“Holy shit!” Sarah whispers, “That is freaking hot.”
“She’s not wrong. What happened after that?” I ask, wondering where it went.
“I don’t know how long the kiss lasted, but he pulled away and said goodnight. He walked away without saying another word. I have no idea what is going on. I mean, did he kiss me for the hell of it? I'm confused."
Oh, poor Lace. "Well then while he's here, ignore the ass until he says something," I tell her, I'd be pissed too if Hudson did that to me. I respect that he doesn't like playing games. Everything's out in the open with him.
"Mia's right. Don't let him treat you like that. Ignore the jerk. No doubt he's waiting for you to say something to him first. No, let the ass see what it's like to be ignored." Sarah's eyes are narrowed, if she were here, she'd kick Barney's ass.
Lacey sighs, "Yeah, it's just..." She trails off, as if she's scared to say it.
"Just what?" I ask as I reach for her hand, this time I'm offering her support,
"It's just that it was amazing. I’ve never felt that way when I’ve been kissed before. I got butterflies in the pit of my stomach."
"Yep, I know what those feel like." I give her a reassuring smile. She's not alone here. Men are hard to understand and us girls need to stick together.
"When I see him, I just want to be around him. Does that make sense?" She's so unsure, and I hate that she's feeling this way.
"It makes total sense. Trust me, Lace, we've all been there." Sarah tells her and Allie's cries pierce my eardrums. "I've got to go, I'll catch up with you both tomorrow."
"Bye." I wave, and she ends the call. Turning to Lace, "You never told her about your grandmother."
She shrugs, "And you never told her about what happened with your mom."
I shake my head, "She doesn't need to hear about that. She's got enough going on."
"Yeah, do you think she'll move back to California now that Jagger wants Allie in his life?"
"I don't know. It's hard because it's what she wants. To be around Jagger for the sake of Allie but she hates Cali, if she could be anywhere else in the world she would be. Time will tell." If Jagger doesn't move, I can see her coming back, but she won't go back to Oakland. That's one place she'll never step foot in again.
Lacey's phone buzzes and she stares down at it in shock. "Um Mia, your mom and Harrison have paid for my ticket back to Carson City."
"Good. What time’s your flight?"
She looks at her phone again, "Ten."
I nod, "That's plenty of time."
"For what?" She asks wearily.
"Oh, you'll see, I have plans for us tonight," I smirk, tonight is going to get both our minds off everything.
We’re going to a party in Malibu. A friend of mine is living there and having a party. It’ll be good to get away from here for a while.
Twelve
Hudson
Everyone is sitting around the table having dinner, enjoying the meal. Jagger and Martin are shoveling food into their mouths like they've never been fed, both Barney and Lacey keep glaring at each other, I wonder what happened between them last night. Whereas Mia's sitting there with a satisfied smile on her face, she's like a drug, and I'm already addicted to her. Although I knew she was something special the very first time we met, she's had me in a tailspin ever since then. Not that I'd ever admit that shit to anyone. I don't need my enemies learning of the woman who means something to me. It's bad enough that they may accidentally stumble across her because our parents are married. I can just see those fuckers salivating at the prospect of getting to my woman.
My enemies saw me when I was a punk-ass kid, they don't know me now; they have no idea that I'd kill them with my bare hands without so much as a second thought. Not only am I a mean sonofabitch, I have a lot of friends in a lot of high places. Not only do I have the mayor of California in my pocket, I also have members of the police departments on my payroll. So far I have at least three from each department here in California, not to mention the commissioner himself is my godfather. That is a fucking laugh right there. He and my father were best friends when growing up, the commissioner's father was my grandfather's right-hand man, we've all grown up together, it was expected that the commissioner's son Travis would join the ranks and be a soldier, maybe even work his way up but I wouldn't allow it. His old man's a cop. There's no way in hell that I'd let him in.
I know a lot of organized crime leaders, too many to have someone so close to a cop know the ins and outs of my operation, to know who is in my inner circle or outer circle so to speak as I don't trust many people. Those that I do are the ones closest. Jagger and Martin, they're the only ones that I trust, although I wouldn't say implicitl
y. I've known many a man to betray those closest and being in this business, I'm cautious.
"Son, how long are you staying here for?" Dad asks me, and I look up at him just in time to see him glance at Tina.