"Mum!" I heard his voice as he shook me softly, "Mum!" He called me again, and this time I jumped startled from the couch where I had fallen asleep, again. "Mum, don't jump like that, it's bad for your heart, you could have a seizure," he said, exasperated and when I turned to him, I found his chartreuse green eyes looking at me with worry.
Caressing his wavy black hair, I smiled softly, "I won't have have a seizure."
"Mum," he clenched his jaw, "you said that before, and you ended up having it. You can't overwork yourself like that, you don't need to do that, grandma owns the publishing company you publish your books on, you should relax."
Sigh, "But I have deadlines to meet, love. Besides, I was excited to work on this one, and the start of every book is complicated, especially fantasy in the modern world," I said, accepting his hand and getting up, still baffled by how he's only 10 years old, and already taller than me, damn it Crowther bloodline, at each day he looks more like his father, though his personality is nothing like his, or mine... it's more like... that Rhyot's, but nicer, he is Hayes twin after all.
"Mum," he narrowed his eyes at me, "you have to take care of yourself, you lost weight again, did you drink milk? You are lactose intolerant, you can't drink that poison, and everytime you do, you lose weight. Rapidly."
I bit my bottom lip, "Just a little bit of cheese."
"Mum!" He gasped. "Bloody hell, I knew it. You ate my cheese, didn't you?"
My lips pressed in a thin line as I looked up to meet his eyes, my cheeks rosy and burning, "Just a little bit, I didn't lose that much weight, love."
"Yes, mum, you did. This shorts you're using were a lot tighter on you a week ago, now they are not," he pointed to my shorts. "I'll stop eating cheese, you can't be near it, every time you have a glass of wine, you eat cheese, and you can't. That's bad for your health, and if you are careless about it, I won't be."
I felt bad, "Sorry, love, I won't eat cheese again. No need to cut it, I know how much you love it, it's not fair with you."
"Nor with you, given how you get so tempted near it," he countered.
"Well, but I'm your mum, so it's alright. I'll be more responsible with my health from now own, okay?" I caressed his cheek. "No need to sacrifice things you like because of me, love. I'll pay more attention."
"Alright," he petted my messy curly auburn hair, which I took from mum. "You look like a mess, mum, as if you went to a war in pajamas and came back."
I gasped, pushing his chest softly, "You are 10, Rhett, you can't tell me that."
"You taught me to be honest, mum, I'm honest. You should wash your hair, it's visible that you haven't bathed in two days, and that you've been overworking yourself in this book," he grabbed my shoulders from my back and pushed me to my suite. "Bath, wash your hair, dress up prettily, we have to be there on point."
There? "There where?" I frowned.
Sigh, "I knew you would forget. Today is the dinner with Lloyd's family, mum."
"Bloody hell," I gasped, looking at the watch in my right wrist, I saw it marking 6:12 pm, "oh, shite. Wasn't it at 9 pm?"
"Still is!"
"Damn it," I felt suddenly awake. "What a nightmare, go get ready," I pushed him out of my suite and closed the door. "I'll run against time."
He barked a loud laugh, one that I only heard it once, on the night I first slept with Hayes, when he was acting all out of character, and a chill ran down my spine with the damning memory. "I'll help you with your hair, mum."
"No need," I yelled, undressing and running inside the shower, a cold one.
۞
"What was Lloyd's mom's name again, love?" I asked him, as I left my suite fully ready by 8:25 pm, my hair dried and in waves, loose over my shoulders cascading down my hips, while I styled myself in a Loro Piana cornflower blue summer dress, since it's June again, with my Mach & Mach heels, and my Chanel baby blue handbag, having my phone, wallet, and lipstick. While I did a softer but mature make-up, smoking my eyes a bit darker since it's nighttime and, but keep the eyeshadow silver to highlight my cornflower blue eyes, with a lighter lipstick on, not to overload it.
"Wow, mum, you look stunning," he beamed.
I winked, "I'm your mum, of course, I'm stunning."
He scoffed, "We don't look alike, mum."
