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“Call of Duty.” Randy stood a little taller, and his chest puffed out.
“Randy’s a gamer,” my mom emphasized with pride.
“So…what? Did you win the tournament, and then—what? You got married to celebrate?” I asked, trying to make some sense of what I was hearing.
“No, Randy wasn’t in the tournament. We went to watch,” my mom explained.
“Yeah, but then after the tourney, we went to play the slots, and I told your mama if I hit the jackpot, that meant she was my lucky charm and we should get hitched.”
“So you hit the jackpot?”
“Nah, but we decided fuck it and got married anyway.” Randy leaned down and kissed my mom again.
“How romantic,” I said under my breath as a wave of bone-deep exhaustion pulled at me. Apparently finding out I had a new stepdad was the antidote to the Kane Kingston buzz. “Well, congratulations. I’m very tired. I’ve been driving since yesterday morning, and then…” I looked around to say that I’d cleaned since neither of them had noticed, but I realized it wasn’t worth pointing out. “If it’s okay, I think I’m just gonna go lay down.”
I walked past the newlyweds, who were all over each other like horny octopuses. When I opened the door to my room, I stopped in my tracks. On the twin bed, there were turntables and a keyboard.
“Um, there’s stuff on the bed."
“Oh, that’s Randy’s music room now. He’s a DJ.”
A DJ and a gamer. Who needs the slots when she’d clearly won the jackpot of life?
“Randy, baby, can you move your stuff into our room?” She practically purred as she patted his chest.
“How long is she gonna be here? I have to practice for my gig.”
“When’s your gig?” I asked. If it was tonight, I could wait to put my things away after he practiced.
“I don’t have one yet, but when I do, I need to practice.”
“It’ll just be a few days,” my mom cooed.
“Fine.” Randy exhaled, clearly not happy about being displaced.
When he started walking down the hall, I slipped into the bathroom, not wanting to be in close proximity with him and his tighty-whities. I shut the door, sat on the toilet, pulled out my phone, and called my brother.
After three rings, his voicemail came on: “Hey, it’s Remi. You know what to do.”
I kept my voice down as I whispered, “Remi, I’m at Mom’s. Did you know she’s married…to Randall Graham? He just walked out in his tighty-whities. Call me back. Love you.”
I didn’t want to worry my brother any more than he already was, which was why I hadn’t told him about me coming to stay with Mom before my next job. After the video went viral, he’d almost cancelled his training in Montana because he was going to be unreachable. My plan had been to call him when I was out on the open seas on my next great adventure. But there was no way I could keep this from him. He had the right to know that our mom had gotten married.
After hanging up the phone, I washed my face and hands and walked back out into my old room. The bed was cleared off, but there were no blankets or pillows on it. I thought about asking my mom if she had any extras but decided to just use my duffel bag instead.
I’d no sooner laid down and shut my eyes than I heard moaning through the walls. A few seconds later, the trailer was rocking.
Six days. All I had to do was get through the next six days. Then I could leave and not look back for another eight years. At least.
4
KANE
“No need to lead me to temptation; I know a shortcut.” ~ Miss Dottie
A yawn claimed me as I sat in the line to pick up Harper from pre-K. I’d barely gotten any sleep last night. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was temptation in the form of a five-foot-four blonde with big blue eyes, plump pink lips, and a backside that would make a monk sweat.
It had been twenty-four hours since I’d run into Ruby Rhodes, and not one of those hours had passed without me thinking about her. I’d done everything I could to put her and her dangerous curves, sweet voice, and fresh floral scent out of my mind, but she was living there rent-free and there didn’t seem to be a damn thing I could do to evict her.
