When I Look At You (Book 2- Mated Hearts Series) Complete

Chapter 13 (Amy) (Edited)

 *****Edited by krisgee*****

2011 © All Rights Reserved

Chapter 13 (Amy) 

            “I swear to God, Tabby, if I have to cock my hip out or stick my butt up in the air one more time I think I just might have to strangle your little neck,” I said with a promising smile on my face.

            “You go girl,” Liza drawled.  “You finding your mate has encouraged you to grow some cohunes.”

            “Some what?” Tabby and I said in unison.

            “Cohunes, duh, balls?” she said with a smirk. 

            I rolled my eyes at the pair.  Mumbling under my breath I said, “You can both take your baby, baby one more time and shove it right on up your asses for all I care.  I. Am. Done.” I said with finality.

            I reached down and picked up the shirt that I had stripped out of earlier and turned towards the house.  I could feel both girls’ eyes on me, so I added a little bit of extra swagger to my walk as I headed for the house.  My stomach was telling me it was dinner time and Aunt Layla always has the best goodies stored away.  She was a regular Betty Crocker.

            “Work it.  Wooork it.  Shake what your mama gave you,” I heard Liza taunting me.  See what I had to grow up with?  These girls are certifiably and absolutely nuts.

            I jogged up the porch and heard the footsteps closing in on me.  I stopped when my hand hit the front door and turned to the side.  I ran my hands lazily down my sides while standing in front of the girls.

            “You two just wish that you looked as good as me,” I ended, sticking a single finger in my mouth and then holding it out in the air, pausing for extra effect.  I finished by pressing said finger against my derriere and making the sizzling sound.   “Sssss, too hot,” I said with a satisfying smirk.

            “Alright, now you’re pushing it,” Tabby said as she brushed by me and opened the door.  She held it open for Liza and me to walk in.

            “Whatchya got good to eat?”  I asked as I skipped by her and made a bee line for the kitchen.  I immediately went for the refrigerator and grinned wide at what I had found.

            “Oohh, I hit the mother load baby,” I exclaimed excitedly while pulling out half of a double decker chocolate cake.  Liza came up beside me and eyed the cake I was holding with a death grip.

            “Mm hm, a moment on the lips leads to a life time on the hips,” she commented sarcastically.

            I snorted.  “You’re just saying that because you want me to share.”  

            Her eyes flitted to the ceiling.  Yeah, Liza you just go ahead and try to ignore this, I thought to myself.  I lifted the top of the cake container and sunk my fork in.  I groaned at the sweet smell of the chocolate alone.  It reminded me of a certain Mr. Hunky Chocolate Brown eyes which made that first taste so much richer.

            “Mmmm,” I said, exaggerating for special effect.  I watched her mouth twitch as she crossed her hands over her chest.  She still had those blue eyes peeled to the ceiling though.  I licked and smacked my lips making sure that she could hear every little nuance that I could muster.  I went to sink the fork in the cake for my second bite and in a flash it was gone.

            “Hey.” I cried out while slamming my fork against the counter.

            “Hey to yourself little missy,” Aunty Layla said while replacing the top on the cake container.  I heard both Liza and Tabby’s laughter in the background while I watched the current object of my infatuation being closed back into the refrigerator.

            “Aunt Layla, I was eating that.” I whined pitifully.

            “Past tense missy.  ‘Was’ is the operative word in that phrase.  Now you can wait until I have dinner finished and then if you eat all your green vegetables, I might, just might let you have a slice of the cake.”  I sunk in the chair at the counter and propped my chin up into my hands.  
    
            “No fair,” I said while imitating Tabby’s best pout face.

            “Oh no girlie” Aunt Layla replied.  “That face doesn’t do a damn thing for me.  You forget that my daughter learned it from somewhere,” she said while slyly lifting her brow.

            I let my hands fall to the counter and couldn’t stop the hysterical giggles that erupted.  Tabby and Liza both came and took seats on either side of me giggling right along.

            “Where is Uncle Christopher?” I asked.  Aunt Layla was seasoning some chicken breast like a pro chef when she responded.  

            “He went up to the estate with your father to help out Grandpop.”  I drew lazy circles with my finger on the counter top while thinking.

            “They have had to go up there a lot lately.  Is something wrong?” I spoke softer, a little afraid of what the answer might be.

            Aunt Layla stilled in her movements and I heard the small sigh escape her lips.  Uh oh, from that single sound I knew that this wasn’t going to be good news.  She carefully rinsed her hands under the running water and toweled them dry.  She walked over to where we were all sitting and leaned against the counter.

            “Look, don’t say anything to your parents because they didn’t want you to know yet.  Personally, I think all three of you have every right to know now.”  She paused for a moment and looked over all three of our faces.  “They found a large tumor on Grandpop’s lung and the prognosis doesn’t look very good.”

            “What?”  I heard Liza question from beside me.  

            My breath hitched and my eyes blurred with tears waiting to fall.  This was so not happening right now.  Noises clattered around me.  I was pretty sure I heard Liza jump up and the chair crash to the floor.  I was just numb.  Nothing else really mattered at the moment.  I was not ready to lose my Grandpop.

            “I- I think I need to go,” I finally managed to squeeze out as I started to stand and leave.  Aunt Layla was by my side in an instant.  She firmly pressed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back into the seat.

            “Oh no you don’t missy.  You are too upset to be going anywhere at the moment.  I will not have your mom marching over here to kick my ass tonight.”  

            For just a moment a picture of my human mother trying to kick anyone’s ass broke through the shock of hearing about my Grandpop’s deteriorating health.  

            “You’re kidding right?” I said with little emotion.

            “Not in the least missy.  Your mom is a feisty one, believe me I have seen her when she gets pissed off.”  Aunt Layla turned and went back to her chicken.

            I lifted my head and furrowed my brow while watching Aunt Layla finish with her dinner preparations.  I waited for her to continue but instead she began to hum some unknown tune.  Now I was irritated.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, curious now.  She craned her neck and glanced at me over her shoulder.  

            “What are you talking about Amy?”  

            “What did you really mean about my mom?”  I said more determined now.  A nervous laugh escaped her lips.