I rolled my eyes, "It doesn't matter." Then I analyzed his looks, he paired his olive green Loro Piana polo shirt with white pants from the same brand, and Hermés light brown lather shoes that make him look older than he is, in a old money way, probably because mum taught him how to dress like that, to look a bit older to his friends, since like me, he's with kids 3 years older than him. Except Lloyd, who's only months older than him, from late December, also a smart kid.
I've met him, but not his parents.
"Did I do well?" He asked, turning around.
"You look pretty, love, as always," and it's true, those Crowther genes came out to play in him, that's for sure, another reason for me to avoid the US with all there I am, or father and Cole, who I last saw when I moved to the UK back then. "So, what's Lloyd's mom's name?"
"Leah Reid. Leah and Neville Reid."
"Lloyd Reid then?" A nod. "Is he an only child?"
"No, he has two younger siblings, twins. Niamh and Nicole, two girls, but they are 5," he told me as we got to the kitchen, handing me a cup of tea. "Here, mum, I made green tea for you."
"Thanks, love," I put my handbag aside and took the teacup to my lips, sipping it. "Mm, it's delicious, love, even more than the last one you made it, you're getting a hang of it."
He beamed at the compliment, "Thank to you."
"Well, I just taught you, it was on you to make good use of my teachings, so, it's thanks to your own efforts," I winked at him and he blushed. "What else do you know about them?"
"Hmm, uncle Neville is 12 years older than aunt Leah, he attended Harvard, she did too, they met when she was graduating from highschool through her parents. She was pregnant when she began university, just like you, mom, and they moved to London after she graduated, by then they were married. They've been living here ever since, because both their families are from here, and they met there because aunt Leah used to attend a prep school for elite there."
I couldn't help frowning, "If she was pregnant when she got into university and Lloyd was born in December, was she 18? Is she 3 years older than me?" I did not expect that.
"Lloyd said she was 19 when she got into college, because she was a late bloomer in school, since she moved around cities a lot with her family before they put her in his prep school to finish highschool," well, he knows a lot.
Not surprised, he is a gossiper, even more than I am, but I don't think he got that from Hayes since the dude hated all kinds of gossip. Probably got it from me. "So... she's 4 years older than me. That makes her 30 or 29, depending on when her birthday takes place, if it's on summer."
"Lloyd said aunt Leah was a late Taurus."
"Early May then," I finished the tea. "Pick."
He understood what I meant right away, going to the key panel next to the entry of the house and picked the key of the Lamborghini Urus, "I look shorter than you with heels, mum."
I grabbed the key, heading to the lift in the corner that will take to the underground garage, "As you should, you're 10, you're already absurdly tall for your age, Rhett."
He pouted, "You said dad was tall."
"And I didn't lie," I pressed the button of -1.
"Is his... family really dangerous, mum?"
I bit my bottom lip, feeling helpless everytime he asks me about his father. Before, I knew the Crowther were powerful and controlled lots of things in Massachusetts, but after I had Rhett, mum told me stuff about them that I didn't knew, such as the fact that they are rooted with the mafia of New England, and were really dangerous people, and that most of them had dirtied their hands in blood. If I didn't want to contact them before, I lost all desire in doing so then.
Sigh, "Yes, love. I had no idea about it then."
He nodded, pressing his lips together, "Is that why you made me learn taekwondo, self defense, and get shooting lessons?"
Took him long enough to ask me that, "Kinda."
"Kinda?" He got that curiosity from me.
"Partially because of that, partially because I wanted you to know how to defend yourself, like I do, it's something I find to be important, especially because you're my baby boy," I strode out of the lift and he followed me to the Urus, then I hopped on the driver's seat and he took the passenger seat next to me. "I can beat up a grown man thrice my size if I want to," I told him, turning the engine on and exiting the garage. "You should be able to do the same, love."
Especially when he's quite the troublemaker, even if he's antisocial with nearly everybody and a selective introvert, Lloyd seems to have been bullied a lot in school and my son stepped up to help him out, and bought the fights for himself. Well, he won them all, so I'm proud. Thankfully, he seems to have inherited my brains and not Hayes, or that would be a bad.