A sound of disgust comes tearing from my throat and the women both snap their gazes toward me. They look over me as though I’m trash before focusing on the boys at my back, and it’s almost as though they’re acting like I’m not even here.
“Colton,” Momma Carrington says. “What have I told you about spending time with the help? She is here to work, not to socialize.”
Colton steps into my back and although I’m not facing him, I feel the tension coming off him in waves. “And what have I told you about addressing my girl? She’s not working today. This is just as much her home as it is mine. Hell, she’s more welcome here than you are.”
Laurelle sucks in a loud gasp. “Colton,” she shrieks as I mentally high five him. “We have company. How can you be so rude? You weren’t brought up that way. It’s this … girl that you’re spending your time with. She’s a bad influence on you. I forbid you from seeing her anymore. I thought I instructed you to cease her employment.”
Colton laughs at my back and I feel the rumble right through to my chest. “Careful, Mom,” Colton says in a low, chilling tone. “Ocean bites a lot harder than you can.”
Pride surges through me. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having your boyfriend stand up to his toxic mother to defend you, and not just in the ‘leave her alone, she’s important’ kind of way, but the real ‘come at us and we’ll fucking destroy you’ way.
Laurelle’s eyes drop to mine and her lips pull up in a disgusted sneer. “Go and fetch my guest some refreshments and while you're at it, you can find yourself a uniform. What have I told you about showing respect for your employers? My home is not yours to holiday in. If you must be here, then I expect you to work.”
Melissa looks over me in the same way and I quickly realize that these two are exactly the same. “Your home?” I question. “That’s funny. You divorced Charles nearly three years ago. This home is Colton’s. I’ve seen the deed, Lauren, and you aint on it.”
She sucks in a horrified breath, quickly realizing that I’ve gotten her name wrong on purpose and knowing damn well that it’s a show of disrespect. “You have two seconds to get out of my sight before I …”
I take a step forward. “Before you what? Tell me, really, because I’m so damn interested to see what a classy lady like yourself is about to say. What is it that you think you can do to me that this town hasn’t already done? Though I have to admit, I’m a little more curious to see if you’re the kind to get your own hands dirty. But then, you’d never admit to that in front of your snotty country club friends, would you?”
Her jaw clenches and she snaps her gaze back to Colton’s as I hear Spencer choking on a laugh and getting silently scolded by Melissa. “You need to handle this.”
I feel Colton’s eyes on my body, heated, hooded, and full of seduction. “Oh, believe me, I plan to.” Gasps are heard from both the women but they don’t get a chance to express their horror before Colton continues. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind doing that now. So, unfortunately, I’m going to have to cut this little catch up short. As always, Melissa, it was such a treat seeing you again. I’m sure we’ll see you again soon.”
Colton walks to the front door and opens it wide for her and for a short moment, she starts to go until she realizes that she’s being kicked out by her friend's eighteen-year-old son. Not to mention, her husband’s new boss. “No,” she snaps. “I will not be forced out by a bunch of children. I have come to discuss my son.”
I take a step forward, forcing her gaze on me and making her uncomfortable with my proximity, but in comparison to how her son made me feel, I figure I still have a few levels of fucked-up to go before I cross a line. “What about him?”
“He ...” her eyes flick around to Colton’s and then to Spencer’s before coming back to mine. “He’s missing.”
“Your son is a fucking pig,” I spit. “He’s a rapist. I hope that wherever he is, he never comes back.”
She sucks in a horrified gasp. “How can you say that? You don’t even know my son. You’ve been here for two minutes. My Jude is a good boy.”
“Oh really? I don’t know him? I actually think I know him pretty damn well. I know him well enough to know that years ago, he raped a sixteen-year-old girl, and I know him so fucking well that only a few weeks ago, he raped me too.”