Play It Safe(65)

Yes, Lash and I slept together. We didn’t start this way but the minute I moved in was the minute his mother started showing up unannounced in the morning, using her key and surprising us. A life-long Vegas resident, an ex-showgirl (hence her naming her son “Lash”), she was beside herself with glee Lash hooked up with me, the Vegas showgirl to beat all Vegas showgirls.

She was not beside herself with glee catching us in separate bedrooms.

Questions were asked, nosy ones and after the fourth time it was clear she wasn’t buying Lash’s excuses that we’d had a rip-roarin’ the night before.

So Lash talked to me.

I got him. He loved his mother and she was unfortunately the kind of mother who would not accept who he was. Growing up, his Dad was a trucker and not around a lot, his mother a showgirl and therefore, mostly on her own, she took care of him. Being a showgirl, this wasn’t easy but she did it, she did it well, she liked doing it thus she didn’t complain. She loved her handsome boy.

She just didn’t want him to be g*y.

This was coupled with the fact that Lash’s father was a man’s man. I got the impression that Lash’s Dad would be more approachable on this subject but not by much. He was proud of his son, his son’s occupation, his son’s reputation and his son’s success. I got that Lash loved his Dad and was loath to take that away and I got why he didn’t.

Lash also worked the hotshot, playboy angle for business. Many of his VIPs would not be down with hanging with a g*y guy but instead preferred to think they were tight with someone who was just like them, ambitious, wealthy, aggressive and sexually predatory. Lash, of course, was all that except the last part, his prey was a different gender.

And anyway, I loved Lash. He took care of me in a variety of ways. If he needed this, it was my small way of returning the favor.

I didn’t mind sleeping with him. We whispered to each other before falling asleep, talking about our days, what the next one would bring, whatever. It was nice.

And he cuddled and I liked that, the affection, the closeness.

And he had satin sheets and they were the freaking bomb.

I felt Lash shift, his arm going from around me, I heard the beep of the phone and his deep voice sleepily saying, “’Lo.” There was a pause then, “Right here.” Then he rolled back and said sleepy-growly to me, “Gotta say, not a big fan of takin’ a call for my girl from a man at just after f**kin’ seven in the f**kin’ morning.”

When he sounded sleepy-growly like that, it was one of the few times I wished he wasn’t g*y.

I saw the phone in front of me and, sleepy myself, I took it without hesitation.

Then I put it to my ear and greeted, “Hello?”

“Ivey?”

My heart stopped beating.

Gray.

It was Gray.

I shot up to my forearm and asked, “Gray?”

“Yeah.”

Oh God.

I felt Lash’s chest press to my back.

“Gray, what –?”

“Know Janie called you. Don’t want your money. Stay out of it.”

My heart started beating again but fast.

“Gray –” I began.

“Don’t want your f**kin’ money, Ivey. Stay the f**k out of it.”

My temper started rising.

“Gray, it isn’t –”

He cut me off again. “Fucked, Janie phonin’ you. Totally f**ked. I do not need this bullshit and I do not want your money. Stay out of it.”

My temper shot to the stratosphere.

He wanted to be a macho man rancher cowboy without a ranch or horses, fine. Pride goeth before the fall.

Whatever.

His problem.

Not mine.

Not mine.

“Fine,” I snapped.

“Fine,” Gray clipped back.

I wasn’t done.

“And, do me a favor, you want me out of it and everyone wants me out of Mustang, keep Mustang away from me.”

“Not a problem, Ivey. Janie won’t be phonin’ you again,” Gray assured me.

“I’m not talking about Janie. I’m talking about Buddy.”

Silence then, “What?”

“Buddy,” I hissed. “He showed at the club last night, got in my face, threatened me, told me to keep my nose out of it just like you just did. Except, even though your voice isn’t filled with peaches and cream right now, he was a lot less nice about it and his meaning was clear. So clear, I had to have him forcibly removed from the club. So, Gray, you want me out of it, keep me out of it not only with you and Janie but also that hideous troll. I don’t need his kind in my life. Do you understand me?”

“Buddy came to your club?” Gray asked quietly.

“Yes. He came, got in my face and threatened me. And he was not joking. He meant it. I didn’t like it. If you want me out of your shit, keep your shit away from me.”

Gray was silent.

I wasn’t.

“Good luck, Gray. I hope you sort it out. Have a nice life.”

Then I beeped the phone off.

Then I threw it on the satin comforter.

Then I exploded, “God!”

“Babe?” Lash called, I shifted and flopped down on my back.

His eyes caught mine and his hand came up to cup my jaw.