Page 61 of Wrath

His smirk widened. “Nah, it was a chick fight. Five minutes or two. It don’t matter. It’s still fucking hot.”

“Ah, I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

“Come to think of it, Bones never said what you two were fighting over.”

He clearly had no idea about my involvement with Wrath, and I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Regardless, I didn’t want to be the one who broke the news to him, so I said, “Use your imagination. I’m sure you can come up with something.”

“Oh, I already have, and all I can say is damn. That shit is hot.”

“You’re a mess.” I started to roll up my window as I told him, “Catch ya later, Roost.”

He gave me a wave, then watched as I pulled through the gate. I was still feeling out of sorts, even more so after my conversation with Wyatt, so I decided to hold off on going to work and took a quick detour. I stopped and grabbed a couple of cups of coffee, then drove over to my parents’ place. I knew my father was at the clubhouse, so I hoped that meant that I could have a few minutes alone with my mother.

When I pulled up, I spotted her in the front yard potting plants. She had on no makeup, a pair of baggy denim overalls, and a floppy sun hat, and she still looked positively stunning. I carried her cup of coffee over to her as I said, “Good morning.”

“Mia!” She stood and opened her arms, pulling me in for a giant hug. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”

I hugged her back as I told her, “It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing.”

“Well, I’m so glad you came.” She reached for her cup of coffee and took a long sip. “Ummm, my favorite.”

She led me over to the front porch, and we both sat down on her swing. She took off her hat, then took a sip of her coffee before asking, “So, how have things been going? Any new projects at work?”

“Things are good. No new projects. Work’s been a little slow, but it's fine.”

I let out a little sigh, and that’s all it took. Mom leaned back on the swing and said, “Okay, tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong. Well, not really.” My mother and I had always been close. She’d always been there for me—no matter what. I knew today would be no different, but I was still nervous. I took a deep breath, then said, “I just wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.” She settled back on the swing and gave me her full attention as she asked, “What’s on your mind?”

I hesitated for a moment, gathering my thoughts, then said, “I’m not sure if Dad told you, but I’ve been seeing someone.”

"He hasn’t mentioned anything.” Mom’s brows furrowed slightly, curiosity mixing with concern. “I guess he was waiting on you to tell me.”

“Maybe... or maybe he was thinking it wouldn’t last.”

“Why would he think that?”

“Because I’ve been seeing Wrath.”

My words hung in the air between us, and I could tell by the look on my mother’s face that my answer had taken her by surprise. “Oh...”

“We haven’t been seeing each other long.”

“I see.” She studied me for a moment, then asked, “And you like him?”

“I’ve always liked him, Mom. We grew up together, but things took a turn a few weeks back when I tricked him to come to my apartment.”

“You tricked him?”

“I kind of lied and told him my ceiling fan was broken when it wasn’t... at least, not until I broke it.”

“Oh, Mia,” she scolded.

“I know. It was wrong, but I had to come up with a way to get him alone and that was the only way I could think of to do it.” I shrugged. “And it worked.”

“And you started, ummm, seeing each other after that?”

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