Teach Me Like That (LMLT Book 2) (18 page)

I begin making a pot of coffee, hoping that ignoring her will work, but I know better.

“I’m your mother,” she spits.

I remain silent.

“You disrespect me every time I come here.”

I can’t help the snort that escapes my mouth.

“You can leave,” I tell her deserting the coffee making. “This time,” I say just before walking out of the kitchen, “stay away for good. Mother or not, you mean absolutely nothing to me. My parents died three years ago.”

Jillian is my saving grace again today. I jumped at the idea of getting out of the house when she called and asked. Pig Out in the Park is the perfect distraction for me today, and the fried, greasy foods from the vendors are just what my hangover needs.

“I hate seeing you like this,” Jillian says as we step away from the third food booth we’ve visited today.

“What?” I ask swiping at my face. “Is there mustard on my chin?”

She shakes her head no, so I take another bite of the foot-long sausage on a stick.

“I hate when Cindy comes to town. It’s almost like she carries this dark cloud with her. You’re different when she’s here, sad and depressed.”

“I hate when she’s here as well. Then I feel guilty because the second she shows up, I wish she’d leave,” I confess. “No one should feel like that about their mother.”

“Don’t do that,” she chastises. “Don’t you dare feel guilty about her. She’s nothing more than an egg donor and incubator. That’s the extent of her parenting.”

“I know.” We walk a little further in the park and find a small unoccupied spot on the grass as the band begins to warm up on the small stage.

“Enough about Cindy,” Jillian says. “Let’s talk about that hunk of a man you disappeared with on Saturday night.”

I can’t help the smile that graces my face.

“He slept with the headmistress at my school.”

“Seriously? The one who always has her tits out and only got the job because she fucked some rich dude?”

“She’s the daughter of a rich dude, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t sleep with a few to ensure her employment,” I correct her.

She leans close to me. “You caught them together, and then went home with him? Lexi I taught you better than that.”

“He said it was a few months back,” I tell her.

She shrugs. “Everyone has a past, Lexi. You can’t get pissed that he slept with someone else. He’s ridiculously gorgeous. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s slept with hundreds of women.”

I frown at the thought, and my brows draw together. It’s not as if it’s something I haven’t thought myself, but the realization still stings a bit.

“How is he?” I want to think she’s asking about his health and general wellbeing, but when I look over at her with her lips wrapped around her sausage mimicking a blowjob with her eyebrows waving, I know that’s not what she’s asking.

“Adequate,” I respond.

“You’ve got to be joking. Adequate? I want details, young lady.”

“Other than Saturday night when we got to my house after the club, he’s pretty much been an asshole.” The look on her face tells me to proceed. “The first time we hooked up-”

“Hold on!” she says clasping my forearm. “The first time? You’ve hooked up more than once?

I nod. “The first time,” I continue, “was in my den. He bent me over in front of the damn window. When he was done, he said ‘thanks, doll’ and left.”

She chuckles. “I can totally see him doing something like that.”

“The second time,” I hold up two fingers. “Was in the hallway at the club. He stuffed my panties in my mouth and fucked me like he didn’t have a care in the world.”

“In the hallway?” I nod. “Stuffed your panties in your mouth?” I nod again. “That’s crazy fucking hot.”

“I nearly came the second he did it,” I agree.

“And when you got home Saturday?” she prods.

“We were up until dawn going at each other. The man is a sex machine. I’m still sore.”

“How did he act the next day?” she asks finally taking the last bite of her sausage.

I twirl the stick of mine in my hands, focusing on the rotation before answering. “Cindy showed up. We didn’t get to talk much.”

“That bitch ruins everything,” Jillian says with disdain.

“She brought up the baby,” I tell her.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, that and the fact I told him my parents were dead, may make him run for the hills.” I begin to wrap my sausage in a paper towel.

“I’ll eat it,” Jillian says reaching for it. “Did he seem pissed?”

“Cindy was being a huge witch, and Kegan sort of stood up for me.” I shrug. “He didn’t seem mad, but he did tell me we needed to talk about my lying.”

“Everything will be fine,” Jillian says.

“You don’t know that. I don’t even know what I want from him.”

“I do know that. If he was pissed and didn’t want to see you again, he wouldn’t have said that you need to talk later. He’s a great catch. Handsome, beyond loaded. Seems to know his way around a clit. Top three priorities if you ask me.”

I laugh at her shallowness. “That’s not what I look for in a man, but Kegan has a lot of other stuff going for him. He’s great with his nieces. His family is awesome.”

“I thought you didn’t want kids,” Jillian says softly.

“I don’t.” I really don’t. After such a loss it’s difficult to have the urge to risk another one. “But knowing he’s good with them is important. I like his mother. She’s nothing like Cindy.”

“Not many women in the world are like Cindy,” she says.

“What do I do?” I look at her with a pleading somberness in my eyes.

She looks past me at the band on the stage. “I’m not the best one to ask relationship advice from, but I think you should wait for him to call you. If it goes longer than a week, shoot him a text or something.”

I’ve got no better ideas so I might as well give her suggestions a shot.

Kegan

“Damn it.” I cover my dry eyes with my forearm as blinding light fills the room.

“You’re not supposed to say bad words around me,” comes from across the room. “My delicate ears shouldn’t hear those things.”

Anastyn.

I roll away from the noise and light, but the excruciating pain in my head doesn’t subside.

“I’m almost certain you’ve been put on the earth for no other reason than to torture me,” I grumble when I feel her climb up on the bed.

“Not true,” she whines. “Momma says I’m here to bring everyone happiness and smiles.”

I huff an incredulous laugh.

“Why are you here? Mimi and Granddad let you stay the night?”

“Something’s wrong with your head,” she says climbing on my back and knocking on the back of my skull.

