The Love Of Money - S01 E198

Story 2 months ago

The Love Of Money - S01 E198

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 198

Emily bit her lip and looked back and forth between the two of us. "Okay," she finally said.

Was she jealous? Last we spoke, the nature of their relationship wasn't anything serious. Surely, that hadn't changed, and if it had, Natashya didn't strike me as the kind of person who would do something she thought a significant other would disapprove of. Though, how well did I really know her?

I stood up. "Erin told me she was here, and I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk." To break the awkwardness, I decided to change the subject. "Is that what you're wearing for tonight?"

"What?" Emily said, looking down at her shirt. "Oh, no. Natashya said she wasn't feeling up for a party tonight, so I thought I'd stay with her for a bit and then join you guys later. She sounded relieved that I'd changed the subject. "Oh! I came here to find you, by the way. Mom and Dad are here."

"Okay. Thanks." I looked back at Natashya. "I should probably get going. I don't suppose you'd be interested in meeting my parents."

Natashya chuckled. "I'm not really a 'meet the parents' kind of girl. Besides.. she gestured to all the bruises on her face.

"Alright," I said. "I'm glad I caught you."

She gave me a small smile. "I am, too. Have fun tonight, and tell the girls I said hi."

"I will," I said and then headed for the door. I stopped by Emily, and she smiled at me.

"Tell Mom and Dad I'll see them soon," she said.

"I will." I looked back at Natashya and said, "Take care of her."

The reunion with my mom and dad was about what I expected. Mom greeted me with immediate concern, fussing over the bruising and noticing the slight limp I had, while Dad was more reserved with his words, simply giving me a hug and murmuring in my ear that he was glad to see I was okay.

Both my parents were tall. Mom stood at about 5'9", while Dad was 6'3". That was where the similarity ended; in every other aspect, they were opposites. Everything about my mother was loud-her laugh, anger, and joy. Dad always claimed they could never catch us doing anything wrong because we could hear Mom coming a mile away. She also had a fiery temper. She was the mama bear who would come running the moment one of us got into trouble as kids, ready to kill anyone who even looked at her cubs wrong.

Meanwhile, Dad was soft-spoken, slow to anger, and a great listener. He let us make mistakes and was always there to pick us up when we fell. Mom was a thunderstorm. Dad was a rock.

They looked different, too. Dad was white, with a permanent five o'clock shadow for a beard and hair he had started losing in his early thirties. By this point, he'd lost so much on his crown that he gave up the battle and kept it buzzed close to his scalp. Fortunately, he had a good head shape, and baldness suited him well. He was lanky and had kind eyes the exact shade of Emily's. He wore a simple button-down shirt, a pair of slacks, and a cardigan.

Mom was black, with skin the color of milk chocolate and black, liquid eyes. Her raven hair spilled from her head in tight curls and framed a round face and wide smile. She wore a dress that reached almost her ankles, hugged her curves, and displayed a modest amount of her prominent chest-nothing like some of the dresses I'd seen on my ladies while we were in Vegas. She was a beautiful, full-figured woman of forty-five years old.

And then a thought struck me. Helen was only two years younger than my own mother. That implied many things I did not want to entertain at this exact moment. I shoved them out of my head as quickly and violently as possible and focused on Richie

At seventeen, Richie was the baby. He was also the smartest and was likely going to revolutionize the energy industry or cure cancer or... something. He had our mother's eyes, our dad's height, and a full head of hair he kept shaggy, much to our mother's disdain.

"Hey, brother!" he said, giving me a hug.

"Hey man," I said, returning it. "I'm glad you came with them. I've missed you."

"Me too," he said and pulled away. "Hey! Marcus, this is Megan!"

Keeping his hand on my shoulder, he gestured to a young woman standing behind him. I smiled and extended a hand to what i assumed was my brother's girlfriend, a tiny, walfish thing who probably stood little more than five feet tall. Her hair was a dark. coppery red and matched the liberal dusting of freckles over her cute, upturned nose and cheeks. She had a peaches-and-cream complexion that suggested the hair was natural. Bright green eyes were set in a slender face that suited her svelte frame. She wore an off-white tank top, a black skirt that stopped just above the knees, and boots that went mid-calf. Her breasts were so small that she looked nearly flat-chested. She was, in a word, cute as a button.

"HI, Megan. It's good to meet you. Marcus has told me absolutely nothing about you."

"Aw," Megan sald with a pout and glanced up at her boyfriend. "Well, he's been talking about you a lot lately... and thanks." She took my hand and smiled at me with a twinkle in her emerald eyes.

"Hey!" Richie said, "How's this on me? He wouldn't have believed me if I'd told him about you anyway."

"That's probably true," I said, "I can already tell you're too good for him."

"Wow!" she said as she twirled a bit of red hair around a finger and looked up at him, giving him a grin. "I can see the charm runs in the family. Then she cast a look back at me with a pair of 'come hither' eyes that almost knocked me off my feet. I did my best to ignore the look and put an arm around my mom, pulling her into the conversation.

We made a few more minutes of small talk before Erin arrived, looking stunning in a sequined, high-collar black-and-silver dress. She wore dark wine-colored lipstick and makeup, emphasizing her stunning deep brown eyes. Her silver hair was put into a bun that rested high behind her head, and the light hit it just right to show the soft sheen of lavender that wove subtly throughout her hair.

"Hi, Marcus," she said as she approached us.

I introduced everyone to Erin and noticed my mom taking a keen interest in her. She seemed to cool off a little at first, but within five minutes, I could tell that Erin had won her over. When she suggested showing off the house, she told them to go ahead but asked me to stay behind.

"I like Erin," she said as soon as they were gone.

"Emily had the same reaction when they met," I said.

"And she's your assistant? What kind of stuff do you have going on where you need an assistant?"

"A lot, actually. She gets me coffee and manages my schedule. When she's not doing that, she's arranging the purchase of my apartment and my plane. She'll be at an important board meeting with me on Monday at VistaVision, and sometimes she helps me decide what I'm gonna wear, but we're not dating or anything, Mom."

"Sounds kind of like you're dating to me," Mom sassed. Then, she grew more serious. "Honey, I wanted to tell you again that I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you sooner. I thought you were better off not knowing who your father was."

"Thanks, Mom," I said. "It's fine. I was just blindsided when it first happened. I lucked out and found some people to help get my feet under me, though."

"You sure did," Mom said. Her look became more pensive, and she said, "My boy attending board meetings at VistaVision and going to news conferences... it just seems like yesterday you were crying over your math homework."

"I wasn't crying," I protested, though I might have once or twice. PreCalc was hard, and I thought it was going to keep me from getting into college.

"My sensitive boy... so unsure of yourself but so kind," Mom said, deciding to take an emotional stroll down memory lane. I looked around to make sure it was still just the two of us.

"Thanks, Mom," I said.

"You've grown up," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh... you just seem a little more sure of yourself."

"Was Colin sure of himself?" I asked. As far as I could tell, my mom was the only one who had actually known my biological father.

"Your father?" Mom said, "Oh yes. He was a little too sure of himself. It was obnoxious at times."

"How long did you guys date?"