Chapter 3
“Never mess with Mama. Especially after you leave her stranded with no phone.”
-Celia
The ride back to my house was tense, but not in a “we just fought” sort of way. No. Tense, in an “I want to bend you over the hood of my car and screw the daylights out of you” kind of way. But that might have been my wishful thinking.
When Flint pulled up to the gas station in that shiny SUV, my heart nearly burst out of my chest. Of all the days to run into your hot, sweaty fling, this was the worst. My appearance could best be described asseven miles of roadkill. Yet, Flint eyed me like I was the last piece of chocolate cake. On earth. Ever.
That look did things to me.
He pulled up to my new townhouse. The boys were there, as suspected. Thankfully, they didn’t bring their father back with them. They knew better than to test that limit with me.
I opened the door before Flint brought the car to a stop. “Thanks again for the ride.”
He cursed and slammed the vehicle into park. “Damn it, woman. Wait.”
I didn’t wait for him to get out of the SUV. I hurried up the sidewalk and went inside.
Laughter from the kitchen set my teeth on edge. How dare these two troublemakers sit in my home, laughing?
I stomped into the kitchen. “What’s so funny? Leaving your Mama without purse or a phone? Is that it? That’s freaking hysterical!”
They both went silent and stared at me with guilty expressions. Good.
“Did you forget something back at the cooking school?” I glared at them.
“We were mad,” Logan began.
I held up a hand. “No. Don’t.”
“But, Mama,” Lance tried to speak but went silent when his eyes flicked over my shoulder.
I turned my head to see Flint hulking behind me. The edge of his tribal band tattoo winked out from underneath his shirt sleeve. The tattoo on his ginormous bicep bulged as he crossed his arms. My soon-to-be-sister-in-law Wysdom called Flint “The Rock’s Body Double,” and it was never more evident than in this moment.
Flint intimidated on a regular day. But after my twopreciousbabies left their Mama at a gas station, Flint oozed danger. There should be orange cones and flashing lights surrounding him.
Flashing lights like strobe lights. And he could be on stage. Naked.
Focus, Celia. Focus!
I turned back to my children. “I don’t know what theheck-fireyou two were trying to pull back there, but I’m not having any of it.”
They tried to object, but Flint growled. Actually growled.
Is it bad that his Alpha Male Growliness turned on this card-carrying feminist?
Yeah. Didn’t think so.
But back to the matter at hand.
“I never had a problem with you trying to have a relationship with your father,” I glared at the twins. “I encouraged you to keep in touch with him and let him know what was going on in your lives. Even when he and I disagreed on… certain things, I never kept you from him.”
“He says you did,” Logan pouted.
The hurt was evident in Lance’s eyes when he said: “Papa said you refused to bring us to visit for his weekends.”
I sucked in a breath. How do I tell the twins their father was the one who refused?
