“We can leave if you want?” I offered.
He gave me a smile. “No, it’s fine. I need to do this. Mom would never forgive me if I didn’t visit them.” Sliding off his bike, he clipped the straps of his helmet and hung it on one of the handles. “Come on. She’ll want to meet you. She won’t allow a guest to sit outside.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Curiosity about Thor’s life had me moving quickly, throwing my helmet onto the seat and straightening as I rushed to follow him up a small stone path to the front door. He hammered at the door several times with a gold knocker and waited, giving me a worried look.
A few moments later the door opened and a tall, slim woman with graying blonde hair and a kind face answered. She froze, staring at Thor for a long moment before her shoulders relaxed and she opened her arms. “Toby. My boy.”
Thor hesitated and awkwardly shifted forward, letting her tug him into a hug. She smoothed her hand down his back, kissing his cheek, and a strange sense of anguish stole my breath. I missed my mom. I’d only known her until I was six and a half, but she’d been a gentle woman, too. She’d always made our days together fun, and she’d loved me how a mother should. Odin still told me stories about her, but mostly he latched onto the adventures he’d had with my dad instead. I never knew my father the way I would have wanted to, but Odin spoke about him as though he needed me to love him.
Thor’s mom finally glanced at me over his shoulder and stepped back, smiling. “Hello, I’m Jeanie, Toby’s mother.”
I pushed away the sorrow for my mom and grinned, stepping forward. “Hello, Mrs. Langley, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I can see where Tobias gets his looks from.”
She laughed, slapping her chest. “Oh my, you’re sweet.”
Thor rolled his eyes and nudged me. “Be careful around this one. He’s charming.”
“Is he… yours?” she asked, and I didn’t miss the hope in her voice, almost like she wanted him to be gay. I wondered if she knew already.
“He’s my partner, yes.” Thor’s smile wobbled, and he glanced at me, curling his arm around my shoulders and dragging me closer. “Loki is mine.”
She clapped her hands together and the lines around her eyes grew more evident when she grinned widely. “I’m so glad to hear that. I’d hoped you found someone to make you happy. Come inside. Come.” She turned and headed through the doorway, and when Thor hesitated a little too long, she spun back around to us. “Tobias George Langley. Inside. Now.”
“George?” I whispered, and he glared at me as he interlocked our fingers and tugged me inside. Laughing, I let him lead me down a nice hallway with family pictures. It wasn’t hard to find photos of Thor as a child. The rest of his siblings had dark hair, making Thor the only blond, and I could see why. His father had dark brown hair, too. What was interesting was that in each family picture, his father wore a uniform and stood in a straight posture with a growly look on his face. He certainly didn’t seem as approachable as his wife.
A large silver cross sat on one of the hallway tables, alongside a portrait of a man who I assumed was Jesus with his hands pressed together in a praying stance and a halo over his head. I’d never stepped foot in a church in my entire life, not even for Mom’s funeral, so it was new to me to see these kinds of things in a house.
Thor and I followed his mother into the kitchen where she patted a chair at the table before dancing off to the coffee maker on her counter, placing the glass carafe underneath the nozzle.
We sat and Thor dragged my chair closer to his side, making it scrape across the floorboards. I winced, but Jeanie either didn’t hear the racket or didn’t mind. The wooden boards already looked scratched anyway.
“Tell me about yourself, Loki. That’s such a unique name you have.” She kept her back to us as she pulled three mugs out of a cupboard near her knees and set them on the counter beside the coffee maker as it did its thing.
“Uh, yeah. My parents were fans of Norse mythology?” I wasn’t quite sure what else to say.
Thor shook his head. “His father was a biker in the Norse Lords MC, Mom. The same club we’re in. His parents named him Loki because his father always thought he’d join the club, too.”
“How do you know that?” I whispered urgently. Even I didn’t know the last bit of information. I’d just thought my dad must have loved the club so much that he named me after one of the gods.
“Odin,” he answered quietly before he returned his attention to his mother, like he was waiting for her explosion.
She hummed when the machine beeped and poured the coffee. She dropped some sugar into the mugs and stirred each one before she walked two over to us, placing them in front of us. “I’m not sure if you like cream, Loki, but if you do, it’s in the fridge. Please help yourself. You are most welcome here.”
“Thank you.” Giving her a charming smile, I stood and walked to the fridge, opening it and grabbing the cream. I knew for a fact Thor would at least want it, and when I got back to the table, Thor gave me a thankful stare as I poured some into his coffee.
Jeanie had stopped to watch us, head cocked thoughtfully. “You like cream, Toby?”
Thor nodded.
“That’s new.” There was a touch of sadness in her voice as she brought her coffee over and sat down across from us. Tiredness shone through her eyes as she slumped in the chair. “How are you, sweetheart? Have you been keeping healthy?”
If healthy meant getting shot at, then sure, Thor had been keeping healthy. But I waskeeping my mouth shut.
Thor shrugged. “Didn’t you hear me? I’m in a motorcycle club.”
She blinked, then chuckled softly, folding her hands on top of each other in front of her. “I know, sweetheart. I’ve been keeping tabs on you.”
“How?” he asked, surprised.
