Chapter 10
Jace
My mom threatened to show up at the bar if I didn’t come to see her. I’d arranged for the bar to be covered all day in anticipation of my date, but that had turned out to be a bad idea because it left me with far too much time on my hands.
And I was nervous. As much as I tried to convince myself not to be, my stomach wouldn’t stop clenching in fear. I’d avoided my mother all week until she’d threatened to crash the bar. She wasn’t bluffing.
I’d been avoiding explaining all the mess about the mating bond to her, not to mention the appearance of my brother, and the guilt was getting to me a little bit.
It had always been me and Mom against the world.
Especially when I was younger, and my father was in and out of our lives all the time. She was my lady; my best friend.
And I was a shit for lying to her.
“Here you go.” She put a plate of cookies on the coffee table. “I made your favorite.”
Classic chocolate chip. “I can’t eat too much.” Time for the first bomb of truth. “I have a date tonight.”
Didn’t stop me from grabbing a handful of cookies as my mother froze and gaped at me. “An actual date?”
I nodded with a mouthful of cookie.
She cocked her head, still staring like I’d grown a second nose. “But you don’t date. What has changed?”
Mom was right, until now. I’d only casually seen women, had hookups, etc. I didn’t date. Even if I asked a woman out, I made sure she knew up front that it was casual. And would never lead to anything.
“Well, who is it? Where are you going? Are you planning on a second date if this one goes well?” She hovered over the coffee table and rubbed her hands together nervously.
I swallowed my cookie. “Mom, sit.”
She looked concerned like she was going to try to see if I had a fever again. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”
Her eyes narrowed. She knew I didn’t normally keep things from her. “What?”
“I’ve been processing it. Trying to deal with it.”
She didn’t interrupt, but the emotions that poured off of her told me I was going to pay for not coming to her with this sooner.
I unbuttoned my sleeve and rolled it up.
When I turned my arm over, Mom could see the tattoo, which had come in pretty dark and big by now, growing and deepening as my surety about the mating grew.
She gasped and clutched her chest. It was for dramatic effect, as a dragon she wouldn’t have heart palpitations. “Jace,” she whispered.
Before she could start yelling, I hurried up and told her why I was so hesitant. “I almost let the bond break.”
When she closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch, I knew though this was hard to tell her, it probably had been the right decision. She would’ve freaked out if she’d known the pain I was going through. “Briana has a little girl,” I explained.
I knew that would tell her a lot, and I was right. She jerked upright. “Oh, Jace.” She shook her head and stared at me as I continued my explanation.
“When I saw Hayden for the first time, I realized that the bond isn’t just for Briana. It clamped down on her daughter, too. We’re meant to be a family, all three of us.”
“Why would you consider breaking the bond, then?” she whispered.
I shrugged. “You know what I went through.”
Her face darkened. If anyone in this world hated that woman for what she did to me more than I did, it was my mother. I didn’t know that Mom wouldn’t physically hurt her if she ever saw her again, even now, well over a decade later.
“She’s a human,” I said. It was like I could read my mother’s mind using her facial expression. She went from furious at my ex to shocked about Bri.
“Jace.”
Before she gathered her thoughts, I barreled on. “But we know now, thanks to Anthony, that this is possible. It can happen.”
“How?” she asked. “After no humans and dragons mated, how are there two in one clan?”
I shrugged. “That’s a question for Sammy.”
The determined look on Mom’s face told me she planned on asking as soon as she had a chance.
“Anyway, the pain from the bond breaking, and it came really damn close to it, had been nearly unbearable. I was going to let it go on, though, but then Sammy projected visions on me. I saw what my life would be like both with and without Briana and Hayden.”
“And?” Mom asked. “I assume since you’re going on this date that you opted not to let the bond break.”
I nodded. “The vision of the future with Bri and Hayden was like nothing I ever could’ve imagined on my own. I thought over both visions and gave it all my attention for a good week. And in the end, I couldn’t risk losing it.”
I trailed off and mom leaned back. She glanced at me a few times but didn’t speak.
When she did, her voice was soft, and she sounded hurt. And it broke my damn heart.
“I don’t understand why you’d keep this from me.
Something as big as a fated mate is a bit of information a son should share with his mother.
” She put her hand on mine. “I’m even more upset that you chose to go through the pain alone.
