Raging Heart On (Lucas Brothers #2)(44)

“Maybe,” he says, and his lips spread into a smile as he relaxes. I can feel the tension leave him.

“Then maybe we can discuss things later,” I tell him and this time I know it’s not my imagination that his hands bite into my hips as we stand there. Suddenly out of nowhere it hits me that White thinks I’m pretty. It’s there in the way he’s looking at me, and the smile on his face. It’s in the way he’s holding me, and the way he’s jealous over his brother. To a woman who has never felt particularly pretty in her entire life, this discovery is life-altering.

“What you two better be discussing is why no one told me about my grandkid you are hatching!”

My head goes down with a wince and I close my eyes. I’ve told Ida Sue that I’m not pregnant. She’s either completely tuning me out or thinks I’m lying. I hear White’s matching groan of frustration and feel his fingers bite into my hips again. There’s definitely going to be bruises there tomorrow.

“Mom, I told you. Kayla’s not pregnant.”

“Then what was all the crap in the papers?”

“Someone who knew me saw us standing in front of the clinic and snapped a picture, Ida Sue. She sold it for money. I promise you, if I was pregnant I would tell you.”

“What a fur-burger,” she grumbles. “White, what were you doing at the clinic anyway if you hadn’t knocked up my girl?”

“Fur-burger?” I repeat, mostly dumbfounded. I’m used to Ida Sue. It’s just I’ve never heard of that particular term before.

“Yes, dear. You know a hairy twat. A fur-burger.”

“I want a fur-burger!” Little River says, coming in with Petal and Petal’s face goes pale as a ghost.

White loses it, laughing into the back of my neck as he pulls me into him.

“With the way the boys in this family are, you probably will someday,” Petal mumbles, and this time I have to bite my lip to keep from joining White in laughing.

“You don’t want one. How about a regular hamburger instead?” Ida Sue says, bending down to the little boy.

“No, thanks. Daddy is coming to take me to dinner. We’re gonna have pizza!”

“Yay. When’s Puke-a getting here,” Ida Sue mutters.

“His name is Luka and can you please be civil about him around River? He is his father,” Petal whispers.

“He’s not paying attention to me,” Ida Sue says, and it’s true since the little boy in question has moved to the other side of the room and is petting a dog.

“Still, Mom. You know better. Luka is a part of our lives.”

“I didn’t choose that. I remember telling you from day one you were making a mistake with that one.”

“Did you ever think that if you had lightened up on Luka, we might have made it?”

“Don’t go blaming me for the reason your marriage ended. The fact that Luka was cozying up with his new female deputy had a lot more to do with that than me.”

“I don’t want to talk with you about this,” Petal sighs. “I’m going to get River ready to see his dad.”

“Fine with me. I’d rather not think about that idiot. It will ruin my appetite. Besides, I’d much rather know what Kayla and White were doing outside a family planning clinic.”

“They give out rubbers at those things too, Mom,” White sighs.

“Nice try, dear. But I’m not buying that since Kayla here wants a baby and we all know that.”

“Mom, you ever start to think that maybe none of this is your business?”

“White,” I complain, because I don’t want to hurt Ida Sue. Ida Sue is just Ida Sue. She’s a force to be reckoned with, sure, and she can definitely be overbearing. The thing is, however, when it comes to hearts and being there for people she loves, she would lay down her life without even blinking.

“It’s okay, Buttercup. If my own son wants to treat me like I don’t matter. If he wants to disrespect me and break my poor heart…”

“Oh for Christ’s sake. We went to the clinic to get tested,” White says, exasperated, and I feel heat flood through me.

“Tested? What on Earth for?”

“Diseases.”

“Don’t be an idiot!” Ida Sue says, hitting him lightly with her hand. “I meant what on Earth would you be worried about that for? Did you catch something from one of those football groupies that follow you around? I swear, I warned you and Green both, women like that would end up giving you something to cause your dicks to rot off. Thank God, Buttercup is smarter than to go into things blindly.”

“I don’t have anything. Jesus, Mom. Kayla just wanted to make sure we were both healthy before we started…”

“Started?” Ida Sue says, and I swear she’s grinning.

“White,” I say, trying to stop him, but it doesn’t do any good. I knew it wouldn’t, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

“Kayla wants a baby,” White says and the way he says it causes my stomach to drop. Kayla wants a baby. He said we’re going to try to have a baby, not we’re going to start a relationship. Kayla wants…

The decision to stay on birth control seems smarter and smarter. Now, if I could just work through the guilt.