Free Uncaged Love: Volume 6 (Uncaged Love #6) by JJ Knight Page B

people in the world. It can make you lose faith in humanity. I felt that way for a while. Only Colt brought it back.
    Mom sticks her head through the door to the living room. “Hudson, are you working tomorrow on top of training?”
    He sits up. “Unfortunately, I am.”
    “No tea for you. Off to bed.”
    “I gotta move out and find my own place,” he says.
    Mom snaps her dish towel. “No way. I need a baby at home.” Then she brightens. “Or a grandbaby!”
    Hudson laughs. “Now who’s getting ideas? I wanna see Jo work that into her sparring schedule.”
    I toss a sofa pillow at him as he ducks down the hall to his room.
    “Come on,” Mom says. “The kettle is about to whistle.”
    I head into the kitchen and sit at her table. This room is becoming familiar to me. Like home.
    She shuts off the burner right as the kettle starts to steam. I watch her as she pours water into two mugs already prepped with tea bags.
    Mom takes her time returning the kettle to the stove and settling on a chair. I still don’t know her very well, so I wonder if this is the way she acts before saying something difficult or asking hard questions.
    I grip the mug. “I’ll be fine on the sofa,” I say.
    She purses her lips. Her hair is up in its usual messy twist, but at the end of the long day, tendrils have escaped all around her face. She looks young and pretty, and I wonder why having a man in her life is so bad. But I don’t ask.
    “So I get the feeling you’re not going to tell me the whole story,” she says.
    My hesitation is enough to make her tap her fingers on the table. “All right,” she says. “Do you have a girlfriend? Somebody close? You can’t bottle all this up. It will find its way out.” She arches an eyebrow at me pointedly. I know she’s talking about the hurricane. I can’t tell her that it let me down when I needed it the most.
    “There’s Zero. He’ll be up for the wedding,” I say.
    “I recall you mentioning him. Is that his real name?”
    “It’s actually short for Zerobia.” I wonder how much I should tell her about Zero in advance. He’s sort of a force to be reckoned with now that he’s gone full-time drag. He likes living as a man dressing as a woman and has no intention of changing his gender assignment.
    Mom sips her tea, watching me.
    “He is a stage actor, in drag. Zerobia is his stage name. He goes by Zero, though.”
    She sets down her cup. “Will he be dressed as a woman in the bridal party?”
    “Yes, I’m sure.”
    She stands up, then sits down again. “I’ll have to remember to tell Zandalee to switch one of the boutonnieres to a bouquet.”
    I let out my breath slowly. I’m relieved that she will take him as he comes. Zero and I are a package deal.
    “You going to call him and talk out what happened tonight?” she asks.
    It’s a good idea. “Maybe. It’s late in Vegas.”
    “Tomorrow, then.” She stares out the back window. There isn’t anything to see, just the darkness of night.
    I decide to bring up the hurricane again. She’s the only one who understands that.
    “Mom,” I say. “The other night, at the match, I had another hurricane. It’s what started all this mess with these punks.”
    She turns back to me, concern all over her expression. “What did you do?”
    “The boxer kept hitting Hudson when he was down. I blew my stack. I jumped him.”
    Mom presses her hand to her throat. “Did you hurt him?”
    “No, but a crowd came in to stop me, and I just laid into them all. There were quite a few injuries. I don’t think anything serious.”
    She reaches across the table for my arm. “Jo, you have to be in control.”
    I stand up abruptly, and the chair pushes back with a squeal. “I thought I was! I thought I gave up that powerful strength for Colt.” I turn around. “I made a bargain with the universe, that I would never use the hurricane again if Colt would be all right.”
    Mom stands up to face me. “It doesn’t work like that. It has