Untameable: Haven Falls (Book 3)

by Sheridan Anne

  I roll my eyes as Aria sucks in an excited breath. Dad and I both know that’s a little white lie to get her moving. There’s no way he’s letting me out of here. I’ll probably be stuck in this bed until I’m thirty, especially if you take into count that he only just stopped checking over my scars from when I got jumped. I can’t wait to see how he’s going to handle the next few months.

  Aria climbs off my bed, knocking all the cards to the ground and running off, leaving me to clean them up, which I probably won’t do. I expect dad to go after her, to help get her breakfast sorted, but when he hovers in my doorway, I find myself glancing up at him and silently watching him.

  Dad lets out a sigh and walks forward into my room, pulling up my desk chair and spinning it to face me. “How are you feeling, Squish?” he questions, looking nervous as shit.

  “Fine. I’m good to get out of here though.”

  “Bullshit,” he grumbles. “You look like you volunteered to climb under my truck and let me roll over you a few times.”

  “It’s not that bad,” I tell him, scoffing at his exaggeration. “It’s just a little bruising.”

  “It’s more than that and you know it,” he says, being one of the only people on this planet who refuses to take my shit. Noah being another.

  “What’s going on, dad?” I question, getting down to the nitty-gritty. I mean. He’s not sitting in my room like this because he wants to braid my hair. “Why do you look like you’re about to hurl?”

  He cringes. “That obvious, huh?”

  “Dad,” I prompt.

  He lets out a loud breath before raising his eyes to meet mine. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about,” he starts as my brows pull down. “I’ve been battling with myself over this decision for the past few years, but now with Aria here and considering you’re not far off eighteen, I think it’s the right time to tell you and I wanted to say something before you start putting the pieces of the puzzle together for yourself.”

  I watch him cautiously, wondering if he just started talking jibberish because I seriously have no clue what he’s talking about. “What puzzle? What are you talking about?”

  “It’s about your mom,” he warns.

  My back straightens, instantly on alert as hundreds of unwelcome thoughts start swirling through my mind. Every last one of them to do with Aria. “What about her?” I question, feeling a wall come down within me, preparing myself for the worst. That bitch better not be coming to take my sister.

  Dad rubs a hand over his face, clearly letting me know that whatever he’s got to say isn’t easy. “Since Aria’s been here, I’m sure you’ve been noticing a few slight…differences.”

  Huh? What the fuck is he going on about?

  “How do you mean?” I question. “There’s been heaps of difference. Our whole world is different now.”

  “No, no,” he rushes in. “I don’t mean those differences. I mean differences between the two of you.”

  “Ummm…what?”

  “Your appearances. She has my blonde curls while you have a dark, golden color and straight hair.”

  “She has your eyes,” I add.

  “Exactly,” he murmurs.”

  “What are you talking about, Dad?” I ask, not liking where this is going at all. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re not my dad because if you are, you can walk straight out of here. I’m so not prepared for that kind of shit.”

  “No, no, no,” he says, holding up a hand, hoping that can somehow slow down my thought process. “What I’m saying is that she’s not your mom.”

  “What?” I grunt, blinking a few times as I watch his features. He’s got to be fucking with me, right? Not my mom. Bullshit. That has got to be some twisted joke to follow up my ‘dad’ comment. “Are you on crack? What the fuck are you talking about? How can she not be my mom?” I question as I start to ramble, wondering if I need to knock on his head to check that he’s got a brain in there. “Every single photo we have of me as a baby has her in it. I mean, were you even there? Are you remembering this correctly?”

  “Henley, if you could give me two seconds to speak, I’ll be able to explain.”

  I shake my head. “No, this is too…no. Not possible. I look just like her.”

  He arches a brow. “Do you though?”

  I stop for a second. “Of course, I do,” I say a little slower than I had before as I truly think about it. She’s blonde and blue eyed just like me, but her blue is more of a greyish blue where mine is a stormy ocean blue. She has a natural wave to her hair and is a short ass. I’m leggy with straight hair. I don’t resemble her features and I sure as hell don’t have the same mannerisms.

