“I know what I want. Hopefully, she brings her twin along for the ride this time.”
“You’re still hung up on Halle Blue?” I chuckled and felt a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me still. “Sorry, Frenchie.” The man shook his head and went back to pretending he wasn’t in the room and Zep continued the same.
“Wanting to fuck someone isn’t the same as being hung up, and besides, I want her sister to join us.”
“I believe they call that an infatuation,” I said, but Frenchie shook his head.
“I believe the correct term is obsession, Sir.”
Frenchie and I shared a laugh and Zep gave us both an obscene gesture before even trying to defend himself. “We have unfinished business, her and I.”
Before I could give him a good ribbing over it, my mother barged her way in. “Hello, darlings. Hello, Frenchie, dear.” She didn’t stop until she was standing in the middle of us with her hands clasped as if to say what’s next.
“You two have been busy boys.” She lifted a brow, but I kept a straight face. Zep knew better than to say a word, not until we knew of what we were being accused.
I gave her a blank look and tugged down on the cuffs as I bent my arms for Frenchie.
“Don’t even play like you have no idea what I’m talking about.” She folded her arms across her front, and I waited for her foot to start tapping. Surprisingly it didn’t, but she did continue. “I was at the club sipping my mid-morning tea when the towel girl came over to tell me how excited she is to be coming to the gala tonight and how she’d spent a month’s salary on her dress. You two really should have saved the poor girl the trouble. Anyone without an official invitation isn’t welcome.”
“Yes, mother, I know.” The cat was out of the bag, and the gala was just hours away. It wasn’t as if she could undo what was done. “That’s why I made my own official invites and handed them out to my friends, so they’d be able to attend.”
“You did what? I had those invites hand-scribed by the best calligrapher in town! They were even embossed.” She snapped at me as if I didn’t know who she’d used. “You can’t just send out cheap knock-offs and expect that to work.”
“I didn’t. I made sure that I had the same woman do mine, too. She did an excellent job as she did on the others with the calligraphy and the embossing.” I knew better than to even smile, but Zep was doing enough of that for the both of us.
“You have no respect what so ever. Here I am trying to throw you this party, and you can’t stand to let me handle it!”
I threw my hands out nearly hitting Frenchie in the chest. “You’re not respecting my wishes, Patricia.”
Her eyes met mine as she jerked her head around. “Don’t you call me that! I’m your mother!”
Frenchie stepped back and folded his arms as if waiting for us to finish and I spun around to tell Patricia what for. “If you want me to have a good time and to find someone I can warm up to then you have to invite more than those icy-frigid bitches from your elite society list. I need people who are warm and caring, who have more to offer than just money. And frankly, you’re lucky I’m going at all.”
“Well, as far as I’m concerned you’ve already sabotaged this party. There’s no chance of you finding someone who is decent and proper. And once the riff-raff starts piling in, the respectable few will leave.”
“Then it will be their loss.”
“I have a few of my old client’s kids coming, and I had hoped you’d be hospitable and welcoming. You know the Blue Twins. They’ll be here, and they are very important right now. See to it that you show them some special hospitality.”
“I am going to take care of them personally, Mrs. P. You can count on me.”
“You’re such a sweetheart, Zep.” She tousled his hair like she had when he was a boy, back when it used to make me a bit jealous, but now I wish he had taken my mother.
“Kiss ass,” I mumbled, earning a smirk from Zep as she headed to the door.
“You men be ready for the gala by six. I want you downstairs front and center to welcome your guests.” And then she was gone.