Enjoying the Chase (58 page)

He looked like he was choosing his words
carefully. “Do you think that being in a dangerous job is a good example to be
setting for my grandson?”

I internally groaned. I hadn
’
t prepared myself sufficiently for this at
all. “I think that he
’
ll see me
doing my job and being on the right side of the law. So that
’
s setting a good example, yes,” I answered. I
could almost feel his eyes boring into my head as he scrutinised every little
thing that I did or said.

But then DJ opened his mouth and dropped me
in the shit. “Nate let me hold his gun. And I put on his handcuffs,” he
boasted.

Oh fuck. Nice one, Kid!
I winced and looked at Rosie. She hadn
’
t liked it when I did that either – until I explained that it was
empty and that the safety was on anyway. I
’
d even removed some of the inside parts so it couldn
’
t shoot; it was basically just a worthless
piece of metal when DJ held it.

George made a snorting sound in the back of
his throat. “Very responsible.”

Rosie stepped forward and slipped her arm
around my waist. “Yeah, we all had a go. It was an old gun that was out of
service, so it wouldn
’
t shoot or
anything. I asked Nate to bring it around because we
’
d never seen a gun up-close before. Right, Nate?” she lied, smiling
at me, telling me to play along. I nodded, wondering why she
’
d just said that.

“
I still don
’
t think that handling a real gun is something
that you should be allowing,” George countered.

Rosie shrugged. “Wasn
’
t your decision, Dad, it was mine. Nate said it was safe, so that
’
s good enough for me.” She held up the flowers
to show her mom. “I
’
m going to put
these in water. Nate bought them for me.”

Tracy smiled at me warmly. “Oh that
’
s sweet,” she gushed.

I laughed. That was probably where the word
‘
sweet
’
came
from. I couldn
’
t help but wonder
if George ever got labelled ‘
sweet
’
. I flicked my eyes back to him. He was still watching me like a
hawk with a stick up its ass. I winced slightly.
Yeah that dude is as sweet
as a fucking lemon!

I cleared my throat as Rosie walked off,
leaving me in what felt like hell. I clung to DJ, using him as some sort of
human shield from the death glare I was receiving. “So, how was the train ride?
I told Rosie that I didn
’
t mind
driving to come and collect you guys, but she said you were fine on the train,”
I said, shrugging, trying to alleviate some of the tension.

Were they feeling this tension, or was it
just me? Was it getting hotter in here? Maybe I should open a window or
something…

“The train was fine. Rosie told us that you
suggested that, but it just seemed silly for you to drive all that way when we
could just as easily get the train. Thank you for the offer though,” Tracy replied.
Her tone was warm and welcoming. Clearly it was only George that I needed to
win over.

“It wouldn
’
t have been a problem.” I shrugged, and DJ wriggled in my arms, as
he tapped on my shoulder to get my attention. I smiled down at him. “What
’
s up, Kid?
”

“When we gets to the church, am I allowed
to play on your phone?” he whispered, giving me the puppy dog face that I was
yet to find a resistance to. DJ had developed a fondness for my cell phone
lately; I now had more games downloaded on there than anything else. With the
way he was going I was going to have to buy him his own one soon, before he
overloaded my memory with drawing apps, drum sets and angry birds.

“Sure, Kid.”

“He has a name you know,” George
interjected.

I smiled and nodded. Looks like I wasn
’
t getting anything right today. “Yeah, I
should really use that.”

A couple of minutes later, Rosie walked
back in and smiled. “Are we ready to go? It
’
s going to take a while to get there because of security,” she said,
shrugging and grabbing her purse.

I nodded and set DJ down on his feet. “You
been to the bathroom, Kid? There won
’
t be one there; you don
’
t want to have to pee in the bush in front of a load of cameras, do
you? I did that once, it
’
s not
fun,” I stated, nodding towards the back hallway. Rosie burst out laughing, and
DJ skipped off. I grinned up at her, but then saw her dad looking at me with
one eyebrow raised; he obviously didn
’
t find it funny. “That was a joke, I
’
ve never done that,” I added quickly.

“Hmm,” was all he said as he headed for the
door.

When Tracy followed him, I turned to Rosie,
looking at her desperately. “This is not going well,” I whined.

She shook her head and went up on tiptoes,
pressing her lips to mine. “You
’
re
doing great. I haven
’
t heard one
pick-up line, or slutty comment come out of your mouth. That must be some kind
of record for you,” she teased.

I sighed and pressed my forehead to hers,
wishing today was over already. DJ skipped back to the lounge then, his shirt
un-tucked, his hands still dripping with water where he hadn
’
t dried them. I laughed, and Rosie bent down
to sort him out.

“After I go to the bathroom, you gonna do
that for me?” I asked, as she pushed her hand down his dress pants, tucking in
his shirt.

She winked at me. “If you
’
re a good boy.”

“Nate
’
s always a good boy,” DJ chimed in, making us both laugh.

The drive to the church took a long
time, we had to stop a couple of times at checkpoints, they’d blocked off
certain roads and you had to produce ID and an invite to get past. This was all
because of Anna’s father. He was serving his second term in office, after all;
the President of the United States had a lot of security.

