Last Call (22 page)

“I’m Jason. It’s nice to meet you.” I look to the other women and hold out my hand, unsure what else to do since I’m being barricaded in. I’m still glancing at those balcony doors.

“Cyndi, I’m Mariah’s sister-in-law.” I nod my head in acknowledgement.

I scan my eyes to the next person in the room and hold my hand out to her. “I’m Jami.”

I nod to her and look over to the last woman, the one who announced Mariah and I as a couple.

“Jason,” I say.

“Hi… I’m Wendi. Damn, how weird is this? Mariah with a fucking boyfriend.” I look at her with curious eyes, recalling when Mariah and I had first decided to have our fuck buddy relationship. Mariah mentioned she hadn’t had sex in seven years. Her sister now can’t believe she would be with anyone, reminding me how different Mariah is when she’s not enclosed in my SUV. Suddenly, that’s the Mariah I’d like to know. That’s the person I want to ask to be my friend. “Mariah, get out and start explaining!”

I want to make my escape now, but before I can turn on my heels, Mariah is walking from Royce’s room and looking directly at me. As she freezes in place, I’m uncertain if she’s even alive. Her entire body hasn’t moved in several seconds. Her beautiful blue eyes are huge, as she stands motionless from the shock of seeing me in her apartment, probably exactly how I looked when the door opened to the Mariah doppelgangers.

It’s been a week, but the moment I look into her eyes, I cannot keep my happiness contained. I smile the big, genuine smile only she can get out of me.

I break away from the swarming hens and meet Mariah in the hallway, deciding to play along with her family’s belief that we are a couple. She will probably kill me for this, but I don’t know what else to do. Plus, when her lips are pursed up the way they are now, it only makes me want to kiss them. And so I do.

I bend down, lightly grasping her chin in my fingers, and lift her head. She slowly looks up at me, still standing in her shocked position, and has yet to voice a word. When I move forward, planting a sweet, tender, “boyfriend” type of kiss to her lips, she takes a second, but responds with a slight movement of her lips.

“Hi, darling,” I say, lacing our fingers together, guiding her into the living room, feeling natural in this weird situation. I can hear the collective sighs from her sisters behind me. Mariah might try to kill me later, but it will be worth the makeup.

“Huh…? Hi?” she responds in the form of a question. I only smile and give her a slight wink, telling her with my eyes how insecure I feel, something I’ve only shared with her.

M
ariah

I’m in Royce’s room, talking to my mother about how he’s doing in school, when Wendi and my other sisters start making all sorts of noise. Granted, we are a pretty noisy bunch when we all get together, but this is out of the norm. Then Wendi shouts my name, and I immediately go see what all the fuss is about. And there he stands, Jason fucking Cain.

My stomach falls to my feet and the swarming immediately starts. What the hell is he doing here? And why is he talking with my sisters like they are old friends? I just keep my body still as my mind goes through the steps of processing what the hell is happening.

As Jason strides my way, I can’t help noticing how ridiculously hot he looks. He’s wearing his typical business attire, which is a black dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck, black suit coat and black slacks. His black eyes are wide, like he has no idea what the hell is going on. When he gets closer to me and tilts my chin up, I wake up and understand he’s putting on a show for my sisters.

He leans down and kisses my lips. It takes all my strength not to freak on him for ignoring me, or acting like the pig he can be, but then my body betrays me and I kiss him back. Damn his ability to make me submit to his very touch. I need to be mad at him and this is not helping. At the same time, it’s not a conversation to have in front of my family.

When he pulls back from my face, I see him wink. The man I initially met in the club is who he is trying to be in this moment, but I see the fear in his eyes. Yep, after this show he’s putting on for my mom and sisters, I think it’s safe to say we are officially over. This has gone way past rule number two: no swapping of personal lives.

When he grabs my fingers and interlocks them with his, I can feel this rush of feelings taking over my body. However, the ones I want to tap into are the angry emotions. All this week, he’s ignored me. I was convinced we were done. Granted, I could have been the bigger person and had the balls to call him to break it off myself, but I don’t have balls and never claimed to be the bigger person. I’m a woman for fuck’s sake; we want to be pursued. When will men get the memo on this?

I hold his hand and squeeze until my knuckles are white and my hand cramps. I don’t want to carry on like this. It’s just going to hurt more when I have to explain later that we were never together. Jason doesn’t flinch. He only grunts a little then looks down at me with those fiery tar pits of eyes. Yeah, he hates every second of this right now. I’m ready to bury my head in the sand before I even attempt to approach him.

Before I can usher him out the door, Jason and I are attacked with a barrage of questions from my very nosey sisters. As always, Wendi is the first to open her mouth.

“So, Mariah, when were you going to tell us you have a boyfriend?” She moves to me and tries to look offended. “I know you live seven hours away, but dammit, it wouldn’t hurt to share what the hell you have going on in your life.”

I look up to Jason, who is simply smiling at the firing squad that is my blood relatives. “He’s…” Hmph, how do I answer this question? He is not my boyfriend, but I really don’t want to say what our relationship is or used to be when my mother is standing ten feet away. I clear my throat and search my brain for the right words to use.

“We’ve only been seeing each other for a few months,” Jason replies with his calm, smooth voice. Damn him for being so charismatic. I really want to punch him right now.

“Well, it must be serious if you’re taking trips to the beach with her son,” Jerrica snaps back in full-on eldest sister, protective mode. I snap my eyes to her and shoot daggers.

“That was the first time I met Royce, but we had a blast. Didn’t we, sweetie?” Sweetie? Really?

I can hear my sister swoon at his pet name, and I want to gag. Jesus, this is worse than telling my family I’m nineteen and knocked up. All I can do is nod my head and pray this conversation will end soon so he will be on his way.

