A slow smile spread across her face. “The day you came back to us was one of the best days of my life. Promise me you won’t ever leave again.”

Regret sliced through me. I’d been so selfish and self absorbed when I walked away from my family all those years ago. I’d cut them out of my life like they were a disease that needed to be eradicated. And for what? To make me feel better about myself by forgetting where I came from. To please a man who could never be pleased. I’d walked away without a second glance thinking my life would be so much better without my white trash family in it. Little did I know that my life would be so much darker and desperate without my family to provide the love and support that my new family didn’t have in them.

I pulled her close and hugged her. “I promise, Mama.”

She broke the embrace and gave me a concerned look. “James was here this morning.”

“Shit. He came and saw me yesterday, said he has a proposal for me. Turns out he’s going into politics after all.”

“I thought he said he never wanted a bar of that.”

“He said a lot of things that weren’t true.” The memories of all the lies he’d ever told me punched me in the gut. I’d been so dumb to believe anything he’d ever said.

Mum smoothed her hand over my hair. “I know you feel stupid for believing him but that’s not on you, Velvet. That’s on him and he’s the fool for treating you that way. He’s the idiot who is missing out on everything you would have given him.”

My mother had a way of saying the exact right thing just when I needed to hear it. She might be a difficult woman a lot of the time but when her mothering instincts kicked in, she rocked the mother gig.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“What kind of proposal does he have?”

“He wants to buy my silence. Obviously he realises what a shit he is and knows that it would end his political career if people ever knew what he’d done.”

“Are you going to take it?”

“God, no!”

“Maybe you should think about it. You could do with the money.”

“I don’t want to touch his dirty money. He can shove it where the sun don’t shine.” I barely contained my anger and she felt it.

“It was just a thought; there’s no need to bite my head off. I figure you may as well get what you can out of him seems as though he screwed you over in the divorce.”

“I’ve been free of him for five years and that’s the way I want to keep it. If I take this money, we’re tied together forever; he’ll find a way to hold it over me. Plus, I won’t sink that low. I’ve got no intention of telling our story to the world but I don’t need to be paid off to do that; I’ve got more integrity than that.”

She listened quietly while I spoke, and then said, “It’s one of the things I love the most about you.”

“What’s that?”

“You hold your head high and live with honesty; you always do the right thing.”

Her words meant a lot to me; I was glad I’d come over today because I’d really needed the boost they’d given me.

***

I arrived early for work that night. James had played on my mind all afternoon after talking about him this morning, and I needed the calm that being at Indigo gave me. I loved working at the club. Scott and the other Storm guys had welcomed me into their family from the beginning; I’d never be a part of their club, but they looked out for me like a family did.

The only thing against being at Indigo at the moment was Nash. His silence was a clear indicator that he wanted nothing more to do with me, and that hurt. But I’d vowed years ago not to take shit from a man ever again and I was sticking to my guns on that. Not even Nash could make me change my mind.

I sighed as I thought about him. He was sex incarnate and I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t crossed my mind that sex with him would be out of this world. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t tried his best to get me into bed. The thing about Nash was that while he was a well built sex God that every woman wanted a chance at turning into a one woman man, I actually really liked spending time with him. He was intelligent and funny, and I always looked forward to that time right after I finished my shift when I got to sit and unwind with him. We had that easy relationship where nothing was forced and it was just as comfortable to sit in silence as it was to sit and talk about anything and everything. So I’d made the decision a long time ago not to go there with him; I valued our friendship more than I wanted the bliss of a few hours with him and his body.

Harlow interrupted my thoughts. “What are you doing tomorrow at lunch time?”

“Sleeping.” Tomorrow was Saturday and I had the day off. I had the entire weekend off for once and I planned to shut myself away from the world and have some Velvet time.

She grinned and I eyed her suspiciously; Harlow was always plotting and planning stuff and I wondered what she had dreamt up this time. “Nope, you’re coming to Scott’s for lunch. I’ve convinced him to let me take over his kitchen so you can’t say no.”

I groaned. “Really? You’re going to make me get out of bed on my weekend off?”

“Yes, and no complaints. I’ll make you lemon meringue pie.”

“Damn you and your food bribery,” I muttered. Harlow’s food was out of this world and she used it often to get what she wanted. I felt bad for Scott; he was so screwed when she pulled out the big guns.