“Bring the lemon cake. It’s still his favorite.”
Melinda’s eyes widened—as though Meridian had passed her test—and she choked back more sobs as she scurried through a side door that Meridian realized was the pantry and grabbed her purse off a hook. She didn’t bother with cake, moving as if she was on a mission. He stood at the patio door waiting for her after she slung a black and gray shawl over her shoulders. Meridian slid the door to the side and eased them outside into the dreary, cold evening with no one else the wiser.
“Your keys,” Meridian mumbled.
Melinda dug aggressively in her small bag and handed the set of keys to him. She got into the passenger seat of her Honda Accord and held her purse tight to her stomach as if she was about to be sick. Meridian backed the car out of the long driveway and headed east. He texted Slade from his smart watch and told him where to meet him. Melinda started to fidget with her hands when he turned into an expensive condo’s underground garage five minutes later, tears streaming down her face.
Meridian parked a few spots down from where the limo sat idling. He got out and opened Melinda’s door for her. She didn’t dart out of the car as he assumed an emotional mother would. Instead, she took a couple of deep breaths, dug a crumpled handkerchief from her purse and wiped it quickly across her cheeks. Then she stood and steeled her spine, staring straight ahead at the sleek limousine.
“You’re telling me my oldest son is in that car.”
Meridian didn’t respond. He led her towards the vehicle and opened the back door. She ducked inside and he closed it behind her.
It took a lot of willpower for Ex to pull his gaze away from Meridian to watch his mother cross the small distance towards him. The tears in her eyes, the rapid rise and fall of her chest, and the stuttering gait as if she struggled to put one foot before the other were all reactions that threatened to overtake him. He couldn’t let them. His stare returned to his partner in his tailored black suit and black dress shirt. He looked sharp and deadly. His only loyal friend, and Ex couldn’t believe Meridian had come through and done this for him. They could be under surveillance right now. Once they were activated, they’d be tracked and monitored immediately. Their handlers would be online and waiting for their check-in.
But there was no way he could leave without letting his mother know... see... that she wasn’t childless. Everything she’d done for him in his young life, every night job she’d worked and the lonely nights she’d endured on his behalf so he and Evan could be something, would never allow him to desert her.
The door opened and the scent of Estée Lauder filtered into the dark interior before his mother climbed inside, choosing the seat closest to the door. Nostalgia tried to settle into his rigid bones but he forced his childhood memories away. He sat straight with both hands resting on his thighs. He held her misty gaze as she cried quietly into her palms, shaking as she sized him up and down slowly.
The door on the opposite side opened and Meridian eased his large body into the bench seat across from them and once again enclosed them in darkness... and silence. Ex knew he should say something, he had agreed to this, but now his tongue felt too thick for his mouth. His pulse beat out of control and he had to make an extra effort to remain unfazed on the outside.
“Hello,” he said to his mother as if he were a robot.
She gasped and shook her head as if she couldn’t believe her ears. “Hello? Hello?” she sputtered. “If I weren’t so relieved to see you I’d slap the spit out of your mouth.”
Ex felt his mouth twitch at hearing his mother’s favorite threat when he’d been a headstrong teenager. He didn’t say anything, just watched her. She may not have been able to stand up to the violent husband she’d run away from but she’d chastised her boys with a quick tongue and an iron fist.
His mother’s hands shook in her lap. She frowned at him, squinting as if she was trying to make out all of his features in the dim lighting. “Are you my son?” she whispered. “Are you still my Xavier?”
He understood her question. While he was a changed man... a killing man, he would always be her son. He refused to let anyone take her from him. “I am. I’m just different than—”
Before he could finish his sentence, she launched herself across the space separating them and threw her arms around his neck. His shocked gaze flew to Meridian who gave him a slight nod, silently telling him it was okay to be uncomfortable while urging him not to overreact. He could feel her arms were seven inches above his black leather gun holster. He could smell the lavender in his mom’s blonde and gray hair from the conditioner she used. He could feel her heart pumping at a hundred and twelve beats per minute against his chest.