“Tell us about yourself, Jason. What do you do for a living? Where do you live? Have you ever been arrested? What are you intentions with my sister?” Wendi is relentless. I lean over and slap her on the arm. I couldn’t care less that she’s pregnant.

“Back off, Wendi, and let the boy breathe,” my mom says as she saves the day, holding her hand out to Jason. “Hi, I’m Mariah’s mother, Dawn.”

Jason shakes her hand, smiling his charming, little smile. “Ma’am, it’s nice to meet you” again with the swooning. I want to singlehandedly punch all my sisters in the face. Even Cyndi, my brother’s wife, is swooning. She never does that!

“That’s okay, I’d be happy to answer your questions. What do I do for a living; I am a businessman. I own nightclubs across Florida and throughout the United States.”

“I love nightclubs!” Jami shouts in excitement then pulls her phone out. So help me God, if she’s Google-ing him right now, I will flip my shit!

“Yeah, we know, Jami. Now finish answering my questions.” Wendi is so demanding and annoying right now.

Jason laughs his deep, sexy laugh that makes all of us; myself included, melt into a puddle of goo and then happily answers the remaining questions. “I have a place on Miami Beach. I’ve never been arrested as an adult, but I was a little rebellious as a child. And my intentions with your sister are whatever she wants them to be.” He winks and I gag once again then realize I need to get him out of the house and away from my family before more damage is done. What’s more, I need to get him alone so I can chew his ass because that’s the only feeling I have for him right now.

Just as I’m about to announce Jason’s departure, Jami peels her eyes from the phone and looks to Jason. “Hey, do you think you could get us into Toxic? According to this entertainment website, it’s the hottest club in Miami and I really want to go out for once.”

“I believe I can talk to the owner and work something out.” Jason smiles.

Jami looks to my sisters, pleading with her eyes. “Come on, guys. We don’t need to be sitting around here, getting fat. We can do that tomorrow. Let’s go out and celebrate Jerrica’s wedding in style for once in our lives. Let’s not be country.”

All of my sisters discuss the plan as I pull Jason over to the side of the room. I can’t hold my tongue anymore. Whispering, I ask, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“What, you’re not happy to see me, darling?”

I narrow my gaze at him and swallow, knowing I’m about to go Dave-shit crazy on him.

“Cut the shit, Jason. After you left last week, I haven’t heard from you, so I assumed, since all the established rules went out the door, our relationship was over.”

His eyes flash with uncertainty before the look is replaced with his confident, business-like façade once more. “Royce left his bag in my car and I was bringing it back. Sorry, I didn’t think you’d be busy, considering I’m your only means of adult entertainment.” I glare at him and fight the urge to kick him in the shin. “I was on my way home from the airport and decided to return his backpack in case he needed it.”

“Well, you should have called first. Now I have to explain to my family that you and I are not a couple.” I look over to my sisters to see they are smiling from ear to ear.

“Looks like we are going to Toxic tonight,” Jerrica says. I can see the slight hesitation in her eyes. She hates nightclubs and dancing, so hopefully, we can leave soon after we arrive.

“Well, we better get ready, then.” I start pushing Jason toward the door, begging with my eyes for him not to say anything else.

“Okay, I will let you ladies be.” As he turns to me and smiles his panty-dropping smile, I hold my breath, as I always do when he smiles that smile. “I’ll call you later, darling.”

Like when he arrived, Jason bends down and kisses my lips. My insides melt and I forget all about what a train wreck this will be to explain to my family about why Jason and I got together in the first place.

He leaves the apartment and all my sisters scurry to their suitcases, looking for the best outfit. Shit, even my mother is excited to go to a nightclub. Oh, man, this can’t be good. I was hoping Dawn would be the reason we would get back early, but it looks like she’s ready to party with the rest of them.

There’s a knock at the front door two hours later. Standing on the other side is a man in a chauffeur’s uniform and next to him is the mammoth that mans the door at Toxic. I look to the man and he smiles.

“Mr. Cain asked that I pick up your party and escort them to the club, Miss Huxley.”

“Ummm, okay?” I question and hear all of my sisters screech with excitement.

Jason is an ass and doing this on purpose. He really wants to piss me off and is doing a good job of it so far.

We all file down my steps in our clubbing clothes and pile into the car. Although, when I say car, I mean a huge limousine stocked with three bottles of Dom Perignon champagne and a bottle of sparkling water for my pregnant sister. He’s such a bastard sometimes, and his little
let me impress the family
bullshit is getting old. The limo is not necessary and neither is the expensive champagne.

Jerrica wastes no time popping the cork and filling the glasses with the bubbly drink, though. Honestly, at this point, I am looking forward to a drink to calm my raging nerves and immediately slam the contents of my glass. My mother puts her hand on my leg and shakes her head. I can never hide anything when it comes to her. She looks to me and gives me a reassuring look. It makes me feel slightly better, but when I really think about how I feel, it hurts.

Seeing Jason today was unexpected and makes me miss him more than I ever thought I would. Although he was going with the flow and playing nice with my family, I know the act was just that, an act. He would never want to genuinely be with my family because that would mean we’d have to be more.

Now, I wish I had called him when I had the chance. I don’t think this is going to end well at all. My sisters will never let me forget Jason was the one man I let get away and will remind me of my misdoings until I’m an old, gray woman. 

“Wow, Mariah, this is pretty impressive,” Jerrica says and then looks out the window at the lights passing by. I don’t acknowledge her statement; merely turn my head the other way. I don’t want to talk about Jason and what a catch he is. I just want to forget him.

“Yeah, no kidding, Mariah. Do you really think Jason can get us into Toxic?” Jami is so excited she’s about to split in two pieces.