Page 94 of Abyss

Neil looks up. “Mom, she’s never even said a word to me. She literally doesn’t even know I exist.”

“Yes, yes,” Mom huffs, as if this is all extraneous information that really doesn’t embellish her story in the least. “But that’s just because she’s pretending not to. You know, playing coy so you will approach her. It’s what we women do, don’t we, Kavi?” She looks at me for agreement. “It’s just the way we flirt.”

I’m not entirely sure I agree, but I nod anyway to placate her while my brother rolls his eyes. “She has a boyfriend, Mom.”

I wince, but my mom keeps going. “Well, relationships at this age rarely last, so keep an eye out. When she’s single again, you can swoop in with a romantic gesture. Buy her some Lindor chocolates. Not the cheap kind, you know, the nice ones in those metallic wrappers that say, ‘You’re the love of my life’.”

Neil tilts his head. “You just said relationships at my age rarely last.”

“Oh, don’t be sensitive.” Mom leans back in her chair, her curly dark hair brushing against her shoulders. “I meantotherrelationships, not yours. Once Lilac sees what a kind and gentle soul you are—so much like your father—she’ll never want to let you go.”

Refusing to argue, Neil just shakes his head and goes back to his phone.

“Now, speaking of romantic gestures.” Mom turns to me right as I’m blowing air over my cup, trying to cool off my tea. I’ve never understood how she can scald her tongue as if she has no nerve endings there. “How is that handsome boss-roommate of yours?”

I’m hoping she doesn’t see the pink crawling into my cheeks, but the flashes of last night—of him taking me in every which way, well into the early morning hours—have my skin heating to the same temperature as the cup in my hands.

My body is bruised and fatigued, but I wouldn’t change a single thing.

And then his raspy voice in my ear this morning, telling me that I’d be staying in his room every night from now on. He’d encircled my waist and pulled me into him, burying his nose in my hair before going back to sleep, as if he’d woken up just to ensure I accepted his proposal—ahem, demand.

“He’s . . . fine. You know, just busy.” I take a small sip of my tea, trying to avoid Mom’s searching eyes.

“Is he still being gruff and demanding with you?”

Another flash of him telling me to take his cock like a good girl, pumping into me from behind with his hand clasped around my neck and pressing me into the mattress, has me clearing my throat. “Oh, yeah. Extremely gruff and demanding.”

My mother is generally open-minded about most things, and while she won’t be thrilled that I’m with a man twenty years older than me—who is closer to her age than mine—shewon’t deem it scandalous or taboo, either. After all, she herself married someone quite a bit older. Still, revealing that I’m in a ‘complicated’ relationship with my boss will lead to a much longer conversation than I have time for today.

So before she can ask any more questions, I shift the conversation back to Neil. “Hey, twirp, so are you all healed up now? No stomach pains or anything, right?”

Neil nods. “Yeah, all good.”

“Good,” I respond, turning back to my mom. “Mom, where are the bills from the hospital? I wanted to see how much we owe.”

“Oh!” She jumps up off her chair, leaving her cup on the coffee table and heading over to where she keeps all our bills on the counter. Thankfully, the overdue notices have stopped, given I’ve been paying everything off, so there aren’t quite as many on that counter as there normally are. She hands me an opened envelope. “Look at this. It says the bill has been paid.”

“What?” My brows furrow as I pull the envelope from her fingers and unfold the papers inside. “What do you mean?”

I scan the various billed items, reading down to the bottom, where an amount well above ten thousand dollars shows that it has been paid. My breath stalls in my chest as I blink up at my mother. “When did you receive this?”

She gives me a guilty look I’ve seen before. “I’ve actually had it for a few weeks. I was just too scared to open it—you know how I get around bills, they trigger my eye twitches. But then I finally caved and opened it yesterday. I was so surprised to see your insurance covered it all. What a great company you’re working for.”

I examine the papers in my hand with renewed shock, as if they just appeared out of thin air, not giving her the truth. That I never enrolled us in the insurance plan, and that this bill was paid by none other than the gruff and demandingman we just spoke about. A man with a soft and generous heart he keeps hidden under a hardened exterior.

“Oh, and I totally forgot to mention,” Mom adds, her voice high-pitched. “I was going to surprise you with the news today; your car is fixed and sitting in the garage. The shop called a couple of days ago saying we could pick it up.”

“That’s great!” I say, relieved. I still plan to buy another used car in Portland, but at least this one will be here for Neil. I had called the shop last week from the office to ask about the status, and they’d said they’d call me to let me know. Apparently, my power steering needed replacing. I wince, wondering how much of a dent that put in our bank account. “How much did they charge for it?”

Mom gives me a confused squint. “What do you mean? Wouldn’t you know that since you paid for it?”

“I didn’t—” My mouth drops open as more shock registers. Tears prick the corners of my eyes, and I mumble something in response to my mother before excusing myself to my room with my phone, not thinking too much before pressing his number.

“What’s wrong?” His husky demand fills my ear.

“Nothing. I just . . .” I laugh as another wave of emotion hits my chest at the concern in his voice. I clear my throat. “Hi.”

He pauses for a moment. “You missed me, didn’t you?”

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