Page 46 of Power Twist

Peering between my fingers, I catch her blatantly checking Trey out. “Taeler, watch it.”

“Real cute.” Leaning across the table, stretching out as long as she can, Taeler reaches out a hand to Trey. “Hi, I don't think we officially met earlier. I'm Taeler.” With a tilt of her head, she nods to me. “Her amazing daughter who stupidly picked the wrong night to sneak out and get tailed by some random person. So tell me, are you dating my mom?”

With a smirk stretching his kissable lips, Trey grasps Taeler's hand and gives it a quick shake before resuming his 'high alert' stance.

“Nice to meet you, Taeler. I've heard a lot about you, all good things.” My breath catches when his twinkling honey brown eyes meet mine. “And no, I'm not dating your mom, but I'd like to one day.”

“Why not now?”

My gaze volleys between the two, a held breath burning in my lungs as I wait for his answer.

“Can't. Not yet at least.” Something smolders beneath his gaze, a promise of some kind, before turning back to Taeler. “When I'm not responsible for keeping her safe, then I'll be able to properly date her.”

“So you're not properly dating now?” Taeler says with a smirk of her own. “Does that mean you're just friends with benefits?”

“Okay.” I hold up both hands in surrender. “We're done with this conversation.”

“Why? It was just getting good, Mom.”

“I am not talking about this with you.”

“You mean sex?”

“Tiny!” I shout and immediately slouch lower to avoid the pointed glares from the other patrons. “Stop egging them on.” Gripping my light windbreaker, I tug the edges closed. “Okay, I have to ask, what's with the glares people are giving me?” Part of me actually wants to know while the other part just wants to break up this slightly embarrassing and very personal conversation.

“Um, because they hate you,” Taeler says with a huff. “Come on, Mom. Don't tell me you're so busy you're not watching the polls anymore.”

“Umm,” I draw out, trying to stall. Shit, when was the last time I checked our approval rating?

Taeler rolls her beautiful blue eyes. “Well, to catch you up, everyone blames you for living paycheck to paycheck.”

“What? How? I'm doing what I can,” I defend. My pulse races as I scan the restaurant again, finding even more glares focused my way. “I'm trying to stop it.”

“How?”

“I'm trying to whip votes in the House and the Senate—”

“Mom, what the hell are you talking about?”

“The voting bill. What the hell are you talking about?”

“The stupid high gas prices.” Looking left and then right, Taeler leans forward, pressing her elbows to the table. “Gas prices have jumped at least two dollars a gallon since you took office. Everyone's blaming you and Kyle. Something about tightening EPA standards on drilling. I don’t know much. Do you really not know anything?”

My mouth gapes, but no words come out.

“I don't understand.” Shaking my head, I lean back, resting against the metal wall. “I haven't been briefed on any of this.”

“Haven't you noticed? Watched the news at all?” she questions.

Looking to Trey, I search his face for answers. “I don't drive anymore, so no, I haven't been to a gas station in forever. And honestly, I used to watch it every morning but lately I’ve been too busy stopping the ludicrous bill and focusing on other projects.

“Well, you need to look into it and figure that shit out.” Tiny's hand presses on top of my own. “Rumors are it's only going to keep going up as the supply and demand continues to unbalance.”

“What the hell is going on? Why would people think we are directly responsible for that?” I whisper to myself.

“That's what we want to know,” Taeler says. Her phone chirps, drawing her worried gaze to the blinking screen. Immediately her eyes widen before flicking up to me. “Um, so Dad's here.”

“What!” I shout and shoot off the bench. Only I don't have enough clearance to stand, and with Tiny's weight keeping the bench where it is, I bounce right back to the seat. “Why the fuck is he here?”

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