I reply a long line of exclamation marks and shake my head. I can almost guarantee that Jax would not get on a motorcycle even if Phantom invited him to. But then again, there are a lot of things I’ve done becausePhantom invited me to that I could never have imagined myself doing.
Phantom: Fuckin with ya, babe. He’s great. Drawing in my office while I make some calls. See you soon.
I love the text with a heart emoji, then carry the smoothie caddy back to the table.
“Small green goddess,” I say, handing Mom her smoothie.
Mom takes it and thanks me, then takes a sip and continues talking with the girls. For the next fifteen minutes, she tells the girls about how she met my father at a protest on their college campus.
The smile on Mom’s face as she talks about Dad makes me realize for maybe the first time how much my mom loved my father. I knew they loved each other, but by the time I was an adult, it was different.
Dad’s passion for life and issues had been blunted by a career in a job he hated. He felt trapped, though, with two kids to support and a wife whose career was about optics and not about income.
It made me wonder if my mom, by pushing me to go to college, was really pushing for me to find someone like the man my dad was when she met him. Maybe what she wanted for me was something she was missing in her own life.
“Mom,” I say, finally interrupting their conversation. “We should go. I need to pick up some gifts and a dress before the party tonight.”
“What time should I arrive?” Mom asks. “Text methe details and let me know if I’m making dinner for my grandson and his new friends or if we’re ordering in.”
“I’m sure we’ll be ordering,” Daisy says, smiling. “Pizza night.”
Mom gives me a quick hug, then says goodbye to the girls. “I’ll be looking forward to meeting the girls’ father,” she says.
The girls’ father… Not my boyfriend, although, to be fair, I never called him that. But in that moment of my mother’s careful choice of words, I can read between the lines. She’s polite and interested in the girls, but no one,no oneI pick will be good enough. Phantom has a lot to prove with my mother, and I feel like he’s already failed the first test.
16
PHANTOM
When Poppy comesdown the stairs in a little black dress, my cock and my heart leap to attention. The dress is formfitting and low-cut, so I get the best of both worlds—a view of her cleavage on top and her long, tanned legs below. Her hair is down and loosely curled, and she’s carrying two small gift bags—one from me for Stella and the other from Poppy.
When she reaches the bottom of the stairs, the girls rush to tell her how pretty she looks, and I watch as they compliment her hair, the glittery shadow on her lids, and the soft pink lipstick.
She hugs each of them, and they have a private laugh about something I can’t hear. I can only imagine what it was like watching their mother go out with her fucktoys. Douchebag guys looking for an easy hookup or a drinking buddy. I am damn sure that she never once went on a date looking like this.
I watch dumb struck as Poppy crosses the living room toward me. “Fuck,” I grit out. I slide a handbeneath her hair and stroke the back of her neck with my thumb. What I want to do is pull her against me, shove that dress around her waist, and fuck her against the wall.
What I have to do is control myself.
Living with this woman has taught me more about self-control than my years behind bars.
The doorbell rings, and Jax jumps up from his tablet. He’s been working on a project for me all day, something I had him start at the compound while I made calls. He runs to the front door with the girls, and they open the door to Poppy’s mom, Commissioner Lori.
“Grandma.” Jax hugs Lori, and she closes her eyes, rocking the boy back and forth in her arms.
“Hi, sweetheart. It’s so good to see you. I met your new friends today at the mall. I heard you were out with Owen. Did you have a good day?”
“Owen?” Jax looks toward me, and I give him a look. I told him my real name was lame. “Yeah, it was awesome.”
Lori gives my girls each a friendly hug, then strides right up to me with her hand out. “Owen,” she says.
She doesn’t say nice to meet you—because that would be a lie. She doesn’t say good to see you again. Because that would give away the fact that Lori and I know each other.
We, in fact, go way back.
I look from Lori to Poppy and have to make the call fast. I assumed that Lori would have told Poppy she knows me when they met up at the mall today. But theway Lori’s acting makes me think otherwise. Ordinarily, I would shake her hand and tell her to call me Phantom, but I don’t, because I know that will only piss Lori off.
“Thanks for doing this,” I say, shaking her hand. What I said doesn’t reveal anything, and I’m even more careful with the look I give her. I don’t know why the game matters. But I don’t want to do anything to blow up this thing with Poppy, so I’m going to fucking play.
