Reckless Together: A Contemporary New Adult College Romance (The Reckless Series) (28 page)

"Caleb! Watch your mouth." Sue frowned her disapproval at him.

"Sorry, Ma." He grinned at her and walked off, leaving the four of us alone in tense, fuming silence. We made awkward, forced small talk for five or ten minutes and fell into stony silence again.

Harlan finally broke it. He was fuming. "Your mother tells me you need money, Logan."

I turned to stare at Logan in horror.

"Ma, I told you not to mention it." Logan glared at his mother.

She shrugged, her expression unsympathetic and angry. "I don't keep things from your father." She spat the words out.

"Sue." Harlan's tone was full of warning.

I leaned in to Logan and whispered, "Logan, you didn't."

"I asked Caleb and she overheard," he whispered back.
 

"Logan?" Harlan said.

Logan balled his fists in his lap. "It's none of your business, Dad."

"My son bets his inheritance from his grandfather on a shaky business deal and begs his mom and brother for money and it's none of my business? You're turning out like Caleb."

"If I was Caleb I'd be rolling in money. There's no way you could stop me from making it short of breaking my arm." Logan's voice was icy. His jaw was set.
 

I noticed for the first time that he and Harlan had matching expressions when they were angry.

"What are you implying?" Harlan said.

"Oh, can it, Dad. I'm not implying anything. I'm saying it outright—what kind of rumors did you get your buddies at Core Tech to spread to kill my IPO?"

"What are you talking about?" Harlan continued to glare.

Logan pushed back from the table and tossed his napkin on it. "Don't play dumb. I don't know how you found out, but you did. You couldn't stand that I was going to be successful on my own."

"That's a totally unfounded and groundless accusation. I don't know where you're getting your information. When I find out, they'll be hearing from me." Harlan's jaw ticked. "If you weren't my son, I'd sic my lawyers on you and sue you for slander."

"You sicced them on me already and tried to use them to keep me from testifying. I'm not afraid of them."

"I'm here supporting you now, aren't I?"
 

Harlan and Logan stared each other down.

"Harlan?" Sue's worried gaze bounced between father and son.

"Shit! I'm not going to sit here and take this." Logan pulled out my chair and grabbed my hand. "Come on, El. We're leaving."

"But what about Mom—" I grabbed my purse.

"Text her to meet us out front." Logan pulled me behind him, squeezing my hand so tightly I felt the blood pulsing in it.

I almost made a smartass remark, something like "Thank you for a lovely evening." I thought better of it at the last second. My heart hammered. I had expected my mom to be the queen troublemaker this weekend, but Logan's parents were vying for the prize.
 

Logan pulled me past the bar, past all the tables of moms and children laughing and drinking. Logan banged the restaurant door open as he dragged me toward the car.

We both saw them at the same time. Mom stood beneath a parking lot light in the April twilight, leaning with her back against the wall of the restaurant. Caleb stood in front of her, hands cupping her face, his head bent like he was about to kiss her.

Chapter Nineteen

"Mom!"

At the sound of my voice, Mom turned toward us with a startled look on her face.

"Caleb!" Logan yelled at his brother.

Caleb jumped back and frowned. "Logan? What are you doing out here?"

I lunged for Mom and grabbed her hand, pulling her away from Caleb. "What do you think you're doing? With Logan's brother?" I snorted. "Really. And things were going so well."

"What's going on?" Mom frowned and sounded genuinely confused. "Are we leaving already? What happened in there?"
 

"Shit," Caleb said.
 

Mom turned to Caleb and shook her head very slightly, warning him off from confronting Logan.

Logan shoved his brother. "Back off, Two, and stay the hell away from Melissa."

"What the fuck?" Caleb stumbled backward. "I was helping her."

"Sure you were." Logan shoved him again.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Caleb swore and took a swing at him.

Logan dodged the blow. "Back off, Caleb. I'm not going to ruin your pretty face. Mom will have my head for beating on my baby brother."

"Shut up, Logan. Shut the fuck up!" Caleb raised his arm, ready to swing again.

Just as I was afraid Logan was going to lose control and punch Caleb anyway, Mom stepped between them. "Enough showing off, boys." She touched Caleb's arm and smiled encouragingly to him. "Go back to your parents. I have the feeling they need you right now. I'll handle things here."

He stared at her a long minute before nodding. He shot Logan an icy look and walked back into the restaurant, pulling down his shirt and straightening his clothes as he went.

I strode ahead of Logan and Mom to her car, unable to look at her. "I can't believe you came onto Caleb. I cannot believe it!"

"That's good, because it didn't happen. We were talking, just talking."

I shook my head and glared at her. "He looked like he was about to eat your face."

She sighed. "He was helping me get a piece of dust out of my eye. You know the wind here. It kicked up some grit and I didn't blink in time." She looked from Logan to me. "Great. You two just assume the worst and blow the evening up. I don't want Logan's brother. You really think I'm stupid enough to make a mistake like that?" She sounded almost desperate for me to believe her.

I shook my head, like,
Yeah, I could definitely believe it
.

She turned to Logan. "You believe me, don't you, Logan? I promised you I wouldn't cause trouble."

I frowned, wondering what kind of wonderful promises she'd made him and just how often they'd talked. "Don't drag Logan into this."
 

