinds of tingly. Then I heard his voice again, heard the bite in his unhappy tone, and realized he was on the phone and the conversation he was having wasn’t a happy one.
I slowly started to back away to give him some privacy, that was until I heard the muffled sound of him saying my name.
Curiosity got the best of me and, without a thought, my feet started carrying me toward the partially closed door. The closer I got, the better I could hear what he was saying, and an unpleasant tingle shot up my back.
I didn’t need to be a genius to know who he was talking to. And when he asked if the person on the other end of the call ever got tired of defending him, I knew good and well who he was talking about.
I stood there, frozen in place as the phone call wound down to its end, and when he disconnected, I cleared my throat to alert him to my presence.
Pierce spun around, the picture of cool and casual in his sweats. If I thought he wore a suit well—and he absolutely did—then he rocked the hell out of sweats.
“Shit, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he started, surprising me with the concerned frown that marred his brow.
“You didn’t. I woke up on my own. Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on Eli duty, but I promise, he was already out like a light before I dozed off.”
He graced me with a smile that made my belly flip. He was doing that a lot more lately, but I still felt that zing of surprise and the tickle of pleasure every time I caught a glimpse or heard him laugh.
“It’s fine. Once he’s out, he’s usually out cold.”
I arched a brow and crossed my arms over my chest as I stepped out onto the back deck. “Except for the times he witnessed those shirtless wrestling matches, right?”
“Yeah, except for that.” The humor that had filled his eyes just a second earlier faded as he let out a weary sigh and turned to face the dark backyard once again. “So how much of that did you overhear?” he asked a minute later.
I could have lied and told him I hadn’t heard any of it, but something in my gut was telling me that honesty was the route I needed to take right then.
“I wasn’t going to listen at all, but then I heard my name. Didn’t take me long to put two and two together and figure out you were talking to your mom.”
“I don’t know why I even try anymore,” he said, defeat heavy in those words.
I leaned down beside him, mirroring his stance, and braced my elbows on the deck railing with a shrug. “Because she’s your mom, and no matter how frustrating it is, you love her, and she loves you.”
He sighed again, like it was a pain in the ass for him to admit I was right. “Yeah, maybe.”
I leaned into him, bumping my shoulder with his. It was the first time I’d purposely initiated any kind of physical contact. “Definitely,” I rebutted.
We lapsed into silence for a bit, and I could practically feel the wind coming from the wheels spinning rapidly in his head.
I was content to leave him to his thoughts when he spoke again, and what he asked surprised me and chilled me to the core. “What happened between you and Frank?”
That was a part of my life I wasn’t necessarily jazzed to revisit. It was over and done with, and I just wanted to move past it. I worried if I continued to dredge it up that it would somehow end up defining me, and I couldn’t allow that to happen.
“If it’s all the same, I’d rather not get into it,” I said in a quiet voice, looking out into the yard, watching Titan as he skipped and ran through the shadows.