Curse's Claim (Chaos Bleeds)(42)

Leaving the room, Curse went to his bike. He was going to spend some time with Mia and her mother before Friday.

****

“Baby, what happened?” Mia’s mother, Debra, asked. Curse had taken some of her clothes out. When Mia had entered her home she’d shouted for her mother not to get up. After sending him away with some of her own clothes she’d made two cups of tea and entered her mother’s room.

Debra lay amongst plenty of pillows. There was some color in her cheeks, which filled Mia with hope.

“Nothing. Forget about the bruises. How have you been?” Mia asked.

“No, you don’t get to do that to me, missy. You will tell me everything that happened or I will grab the phone and call everyone I know.”

“One of the clients I worked for thought he could touch me. Curse arrived, and he saved me from what the guy did. He’s handling it.”

Her mother looked at her doubtfully.

“Please, Mom, let it go. Curse saved me from something terrible. Trust me.”

“Fine. I hate this. I want you to know that, and when I see Curse he better let me know what he intends to do. I may be sick, but I’ll take care of my baby any way I can.”

Chuckling, she tried to direct her mother to talking about Curse, but her mother wasn’t easily fooled.. She hoped her mother didn’t ask more questions after this.

“Well, this client person better know to leave this town before I get my hands on him. I won’t be in bed forever, Mia. How dare he touch my little girl?” Debra grabbed Mia’s face and kissed her head. “I’ve missed you. Now that I’ve had my say you can tell me about this man. Bradley James, he’s such a nice man.”

“Curse?”

“Yes, I don’t like calling him Curse. It’s wrong. There is nothing to curse a man like him. He’s too much of a nice young man to be thought of as a curse. Honey, you’ve got yourself a keeper.”

Chuckling, she curled up against her mother. “I love him, Mom. He makes me feel sexy and loved.”

“Any man who leaves you feeling like that is a keeper. You need to snatch him up before another woman tries to do the same.” Debra stroked her hair.

“I’m not going to let him get away,” Mia said.

She nibbled her lip as doubt started to set in.

“What’s going on in that mind of yours?” Debra asked.

“I was thinking about Dad. I mean, I thought he loved us enough and that he’d never leave, but that’s not true.”

“Don’t do that, Mia.” Debra stroked her cheek, forcing her to look up. “Your father and I loved each other when it was necessary. Don’t try and make our relationship something it wasn’t. I love you, honey, but you’re wrong about a lot of things.”

“What do you mean?”

“I stopped loving your father a long time ago. He was a great dad but not a great husband. We’d been living separate lives for a long time. You just didn’t notice it.” Debra smiled at her. “You and Bradley are the real deal. I see that look in your eyes, and I know I never felt that deeply for any man. You’re lucky, Mia. Don’t let fear of what happened between your father and me cloud your own feelings.”

Sometime later, Mia was putting some finishing touches to the pasta she’d made as Curse walked into the house. There was no mistaking the masculine sigh that greeted her. Smiling, she tossed the salad together and put some on a plate for her mother.

He rounded the corner, removing his jacket.

“Hey, babe, sorry I’m late.”

“No need to be sorry. The talk ran a little longer than you expected?” she asked, putting his food on the table.

“Yeah.” He took a seat as she picked up the tray.

“I’m just going to take this up to Mom. Are you going to start without me, Bradley?” she asked, chuckling as he glared at her.

“Only nice people get to call me that.”

“I’m a nice person.”

“No, you’re a naughty person. I believe you’ve had your ass spanked a couple of times in the last week.”

She didn’t expect his words, and heat filled her cheeks. Entering her mother’s room, she placed the tray on her lap.

“Was that Bradley I heard?”

“Yeah, he’ll be up to see you shortly.”

“I’m going to get better, Mia. Everything is going to be good, I promise you.”

Kissing her mother’s cheek Mia agreed. For the first time since her father left, Mia really did believe everything was going to be all right.

Going back downstairs she found Curse getting himself a second portion. “I was feeding you and you could cook like this?”