Mason

“Good god, Mason.” My mom shoved my finger down and held hers out towards the lady. “I am so very sorry. He and his brother aren’t handling the divorce that well.”

I snorted. “Good one, Mom. That’s the best lie all year.”

“Stop it.” The server came over and Helen reassured him, “He will quiet down. I promise. I am so sorry.”

He didn’t look comforted, but I stared him down. We both knew they weren’t going to kick Helen Malbourne-Kade out of the restaurant. She owned shares in the restaurant as did a bunch of my other relatives. When he left and my mother paid for the old lady’s dinner, plus her guest, Helen settled back in her chair. She shot me a dark look. “You could act properly. I know you know how. What is with you lately?”

“You mean besides the divorce, hearing you cry every f**king night, raising Logan, and Dad’s affairs?” I shrugged, reaching for my water to take a drink. “Nothing, Mother dearest, but you might want to try raising your other son. I’m a lost cause. Logan’s not.”

“Not yet, but I don’t think he wants me around. He won’t talk to me anymore.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He called me the other night and informed me that he was happy I was divorcing Dad because he was tired of the fighting and the ‘shit storm’. His words.”

“When was this?”

“Sometime this week. I hoped he would come for dinner.”

The timing of his date made more sense.

Helen sighed and pushed her plate away. “He doesn’t want to have a relationship with me. He said it’s pointless because you’re the only one who’s there.” I saw pain flash in her eyes before she lowered her head. I could hear the regret in her voice. “He was calling to inform me of his decision.” Looking back up, she gave me a wry grin, but she couldn’t hide the hurt. “That’s my other son for you, and this, spending time with you is pointless. Every time I try to spend quality time with you, something happens. I can’t spend time with you alone. I never know what you’re going to do. Last week, the cops called me and told me to reign in my child. I enjoyed that phone call immensely.”

I shrugged. “Cops are ass**les.”

“This week it’s this. You’re flipping off the elderly and using coarse language on purpose?” She leaned forward and lowered her tone. “That lady wasn’t doing anything to you.”

“She was judging us.” I stared right back at her. “She was judging you, Mom. I don’t give a shit what she says about me. Bad reputations aren’t a bad thing for guys like me, but you,” I tsked at her, shaking my head. “Trust me, she would’ve been on the phone with her biddies and all their daughters about that woman James Kade is leaving.”

Helen sucked in her breath and her fingers curled on the table, holding onto it for support. She realized that I was right.

I said, “Now she’ll talk about what a horrible son James Kade has.” I finished my water and gave my mother a polite smile. “That was a win-win for us. No gossip on you and my badass rep continues to grow.”

A soft curse slipped from her lips, and she leaned back in her chair. Her hands lifted to rub her forehead, massaging it in circles. “You’re right, except I wish your reputation was only a reputation.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. My phone buzzed again, and I said to her, “I have to go. Nate’s waiting.”

“Mason—”

I got up and shot from the table, ignoring the rest of whatever she was going to lecture me about. I didn’t want to sit there and hear what I knew she’d say. She would ask questions about who would be at Nate’s house, but it would only torture her further. Nate’s parents were having a party. I was fully aware of who would be in attendance, lots and lots of my father’s mistresses. Nate thought I was going to hang out with him in the basement. Nope. I was going to have some fun tonight. Logan was off having a nice, normal date so the coast was clear. I was going to rip into a few people tonight, whether Nate’s parents kicked me out or not.

Nate saw the fight in me the second I walked through the basement patio door. He put the video controller aside and cursed, raking his hand through his hair. “You’re going to cause a problem tonight, aren’t you?”

There were four other people sitting on the couches and chairs in the room. I didn’t recognize any of them, but at Nate’s words they all looked at me. I said to them, “Who are you people?”

“They’re friends. Their parents are friends with my parents.” Nate pointed to a guy. “That’s Nick.”

A lanky guy, wearing a polo and trendy jeans nodded to me. “Yo.”

Nate continued, pointing to the girl next to him. “That’s Maria.”

“Hi.” She gave me a nervous smile. Brushing some of her blonde hair back, she moved away from Nick’s hand and her eyes grew more welcoming. He frowned at her, then it turned into scowl as he turned to me. I shot him a warning look. I wasn’t going to take any crap from him. At that, it went back to a frown, but there was still heat in his eyes. He could be a problem later.

Nate kept on with the introductions. He gestured to the opposite couch where a girl sat. She had black hair and could’ve been a model. He said, “That’s Wren and the guy next to her is Wayne. They’re twins.” The guy said hello, but I ignored him and lingered on Wren. Her lips pressed together in a smug smirk, and she adjusted her legs, opening them for a second before she swung them back underneath her bottom. She wore a shirt that looked like a corset with a black bra underneath. Her br**sts were full and I imagined cupping them later. They’d be a good handful. ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">