LOL: Laugh Out Loud (After Oscar, #2)(72)

She pressed her lips together. Then, finally, she nodded. “Okay.”

I waited for her to say more. She didn’t. “Seriously?” I asked.

“Seriously.”

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, wondering what her game was. I was about to ask her if she was just telling me what I wanted to hear, but then decided that I didn’t want to know. If this was just another elaborate con, there was nothing I could say to talk her out of it. All I could do was find her a room, get her to bed, and make sure she left first thing in the morning before she could cause any real trouble.

I nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

She pushed from the stool and slid her arms around me, pulling me close for a hug. “I’ve only ever wanted the best for you, Scottybear. You know that.”

I returned her hug, biting back the response hovering on the tip of my tongue: that what she thought was best for me didn’t always line up with what I thought was best and that was the problem.

Eventually I pulled away and grabbed her plate, placing it in the sink to worry about in the morning. “Let’s find you a place to sleep.”

I led her to a guest room clear on the other side of the house from the one Roman and I were sharing, wanting as much distance as possible between us. The moment she stepped into the room, she gasped. “This is fucking gorgeous,” she said, slowly turning to take it all in. “I’ll bet this whole damned thing is bigger than that rec place you used to hang out at after school. Remember that place? You thought it was so big?”

I thought back to the youth center I’d gone to years before. Since it was the place where I’d met Ian, my first crush who’d eventually turned into my first boyfriend, I remembered it well.

“Yeah,” I said with a smile. “It was a long time ago, and it was certainly bigger than this bedroom.”

“I’m not so sure,” she murmured, wandering around and touching everything. “Sure is fancy. Any chance Roman’s wealthy friend is single?”

“Yes, and he’s gay, so don’t get your hopes up.” I took a little statuette out of her hands and placed it back on the dresser. It was two birds huddled together under an umbrella. The trinket didn’t seem to mesh with the rest of the house and seemed another odd piece of the Oscar puzzle.

She reached for another statuette and I batted her hand away. She wandered toward the bathroom, letting out a low whistle at the sight of it. “How did you meet these people?”

“Roman rode in my carriage,” I said, vastly oversimplifying the explanation.

“Oooh! Who with?” she said, eyes dancing. “Another actor? An actress?”

I backed toward the door of the guest room. “No one, Mom. It was just him.”

Her face scrunched in confusion. “Roman Burke just went out for a Central Park carriage ride by himself? Was it like some kind of publicity stunt?”

I almost snorted. “You could say that. Feel free to ask him about it tomorrow, but it’s late now. Good night, Mom. See you in the morning.”

I stepped out, closing the door behind me and wishing I could somehow lock it. Wishing I could believe that she wasn’t going to somehow fuck this up for me in the end like she always did.

As I made my way down the long hall to Roman’s room, I contemplated simply choosing another room and sleeping alone. Whether Roman realized it or not, things had changed when we’d answered that door. A hole had appeared in our safe little bubble and a piece of the real world had seeped in.

And this was just the beginning. It wasn’t just my mom I was going to have to worry about, but the rest of the world too. They’d all look at my relationship with Roman and wonder if I was only in it for the money and attention. They’d find a picture of me mucking Nugget’s stall and post headlines that Roman was slumming it and take odds on how long he’d roll around in the hay with a nobody before finding someone more appropriate to get serious with.

By the time I slipped into Roman’s bedroom, my jaw ached from clenching it so tightly and my shoulders were wrenched up to my ears with tension. He was already in bed, the top of his bare back just poking out above the bedding. I could hear light snores coming from his direction, and something about it made my chest tight.

I closed the door behind me and padded over to him. The only light in the room was from the bathroom. He must have left it on for me so I wouldn’t be completely in the dark. It glowed warmly on his honeyed skin. He’d mentioned having such a natural tan that the makeup crew on his last film had been forced to use a light foundation on his skin to make him paler for the winter scenes.

“Come to bed, baby,” he murmured into the pillow. I hadn’t even realized the snoring had stopped.

The endearment seriously fucked with my equilibrium, so much so, my eyes felt raw and a lump formed in my throat. I wasn’t sure I’d ever met such an easy, affectionate person in my life, and I was damned sure I hadn’t ever been on the receiving end of this kind of sweetness.

In my world, everything came at a price.

But Roman seemed to give his affection freely, without expectation. And it caused me to wonder what the catch was.

“Scotty?” he asked, turning over to squint at me. “Everything okay with your mom?”

“Um, yeah.” I had to clear my throat to keep my voice from cracking. “Yeah. She’s fine.”