  Dad’s claim starts to have little merit. “You need to start explaining,” I tell him as my world begins crumbling around me. What the hell could he mean that she’s not my mom? She was there from the very start. This doesn’t make sense. Of course, she’s my mom. I mean, I’m not exactly thrilled about it, I didn’t exactly hit the mommy jackpot, but it is what it is.

  Dad clears his throat, preparing himself for the explanation of a lifetime and though I know I should be paying complete attention, all I can do is repeat four little words over and over again in my head. 'She’s not your mom.’ ‘She’s not your mom.’ ‘She’s not your mom.’

  “As you know,” Dad starts as a shade of green seeps into his features. “I’m not exactly one for having a woman in my life.”

  I scoff.

  “I’ve always been this way,” he tells me. “Before you were born, I was living life to the fullest, or what I thought was the fullest back then. I was young. I was partying every night, staying out drinking, getting high. I hated the thought of being tied down to a woman, but then, I liked women, a lot of women.”

  “Dad,” I grunt, scrunching up my face in distaste.

  “What I’m trying to say is that I had spent a night with a woman, and nine months later, she’s knocking on my door with a beautiful little girl in her arms. The same as what happened with Aria, so you can believe my shock when that happened,” he chuckles to himself before shaking his head. “I’m getting off track, but Squish, you blew me the hell away. You were only a few days old and your mom…your real mom said she couldn’t do it. She wasn’t fit to be a mom so she handed you over and I haven’t seen her since.”

  My mouth drops open. “Are you shitting me, right now? This couldn’t be true. I don’t believe it.”

  “Henley, why would I lie about this? I don’t like the idea of hurting you, but with Aria here, you were soon going to realize how different you both are, how you don’t have the same features.”

  “I have noticed that and I just figured I got more of mom.”

  “And you never questioned how you hardly resemble her, either?”

  “But I just… I never questioned it because I never had a reason to doubt it.”

  Dad lets out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry, Squish. I know this isn’t easy to take in.”

  “Not easy to take in?” I shriek before mimicking his tone. “Morning Squish, hope you’re feeling better. Oh, by the way, I’ve been lying to you your whole life.”

  Dad’s eyes nervously flick towards the door. “Keep your voice down,” he scolds, not appreciating my attitude, but what did he expect? He knows me well enough by now to know that when in doubt, my sarcastic flare comes out. Hell, I know I certainly got that from him.

  “You have to understand the reasons I’ve kept this from you,” he tells me. “We had a happy life with your mom. It wasn’t the best but it was good. I had no reason to rock your world with the truth and it didn’t matter because no matter what, you were my child and you were loved.”

  “But I wasn’t,” I tell him. “I’ve had two mothers walk out on me.”

  “You can’t look at it like that. Your real mom… she wasn’t your mom at all. She’s just some woman who shares your DNA, and Kelly, Aria’s mom, she did her best, but in the end, she just couldn’t cut being
a mom. That much is clear with the way she failed Aria. You are better off without them both and you know that. Deep down in your heart, you know that.”

  My head drops as my head starts to ache. This is too much.

  “So, you waited nearly eighteen years to tell me the truth?”

  “Does it make a difference?” he questions. “Knowing that Kelly isn’t your real mom? Knowing that you don’t share the DNA of a junkie?”

  “I guess,” I mutter, “but all that does is tell me that I share the DNA of a woman who wasn’t strong enough to be my mom and that the very first thing to ever happen to me was being given up by the one person who’s supposed to love me the most.”

  “Don’t say that,” he tells me. “It’s taken me a while to come to this realization, but what it means is that your mom, your real biological mom is probably one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”

  “This has got to be good,” I grumble, showing off my award-winning sarcasm again.

