Page 77 of The Show

“Don’t swear at me, Lowe. I haven’t seen you for three months, and you don’t look that busy seeing as it’s nearly ten a.m. and you’re not dressed yet. If you have enough time to sleep in, you have enough time to reply to your mom, and you have enough time to set aside for dating.”

My ears shot to attention. Dating?

“Have you been in touch with Robert, that nice doctor I told you about?”

“Mom…” Lowe hissed, but Abigail took no notice, nor did she lower her tone, which I was grateful for seeing as I wanted to know more about this dating garbage.

“Lowe, I work hard to try and find you suitable men, but it’s like you don’t even care about your future.”

Men? Doctor? Dating? My dick, which had been as hard as a steel pipe when Lowe had sprinted down the stairs, had now shriveled like a popped balloon.

“You seem to care enough for both of us.” Lowe’s tone bit more with every word she spoke.

“Lowe, you need to get out there and date. You have to make as much time for it as this business venture you’re on. Penn can’t be working you that hard. I’m sure if you asked him, he’d give you time off to go out for a coffee date. Doesn’t need to take long. You could pop out for a few hours every day.”

I’d forgotten how tenacious Abigail could be - like a dog with a bone - but I could tell her right now that over my dead body would Lowe be taking time off work to go for fucking coffee dates. I’d pile her up with more work than she could fit in a day if that were the case, until she collapsed exhausted into bed. Every night. Next to me.

“Mom, give me my key back. You need to leave, and I have to get ready for work.”

“Lowe, don’t be dramatic,” Abigail tutted.

“I’m not being dramatic. We agreed you wouldn’t let yourself in, and you’ve broken that agreement.”

Abigail sighed deeply. “Okay, darling, have it your way. But make sure you give Robert a call; he’s expecting you to.”

Voices faded with their footsteps as they both walked toward the door, and I moved to sit on the end of the bed. Lowe didn’t return immediately. I wasn’t sure how long it took for her to come back up the stairs, but it was long enough for me to grab a towel from the bathroom and wrap it round my waist so I wasn’t totally naked, before I finally heard her footsteps.

She pushed open her bedroom door, hesitating slightly as she saw me, almost like she wasn’t expecting me to be there, waiting. Or she’d forgotten I was here.

“Hey,” she said, not quite meeting my eyes.

“Hey,” I stood up and walked to her, tilting her dropped chin up so I could see her face properly. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, but stayed quiet.

“Lowe, why is your mom setting you up on dates?”

“My mom’s always setting me up on dates.” Both her shoulders lifted in a half-assed shrug, but the tension in them gave away the frustration she was trying to hide.

It didn’t stop me from needing to contain the irritation, or incredulity in my voice, however, because I had no fucking clue what was going on, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“Why?”

She stepped away and walked into the bathroom. “Because I’m single and she wants grandchildren.”

I would impregnate her right now if that’s all it took to get Abigail off her case… but there was a more immediate concern.

“You’re not going to go on them though, right?” I waited for her to come back out of the bathroom to agree, but she didn’t. “Right?”

The shower started running, steam filling the bathroom as quickly as I’d filled with overpowering levels of jealousy at the thought of anyone being granted her attention after I’d had all of it. I was failing to comprehend why she was either ignoring me or wasn’t taking my obvious concern seriously.

And if I used to get jealous about any guy Lowe dated before, it had nothing on the murderous emerald lava presently coursing through my veins. She was the only thing I’d ever felt jealousy over. I hated every guy she’d ever dated, and that was when I never in a million years thought I’d be one of them.

Now I was, there was no way I was letting anyone follow me.

No fucking way.

This was it.Shewas it.

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