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I shook my head and put my hand over my eyes. “Grandma, why are you on the phone with Mack?”
“Oh! Hi, Lala. I wasn’t doing anything.” She stopped for a minute and cursed with so much flair that it made Mack’s eyebrows raise. “If I’d known you were close by, I would’ve prepared a lie.”
Mack laughed and leaned his head back to study me. I looked back at him and bit my lip, my mind a blender of thoughts on how to proceed. I wanted to blurt out my confession that I’d slept with both Xavier and Jones again. I had Grandma to focus on first, though. “If youweredoing something, what exactly were you doing?”
“I just like chatting with the young men, Lala. Is that so bad? Honestly?” She sounded annoyed at me. “Brenda’s granddaughter is dating a doctor, Layla Rose. A doctor. It’s so boring, but it’s all Brenda wants to talk about. I’m dying here. All I could say for the last three years was that you were still dating that bitch, Matthew, so now that I have something to say, I need the tea!”
Mack snorted. “She called him a bitch. I love her.”
“That’s right, you do. What’s not to love?”
I winced at her going back to using my full name. Her calling me Lala meant she was happy and lighthearted. Her calling me Layla Rose meant she was ready to tell me off. “Grandma, there is no tea.”
“That’s not true, you little liar. I talked to Xavier yesterday and he gave me lots of tea. Jones sounded a little giggly this morning, too. You’re not playing favorites, are you?” She made a negative noise at me. “You can’t do that. You have to love them equally or not love them at all.”
I grabbed his phone and took her off the speaker. “Dear god, Grandma! Stop it. Are you trying to embarrass me? This sure as hell feels like prom night all over again.”
“I’m trying to get you laid and maybe even married and me a few grandbabies! I love them, Layla Rose Morgan, and if you’re smart, you’ll stop showing your ass and show those boys your southern charms. Start with the two up top and then turn around and show ‘em your ass, too, actually. I thought I taught you better on how to catch a man?”
Mack’s eyes lit up. “Thank you for speaking loud enough for me to hear, Gran.”
“She’s already got y’all calling her Gran?” I shrugged and resigned myself to a life of shame. “Well, I should just leave now and save myself at least a little bit of my dignity.”
“Oh, stop being so dramatic.” Grandma laughed happily. “They’re great men. Do you know that they answer their phone every time I call? You don’t do that. Jagger sure as hell doesn’t do that. Xavier even offered to fly me out to join y’all at a show. When’s the last time you offered to fly me somewhere? Never.”
“Did he offer a commercial flight? I’ll fly you out private, Gran. I’ll find the guys from that band back in the day and have them waiting for you on board. Don’t let Xavier win you over to his side. I’m the favorite, remember?”
Grandma was over the moon with herself. I could practically see the smile on her face through the phone. “You’ll be the favorite as soon as you give me a grandbaby.”
I slammed my finger on the red button to end the call and tossed his phone on the couch away from us. Mortified and thoroughly convinced Grandma wanted me to die of embarrassment, I rubbed my temples to hide some of the flaming that my cheeks were doing.
Mack rested his arms along the back of the couch and grunted. “That was rude.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me that my Grandma is calling y’all? Is she bothering you? Are you just talking with her?” I cringed at what they could’ve been talking about. “Is she telling you things?”
“What kind of things would she be telling me?” He raised his eyebrow and smirked at me. “Are you keeping secrets from me, honey?”
30
Layla
Iswallowed.Ihadn’t considered the things I’d done with the guys to be a secretfromMack, but if he felt like that’s what it was, my intentions wouldn’t keep his feelings from being hurt. “Not on purpose…”
He grunted when I moved so I was straddling him. His arms stayed along the back of the couch, though, and his face stayed passive. “Go on.”
“I did something.” I rested my hands on his chest and let myself feel the muscles there for a moment before continuing. “I was so sure that I wasn’t going to chance losing this job so I stayed away from y’all for so long, but I slept with Xavier again. And Jones.”
“Together?” His jaw tightened and he lowered his hands to rest on my thighs. When I shook my head no, that I hadn’t slept with Xavier and Jones together at the same time, he relaxed. “Okay. Thanks for telling me.”
I gripped his shirt tight in my fists. “I didn’t choose them over you, Mack. It just happened with them. I’d been fighting it for so long and I just cracked.”
“And any cock would’ve gotten the job done, or…”
I leaned closer. “Any ofy’all’scocks would’ve gotten the job done. Because it’s y’all that are driving me insane, not cock.”
“So, what now?”
My stomach flipped. I didn’t really know. “I acted wholly unprofessional. If you’re uncomfortable or disapprove of the things I’ve done, I will resign. I still take my job very seriously, Mack, but I know that I messed up.”
