Laughing louder, he says, “Sounds like someone’s restless. Who is she?”
“I have no idea, but it’s not like I have the time to worry about it. Too many things to worry about with Billingsworth up to no good.”
“True,” he agrees then takes a swallow from his beer. “But you’re not kidding me.”
Turning to see his grin, I ask, “Kidding about what?”
“Brother, for as long as we’ve known each other, you’ve always been the settle down type. Seeing Roark and Banshee all in love with their new mates is making it worse.” Damn him for knowing me too well. Walking in on those two getting it on in the strip club’s office when I went to do their books didn’t help matters. “You feel the call, don’t you?”
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I growl inwardly, ignoring my animal’s agreement. “Shit,” I mumble. “Is it that obvious?”
“It is to me,” he chuckles again, patting me on the back. “But I’ll keep that to myself.”
“Thanks, man.”
“For now,” he grins in amusement.
“Asshole,” I shoulder bump him and stand. “I’m outta here. Later.” Beer in hand, I stalk my way down the hall and into my room at the club, slamming and locking the door behind me.
Plopping onto an oversized chair, I lean back and close my eyes. The stress from the day, hell the past few months, is starting to wear on me and if I don’t get something to keep me occupied for a while, I’m gonna lose my shit.
337
Larken
“You have to get out of here, Larken,” I think silently as I listen to my mother drone on and on about the son of a ‘friend of a friend’ that I simply need to meet. Supposedly, he is perfect in every way and will be the best one to take care of me because heaven forbid I actually take care of myself.
“He is the sweetest thing with your grandmother,” she continues, much to my dismay. “Henri waited on her hand and foot until she was settled.” Grandmother recently had a stroke and is now living with my mom and dad permanently. The eager guy has taken this opportunity to sweep in and make a good impression with my parents in hopes that they can persuade my attention to go his way.
“Fat chance,” I mumble away from the phone and roll my eyes.
“You and Henri will have such a good time together,” my mother carries on excitedly, and I’m certain she’s already planning the wedding and baby shower. Why do I have to be the only girl in my family of bobcat and lynx shifters? Mother sure isn’t chomping at the bit to get my brothers married off to women with wealth and prominent bloodlines, so why the big deal about my marital status?
“Mother,” I sigh before the reality of what she’s just said dawns on me. “What do you mean we will have a good time together? What did you do?” I ask slowly. I swear this woman is going to drive me to murder.
“He’s escorting you to Etienne’s birthday party tomorrow,” she explains, causing a growl to leave my throat. She knows good and well I don’t stay long at big things like that, even if it is a family event. This is simply one way of her making sure I don’t leave before enough time passes that she thinks is proper.
“He’s doing what?” I ask incredulously. I can not have just heard her correctly.
“You heard me, young lady. Henri will pick you up at seven tomorrow night, so you’d better be dressed appropriately and ready to go before he gets there.” She’s on a tear and doesn’t wait for a response as she carries on with her instructions. “I do not want you to embarrass me. Henri’s family is well-respected and as his companion you should look the part. You have plenty of nice outfits, so I expect you to utilize them. He is a very handsome man and you are lucky to have the interest of a prominent lynx like him. Now, I have errands to run, so I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Love you.”
I’m left with my mouth open in shock listening to the dial tone when she hangs up on me. I honestly don’t know why I’m so shocked by what she did. It was bound to happen at some point with the way she’s so determined to control my life. I’ll be the first to admit that I was a difficult child to deal with, always upset or angry for reasons I could never explain. I remember it all very clearly, and since I was not the picture-perfect little girl she thought I should be, they assumed I was pretending when I had a meltdown, treating me as such. They were so very wrong, but that’s not me anymore. Now, I keep to myself more often than not and have everything under control.
None of that matters, though. Isabella Nance is a force to be reckoned with and I’m the unfortunate one to be on her list of ‘things to fix’. How in the world my father puts up with her is beyond me.
“Dammit!” Slamming the cordless phone into it’s charging base, I fall onto the couch completely exhausted. Burying my face in the soft, plush pillow, I let out a frustrated scream just loud enough so that my neighbors can not hear me through the thin apartment walls. They know my brothers and would have no problem tattle-tailing on me to my mother, and that’s the last thing I need. It would only provide fuel to her ‘get Larken hitched’ fire.
“She knows how much I hate her interference,” I mumble to myself in irritation. Having a perfect memory isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and I cringe at what happened the last time Mother tried to fix me up with a man she thought was suitable. He was so convinced I
