Hurt Me Like You Mean It [BL]-Chapter 17: Please tell me you’re not doing any stupid thing for

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Please tell me you’re not doing any stupid thing for
At checkout, he watched the cashier scan everything, the total climbing higher and higher until it finally stopped.
"Two hundred and seventy-four dollars and eighty-nine cents."
Lance exhaled quietly and tapped his card, he made with his cash app, that was where he kept some of his work money.
There was no need to touch the money in his Venmo right now.
Lance grabbed the bags and thanked Tina again, who only smiled waving him off.
She liked nice boys like him, who weren’t afraid to put down their pride so they could impress their mama.
"Go impress your mother, sugar. And if she likes my list, tell her Tina said hi."
Benjamin hurried over to help carry the bags to the Cayenne. Lance followed with a mix of panic and gratitude swirling in his chest.
He needed to get home. Fast.
Benjamin drove as fast as he could within the speed limit, weaving through the late afternoon traffic until they reached Lance’s apartment building.
The moment the Cayenne rolled to a stop, Lance unbuckled, grabbed the grocery bags along with the extra bag holding his old clothes, and stepped out.
"Thank you... really," he said, looking at Benjamin with genuine gratitude.
Benjamin simply nodded. "Get inside before your mother eats you alive."
Lance huffed a weak laugh and hurried toward the entrance.
The weight of the bags dug into his palms.
He stopped right in front of the door, took one breath, braced himself for the scolding that was definitely waiting on the other side, and finally opened it.
He barely got a word out before his mother turned toward him.
"There you are!" she said, exasperated but relieved, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. "I have been calling you since morning! Where have you been?"
"Mom—wait, please. I was busy. I swear I wasn’t ignoring you," Lance said quickly, stepping inside and kicking the door shut behind him.
"When I saw your messages saying you were here, I rushed to get groceries. I didn’t want you to come and find the house empty."
His mother stared at him for a long second, then shook her head with a small sigh.
"I knew it," she said. "I knew you would have absolutely nothing in this kitchen."
She pointed toward the counter where several bags were already neatly arranged. "So I cooked. And I brought some groceries along. I didn’t come empty-handed."
-_-
Lance blinked.
"You—wait, you cooked?"
She gave him a look only mothers could give.
"Of course I cooked. You think I don’t know my own son? I’m always two steps ahead Lance.."
-_-
Lance sighed as he placed the bags on the table.
He was worried for nothing.
Well, at least he had more food now.
Lance dropped the grocery bags on the counter, pushing them aside so he could take a breath.
His mother was still talking, still fussing, still waving her hands the way she always did when she slipped into full worry mode.
Eventually they both moved to the couch.
Lance hadn’t even sat for more than two seconds before he caught the look on her face.
Her eyes swept over him once. Then again. Slower this time. She wasn’t even being subtle about it.
Her gaze went straight to his clothes, the soft fabric, the clean expensive lines, the faint scent of cologne clinging to him that definitely didn’t come from his budget body spray.
Her eyebrows lifted.
"Lance," she said slowly, crossing her arms. "Whose clothes are those?"
Lance stiffened.
He glanced down at himself as if seeing the outfit for the first time. The shirts he never could’ve afforded on his salary unless he skipped rent.
"Oh—these?" he said, trying to sound casual and absolutely failing. "Uh... I... borrowed them."
His mother stared at him blankly, unless she had brain damage she wasn’t falling for that lie.
"Borrowed from who? A rich stranger who wears your exact size?"
Lance swallowed, his brain scrambling for any reasonable lie, but his mother knew him too well. Her eyes narrowed the way they always did when she sensed something she didn’t like.
"Lance Dixon," she said, voice dropping the way it did when she was one second away from a lecture, "please tell me you’re not doing something stupid for money."
His stomach tightened.
He has done all the wrong but he couldn’t tell her that.
"Haha, I didn’t do anything, don’t you trust me. I—i got a new job and my voss was generous enough to let me take emergency fund loans despite being a new worker. Just that I’d have to work fr a really long time to pay it back.."
-_-
Lance wiped the sweat from his forehead, this should be enough to rope in his mother.
His mother, Lexi sighed, pinching her brows.
"Is this a legit job? Please don’t tell me you’re sleeping with random men for money?"
-_-
"Mum!"
Lexi was the one only one in the family who knew Lance was gay.
"What? If it’s a legitimate company, where’s your ID?"
-_-
Damnit!
He had forgotten how meticulous his mother could be when it came to asking questions.
"It’s—its not ready yet.."
-_-
Lexi sighed, his id isn’t ready yet and they let him borrow? Even as high as 350k? She wasn’t believing that.
"Lance are you sleeping with your boss? You don’t have to lie to me? I’m your mother, I smelled the gay on you before you even came out the closet. I’m that perceptive.."
-_-
Lance sighed, there was no hiding from this woman. He needed to create a lie that also had some truth in it.
He had an idea but if Ansel ever found out about it.
He was dead meat.
"He’s not my boss per-say. H—he’s my boyfriend and he’s the one who gave me the money. That’s the truth this time, I’m still working at the coffee shop and he’s the one who gave me these clothes.."
Lexi stared at him for a while, then sighed, shaking her head.
"I’m so sorry for putting you through this Lance. I didn’t do a good job protecting you as a mother.."