Mom beeped the car unlocked and grabbed my arm. "Nothing happened.
Nothing. Happened
."
 

I shook her off, slid into the back seat, and crossed my arms.

Mom tossed her keys to Logan. "You drive." She slid in next to me and grabbed my arm again before I could flee. "Look at my eye, sweetie. Look at it! See how red it is?"

I didn't want to look, but morbidly hopeful curiosity got the best of me. Her eye was watering and red.

I couldn't believe myself and the control she had over me, but I actually wanted to believe her story. But I knew her. I'd learned how to lie from her. Learned her mantra—every good lie starts with a grain of truth. Maybe in this case it started with a grain of sand. "What
were
you doing in the parking lot?"

Mom sighed and looked suddenly hopeful. "We were both headed back to the table at the same time and bumped into each other. We saw the angry faces and heard the raised voices from the Walkers. Caleb didn't want to be dragged into a family fight. I was trying to give them some space and save everyone a little embarrassment. Caleb and I decided to step outside and enjoy the nice April evening and sunset until things blew over.

"That's all that happened. You walked out and caught us at the most inopportune moment. But it wasn't what it looked like." She pulled a tissue and dabbed at her eye that was still watering.

I wavered, feeling almost guilty for jumping to conclusions. "But we saw—"

"What you were expecting to see." Mom crumpled the tissue in her hand. "I'm sorry for everything I've done to you in the past, Ellie. And I'm not stupid. At least not enough to ruin my only chance to fix things between us. You're all I have."

I turned from her and stared out the window. She was so convincing. But then she always was.

Logan started the car. As he put his arm over the seat and looked backward to back out of the spot, he caught my eye and shot me a look that said he was sorry, but he believed her. "I owe Caleb an apology."

"You believe her?" I shouldn't have been surprised. I had no idea why, but from the beginning Logan had always been willing to cut her slack. They had a bond that scared me. I had to find out what it was.

"Yeah, El, I do." He nodded at her. His voice was filled with sympathy. "Look at her eye."
 

"But, but…" I locked my jaw and turned to Mom.
 

She stared back at me, pleading with me to be reasonable.

I was beaten. Unless I wanted to look like a bitch in front of Logan. "You were flirting with him all evening," I said.

"Sweetie, I was making conversation." She touched my arm. "Please."

I couldn't believe the turn of events. I actually felt guilty for doubting her and jumping to conclusions. That was how Mom, the mistress of deceit, could twist things. "I'm sorry." I could have pinched myself the minute the words came out. I sounded like a child being made to apologize.

Mom didn't take it that way. As she squeezed my arm, tears filled her eyes. "Thank you, Ellie."

Then I really felt crappy.
 

Logan smiled at me like he was proud of me and pleased, and put the car in drive. "Where to?"

"The evening is still young," Mom said. "What's there to do here in this one-horse town?"

"The official Mom's Weekend activities are shut down for the night," I said, and tried to make a joke. "But the frat parties are just getting started."

"Nice try, but you're not pushing me off on some hapless boy." Mom smiled. "Any good movies showing? Anything even remotely decent? I'll settle for palatable. My treat."

After the movie, Mom drove Logan to his apartment complex, which pounded with music just as rowdy as any regular Friday night. The moms were in a partying mood. The pool area, balconies, and clubhouse were littered with drinking, dancing, laughing moms trying to recapture their youth and keep up with their kids. And my wild mom had taken us to a movie. Life was upside down.

"Want to come in?" Logan looked reluctant to leave me. He clutched my hand tightly in his as we sat in the back seat. "Let's crash a party."

Mom looked over the front seat at us. "Thanks, Logan. Not tonight. It's been a long day and it's about to get longer. For one of us."
 

Mom was speaking in riddles. What was up with her? I wanted to stay with Logan. I'm sure she knew that. But I couldn't turn Mom loose on her own. She was up to something. She never got tired this early. "We'd better go. Sorry." I kissed Logan, hoping he understood.

He stroked my cheek, looking adorably disappointed. "See you tomorrow." He reached for the door handle.
 

"Logan?" Mom stopped him, and hesitated, kind of dramatically, like she had something important to say.
 

"Yeah?" He cocked his head.

"During the movie, I had time to think about something I overheard when I left the table at dinner. It doesn't make much sense to me, but I think I should tell you. Even though it exposes me as an unapologetic eavesdropper." Mom laughed self-deprecatingly. "I walked past Amber as she was taking her call. I only heard her end, and just a snatch, but I'm pretty sure she's playing you."
 

Logan frowned, clearly interested. "Yeah? About what?"

"You tell me. She was making a deal with someone named Cutter. She said someone, or something, named Core had better have deep pockets. Because her neck was on the line and she was pretty sure she was being watched. If they wanted more information, the price was going to double."

I was confused—how did Mom know about the deal?
 

Logan frowned like he was thinking. "You think Amber is behind the rumors? Not Dad? You think she's selling us out? You're sure?" He looked totally stunned.

Mom shrugged. "I heard what I heard, so yes. You have your differences with your dad, I get that. But would he really do this to you? On the other hand, greed is a powerful motivator." She laughed. "Just ask me." She paused and turned serious. "Look into it, Logan. Soon. Find out what's really going on and protect yourself."