Page 77 of Mister Mom

“Jagger and Leo. We’re heading to a location Hannah wants us to see.” More background noises filled with the rustling of sheets and what I think is him walking toward the door.

“Hannah?” I ask, trying to keep my voice even-keeled.

“Hannah Crowley, the investor.”

I nod, although he doesn’t see it.

“I think she has a slight crush on you.” He chuckles.

“I think she wants to grind pussies with you,” Jagger yells in the background.

“Too bad. I’m the only one who’ll be grinding your pussy,” he whispers into the phone and my entire body suddenly feels like it’s on high alert.

I cross my legs to try to ease some of the tension brewing. “Well, then you better hurry home. I’m lonely.”

“Yeah, me too. I beat off once last night and once this morning thinking of you.”

I try to push the image from my mind, but it’s near impossible. The thought of him stroking himself while thinking of me is off-the-charts erotic.

I clear my throat. “Good to know. Thanks again for Marisol. She did an excellent job.”

“There’s my sweet girl.” I can hear his smile.

“Okay, love birds, chirp chirp, let’s go!” Jagger screams in the background.

“What do you mean?” I ignore the annoying best friend.

“I don’t know. You seemed distant until just now. Maybe it’s just the miles between us.”

I’ll keep my insecurities to myself. He doesn’t need to know Carver’s infidelity has left scars that are still healing. He doesn’t need to know that for half the day I imagined him in bed with another woman. Those are my issues, not his. “Yeah, it’s weird. You’ve been a part of our lives for only weeks, yet all three of us seem to feel your absence when you’re gone.”

He chuckles. “I feel the same. I might be losing at this whole guys’ trip. I almost fell asleep at the bar last night.”

I bite down my smile. “Well, you go and have fun.”

“Me!” Payne reaches again.

“All right, I’ll be back in town tomorrow afternoon. Work on that babysitter.”

“Wait, Payne wants to talk to you.”

“Come on, man, let’s go,” Jagger says in the background.

“You go and I’ll meet you in the lobby,” I make out Vance saying, even though he’s trying to muffle the phone.

“I’m leaving in five minutes whether you’re there or not,” Jagger says in his usual bossy manner.

“Bye, Layla,” Leo says and then I hear a door shut.

“Finally.” Vance comes back on. “Give me Payne.”

I hand the phone to Payne, who sits back in the booth with his water in his hand and a big ol’ smile on his face. “Hi,” he says in an excited voice.

The two talk for a minute about when Vance will be back, what he’s doing, and who he is with while I try to clean up Via as best I can. One thing I can admit is that being with the kids by myself again, after not being that way for weeks, has made the lonely hole in my chest a little wider.

“Yeah, here’s my mom.” Payne holds the phone to me, but then takes it back. “Love you.” And then he holds the phone out, but I’m too stunned to actually grab it.

My slow reaction causes him to let it go over the top of his melted ice cream sundae and it splashes onto the table when my phone hits the bottom of the cup.

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