All or nothing (Love in chaos #1) - Missy Johnson Page 0,13
I'm in a meeting that will likely take the rest of the week and that I'll see him in my office at nine a.m. Monday morning like we discussed.”
Silence.
“Yes, sir.”
The call cuts out as she hangs up on me. I feel a stab of irritation. Why is it so hard for her to do her job? What’s the fucking point in having an assistant if I can’t dodge phone calls that I’m not in the mood to take? I climb out of my BMW and stalk my way down the path to Mom’s front door. I’ll deal with Avery, and this stupid bet with Jake, later.
Right now, I've got enough on my plate trying to make this dinner as painless as possible. I hadn't seen or spoken to Mom since the hotel last night, only to give her a thumbs up when she asked if I was still coming over for dinner.
I lift my hand to knock on the heavy oak door, but it swings open before I actually make contact. Ebony stares at me, her green eyes wide as I nudge past her and walk inside.
“You’re here,” she whispers, following me down to the living room.
“Great observational skills per usual.” I ruffle her blonde hair, because I know she hates it, then wander into the living room and flop down into one of the old leather armchairs. “What’s going on?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at my little sister.
“Nothing.” She narrows her eyes back at me. “Can’t I just be happy to see you?”
“You’re happy to see me?” I repeat with a laugh. I know Ebs loves me, but she hates showing it, which means she either wants something, or she’s done something. “Okay. What is it this time? Money? You need a lift somewhere? You want me to buy you and your friends alcohol again?”
“No,” she whines, her bottom lip sticking out. “Can’t I just be happy my big brother came over for dinner?”
Before I can reply, Billy waltzes into the room. He stops when he sees me and then curses under his breath. I watch, openmouthed, as he reaches into his wallet and pulls out a twenty-dollar bill. He tosses it at Ebony, who squeals happily as she stuffs it into her pocket.
“Ha, I told you he’d show,” Ebony yells, doing a little victory dance.
“Whatever,” Billy grumbles, like he couldn’t care less.
“That’s why you’re happy to see me?” I stare at her accusingly. “Because…” I pause, confused. “Wait a minute, what the heck is going on here?”
Ebony gives me a devilish grin. “I hear that’s what Mom said.”
“She told you, didn’t she?” I groan.
“Yes, I told them,” Mom titters as she sweeps through the door, leaning down to kiss me on the cheek as she passes me. “It’s kind of funny when you think about it.”
“No,” I assure her. “It’s not.”
“And you know what these two snoops are like,” she continues, nodding at the twins. “They’d have figured it out by themselves eventually, and then we’d have looked like we were trying to hide something.”
“We were trying to hide something,” I point out, getting to my feet. “Or at least, I was.”
“Brings new meaning to the term MILF, huh bro?” Billy cracks, nudging me in the ribs. He jumps out of the way when I attempt to slap him. “And for the record, we don’t snoop,” he adds to our mom. “It’s just you make it impossible for us not to figure out your shit.”
“It’s true,” Ebony confirms. “Three times last week I had to call you because you’d posted private messages as status updates on Facebook. I swear old people should require a license to operate social media.”
Mom glares at them, her hands firmly on hips.
“Excuse me, I’m not completely hopeless.” She makes a face when Ebony snorts. “Okay, so maybe sometimes I find all that technology challenging, but at least I’m putting myself out there and trying new things.”
“I think the real question we should be asking, Ben,” Billy turns his attention to me, a glint in his eyes. “How does one not realize that the chick they’re trying to bang is their own mother?”
“I was catfished,” I enlighten.
“Cat what?” Mom asks, confused. “I never said anything about cats.”
“It means you made yourself out to be someone that you’re not,” I patiently explain.
Or in this case, Jake did.
“I did nothing of the sort,” she gasps, but I’ve already turned my attention back to Billy.
“I thought I was meeting someone else. Maybe if she’d been a