Page 29 of Reckless
9
Gage
“What is with you?” Mom demanded. “You’re off on another planet today. You aren’t thinking about making me have some crazy treatment, are you? I’m not gonna do something crazy like drink breastmilk or eat nothing but dandelion leaves!”
I wrinkled my nose but couldn’t keep the smile from playing at my lips. “No, Mom, calm down.”
“You calm down!” The lavender nightgown I’d brought her from home at her request shimmered in the morning sun glinting from the window.
I knew better than to tell her to calm down, but for fuck’s sake, couldn’t I have one hour without a female ranting at me?
I took a deep breath and blew it out through my nose. “I’m sorry, about all of that. I did talk to a nutritionist and looked into alternatives. It isn’t easy for me to just accept this, accept that you’re okay with…” I growled deep in my throat. “But I won’t set up things I know you don’t want.”
“Good. You know if I want to do something, I will.”
“I know, I know.”
“So, if you’re not contemplating buying a bird to regurgitate my food, what is it?”
“It’s nothing.” My mouth went dry. I’d never been good at being dishonest with my mother, even when I was a teen. She had this way of seeing right through me, always had an answer or a better idea.
“If it’s nothing then you can just tell me. There’s no point in hiding things from me, is there? I need the dramas of your life to keep mine interesting.”
“Okay, but before I tell you, you have to promise to not get upset.”
“Oh no,” she groaned, rolling her eyes until she looked like Linda Blair inThe Exorcist. “What have you done?”
“I…” She wasn’t going to like this, especially not after the conversation we’d only just had about my lifestyle. “I asked Kelly to go out with me last night while you were asleep.”
Mom’s expression soured, and I braced myself, preparing for the inevitable lecture. “You did what? Please tell me you treated her right. I don’t want her to be another notch on your bedpost. That girl is lovely, she’s much too nice for you to—”
“Mom, will you keep your voice down?” I desperately made shushing movements with my hands. “She works here, remember? I didn’t sleep with her. We just went out for some drinks.”
Her hands fisted on her hips in the bed. “Well,somethinghappened. I can see it written on your guilty face. You might as well tell me what you did before I drag her in here too.”
“She’s not on shift today.”Thank god. “Okay. I kissed her, but we’d been drinking, and she was just so…” Fucking sexy. But I drew the line at telling Mom that. “We did a bit of reminiscing about the old days, and it got me thinking about how different things could’ve been.”
“Gage, you cannot mess with that girl’s feelings. She’s been through too much.”
“Mom, it wasn’t like that.” I shimmied my chair closer, determined she see how serious I was. “I would never do anything to hurt her. I know she’s been through enough.”
“So, why did you ask her out for even drinks, knowing there might be feelings still there? You’re not exactly going to give up the band. You won’t stay here, so you can’t start something like that with Kelly.”
She was right, I knew it, but that kiss did something to me. It brought me back to life, made me realize that a part of me had lain dormant for far too long. I’d wanted to deepen the kiss, to take it so much further, and maybe I would’ve given in to that temptation had I not respected Kelly so much.
Or if she hadn’t pushed me away.
Damn.
Even if she hadn’t, I would have still respected her. She wasn’t a hanger-on who just wanted to rub up against celebrity, hoping to keep some of the shine. She was Kelly freaking Cavendish. The only girl—woman—I’d ever loved.
“How did you leave things? Presuming the kiss happened at the end of the night?”
“She went her way and I went mine.” I popped out of the chair and turned, gazing blindly out the window as I recalled the intense sensation of having Kelly in my arms once more. For just a brief second, the raven-haired beauty and I were back together.
“So, you didn’t talk about it or what it meant?”
“Mom, people don’t actually have that sort of conversation. It’s weird. It was just a moment that happened, that’s all.”