By the time we made it to the church
parking lot, I was in a bad mood. The whole drive George was nit-picking at
everything I did. Complaining about my car not being big enough for five
people, how I drove too fast, how I should have pulled out at a junction when I
didn
’
t, how long it was taking. If
he was doing it to piss me off, it was having the desired effect.

I sighed gratefully as we got out of the
car, taking a few deep breaths. My peace didn
’
t last long though because Seth came wandering over with a big grin
on his face. He knew I was nervous; I
’
d spoken to him about meeting the parents. He was definitely going
to make this harder for me, I could tell by the wicked glint to his eye. I shot
him a warning look as everyone else walked around to my side of the car.

Seth hadn
’
t officially met DJ yet, I
’
d spoken about him, of course, but this was the actual first
meeting. I wasn
’
t sure how Seth
was going to handle it, he really didn
’
t like kids. He smiled at me.

“This your girl
’
s sprog?
” he asked, motioning towards DJ.

DJ frowned. “I
’
m not a frog.”

I laughed and patted his head as Seth stuck
out his hand for him to shake. “Hey, I
’m your uncle Seth,
” he introduced himself. DJ looked at me curiously, and Rosie laughed.
Seth turned to her and smiled his game smile. “Why do you have to be so damn
fine every single day? Can
’
t you
take a break and let me concentrate on something else for a change?” he asked, smirking
at her.

“Still trying?” she asked, rolling her
eyes.

I cleared my throat awkwardly, willing him
to disappear. “Seth, think we could give it a rest for today?” I asked, nodding
discreetly at her parents that were standing beside me.

Seth grinned wolfishly and looked at Tracy.
“
You can
’
t be
Rosie
’
s mother. Were you five when
you gave birth?”

I’m going to to kill him.

Tracy laughed and blushed, looking at her
husband uncomfortably. She obviously wasn
’
t as
comfortable with chat-up lines
as her
daughter. “Well aren
’
t you the
charmer,” she replied, looking a little embarrassed.

“We should get inside,” I suggested,
looking at the five secret service agents that were standing guard outside the
church door. I recognised a couple of them as Anna
’
s security guard detail when Ashton wasn
’
t around. I gripped Rosie
’
s hand and put my other on DJ
’
s shoulder, guiding him over to the security. I nodded at Patrick,
one of Anna
’
s guards.
“Hey, Patrick. Listen, that guy over there, he says he
’
s with us, but I don
’
t know him,” I stated, nodding at Seth, who was now hitting on
another guest as she got out of her car. Patrick wouldn
’
t know who Seth was; he didn
’
t hang out at their place as much as I did so he didn
’
t know many of their security detail.

Patrick frowned. “The brown haired one?”

I nodded in confirmation, wondering if I
had just gone too far. He would have his invite though; it would be easily
sorted out. “Yeah. Can we head in? We
’
re all on the guest list; this is Mr and Mrs York.” I waved a hand
at Rosie
’
s parents. Patrick nodded,
and we all headed into the, already full, church.

Almost instantly I spotted my mother; she
stood up from her seat, waving excitedly with her eyes firmly latched onto DJ.
She seemed to push past everyone, and my dad walked along behind her,
apologising to the people she almost shoved out of the way in a bid to meet her
grandson.

She stopped in front of me, pulling Rosie
into a hug. “Oh, you look so beautiful! That dress, it
’
s just incredible, sweetheart,” she gushed, smiling affectionately.
She turned to me and pinched my cheek. “Poppet, you just look so handsome in
your suit!” Rosie giggled, but I didn
’
t look at her knowing she would tease the life out of me because of
the poppet thing again. I gripped DJ
’
s shoulder for support as my mother
’
s eyes went down to him. She bit on her lip, one hand over her heart
as she looked at him like he was the cutest thing in the world. “Hi, DJ,” she
whispered.

I crouched down next to him and smiled
reassuringly, wondering what on earth the kid was going to make of my crazy ass
mother. “DJ, this is my mom, Dawn.”

He smiled at her which caused her to
whimper.

“You
’
re Nate
’
s momma? You
don
’
t looks like Nate,” he
observed, shaking his head.

My mom laughed.
“Nate
looks like his dad,” she replied, crouching down in front of him. “I have some
gifts for you in my car. I brought one in with me because it was small, but the
rest of them you
’
ll have to wait
until after, deal?”

“You boughted me a present?” he said
excitedly. She nodded and reached into the bag that she had in her hand,
pulling out a couple of packs of
Toy Story
stickers and a sticker album.
DJ
’
s eyes lit up as he looked at
it. “That
’
s mine?” he cried
happily. She nodded as she held it out to him. He took it, grinning from ear to
ear. DJ turned to me. “Nate, you have a really nice momma! Look what she
boughted for me!” He held it up in example, and I smiled, faking enthusiasm.

“I
’
ll help you stick them in if you want,” my mom offered.

He nodded eagerly, and she sighed happily.
My dad was watching, grinning too as my mom introduced him to DJ, and they
opened the packs of stickers.

Ashton wandered over then. As he shook
hands with George, he was afforded a warm smile. I couldn
’
t help but feel a little jealous, but then again, Ashton wasn
’
t a threat because he wasn
’
t the one trying to get in Rosie
’s pants.