Page 94 of Crushing Clover

“What’s the big deal?”

“We can’t let your mom meet her.”

Lucky blew a raspberry. Very mature. “Even if she’s working from home today, I’m sure she won’t start talking to her.”

“True. She never did like Arabella.” Rush grimaced. “They were like oil and water.”

“I’m not going to try to pass her off as Arabella.”

“Why not? It would be the perfect cover.”

“The last thing Arabella needs is for the rumor to get around that she’s seeing us behind her husband’s back. As upset as we all were with her when she ended things, she has a family now. I’m not willing to fuck with that.”

“Rumors are fuck all.” Saint waved a dismissive hand. “She should be grateful I haven’t slashed her tires lately.”

“Maybe enough is enough.” Lucky’s tone had lost its careful neutrality. “Maybe we need to grow up and leave her alone.”

“She ruined our lives. I didn’t think there was a statute of limitations on getting even for that.”

Lucky grumbled something, then grabbed my wrist and pulled me from the room before I even realized we were leaving.

“Are you really taking me to meet your parents?” I asked as we hit the afternoon heat of the parking lot. My feet already felt like they were baking through my sandals.

Lucky helped me into the passenger seat of his truck. “Don’t expect to get my grandmother’s engagement ring or anything. We’re raiding my old closet and leaving again.”

Chapter 20

Lucky’s house—or his parents’ house—was a brick-and-siding back-split in a pretty neighborhood. The fact that his parents were still married blew my mind.

“After seeing Warren’s house, you were probably expecting my parents to have money.”

“When you grew up the way I did, this is money.”

He punched a code on the keypad, not even trying to hide it from me. Who used their address as their door code?

We went in, and Lucky didn’t even pause in the doorway to announce us.

“Mom, I’m here to grab some clothes,” he called.

Mom? So weird. How had these guys not popped into the world as fully formed adults?

A woman in her early fifties emerged from what looked like the dining room. She had a kind face, and a messy bun held in place with a pencil. Her smile fell away as she saw me.

“Arabella. This is a surprise.”

Lucky laughed. “No, Mom. This is our friend Clover. She’s staying with us for a while.”

Oh shit. He’d told her my real name, instead of the fake one we’d been using.

Well, it was too late now.

She studied me, and some of the tension in her face relaxed. Her eyes were the same warm yellowish-gold as Lucky’s. “Cloning is illegal, kiddo.”

“Now you tell me.”

“Shit. Did we forget to give you that talk?”

“Don’t worry. No unethical scientific experimentation was involved. Scout’s honor.”

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