Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Mama came through the gate with two younger men also dressed in black walking a few paces behind her. She wasn’t a threat, and she wasn’t in danger per se, but she had a lot of influence and power in the community, therefore, she’d been targeted enough times to need her own detail that was just as dedicated to her as the secret service was to POTUS. She glanced around his yard with appreciation in her kind brown eyes before she finally looked at him and the bright bouquet he was holding out to her.
She ambled toward him, moving slower than when he’d last seen her a couple of months ago. Mike had to remember that even if she was a boss woman, Mama was getting older, and countless years managing a huge club and working in a kitchen that fed an entire neighborhood was taking its toll.
“You look younger and more beautiful every time I see you.” Mike gave her a crooked smile that made her chuckle. She was short and curvy, with dark brown skin and one long, thick silver french braid going down the center of her back and stopping just above her waist. She wore a pale pink summer dress with bright red roses adorning the lower half that reached her ankles and her standard black flats.
“You were always such a good liar, Michael,” she said in a light Southern accent that had faded over time.
“And you’re the only one that can survive calling me that.” Mike opened his arms and accepted her motherly hug. The loving embrace combined with the scent of her Avon perfume reminded him of the solace of home. When she was finished squeezing him, he released her and handed her the flowers. “How are you, Mom?”
“I’m well, son. I can’t complain.” Her body might have been weakening, but her voice was just as strong as it was thirty years ago. Mike stood still while she did a complete circle around him as if he was on an auction block. He pfft’d when she commented casually, “You need to eat though. You’re practically skin and bones.”
“That’s what I said.” The Bus narrowed his eyes at Mike, sizing him up as if he wanted to flex his muscles at him. “I think some of the stories about this guy have been exaggerated.”
“You wanna find out firsthand?” Mike grated between clenched teeth.
“Mind your mouth, Bus. I’d hate for it to be the end of you,” Mama warned. The two younger men blocking the gate door stepped forward at the sound of Mama’s threat, and Buster quickly clamped his mouth closed. “There. Now, that’s better.”
Damn, Mike missed her. He should visit her kitchen more often. “To what do I owe the pleasure of you being here?”
“Well,” she sighed as she began walking toward Mike’s few vegetables he had planted in the rear corner of his lawn that got the most sun, “I’ve been hearing a lot of details about you and my babies, but I came to find out why I haven’t heard this news from you?”
By “her babies,” he knew she was talking about Bishop and Trent. “And that news being…?” Mike asked.
“That my Bishop is getting married next month.” She stopped and glared at his face for his first reaction, but Mike stayed composed. “He and Trent were at my spot last weekend celebrating his engagement. Now, imagine my surprise having to hear that kind of news through the grapevine?”
Shit. Mike would never keep anything like that from her, but he hadn’t exactly had a chance to visit a nightclub when he passed out in bed every day after work. “I was gonna come by real—”
“And were you gonna bring your new sweetheart too?” Mama raised a brow, challenging him.
Mike shook his head. Damn his sons had big mouths. “It’s all still very new, so not a lot to tell on that front.”
“Except from what I understand, she’s living here, so how new can it be?”
Mike frowned. She. “Bishop did get engaged recently, but I can assure you, Mama, there’s no she living here.”
Mama squinted, staring at him with those sharp eyes as if she saw right through that statement. “No?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Hmm.” She huffed. “It’s rare that I get inaccurate information.”
“It’s only slightly inaccurate, Mom. She is actually a—”
“Mama, a truck just pulled into the garage,” one of the younger men noted, and Joey went toward the gate door.
Mike groaned internally. Rayne couldn’t have timed that more perfectly. If Mama wanted to meet his new sweetheart, she was about to get the chance.
“Ahh. I see.” Mama gave him a sly leer as she rubbed his back with the flat of her palm like she used to do when he was younger. “Finally. You have what you’ve always wanted.”
Mike frowned, feeling heat rise under his stubble. Manny and Mama were the only ones who knew what Slick meant to him. Because after Jameson left, Mike had been so heartbroken that he couldn’t handle it, and the only two members of his family he had left were the only ones that kept Mike from losing it and going over the edge.