3. Iris #2
“He’s just a bit on edge. You try living your whole life outside, afraid of predators.” I knelt down, and the cat immediately trotted over and butted his head against my hand for ear scritches. “Good boy,” I murmured, along with all manner of nonsense.
Jackson glared at the tiny thing, then started examining my door.
“I told you, the lock’s not broken,” I said, with one last pat between the cat’s ears. Deciding that Jackson was no longer a threat now that I was here, he trotted off.
Raising his hands, Jackson turned to face me. “Just checking.”
“I promise the house is fine. No one broke in or anything; I just thought it was time to change the locks.”
He shot me a look. “Out of the blue this morning, right after your mom showed up last night? And was supposed to come by today for lunch?”
I opened and shut my mouth.
“So, did she come by?” He snared my eyes with his, their depths reaching inside me and dragging everything out.
“She showed up sometime after two, said she was trying to get clean, and asked me for twenty grand for rehab. But she was high, and I think she was lying about going to rehab. I think maybe she owes someone money and thought I’d give it to her if she said the right thing.
” I swallowed, heat creeping up my cheeks.
“If she’d been able to keep it together, I’d have given her everything I had.
Hell, she hadn’t had to speak more than a few words to me last night before I gave her fifty bucks. ”
“You did?” Disapproval radiated off him.
“I know I shouldn’t have; you don’t have to tell me. Anyway, I told her to leave, but she didn’t want to. She said some ugly stuff, and I kicked her out.” I had dragged my own mother out of the house she’d raised me in—sort of—and slammed the door in her face. I wrapped my arms around myself.
Jackson cursed and pulled me into a tight bear hug with his thick arms. He topped me by a few inches, but cradled snugly against him, I was safe and protected from the rest of the world.
“One of her friends picked her up,” I said into his padded chest. “But after they left, I realized I didn’t know if she still had a key to this place, so I figured, better safe than sorry.”
One large hand ran up and down my back. “I’m sorry, Iris. I should have been here.” His breath fanned my ear, sending heat in a slow curl out from the delicate skin, down my neck, and to my center.
I swallowed. “No. She’s my mom. I’ve got to deal with her.”
“Travis would have wanted me to be here.”
My heart twisted. I wished Jackson cared about me for my own sake, instead of only showing up because of Travis.
“But if it makes you feel better,” he rumbled, “he and I changed every single lock in this house after your dad’s funeral.”
“I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not.
Her running off like that…that was the worst thing she ever did, you know?
I mean, she was always in and out of our lives when we were kids, but Daddy was barely in the ground before she disappeared.
” Right after losing my dad, I’d needed my mom more than ever.
Jackson tensed around me. “It was probably for the best. I don’t think she ever was much good at the whole mothering thing.”
“I know it’s different for Travis, ’cause he’s older and he’s a boy, but she used to do more of that with me. Let me play with her makeup, cooking together…things she didn’t think Travis would be interested in.”
Jackson grunted.
“Sorry.” I wiped my eyes and pulled away.
He nodded and shifted his weight. “Right. Anytime.”
“Sure. What’s a Bonus Brother for?”
“I can’t believe I let Travis give me that stupid fucking name,” he said, jaw tight. Then he held out a hand. “Give me that lock.”
“I know how to install a lock.”
“I know that, but I’m going to install it while you go pack up a few days’ worth of clothes.”
“Why on earth would I do that?” But I could guess what he was going to say by the look on his face.
“Because you’re staying with me.” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth to argue. “Your mom came by looking for money and brought one of her buddies along with her. Now that buddy knows where you live, and that you might have a few extra bucks. I don’t like that, Iris.”
“The new locks will fix that.”
“The new locks will keep your place secure while you stay with me.”
“I’m not going to let her run me out of my own home.”
“She’s not running you off; you’re being smart.
Who knows how desperate your mom is or what she’s gotten herself mixed up in.
Look, I get it’s no fun staying with me.
It’ll just be for a few days.” His face softened.
“I don’t care if they steal all your stuff.
That’s replaceable. I can’t let anything happen to you. ”
I thought back to the greasy-haired guy she’d been with at the bar, the one who had picked her up today, and suppressed a shiver. He’d said nothing to me, and two things about me, both comments on my looks. I didn’t want to be caught unawares if he paid me a visit.
“Just a few days?” I pressed. “How do we know she won’t stick around for longer?”
“It’s Sue. She’ll get bored and move on to her next mark soon enough.”
“Fine.”
Jackson knew where all the tools were. He changed the locks, grumbling about the brand I’d bought the whole time, even after I told him it was a perfectly respectable brand and that model had excellent reviews.
Meanwhile, I pulled together a bag, set out some extra food for the cat, and then we drove over to his house in silence. He was probably contemplating what an annoying mess he’d gotten himself into, all on Travis’s behalf.