Louis looks down at me, his eyes bright and shimmering. “Order whatever you want, if you try and skimp, I’m going to order you extra.”
“It’s too expensive,” I whisper.
He shakes his head once. “It’s not. Order what you want, baby.”
Pressing my lips together, I nod, but I don’t agree or disagree. Instead, I shift my gaze back to my menu and try to come up with a combination that he won’t get upset with, and also will be the least expensive.
The dinner goes from bad to worse as the evening progresses. Irving gets completely smashed before the first course even arrives. He slurs as he tells Louis that he could have done better last night.
He tells him that he lost money on him because he bet that he would knock Meetze out by the third round. There’s spittle flying everywhere as he talks, but shockingly enough Louis doesn’t respond to his words, at all.
My breath hitches when Bette, Louis’ mother, nods her head in agreement, then shifts the conversation from Louis’ fight to me. I expect her to ask me about my future, about how we met. Instead, she opens up with something that I was hoping to avoid, for the rest of my life, discussing.
“Heard you met my son while workin’ a pole? You know you’re not the first stripper he’s brought back to his bed, though you are the first that he’s introduced to me.”
“Mama,” Louis warns.
I blink, letting out a small cough. I open my mouth, then close it, unsure of what to say in response. Thankfully, I don’t have to respond at all, because Louis wasn’t finished with his sentence when he said Mama, he was just taking a moment to compose himself.
“We’re done here,” he snaps, standing up.
I watch as he digs in his pocket and throws out several one-hundred-dollar bills. He turns to me, holding his palm up. Slipping my hand in his, I rise to my own feet.
“Where do you think you’re goin’?” Bette practically barks.
Louis shakes his head. “You been with Irving so long that you can’t tell when you’re being rude and disrespectful? You’ve been rude since we walked in here. I expect it from Irving, but not from you, Mama. I’m disappointed. We’re leaving first thing in the morning and I don’t know when we’ll be back. But whenever that is, I expect better.”
Without another word, he takes a couple of steps, tucks me into his side before he slides his arm around my waist and together, we walk out of the fancy restaurant. My first time anywhere like that and I hated every second.
As soon as we step outside, Louis touches his lips to the top of my head and inhales a deep breath as we wait for the valet to come and bring his black car around.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper into the cool night breeze.
“Got nothin’ to be sorry for, Tullie. You were, as always, sweet and kind.”
Tipping my head back, I look into his green eyes and I sigh. “Your dad must have been really special,” I breathe.
He dips his chin. “He was, extremely. My mother was not like this when he was alive. I keep hoping that things will change, but she’s disintegrating.”
“I’m sorry, Louie,” I whisper.
He hums, his arms squeezing me again. “Me too. I’ll hold hope for my entire life, but I need space.”
“Whatever you need, I support you and I’m here for you.”
He turns me to face him and without saying another word, he tilts his head and his lips press against mine in a hard, but no less meaningful kiss.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
LOUIS
“I have to talk to you about something,” Tulip whispers.
I blink, gathering her naked body in my arms and tugging her against me. After the fucking shit evening with my mom, we came home and I made love to her. I knew she was sore, but I also knew that spending that dinner with my mother and Irving was stressful as shit. So, I needed it soft and easy just as much as she did.
But talking.
Needing to talk.
That doesn’t sound good.
Flexing my arms around her, I give her a silent nudge to continue.
She inhales a deep breath, then begins to tell me about Mark, her friend Charlie, and everything that happened almost a goddamn week ago. My body locks around hers, bringing her closer to me and I’m sure squeezing her too roughly.
“You did all of this, went to her house, alone?” I ask, my voice deep as I attempt to control my anger.
Tulip pushes up, her palms on my chest, her blue eyes finding mine and she frowns. “I didn’t know that Mark would have her all drugged up and had abused her. I didn’t know that he and Silas were related. I didn’t know any of it.” she snaps.
Pressing my lips together, I nod once. Makes sense now what Gary said about meeting Mark and Silas at the club. I didn’t understand it, and I’ve been thinking about it for a few hours now that my temper has calmed down. But fuck. Tulip could have been Charlie, easily, had I not found her in time.
“Why didn’t you tell me when it happened? Why didn’t Beau or Ford fuckin’ tell me?” I demand, pushing all that other shit out of my head.
Tulip climbs over my body, her thighs straddling my hips and if I wasn’t so fucking pissed off, I would be focusing on the way her warm pussy feels against my cock rather than the anger that’s beginning to cause my blood to boil.
“You needed to concentrate on your fight. You had more than enough shit going through your head and I made the executive decision not to tell you. I made Beaumont and Ford promise me. You needed to focus on that fight, on walking into that arena, on stepping into that ring. What you didn’t need to worry about was crazy fucking Mark, three states away, when you couldn’t be there to do anything about him.”
Gripping her hips, I squeeze and smirk up at her. Fucking shit. Her eyes are wide and they’re heated with anger, it’s gorgeous as all hell. Shifting her hips so that her pussy slides along my cock, I bite my bottom lip.
“Louis,” she hisses.
“You’re pretty when you’re telling me off, baby,” I mutter. “But when you’re doing it while you’re protecting me, fucking hell.”
She shakes her head once, her hair flying around her shoulders. Sliding one of my hands up her back, I apply a little pressure and guide her chest down against mine. Tangling my fingers in the back of her hair, I search her eyes with my own.
“Thank you for thinking of me, Tullie, but do me a favor?”
She nods once, her breathing changing to sweet little pants. I lift my hips at the same time, I continue to guide her heat along my dick. Gripping her hair, I press her head down a bit more so that her lips are touching mine.
“Yeah,” she breathes, her hips taking over the action as she rubs against me.
“Don’t hide shit from me, not ever. I’m not saying you were wrong to do what you did this time, but never again, yeah?”
She licks her lips, her tongue touching mine. “Okay, Louie,” she sighs.
Lifting her hips slightly, I grin against her mouth. “Guide me in, baby.”
A shiver rolls throughout her entire body from my words. Sliding my tongue inside of her mouth, her hands fumble between us and finally she aligns my cock with her center. With my grip on her hip, I slam her down, lifting my hips and filling her completely.