Fair Game (The Rules #1)(87)

“But you have plans,” Gabe points out.

Plans for the illegal gambling house I run with them that my parents know nothing about. If they found out, they’d f*cking flip.

“I can work the later shift. No way will she let me skip out on dinner,” I say grimly.

“That f*cking sucks,” Gabe says. “Maybe you should take your girl. Get that whole scenario out of the way.”

Say the f*ck what? Why does Gabe keep talking about my parents and Jade? Like I’d want to subject Jade to them anyway.

“Tell me about it.” I shake my head and glance down at my phone, deciding I need to answer her.

Sounds good. Call me when you get in.

Will do, darling. Maybe you should bring a friend. Bonus points if she’s a girl.

Is my mother a mind reader or what? I break out into a cold sweat just reading that latest text.

There’s no one special in my life.

I throw out a bogus answer in the hopes it distracts her.

That’s not what I heard.

Glancing up, I send a hard glare in Tristan’s direction until he can feel my eyes on him. He turns his head, his eyes going wide. “What’s up with you gossiping with your mama? And mine?” I ask.

Tristan at least has the decency to look embarrassed. “What are you talking about?”

“Somehow my mom knows there’s a girl in my life?” Hell, did Tristan set me up or what? The *.

Now he’s blushing. And I’ve never seen him blush. “I was bored. Mom called. I kept talking. One thing led to another and…”

“You told her about Jade,” I finish for him.

“Yeah. Sort of.” He nods. “Sorry. She worked it out of me.”

Great. It’s not that I don’t want to bring Jade to dinner with my parents. It’s more that I don’t want her to meet them. Yet. Shit, I don’t know what I want. It feels too soon. We don’t know each other that well. I mean yeah, I’m feeling pretty head over heels for her, which is f*cking crazy but to bring my family into it makes everything seem so damn serious.

And I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.

“So I have some news!”

I wince at Mom’s too loud, too excited voice in my ear. I haven’t really talked to her in weeks, not since I started hanging out with Shep and I’d been feeling guilty. Mom and I are close. It’s been the two of us against the world for a long time and when I went away to college, she was a little sad. I knew she’d miss me but I didn’t want her miserable while I’m off becoming an actual adult.

But then she met Dex and they started going out pretty steadily. We haven’t met yet but she’s told me enough about him and I can sense he’s a pretty cool guy. He treats Mom well and that’s all I can ask for.

He also occupies all of her time. Not that I have any room to talk. The minute Shep walks into my life, he’s all I can think about. Forget anyone else. Forget my freaking mother, which is awful. So yeah, I haven’t called her lately, but she hasn’t really called me either so I guess we’re both totally preoccupied with the men in our lives?

The fact that I even have a man in my life—a man like stupid sexy Shep—is a thrill that I still can’t get over. I’m freaking pathetic, I swear.

“What’s your news?” I ask cheerily as I walk across campus. I just left class and I’m feeling good. School’s almost over. I’m confident about my finals. Oh, and it’s a perfect spring day. The sky is so blue it looks fake, and the cool breeze brings with it the salty tang of the ocean. I sort of hate that I have class until late tonight. It’s my last one of the semester and we turn in the final next week.

Hmm, I bet I could ditch if I wanted. I might. I might text Shep and see if he’ll pick me up early so we could go back to his place and get naked and…

“…so it sold! In less than forty-eight hours! Can you believe it? Let me tell you, it was about the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in a long time, I swear!” Mom yells.

Wait a minute. What did she just say?

“Back it up, Mom. I think I missed the first part,” I mumble, dread creeping over me, settling like a cold lump in the pit of my stomach. I don’t know if I’m going to like what she’s about to repeat. To say I’m quietly freaking out would be apt.

“I sold the house, sweetie! And I sold it for such a huge profit you would be shocked. Thanks to the remodel, we were able to ask for a much higher price and it turned into this crazy bidding war. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She laughs, sounding shocked and dazed and confused and so incredibly happy, I sort of want to bite my tongue so I don’t say anything at all to ruin her good mood.

But I can’t help myself. Because I’m sort of pissed. So here I go.

“Um, why didn’t you tell me you were selling the house?” I ask incredulously as I come to a full stop in the middle of the sidewalk. A guy walking right behind me runs into me, his backpack plowing into my arm with a heavy thud and I send him a dirty look when he glares at me from over his shoulder.

Yeah, yeah it was my fault but still.

“Well, I thought I did tell you,” she says tentatively and I glance around, spotting an empty bench nearby. I rush toward it, tossing my backpack on it before I sit. “I swore I did. Didn’t I mention it to you the last time we talked?”