“I’m well, son. I can’t complain.” Her body might have been weakening, but her voice was just as strong as it was thirty years ago. Mike stood still while she did a complete circle around him as if he was on an auction block. He pfft’d when she commented casually, “You need to eat though. You’re practically skin and bones.”
“That’s what I said.” The Bus narrowed his eyes at Mike, sizing him up as if he wanted to flex his muscles at him. “I think some of the stories about this guy have been exaggerated.”
“You wanna find out firsthand?” Mike grated between clenched teeth.
“Mind your mouth, Bus. I’d hate for it to be the end of you,” Mama warned. The two younger men blocking the gate door stepped forward at the sound of Mama’s threat, and Buster quickly clamped his mouth closed. “There. Now, that’s better.”
Damn, Mike missed her. He should visit her kitchen more often. “To what do I owe the pleasure of you being here?”
“Well,” she sighed as she began walking toward Mike’s few vegetables he had planted in the rear corner of his lawn that got the most sun, “I’ve been hearing a lot of details about you and my babies, but I came to find out why I haven’t heard this news from you?”
By “her babies,” he knew she was talking about Bishop and Trent. “And that news being…?” Mike asked.
“That my Bishop is getting married next month.” She stopped and glared at his face for his first reaction, but Mike stayed composed. “He and Trent were at my spot last weekend celebrating his engagement. Now, imagine my surprise having to hear that kind of news through the grapevine?”
Shit. Mike would never keep anything like that from her, but he hadn’t exactly had a chance to visit a nightclub when he passed out in bed every day after work. “I was gonna come by real—”
“And were you gonna bring your new sweetheart too?” Mama raised a brow, challenging him.
Mike shook his head. Damn his sons had big mouths. “It’s all still very new, so not a lot to tell on that front.”
“Except from what I understand, she’s living here, so how new can it be?”
Mike frowned. She. “Bishop did get engaged recently, but I can assure you, Mama, there’s no she living here.”
Mama squinted, staring at him with those sharp eyes as if she saw right through that statement. “No?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Hmm.” She huffed. “It’s rare that I get inaccurate information.”
“It’s only slightly inaccurate, Mom. She is actually a—”
“Mama, a truck just pulled into the garage,” one of the younger men noted, and Joey went toward the gate door.
Mike groaned internally. Rayne couldn’t have timed that more perfectly. If Mama wanted to meet his new sweetheart, she was about to get the chance.
“Ahh. I see.” Mama gave him a sly leer as she rubbed his back with the flat of her palm like she used to do when he was younger. “Finally. You have what you’ve always wanted.”
Mike frowned, feeling heat rise under his stubble. Manny and Mama were the only ones who knew what Slick meant to him. Because after Jameson left, Mike had been so heartbroken that he couldn’t handle it, and the only two members of his family he had left were the only ones that kept Mike from losing it and going over the edge.
Mike’s heart hammered in his chest as he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. He didn’t know why he was nervous, but Rayne meeting Mama was pretty big. He’d never brought anyone to meet her except Slick, not even the woman he’d lived with for a year before he found Rayne. No one had been worthy enough.
He heard Rayne rustling with his grocery bags in the kitchen before he appeared at the back door, his smile sweet and only for Mike until he noticed the scary men in all black, and his smile fell faster than Satan fell from grace. Mike gave Rayne a reassuring nod and gestured for him to come and join him.
When Rayne was close, Mike pulled him into his chest and hugged him as if he hadn’t slept beside him all night. He buried his face in Rayne’s throat, absorbing the quiet peace and warmth that emanated from his soul as he introduced his guy to the only parent he’d ever had.
“Rayne. This is my mom—you can call her Mama like everyone else. Mama, this is Rayne.” Mike grinned. “The sweetheart I’m living with.”
“Oh my, you sure do know how to pick ’em, son,” Mama said, staring at Rayne like most did when they first met him. Even dressed down in a pair of ripped jeans, flip-flops, and a basic white T-shirt, he looked edible.
“It’s wonderful to meet you. An honor, really. I’ve heard Trent and Wood talk about you quite a bit, mostly about your amazing cooking.” Rayne held out his hand for her to shake, and Mama pushed it away and embraced him like she’d done Mike.
Watching his mom hug and accept Rayne the way she did made a strange sensation tighten his throat. Rayne was the epitome of sophistication, beauty, and charm, a combination that made Mike proud to claim him as his. He believed the heat he was feeling might be the stirring of a deeper affection.
“You’ll have to tell Mike to bring you by the club soon. I’ll make his favorite.” She smiled in Mike’s direction, making his empty stomach growl in anticipation.
“And do tell what that is.” Rayne leaned into Mike’s side and wrapped one toned arm around his waist. He smelled faintly of honey and citrus from his bodywash, but the scent of sweat from his workout was closest to the surface, and Mike wanted to bury himself in all of that manliness and inhale until it was embedded in his senses.