AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Again…” Jaxon said. “I am now.” His smile widened into a smirk, and Teagan wasn’t sure if she wanted to kiss him or smack him. He was being an adorable little shit, but now wasn’t the time.
Brad snorted and Cassandra covered her mouth and turned to Owen. “Say something,” she hissed.
“Brad, don’t speak of boning at the table. It’s crude, and it’s not appropriate in front of your mother’s fine china.”
“Oh, honestly,” Cassandra swatted his shoulder and if Owen was bothered by it, he didn’t show it, simply averting his gaze up to the light fixture.
“So why tell us now?” Dave asked. He still looked confused. “For the record, you were very convincing. It might have been easier just to date each other.”
“Because,” Teagan said, latching onto the opportunity to barrel forward. “I feel there are some peopleherewho don’t feel as if Jaxon is right for me. For whatever reason.”
“That’s okay, Teags. You can say Mom. We all know you mean Mom,” Shea said, smirking down the table at Cassandra and earning a low chuckle from Dave.
“I have to agree with Dave,” Brad said. “Not sure what difference this makes…”
“How about you all let me finish talking and maybe it will become clearer?” Teagan said.
“Hey, let her speak then,” Andrea said. “This is the best gossip I’ve heard all year. Let me enjoy at least a bit.”
Teagan sighed and began again. “So it all started because I made a mistake.”
“A superb one,” Shea added.
“Shea, as much as Iloveyour color-commentary…” Teagan sighed.
“That’s a lie. You hate it,” her sister countered.
“Please?”
“Sorry, go ahead.”
“Wait… Shea knows?” Brad asked, glancing around the table. “Of course Shea knows. She was giving Teagan pointers on how to hide-”
“Actually, that’s not true,” Jaxon interjected. “Shea didn’t find out until the night we all slept over at Brad’s.”
“Right,” Teagan continued. “Anyway, I made a mistake. I was set up on a blind date. And upon arriving at the date venue, I realized that my date was Eric McKinnon…” Teagan’s voice wavered again, and Jaxon tightened his hold on her hand.
“Oh Teagan,” her mother cried. “Teagan-”
“I will answer any and all questions at the end, Mom.” Teagan said. If she was going to get on with this, she needed to keep going. “And while I was careful not to let anything romantic happen because of the date, I still found myself… charmed by him.” It almost hurt to admit. But it was the truth. “Soon after, he started coming to my apartment. And I gave him a key…”
“Teagan…” Brad said. “Why would you-”
“I don’t know, Brad. I don’t know. I was… I was just stupid, I guess, I-”
“No, she wasn’t,” Jaxon interjected. “She wasn’t stupid. Eric’s M.O is that he gets into your head. Burrows in and stays there. You do things you never thought possible…” Jaxon’s eyes cut down to Owen, and then to Dave, before continuing. “He has that way about him. If you’ve spoken to him, you know.”
“He’s right,” Dave said. “I arrested him and damn if he wasn’t the most difficult collar I’ve ever taken. Not that I wanted to let him go, but it was just hard to take him in. Something about the way he just said all the right things?”
“Yeah, precisely,” Teagan said. “He says all the right things and you think what you’re doing makes sense…”
“But you gave him a house key, Teagan… really…” Her mother sounded as she’d expected. Judgmental and disapproving. Dad hadn’t said a word yet, but Teagan knew he was disappointed in her as well, but she had to keep going. “And the last straw was when he brought some of his friends or associates, I’m not sure which they were, over to my place. They brought…” she sighed, almost unable to say the words. “Cocaine. And they were cutting it on my coffee table.”
“Cocaine!?!” Cassandra exclaimed. “Cocaine on my mother’s antique coffee table?”
Teagan sighed. “Yes, Mom. One and the same…”
“I… I… I don’t know what to say, Teagan, I…”
