“Mom, you ever start to think that maybe none of this is your business?”
“White,” I complain, because I don’t want to hurt Ida Sue. Ida Sue is just Ida Sue. She’s a force to be reckoned with, sure, and she can definitely be overbearing. The thing is, however, when it comes to hearts and being there for people she loves, she would lay down her life without even blinking.
“It’s okay, Buttercup. If my own son wants to treat me like I don’t matter. If he wants to disrespect me and break my poor heart…”
“Oh for Christ’s sake. We went to the clinic to get tested,” White says, exasperated, and I feel heat flood through me.
“Tested? What on Earth for?”
“Diseases.”
“Don’t be an idiot!” Ida Sue says, hitting him lightly with her hand. “I meant what on Earth would you be worried about that for? Did you catch something from one of those football groupies that follow you around? I swear, I warned you and Green both, women like that would end up giving you something to cause your dicks to rot off. Thank God, Buttercup is smarter than to go into things blindly.”
“I don’t have anything. Jesus, Mom. Kayla just wanted to make sure we were both healthy before we started…”
“Started?” Ida Sue says, and I swear she’s grinning.
“White,” I say, trying to stop him, but it doesn’t do any good. I knew it wouldn’t, but it couldn’t hurt to try.
“Kayla wants a baby,” White says and the way he says it causes my stomach to drop. Kayla wants a baby. He said we’re going to try to have a baby, not we’re going to start a relationship. Kayla wants…
The decision to stay on birth control seems smarter and smarter. Now, if I could just work through the guilt.
CHAPTER 32
WHITE
"You okay, honey?"
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"You just seem awful quiet. I'm worried about you," I tell Kayla. We had a sandwich together and visited with my crazy family for a little while and now we're back in my room. I was afraid Kayla would insist on staying in her old room, but she hasn't.
"I'm just tired, White," she says with a smile. I want to believe her, but something seems off. Instead of pushing it, I just let it go. I'll figure it out eventually. Right now, I'm just really glad I have her in my arms.
"Where do you think Mom went off to in such a hurry?"
"No idea, though she mentioned needing to go to the grocery store," Kayla says, walking away to go into the bathroom.
"This late at night?" I voice my doubts, yanking my shirt over my head and throwing it on the ground. I stretch out on the bed, picking up the remote and start sifting through the channels.
"Who knows? Ida Sue is special."
"That's one way of putting it."
"Lay off your Mom. You're blessed and you know it."
"I do, doesn't mean she doesn't scare the hell out of me sometimes," I answer as Kayla comes in from the bathroom, wearing a long t-shirt that has the name of Green's baseball team on it. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?"
Kayla rubs lotion on her hands and stops with a confused look on her face, like she doesn't know what I'm talking about. Maybe she doesn't. Maybe I am being unreasonable. But Jesus, it's like she's begging me to spank her ass.
"What are you going on about now? I swear you harp more than a fifty-year-old woman who's going through menopause."
"Umm, honey, talking like that right there, is way too much like my Mom. Try to nip that shit in the bud."
"Whatever. You, White Hall Lucas, are a whiner."
"Oh, I are, are I?"
"You are."
"Come down here and I'll show you a whiner."
"Maybe I don't want to. You might bitch about the size of my hands or something," she huffs, standing over me. I reach up and pull her until our bodies collide and she’s lying on top of me.
God. How do you go your whole life without touching someone in any sexual way—without even thinking of them like that—only to learn that your arms are empty without them? Worse, you're missing something extremely vital without them.
"I love the size of your hands. I think they're perfect," I tell her bringing her hand up to my lips and kissing it. The taste of her skin mingles with a hint of the cherry flavoring in the lotion. Kayla.
"Perfect?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Mmm… hmm… Just right to stroke my cock and squeeze it tight..."
"Pervert," she mutters, shaking her head, but she kisses my hand that's holding hers.