She shook her head. “They’re a bunch of homophobes, but not worth the risk of going to jail. And I can get my own revenge, thank you very much. I’m not frail.” She pointed at me with a sharp, red-painted nail. “Don’t treat me like I’m a child, Legend Michael.”
Finn burst out in laughter. “Your middle name is Michael?”
I winked at him. “The only thing normal about me, Lolly.”
He flushed a brilliant red and gave Mum a glance from the corner of his eye, the embarrassment obvious in his gaze.
Mum waved her fingers at him. “Darl, don’t you worry about me. Admittedly, you’re the first Legend’s brought home, but I used to be young once. I know what it’s like to flirt.” She gave me a testy look. “But he needs to eat, Ledge. He hasn’t taken one bite yet of his chook. I reheated it for him.”
Finn glanced down at the food on his plate, then back up to me, shrugging nervously. “I’m not hungry.”
“That’s bullshit,” Mum snapped lightly. “I scared him off.”
“What did you do?” I asked, eyes narrowed on her. I loved Mum, but sometimes she was a lot for someone who wasn’t family to handle. She was blunt, brutal, and a real go-getter. She said what she thought, and sometimes it wasn’t pretty, but I’d grown up with her rough love. It was because of her furious protectiveness that I’d managed to dominate my future, and I would never ask for another mum. But sometimes, she overdid it when she went Mama Bear.
“Nothing drastic.” She rolled her black-lined eyes at me. “I heard the rumors from the fellas about those knickers in his suitcase, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to break your heart.”
“Mum....” I sighed.
“Don’t you worry, honey. He told me the truth.” She shrugged, then gave Finn a long stare. “I bet he’s very pretty in them.”
I smiled and dragged Finn closer, placing another light kiss on his heated cheek. “You have no bloody idea, and it’ll stay that way. His knickers are for my eyes only, but he also looks fucking beautiful in the clothes he wears when he goes out to clubs.”
“And when will we see them?” Mum asked, genuinely curious. Her brown eyes, so different from mine, glittered with interest. She’d always enjoyed extravagant things, even though she was a bogan. She enjoyed a good shopping trip and theater and having a sip of expensive wine.
Finn laughed in embarrassment. “I usually only wear them out.”
She huffed. “Be proud of who you are, sweetheart. Don’t let anyone shame you. I learned that well enough.” She stood, heading toward me. Plopping a kiss on my cheek, she patted my shoulder, before she walked around to Finn and gave him a hard kiss on his temple as though she was his mother as well. “I need to go for my afternoon walk. Debbie and I are going up the hill today.”
I gave her a pointed stare, and she glared at me.
“I’ll be careful. No goat track. I’ll take the road.”
“Mum.” My voice went deeper in warning. “Take it easy. You get knackered quickly.”
She crossed her arms. “I don’t need my son telling me what to do.” Her expression softened. “But thank you, darl. I’ll take care of myself, I promise.” With that, she waved at us and left down the stairs.
I sighed. I wished there was a way to make her take it easy, but Mum was a firecracker who didn’t know the meaning of slowing down. Turning my attention to Finn, I caressed his cheek. “Eat, then we’re going out.”
“Where?” He cocked his head, fluttering those insanely long lashes at me. The scars on his face and neck that went lower to his chest were just as beautiful as the rest of him. I trailed my fingers over the marks, aware of the way he tensed and sucked in a breath, holding it like he expected me to do something terrible. “Please don’t touch them.”
“Why?” I ignored his first question. We’d get back to that conversation soon. “Do you know what I think when I see these, Lolly?”
He stayed silent.
“I think you are the bravest, most beautiful man I’ve ever met. I’m sure you were stunning before these scars, but I reckon you’re perfect as you are now.” I leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss on the puckered skin of his chin, and another down on his neck. He swallowed, frozen in his spot. “I want to taste every inch of you, but especially here.” I licked a particularly scarred part of his skin that met his collarbone and traced the ridges with my tongue. Then, I brushed my lips over his pulse point, taking note of the fastpitter-patterof his heartbeat against my mouth. “I like you exactly how you are, scars and all.”
When I pulled back, I noticed some tears in his eyes, but he blinked them away. He offered me a small, wavering smile that suggested he didn’t believe me, but by the time I was done, he would. I’d do everything in my power to make sure he saw himself through my eyes.
“You should eat,” I murmured.
He shrugged. “I don’t think I can right now. Where are we going this afternoon?” he asked.
I winked and stood, holding out my hand. “Come on, I’ll show you. I had to research the place because I didn’t know if we had any in town. Quite happily, I found one.”
He cocked his head but didn’t ask any more questions. He trusted me enough to take my hand and let me lead him down the stairs and out the door, straight toward my ute.
Townsville was a small city, but I also lived on Castle Hill, which was close to the central business district or CBD, as we Aussies liked to call it. This meant getting to places didn’t take much time. The lingerie shop I’d found online was close to home, and it only took about ten minutes with traffic stops to get there. Finding a park was harder because the ute was big and wide, and the parks were narrow. Finally, I decided to drive the ute to the next street and stop there, and we took our time walking along the footpath lined with flowers to reach the small store.
