Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 56376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Her cool, soft hands cupped his face and tilted it up to look at her. " You feel warm, dear, have you taken anything?"
Henry shook his head free of her grasp and brushed her hands away, " Jesus mom, you could have just called", he grumbled.
Anne planted her hands on her hips and glared at him, " I tried but you haven't been answering, so then I called your house phone and Sebastian answered, he said that you came home from work yesterday sick as a dog. And why he's here and hadn't told me, I will find out another time"
" Yeah, I'm sick, but I'm fine, I just need to rest", Henry said wearily.
" Well, I'll stay and take care of you, you need someone here...", she started, but Henry cut her off.
" No mom, you don't need to stay, I have Claire here, she made me soup and has been making sure my fever stays down", Henry said firmly. He really did not want his mother to stay. He'd get no rest. She'd be fluffing his pillows and tucking him in. Fuck, he was so going to kill Sebastian.
His mother's eyes flicked to Claire for the first time since she barged in. " And who is she?", Anne asked as if Claire wasn't sitting right there next to him.
" Claire is my per...my friend", Henry said, catching himself before saying personal assistant. His mother was weird about mixing work and personal life. God forbid she showed up when Asher was over to watch a football game or something. He had to listen to her rant about how he shouldn't be friends with his employees. " Claire, this is my mother, Anne"
" Your friend? Since when do you have women friends?", Anne asked, eyebrow raised in challenge, completely ignoring the introduction.
Henry clenched his teeth and glared at his mother. Claire shifted uncomfortably next to him. Goddammit! " You don't have to stay mom, I'm just going to finish my soup and go back to sleep, there's really nothing for you to do here"
" So Claire is going to leave too then?", Anne asked.
Jesus, she was acting like a jealous lover or something. His mother was so afraid that if her sons gave their attentions to another woman then they would forget about her. She really made their love lives very difficult. And it wasn't a surprise that only one of them had gotten married so far, even though that was now over. Their mother had run off so many potential wives between the four of them, it wasn't even funny.
" Eventually", Henry replied evenly while inside he was livid.
" I can go", Claire whispered to him.
Henry's head snapped around to look at her, " No", he bit out. He would not let his mother run Claire off. Claire glanced at his mother then back at him and opened her mouth to protest but Henry cut her off before she could speak, " No", he said firmly, giving her his best don't-argue-with-me-face.
Claire rolled her lips in like she always did when she wanted to argue but wouldn't. Henry turned back to his mother to find her watching him, her face hardened and her eyes narrowed at him. Henry narrowed his eyes right back at her.
" Fine, you don't need me, I'll go find Sebastian", Anne snapped, making Henry feel only a twinge of guilt.
Anne leaned down, kissed his forehead then left without a word. Henry slumped back against the headboard and banged his head a couple times against the soft leather. Shit, that had sucked. Not as bad as some other times. And he was a bit confused by how easily his mother gave in. She usually fought harder then that. Maybe she was preoccupied by why Sebastian was here.
" Not that I ever really expected to meet your mother Henry, but that was definitely not how I saw it going", Claire said quietly, as if afraid his mother was listening in.
Henry couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out of him. Claire too started to giggle. Henry rolled his head against the backboard so that he could look at her. Claire brushed her strawberry blonde hair out of her face as she turned to smile at him. Henry's damn heart fluttered. She was just so beautiful.
She nodded at the bowl of soup, " Finish up so you can go back to sleep"
Henry nodded and went back to eating the delicious soup Claire made.
Chapter 6
Sebastian sat on the couch in the living room, looking for a job on his iPad. There weren't a lot of gunsmiths needed. He put a couple applications in but hadn't heard anything back yet. He was hoping that his mother was took busy babying Henry to worry about why he was here. He hadn't told her about Victoria yet and he really didn't want to.