If rejecting the bond was what you’d decided to do, you should’ve let me help you through it.
You can come to me with anything and I will always be on your side, even if you’re being a total idiot.
” She sucked in a deep breath. “Tell me more about Bri.”
“I don’t know nearly as much as I hope to soon. I pushed her away and right now, she has no reason to like or trust me. I managed to turn things around before I shattered the bond, but I hope it’s not too late to win her over. Especially now that I don’t feel like I’m knocking on death’s door.”
“I genuinely hope it goes well for you, but keep in mind that this isn’t a game.” She gave me a shrewd look. “Is there anything else you want to get off your chest?”
I checked my watch and thought about Porter. “Yes, but this isn’t a good time. It’s not something I want to go into right before my date. Can we have a rain check on the rest of the conversation?”
Mom pursed her lips. “That is difficult for me, knowing there’s something else big you want to talk about.”
I laughed. “That’s because you can’t stand not being in the know.”
Mom leaned forward and grabbed a handful of cookies. She put most of them in my hand, then held one up to my lips. I opened my mouth and she shoved it in. “There,” she said. “Now you can’t talk, because I raised you right.”
I laughed around my cookie and nodded. I wouldn’t give her a hard time anymore.
We talked about light things while I finished the cookies she’d given me. Then I checked my watch again. “Okay, it’s time to go home and get ready,” I said.
“Well, have a good time, but if you’re serious about this woman, and I think you are, have a good time while keeping it in your pants.”
I groaned and stood, not wanting to hear about this from my mother.
She walked me to the door and after kissing her on the cheek, I jogged down her porch stairs and to my truck. “Be a gentleman!” She slammed the door after that last tidbit of advice.
My nerves jangled again as I prepared for the date. It didn’t take me long, and then I had to wait again. I double-checked that my clothes were clean and unwrinkled, then paced my living room until it was time to go. My nerves, by the time I went down to my truck, had me humming with anticipation.
I stopped a few doors down from my bar and grabbed a bouquet of flowers, then drove to the small apartment complex on the edge of town.
I’d known the address when I asked but didn’t want to seem like a creep.
Dragons were protecting Bri and Hayden, whether they were at home or at Bri’s parents’ house.
Or at school. But she couldn’t know that, not yet, so I had to pretend like I didn’t know where she lived.
As soon as I drove up, I sensed the betas on watch there, though I couldn’t really tell who it was.
Eventually, I’d have to confess, but hopefully, by then she’d understand the reasoning behind the lie.
Sucking in a deep breath, I grabbed the flowers and got out of the truck.
Outside her door, I had to remind myself that this woman was fated to be my mate and that it would work out as long as I didn’t let my own inhibitions and stupid hang-ups get in the way.
With my stomach tingling, I rapped my knuckles against the door and waited for her to answer.
When she opened the door, I forgot how to speak.
My mouth went as dry as the desert. She had on a pinkish one-piece outfit thing that contrasted with her warm tawny skin and set off her deep brown eyes.
Her heels brought her eye level closer to my own and did something to her posture that made my gaze want to go to her breasts.
Repeatedly. I had to force myself not to.
Her hair looked mostly like it always did, natural, nearly an afro, but I suspected it took a lot more effort.
She’d done something to it with a clippy thing that made it just a step above normal, yet not overly done.
She was the perfect blend of dressed up and casual.
And I wanted to push her back into the apartment and drag the one-piece off of her.
My mother’s voice ran through my mind. Keep it in your pants. Damn it, Mom.
“You look amazing,” I said in a low voice, somehow surprised by how deep and rough my voice sounded.
Bri ducked her head and looked me over. “You’re looking pretty good yourself.”
I held out the flowers and grinned. “Guys have it easy. All I did was shave and change clothes.”
“Come in and let me put these in water.” She stuck her face in the lilies and breathed deeply. “They’re lovely, thank you.”
I’d asked Anthony, who’d asked Skye, and I knew they were her favorite. No doubt she’d figure out how I knew. She was a smart lady.
While she was tending to the flowers, I looked around the foyer and took in the pictures of her and Hayden. I couldn’t help but smile at Hayden’s cheeky grin in all of the photos. She really was a gorgeous kid. And looked exactly like Bri.