Page 84 of Broken Pact

“Which one is that?”

“The younger one,” Jasper says, his voice low. “But I’m handling it, Ma. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Well, sorry, but I can’t help that. I’m always going to worry, and especially when it comes to your half-siblings. Who knows what your father has done to poison their minds,” she grumbles.

Jasper sighs, his gaze cutting toward me. We lock eyes for a second, and I can’t keep quiet any longer.

“What’s going on?” I ask, my voice a husky murmur.

“Jasper Vincent Devereaux. Do you have a guest over right now? And you answered the phone?!” the female voice exclaims, her voice loud and pitching high toward the end of her question.

Jasper smiles, dragging his hand over the bottom half of his face. “Yeah, Ma, I might.”

She tsks, the noise sharp and loud. It’s a reprimand if I’ve ever heard one. I like her already.

“I raised you better than that, son. You give your date your full attention,” she says with a little huff like she’s disappointed.

“Yeah, and you also taught me to always pick up the phone when you call,” Jasper deadpans, raising a single brow.

“Yes, well, that much is true too.”

She pauses a beat, the silence long enough to pique my curiosity. I don’t know what the protocol is yet for this, but I remember him mentioning something about video chatting with his mom. It’s the whole reason he wanted to fake date in the first place. I push to sit up, straightening my tee to make sure I’m covered.

Fuck, I’m still in the lake clothes. Which is precisely an oversized shirt and my panties.

This is literally the worst way to meet my boyfriend’s mom for the first time. Well, I guess the worst would be totally naked, so I guess this is at least better than that scenario.

“Well, aren’t you going to introduce me, son? And let me tell you right now, if you pan over to that damn cat of yours again, I’m flying out to your house tomorrow, and I’m bringing six eligible women for you to date.”

I smooth my hair back, finger-combing it a few times and hoping for the best.

Jasper chuckles, his smile tugging softly as he looks at his mom. “Hold on one sec, yeah?”

“Yeah, alright. I bet you’re going to get your stories straight now, aren’t you? I told you what happened to Natalie when she caught her son trying to pull the wool over her eyes about that one woman, so don’t think I’ll fall for it.”

Jasper shakes his head and presses mute. He turns to look at me. “Sorry, baby.”

“You don’t have to apologize. Your mother sounds lovely.” I chuckle, the last remnants of sleep fading away.

His gaze roams over my face, his smile growing wider by the second. “I think you mean that.”

I lift my shoulders and let them fall. “I do. I especially like how easily she keeps you in line.”

“Is that what you want to do, hm? You want to keep me in line?” His eyes soften in the corners, the laugh lines deepening.

“Maybe I do.”

He drags his teeth over his bottom lip with a shake of his head. “Nah, I don’t think so, baby. I think you want me to keep you in line.”

My heart kicks inside my chest, like it’s agreeing or something equally ridiculous. I scoff, the sound loud between us. “You wish, Devereaux.”

His brows hit his hairline, and he lets out a low chuckle. “It’s Devereaux now, is it? You trying to friendzone me by last-naming me, baby? It’s not gonna work.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever. Do you want me to talk to your mom or are you gonna keep stalling?”

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CORALINE

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