“I love you, Ma, but she’ll call you back another time.” I ended the call, turned Maddie’s phone off, and slipped it into my pocket with her giving me a death stare. I really didn’t give a fuck though.
The two of them had been on the phone for damn near the past hour, all buddy-buddy, and I didn’t need that. Ever since we all had dinner together, the two of them had been inseparable and it was getting on my damn nerves.
Maddie talked to my mother these days more than she talked to Sophie. That was exactly why I didn’t want the two of them to meet.
“Why did you do that?” Maddie followed me as I headed to my bedroom.
I sat on the foot of the bed and lay back. She climbed on top of me, straddling my waist while trying to slip her hand into my pocket to get her phone, but I caught her wrist.
“Ay, you gon’ fuck around and touch something that’s gon’ have your ass on your hands and knees in a minute, Maddie. Stay out my damn pocket, baby girl.”
She laughed and folded her arms across her chest, but I noticed she was smart enough to stay out of my pocket.
“Are you jealous?”
I lifted my head and looked at her. “The fuck would I be jealous about?”
“Jealous because your mom and I are close now. Which means everything is not about you.”
I smirked and grabbed her waist before I slid my hands up her stomach under her shirt.
“I’m not jealous, trust me. I just don’t think y’all need to be talking twenty-four-seven. That’s not anything but problems.”
“Problems for me or problems for you? Because she and I are getting along just fine.”
“Which is why it’s a problem. The reason my relationship with my mother works is because she minds her business and only knows what I tell her. Now she has you on her line every day and she’s all in my shit about everything. I don’t need that.”
“So you don’t want me talking to your mother because you don't want her knowing things about your life?”
“Yep.”
“First of all, we hardly ever talk about you, and it’s really arrogant of you to assume that we do. Secondly, she loves you, so why wouldn’t she be concerned about you and your life?”
A sly grin crept across my face before I slipped my hand behind Maddie, forcing her into me. She pressed her palms on the bed, one of each side of my head, before I lifted it to kiss her.
“I know you talk about me because I’m on your mind all the gotdamn time, so I’m not being arrogant. I’m just stating facts. And I know she cares about me, but right now she has a hidden agenda that involves something permanent with you. I’m not saying that’s not up for discussion later down the line, but she’s trying to push it sooner, so for now, I’m limiting the time you spend with and talking to her.”
“Seriously?” Maddie laughed like I was joking, but I wasn’t in the slightest.
“Hell yeah, seriously. I mean it too. Try me and see.”
I lifted my head to kiss her again, but she turned hers and pulled away. I grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her into one.
“What I tell you about that, Madeline? Don’t turn away from me when I’m trying to kiss you.”
She smiled and kissed me again just before my phone vibrated in my pocket. I almost didn’t answer it because I figured it was my mother calling to curse my ass out for hanging up on her, but she also knew me. Hell, I was her son, she’d raised me, which meant she played a role in how I acted.
When I glanced at my screen, I realized it was Trooper.
“Yo, what up, Troop?”
“You free?”
“I can be, what you need?”
“I want to swing by and try to get some information from Willis.”
“Aight, I can do that. When?”
