Meagan laughed as we looked at each other. “Yeah it is,” she said as she leaned over and kissed me on the lips.
“Time to eat!” Mom called out as she walked into the room.
Everyone glanced over as my mom and James brought in a huge plate full of steaks. The rest of the dinner was everyone getting to know each other. Sandy seemed to lose her interest in me fairly quickly, which was a sigh of relief.
After James, myself, and Ricky cleared the table, we headed into the living room while the girls cleaned up the kitchen. I had to admit, I liked James. He was smart, looked at my mother like she was his everything, and appeared to have normal kids.
Everything on the outside looked good. I made a mental note of his last name of Kennedy and when Ricky mentioned his dad was turning forty-eight in six days. I made plans to run a background check on his ass first chance I got.
While everyone sat in the living room and talked, I got up to get some fresh air. The whole idea of one big happy family wasn’t sitting right with me at the moment and I needed a few moments to let it all sink in.
Leaning over to Meagan, I spoke softly against her ear. “I need a few minutes. I’m stepping out back.”
Meagan’s expression turned to worry. “Do you want me to go with you?”
I wanted to pull her into my arms and tell her how much I loved her. The sooner we got out of there and home, the better. The only thing I wanted to do was wrap Meagan in my arms and sleep. I didn’t want to think about my mom dating this guy or the fact that they were trying to mash us all together at once.
“Nah, you didn’t bring a coat and I only need a couple minutes.”
Her eyes softened as she whispered, “Okay.”
I stood and headed into the kitchen and out the back door. Taking in a deep breath of cold air, it burned my lungs as I held it in. The pain felt good as I tried to make sense of the feelings I was having. I was happy for my mother, yet I didn’t like the idea of James.
“Fuck,” I whispered as I dropped my head back and closed my eyes.
“Feeling a little tense? I bet a dance from you would ease both of our tension.”
My head jerked up as I spun around to see Sandy standing on the back porch wearing a smirk on her face.
Fucking hell. “What did you say?”
Sandy tilted her head and smirked. “I’m guessing you don’t remember the private show you did for me and my friends during her bachelorette party.”
Sandy made a tsk-tsk sound as she moved closer to me. “Such a shame, that big ole cock sure felt good rubbing up against me.”
Trying to make light of the subject that my mother’s boyfriend’s daughter knew I had been a stripper, I let out a chuckle. “Well, this cock has rubbed up against a lot of women.”
Her smile faded some. “How would your pretty little girlfriend like to know her man was a male stripper? After all, she seems pretty innocent.”
Okay, that’s funny.
With a roar of laughter, I shook my head. “Oh Sandy, Meagan is far from innocent and she’s actually seen me in action, so she is well aware of what I did while trying to get through college.”
“What about your mom, Gray? Does she know about this little side career you had going on?”
I felt the anger begin to build as I stared into her eyes. “What are you getting at, Sandy?”
She took a step closer and went to place her hand on my chest, but I backed away as she let out a laugh. “I’m not getting at anything. I just find it kind of funny that we met before under different circumstances and now our parents are dating. That’s all.”
Lifting her hand to touch me again, I grabbed it and pushed her away. “Well let’s get something straight. What I did in the past is in the past. I’m very happy now with Meagan and I’m trying really hard to get used to the idea that our parents are dating. So, unless you’ve got something else on your mind, I say this conversation is over.”
Sandy narrowed her eyes at me as she took me in. The way she was eye fucking me certainly was going to make the rest of the evening awkward. With a deep breath in, she slowly blew it out. “I won’t deny I’m a bit disappointed. It would have been fun going down memory lane with you.”
Pushing past her, I started toward the back door and came face to face with Meagan, who looked between Sandy and me. Fuck. The last thing I wanted for Meagan to worry about was running into women I’ve danced for in the past. “What’s going on?”
Taking her hand in mine, I glanced over my shoulder at Sandy standing there with a smirk on her face. “Nothing, let’s go say goodbye to Mom and get out of here.”
Meagan remained silent the entire drive home. I wasn’t sure how much of my conversation with Sandy she heard, if any. I knew I needed to tell her what happened so she didn’t get the wrong idea, but I was pissed off and tired.
By the time we got back to my apartment, Meagan had had enough of the silence.