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Chapter 19
Piper
The moment I shut thedoors, I breathed deeply. I had a feeling this was going to be another shooting match, but I was determined not to be the one to start it.
Like Marcus said, I had a family now. I'd only been with the Durands for a short while, but already, I feel more at home with them than I ever had with my birth family. Though with the parents I had, it wasn't hard to see how anything else was preferable.
I inched around to face my parents who had taken up residence on one of the chairs. It was like they are posing for a portrait or something. My dad sat in the chair with one arm wrapped around my mom's waist while she sat on the arm. Her legs were crossed neatly at the ankle as she leaned into my dad. The look on their faces already had my butt clenching in preparation.
"Piper," my dad started with a weary sigh, "we're worried about you."
I opened my mouth to say something snarky, but my mom held up her hand.
"Now before you get defensive like you do, just hear us out." She gestured for me to sit across from them, but I refused. Sometimes I was childish, but who doesn't revert when their parents are involved?
When my parents saw that I wasn't about to give them an inch, my mom and dad exchanged a look, the kind that most couples who have been together for a while did where they almost had a telepathic conversation. I resisted the urge to snort. If only they knew what a real telepath could do.
Thinking of Rayne made my stomach flutter. I didn't know what I was going to say to him next time I saw him... and that might very well be soon. We'd almost had sex, for crying out loud! How did you look your employer in the face after that?
"Piper? Are you even listening?" My mom's shrill voice interrupted my thoughts.
I shook the thoughts of the sexy redhead away and focused on my parents. "No, not really."
My mom huffed, and my dad patted her on the hip as if to calm her down. "Why are you even bothering to hear us out if you aren't going to listen to a word I say?" she cried.
I cringed at the high-pitched sound of Mom’s voice and tried to look contrite, but I was sure I probably just looked constipated. I wondered if the masters had come inching up from the basement to hear what was going on yet? Marcus was probably still out there with Darren, but I doubted either of them would go and get the rest. I was hoping for some back-up with my parents without having to ask for it.
"As your mother and I were trying to tell you," my dad continued as if I had actually been listening or caring what they were talking about, "we want you to move in with us."
"No way," I snapped and glared at the two of them. "I already told you that before. I'd rather live in my car again."
My mom lifted her eyes to the heavens. "Please not that again. That was so embarrassing. How do you think it feels to tell your friends and family that your daughter lives in her car?" She shuddered and looked like she was going to be sick.
"Of course, it's all about how you feel, not how I felt, the person who actually had to live like that." I scoffed and turned away from them. "Just say what you need to say and leave."
"Now, don't be so hasty Piper." My dad's lips were pressed into a hard line much like his expression. "We have amended our offer."
"What? Now I can stay with you as long as I let some old lech rail me, so you get grandkids and he dies before I become an old maid to leave me his great estate?" I let my voice fill with how disgusted I felt about the whole thing. I wasn't some prized mare to auction off to the highest bidder.
"No, of course not. Don't be ridiculous." My mom scoffed, placing a hand on her chest as if she were appalled by the whole thing. "We want you to come work for your father."
I stared at them for a moment, stunned into silence. My dad wasn't the richest man, but he did well for himself with the accounting business. I had no skill with numbers so the thought of even trying to calculate anyone's books made me nauseous.
"Doing what exactly?" I drew out with an arched brow. "Taxes? Crunching numbers?" I shuddered and recoiled into myself. "Talking to clients?"
"Oh, God, no. Piper, you don't have the qualifications for any of that." My dad shook his head with a frown. "You would man the phones. What you were doing before...." He trailed off as he waved a hand around us. "All this."
"Yes." My mom nodded eagerly. "You'll have a real job again, not some menial servant labor." She made a face and lifted her nose in the air.
My mom has never washed a dish or cleaned a toilet in her life, so it wasn't a surprise that she found my current job demeaning... but I didn't. I liked my job. Sure, I wasn't the best at it, but I would get better in time. I knew exactly what I needed to do every day and I got to be active, something I never got at my desk job. And let’s not forget that my bosses were hotter than hell. There's no way I'd trade this for some desk job with my dad. I might as well become an old maid now.
"Thanks, but no thanks," I told them with a satisfied smile. I dusted my hands off and stood. "Now, if that's everything. I have to prepare for our trip."
"But you haven't even heard the best part." My mom stood and walked over to me, grabbing my arm before I could leave.
I paused because she was my mom. If she had been anyone else, I'd have told her to get her hands off of me and go to hell.
"What's the best part?" I asked with a sigh. My eyes darted to the closed sitting room door, praying Rayne would hear me and come bursting in here so I'd have an excuse to leave. I didn't care if things would be weird between us now, I just wanted out of here.
