Page 60 of Mischievous Lies

Nope. Not happening. I am not getting a hard-on while my mother is standing in the same room.

“You should know everything finds its way back to me.” She smiles and sits at the end of the bed. “Now, do you want to talk about it?” she asks in her slight Russian accent. What the fuck is this, some kind of intervention? Is she actually trying to be… motherly? Or is she pranking me? My father laughs from the door, but neither of us pays him any attention.

“No, Mother, I do not wish to talk about my cock with you.”

She clicks her tongue. “Not that. Why you took it.” She raises a perfect brow at me. “Is everything okay?”

I groan, putting the pillow over my face.

Why did I take it? Why do I do anything? It’s just my fucking personality to try new things and not think about the consequences. But this time, I definitely should’ve thought about the consequences of my actions because my penis paid for it. Looking back now, I probably should’ve only taken one. I haveno issues in the bedroom, but I felt like I needed to impress Ivy even more, so when she did actually come over, and thank fuck she did agree, I thought it would be fucking incredible. And it was… until it wasn’t.

Why did I feel the need to impress her? Well, because she’s a lot like me. And she knows what she wants and what she likes. It’s one of the many reasons I’m enchanted by her, which isn’t surprising once you get to know her. But I’m not sharing any of that with my parents.

“Because I wanted to have fun. Now, Mother, if you would kindly leave so I can go back to sleep, that would be amazing.” She looks past me and to where River stands at the door.

“We didn’t just come for that. We wanted to check up on you. We were advised you weren’t partying as much, and you got messy on the last guy you killed in the hospital.”

I stare at them. “Are you…worriedabout me?”

“Of course we are. We’re your parents,” my mother says as if it’s obvious. “Besides, you’re the one I worry about the most since you do things and then think after the fact. You’ve just been slightly different since the incident with your brother, so we wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

I think I’ve been staring for too long. My mother does not have heart-to-heart conversations. I mean, I’m certain she has a heart, but only for my father. And I know she cares about me and Ford, but she has peculiar ways of showing it. Playing therapist isn’t one of them.

“I’m okay,” I finally say, still looking between them skeptically. “Really, I just did a stupid thing.”

My mother perks up with that, taking it as answer enough to remove herself from what is most likely the most uncomfortable motherly role she’s taken.

“Also, we’ll be hosting an opening for one of your father’s new restaurants. Make sure you’re there. Oh, and I’ve invited Ivy Walker.”

My jaw drops as I realize that’s most likely the reason she’s here. “Mom, that is so not cool, inviting her without me asking her directly!”

“Why? We’ve known the Walker family for years. Is there a particular reason I shouldn’t have asked her?” she asks with a knowing smirk. I open my mouth and then close it. I swear this woman put a tracking device in our skin somewhere when we were teens. How she finds out everything is baffling. “Make sure you don’t scare that one off. I’m rather fond of her,” she says before stepping out of my room.

My father hovers at the door with a smirk, always impressed by how our mother puts us in our place.

“Call us if you need us, even if it’s that issue…” he says, waving a hand toward my crotch. I nod, but I know deep down inside I would never have fucking called them for that. Who calls their mother to say their fucking cock is hard as a rock, and they can’t get it down because they stupidly took Viagra? Not fucking me, that’s for sure.

A text message appears on my screen, and I jump out of bed as Ford relays a time and place.

Looks like Ivy has herself a date.

CHAPTER 37

Ivy

I’m walking to the restaurant where I’m meeting Jared for, in his words, “our date.” The guy seems to move on quickly for someone in mourning over his ex-girlfriend.

My phone buzzes, and my heels stop clicking against the pavement as I freeze in place at the name on my screen. I answer Anya Ivanov’s call.

The only reason I have her number is because she called me once trying to find Hawke, who had later been found in a field after killing three men and lost his phone and car keys in the process. It’s only because my father could track his car in the first place that they found him, and I heard about it all week as my father complained that he had to help the little shit at all.

I never understood why she called me then, and I sure as shit don’t understand why she’s calling me now. But I certainly know better than not to answer when Anya Ivanov calls.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Hello, Ivy. I’m sending you details for a party River, and I will be hosting. We look forward to seeing you there.” And then she hangs up.

“Hello?” I say, looking down at the phone. Okay, that was fucking weird.

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