“Fine, fine,” the father says, holding up his hands in defeat. “Lenore, stop gawking at his tattoos for heaven’s sake, you are only making matters worse.”
“It gets worse than a Satan tattooed on his arm?” She asks outraged. “Is that why you have an alias, are you part of some devil worshipping cult?”
Riggs turns to me. “I’m sorry, Kitten, but I can’t duck my way out of this one. No, this one deserves a good old fashioned fuck,” he grunts, whipping around to face his mother. “Are you fucking shitting me, lady?”
“Robert, Riggs, whatever the hell you’re calling yourself these days, we didn’t come here to cause any trouble,” Mr. Montgomery explains.
Riggs raises his eyebrows as he stares at his father incredulously before narrowing his eyes and pointing an accusing finger at his father, then his mother, the finger moving back and forth between both parents causing me to become dizzy as I try to follow it.
“Wait a minute,” Riggs says. “Wait just one damn minute. What the hell are you two doing together in the first place?” He turns to his mother. “Shouldn’t you be chasing after, what is it you're up to husband number five?” He asks before diverting his eyes to his father. “And you, how come you’re not off striking oil somewhere in the Gulf or wherever it is you dig holes.”
“Fernando and I didn’t work out and your father doesn’t dig holes. If you paid any kind of mind to his business, maybe you wouldn’t be living like this,” She says, spreading her arms wide as she gestures to our apartment.
Well now, that was just mean. Sure, the apartment looked like it had been ransacked by a pack of ninjas but we had a rambunctious toddler running the show. Didn’t she remember what it was like when Riggs was a baby?
“It’s really not as bad as it looks,” I argue.
“Don’t do that, shit, Lauren,” Riggs interrupts, pinning me with a glare, shaking his head. My eyes widen at the use of my name and not the nickname he was so fond of.
The Tiger meant business.
“We don’t owe these people shit, least of all an explanation as to how we live,” he chastises before turning his glare onto his parents. “Now, you don’t get to show up on my doorstep and ridicule me and my family.”
“Robert if you would just let us speak—”
“Ain’t nothing you say I want to hear,” Riggs seethes as he caresses Eric’s back mindlessly. Eric leans his head against his dad’s chest and starts to calm.
“We don’t even know who you are anymore,” Lenore comments, shaking her head as she shoves a hand at him, letting her eyes travel the length of him. “You look like a street thug, not a Montgomery.”
“Lenore, that’s enough,” Mr. Montgomery shouts.
“You’ve got ten seconds to get the fuck out of my house before this street thug drags your ass down to the gutter,” Riggs threatens.
“I told you we should’ve called,” Mr. Montgomery hisses, grabbing Lenore’s elbow before piercing his son with a look. “We’ll go for now, but we’ll be back. We came here for a reason, son.” He diverts his eyes to mine. “It was nice to meet you, Lisa.”
“Her name is Lauren,” Riggs hisses, grabbing my arm and pulling me to his side. “Get out,” he demands. “And do yourself a favor, forget the reason you came here. Neither of you are welcome in my house or around my son,” he grounds out.
I stare at Riggs’ parents, albeit they were rude and thought the sun shined out of their asses, but they were still his parents, still Eric’s grandparents. I kept my mouth shut and watched Mr. Montgomery’s face fall and Lenore’s remain perfectly frozen in place. She had a hard face, nothing inviting and loving about it and made me thank God for my mother. Maria Bianci was crazy as hell but she would give you the shirt off her back and was always there for me and Anthony. Lenore Montgomery, or whatever her last name was these days, was not the mother you rushed to in your time of need.
I glanced back at Riggs as he kept his eyes trained on the door.
“Out,” he hollers, startling Eric who was falling asleep in his arms.
Mr. Montgomery reaches into his pocket and extends his hand, offering me his business card.
“Lenore and I would like to get to know our grandson,” he explains as I take the card from him. “It was nice to meet you, Lisa,” he adds.
“Lauren, her fucking name is Lauren,” Riggs mutters, taking the card from my hand, before he walks toward the front door and pulls it open.
His parents hesitate a moment before starting for the door. Mr. Montgomery pauses in front of Riggs, lifting his hand to Eric’s head but deciding against it at the last minute.
“He looks just like you,” Mr. Montgomery says before walking out. Riggs slams the door behind them.