“There’s nothing wrong with my head other than the fact that you’re banging on it and making it hurt.”

“If there was nothing wrong with it, you wouldn’t think you’re at Mimi’s house. You’re in my house, Uncle Kegan.”

That information has me rolling over and looking around the room. I grab Anastyn by the leg before she flies off the bed and smacks her head on the floor.

“Your house?” I crack my eyes open a tiny slit and look around. Sure enough, I’m in London and Kadin’s guest bedroom.

“Daddy practically had to carry you in last night.”

Awesome. My nieces got to see me in full-on drunken asshole mode. I’m winning awards over here people.

“Sorry about that,” I tell her sincerely.

“No need to apologize to me, but I wish you’d get up so you can go buy my pony.”

I laugh at her, but the look on her face doesn’t leave any room for debate.

“Seriously?”

She nods. “Yep. I want a white one like Flynn Rider rode on Tangled!”

I release a long breath, trying to keep from puking as she stands up and begins to bounce on the bed.

“Anastyn.” London’s chastising voice from the doorway might as well be a holy song from an angel.

She stops bouncing immediately, leans down, and kisses me on the forehead. “A white one, Uncle Kegan.”

A few seconds later her screaming echoes down the hallway.

“I promised her a horse?”

London nods. “You also promised Easton a speed boat, but I don’t think he’ll hold you to it.”

I cringe. Clearly, I’m super fucking gifty when I’m drunk. “And Lennox?”

She laughs. “A new Barbie.”

“Is that it?”

She nods. “Yep. It’s Anastyn that has the expensive tastes. She reminds me a lot of you.”

I ignore the jab because I never win when I fight with London. I’ve learned my lesson.

Kadin steps from the hallway and wraps his arms around his wife, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Hey. You’re awake,” he says way louder than necessary. He’s doing it on purpose.

“Not like I can sleep when your devil spawn of a daughter came in and forced me awake.”

His chuckle makes me realize she may have had some help in planning her attack.

“You ready to go pick out her horse?”

He has a smirk on his face, but I can’t read whether or not he’s actually serious. I narrow my eyes as if doing so will help me evaluate the situation. It doesn’t

“She wants a white one,” I say sitting up on the side of the bed.

“Like Maximus in
Tangled
,” London adds.

“Right. I have no idea what that is. I also have no idea where to even go in Spokane to buy a damn horse.” I scrub my face with my hands, but it does nothing to alleviate the pounding in my head.

“You should really reconsider getting drunk if you’re just going to go all Favorite Uncle and make them promises you aren’t going to keep,” Kadin says with disappointment in his voice.

As his younger brother, there is absolutely nothing worse than that tone of voice.

“I’m not backing out old man. If I told the girl I was buying her a horse, then she’s getting a damn horse.” I give him a challenging look, daring him to think I’m bluffing. “But,” I add, “Easton is going to have to wait on the speed boat.”

London chuckles and looks over her shoulder at Kadin.

“You’re actually going to do it?” he asks.

“Yep,” I say standing from the bed and stretching my arms over my head. My back pops in several different locations reminding me I skipped my chiropractor’s visit last month. Getting old sucks.

“Good,” he says and kisses London on the temple. “I made the appointment last week. They’re expecting us in two hours.”

“Last week?” I ask his back as he walks away laughing.

I follow him out of the room and down the hallway to the kitchen.

“Last week?” I repeat.

London comes up behind me and gives my back a reassuring pat.

“Yep,” Kadin says placing a steaming cup of coffee in front of me. “It’s her birthday present.”

“Yet somehow she asks me for it?”

Kadin shrugs. “Saves me some money. You know how I love a bargain.”

“Asshole,” I mutter blowing the top of my coffee.

“Want to talk about why you got plastered last night at the dinner table?” London says pulling out the chair beside me and sitting down. “You’ve never done that around the kids before.”

“I just wanted to drink.”

“Bullshit,” Kadin says taking the chair across the table from me. “You’re all tied up with that woman, and it’s scaring the shit out of you.”

“Lexi?” London asks with excitement in her voice. I look over at her, and her eyes have the same glint in them that my mother’s had last night.

What is it with these damn women? Every one of them turns into fucking Cupid the minute I take a second look at a girl. This isn’t London’s first time to get excited over a girl. She did the same thing last year when she met my conquest for the night at a club we all went to together. Her mistake.

“I think she’s great,” London continues unprompted. Then she gasps and covers her mouth with her hand shooting a quick look at Kadin. “Please tell me you didn’t one-night stand the girls’ teacher?”

“I didn’t!” I say defensively. Cutting my eyes back to Kadin was a huge mistake.

“I know that look,” he says. “That look says you’ve slept with her more than once, but the real question is where does it go from here?”

“You’re going to break her heart. She’s going to hate me now. Do you know how bad it is if the teacher hates the parents?”

“I’m not going to break her heart.” I have no idea why I made that promise. Who can predict the future? “I still don’t know if I’ll even think about taking things further.”

Both of them just stare at me, blinking periodically.

“She lied to me,” I inform them.

Kadin frowns, but it’s his wife who speaks first. “What did she lie about?”

“She told me her parents were dead. Then her mother showed up at the house yesterday morning.”

“You stayed the night with her?” Kadin asks with a grin.

“Leave it alone,” I tell him.

“What’s her mother like?” London angles her body at me as if I’m about to hand out some major gossip.

I cringe at the memories of Cindy. “She’s horrible. Yelled at Lexi, said brutal things, blamed her for every wrong decision in her life. I was only there for like fifteen minutes after she showed up, but she managed to pack a whole lot of hatred in that short time. She claims it’s Lexi’s fault she’s a stripper. She had all these grand plans for her life, and Lexi ruined them when she got pregnant.”