Game Saver - BJ Harvey Page 0,31
home, Cal?”
Her eyes go soft, her love for her brother clear as day. “I’m okay. I came with Mom so I should probably wait for her. But thanks for the escape plan.”
“Always.” He lets me go and steps forward to give his sister a hug, his hand dropping to rub her baby bump. “Look after my nephew.”
“It’s a girl, you know.”
“You need to have another one then to take the pressure off me and Cam and produce another Carsen male.”
“Go away,” she says, shoving his arm with a laugh.
“You want to meet me outside?” he asks me.
“I’ll just visit the restroom and then come find you. Sound like a plan?”
“Perfect.” He rests hand on the small of my back, tipping my chin back with a finger under it before giving me a socially appropriate—albeit borderline—kiss, his eyes smiling.
“See you soon,” he murmurs against my lips, my answering “okay” breathy and totally giving away how much I like it.
I walk out of the bathroom stall to find Cade’s mother waiting for me at the basin.
“Hi,” I say, stepping up beside her to wash my hands. It’s not until I’m drying my hands that she speaks, carrying out her—this time—successful sneak attack.
“Can I be honest with you, Abi?”
“Of course,” I reply, rubbing my hands together under the warm air and trying to ignore my racing heart.
“I don’t like you with my son.”
Well, it seems Cade got something from his mother—the ability to call a spade a spade.
I turn to face her, leaning a hip against the vanity. “No offense, Mrs. Carsen, but you don’t know enough about me to judge me.”
“I know enough and what I know I don’t like,” she says. “I’m also not going to expect that you would listen to me if was to ask you to turn your back on my son and walk away.”
I study her, stamping down my rising anger at her audacity as well as the realization that Cade wasn’t kidding when it came to his parents and their expectations for perfection. “Annabel, I don’t believe I have done anything to deserve your dislike, however I can tell you that Cade and I are happy together.” Well, I’m happy with him giving me orgasms but also with watching movies together, cooking for me, relaxing on the couch . . .
Her eyes narrow on me. “Men like my husband and sons always like things that aren’t good for them. It’s my job to watch out for them and make sure they don’t make mistakes they can’t come back from.”
What does ‘things that aren’t good for them’ even mean?
“But my son has never been one to do what’s good for him, so I must make the best of his need to have his fun, and so I’m asking that you continue conducting yourself in a manner becoming of a Carsen.”
Holy fuck, she didn’t just say that.
Before I can retort, she continues, “It would be best if you curtail your secondary employment first and foremost.”
“What?” I gasp, flabbergasted.
“Our investigator has informed us that you work on a casual basis in a profession that would have a detrimental effect on my husband’s campaign if it was to come out publicly. I ask that for the duration of my husband’s mayoral bid or the length of my son’s infatuation with you, you refrain from working in that role. We’re prepared to make up for any financial shortfall this may create, as I’m sure you’re only working in such an establishment due to financial need.”
“I—”
“If you could contact my husband’s secretary with the amount of compensation required, we can have this taken care of quickly and quietly, as I’m sure my son would appreciate you making such a gesture in support of his father’s campaign, avoiding any embarrassing situations for my son and my family.”
I’m speechless, and I’m never lost for words.
Then the words come to me, but it’s just too late when they do because, having said her piece, Annabel Carsen gives me a curt nod and spins on her heels, walking out the door.
It’s not until that night when I’m lying wide awake in bed, Cade sound asleep and making his cute little snorts while sleeping beside me, that I realize I made a huge mistake because by not telling his mother exactly where she could stick her ‘offer’—I’d played right into her hands. She now has a trump card should she decide to use it.
Whatever the future holds for the Cade and I, Annabel Carsen will not have