“I don’t know. After that call with mom, I feel all anxious,” Jack says.
“Tell me what happened. What did she say?”
“Sweetheart, are you sure you want to know?” Caine asks.
He reaches over and clasps my hand. Is it possible to feel both comfort and passion all from one touch?
How can I possibly want him again? I’ve had more orgasms from this man in the short time we’ve been together than in the whole of my relationship with Cody!
It’s just insane how my body heats up just because he looks at me or speaks. That’s the most disconcerting thing about this. He doesn’t even have to try, and I’m turned on.
“Mikayla?” Caine asks.
“Hmm, what?” I can feel the blush rise from my chest, up my neck, heating my cheeks. I can’t recall a damn thing he just asked me! Did he ask me something? Say something?
“I think you can tell her,” Caine says with a smirk.
“She called me first this morning and yelled about how a strange man answered your phone. That you were being unsafe, stupid. Blah blah. I didn’t tell her I knew where Caine was or that I knew who you were with, though I didn’t know you’d end up in his bed, though I guess I shouldhave considered that…”
“Anyway…” Caine presses.
I giggle when he uses his hand as a muppet, opening and closing his hand.
“Sorry, fine. So, I calmed her down. Reminded her you were not a hoe-bag. You know, it’s so fucked up because she’s the hoe. Yet, it’s like she can’t see that,” he muses aloud.
“That’s basically what she implied when we spoke to her. Just kind of yelled at Mikayla. Made it seem like she was being irresponsible and childish. It was mind-blowing when she went after Mikayla about her ex,” Caine muses. He furrows his brow when he looks at me. “Are you upset about him?”
“Huh? No.” I laugh.
“Mikayla was waiting to end things with him. Dude was kind of a loser, lost. Clearly easy prey forCruella,” Jack says. “But I still get grossed out that she did that.”
“I’m not upset that things ended with Cody, though I feel betrayed. I know it wasn’t love, but I thought we cared enough about each other not to do that!” I say, lifting my arm and pointing out the window as though he’s on the hood, fucking my mom.
“After she got off the phone with you, she called me yelling about how you were being manipulated by some hick who barely had a high school education and who was probably using you because he doesn’t have two pennies to rub together,” Jack mimics the sound of our mom’s voice. “She blamed you, Caine, for keeping her daughter from her. And what is she talking about, Mikayla? She said somethingabout not having a solid meal since you left? Said she had to hire a maid. Were you cooking and cleaning the house?”
I honestly can’t tell what he’s getting at. Is he mad I did those things or mad that I’m not doing them now?
“Baby?” Caine asks.
“I was only allowed to stay in the house if I agreed to cook and clean. Otherwise, she wanted me to pay rent,” I blurt out, feeling ashamed of myself for being so easily manipulated.
“What the…” Caine raises a hand, and I watch as his nostrils flare and his chest rises and falls. His hands ball into fists, and I jump when he punches the dash above his steering wheel.
I sit, frozen, my mouth agape as I watch him.
“What the fuck, Mikayla! Why would you keep that from me?” Jack barks.
Something bubbles up inside me at his words, the accusation in them. “I don’t know if you recall but before this happened you were all about Mom. ‘You don’t know how to have fun, Mikayla,’ ‘Give her a break, Mikayla, she just lost her husband,’ ‘Just help her, she’s lost,’” I remind him. My voice is clipped, but I stop when Caine’s hand settles on my knee.
I take a breath and feel the pain settle there, sitting on my chest like a boulder holding me down, taking my air. I’mexhausted.
“Mikayla,” Jack says softly. “I’m sorry.”
“I know,” I choke out, and I shut my eyes because even I hear the childishness in my voice. But I can’t stop it!
They’ve been so frequent today! Unstoppable really. I open my eyes when I feel the car slowing down. Caine pulls off the highway and stops the car in a parking lot.
“I think we’ve had enough for one day, Jack,” Caine says. “She’s had enough.”