  Dad ignores me. “How many people do you know have what it takes to admit that they’re not good enough? That someone else could do a better job at raising their child than they could? Because that’s exactly what she did. She knew she wasn’t going to give you a good life so she handed you over, knowing that you had a better shot with me. Every single day I thank her for making such a difficult decision. Now, I know you don’t have fancy cars and expensive clothes, but I did everything I could to make sure I gave you the best possible life.”

  “I’m not complaining about my life, dad. I’ve had a great life. I love my home and the people I have around me. I have everything I could have asked for, it’s just…I guess it’s a lot to take in,” I tell him. “I mean, who is this woman? Does she even look like me?”

  Dad smiles. “Her name is Gina and you’re the spitting image of her,” he tells me. “I haven’t seen her since the day she came knocking on my door, she would have been around twenty years old, but you look just like she did that day. It gets me every time you walk by me.”

  “Really?” I ask. “Was she at least…I don’t know, a nice, decent person?”

  He shrugs his shoulders. “Couldn’t really tell you, Squish, but I like to think she would have been tough, just as you are. She didn’t strike me as a woman who would take shit from anyone.”

  “So, Kelly?” I question, shaking my head, still trying to work it all out.

  “She’s nothing to you. I met her when you were five months old and we instantly hit it off. She thought the fact that I had a baby was adorable and by the time you started talking, you were calling her ‘Mom.’ We didn’t think to correct you and from there, it just stuck. She became your mom and you, as a child, absolutely loved her.”

  “I guess that didn’t last long,” I mutter wondering how this is going to affect my abandonment issues. I mean, two moms abandoned me. That shit is going to sit inside my head and fester until I can’t take it anymore. This is the kind of stuff that would put the sanest person in therapy and considering how screwed up I already am, I’ll probably end up in a strait jacket.

  My mind swirls, trying to picture an older version of me, some stranger that apparently gave me life. I hope when the time comes that when I have a baby, I’ll be a lot stronger than she was. Dad thinks she’s strong for being able to admit that, but I can’t find it within myself to agree.

  She pushed me aside. She didn’t even give me a chance.

  Strong is taking on the challenge and rising up, being the best parent you can be. Struggle through the hard times and love through the good. Nowhere in the strong handbook does it say cop out and give away your flesh and blood to some unexpecting guy that you met once, probably in a shady bar.

  What the hell does that say about me? I’m the result of a one night stand.

  I look up at dad with an urge to know more about this woman, a need to know where she came from, what she’s like, and if I share any of her qualities other than just her looks. I guess I need to know what kind of person I have the potential to become. “Do you know her last name or where she is?”

  Dad’s lips thing into a hard line. “You don’t want to go looking for her, do you?”

  “Why not?”

  “She gave you up, Squish,” he says softly. “She’s not magically going to want to have some sort of relationship with you. I haven’t moved in eighteen years. She knows where to find you and has never come looking.”

  I shake my head. “It’s not that,” I tell him, struggling to find a way to describe what’s going through my head. “I just want to know what she’s like. You know, figure out what I’ve missed out on.”

  Dad considers me for a moment. “Are you sure?” he questions. “I don’t want you getting your hopes up over this woman.”

  “I’m sure, Dad. I just want to know who she is.”

  “Ok,” he says, letting out a sigh. “Her last name is Rivers. Gina Rivers.”

  “Rivers?” I grunt.

  The front door of our home slams open and both dad and I jump to our feet. Who the fuck was that? “Aria?” Dad yells before darting for my bedroom door, assuming she’s just escaped.

  He’s stopped in the doorway by Noah who all but barges through, forcing Dad back in as he gapes at me. “Why the fuck aren’t you answering your phone?” Noah demands.

  “What?” I grunt. “I have more important things going on right now.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Dad questions, not pleased about the intrusion into our home.

  Noah cringes at Dad before turning his attention on me. “There’s a video of you and it just got sent through the whole fucking school.”

  “What?” I say slowly, confused about what he’s talking about.

  Dad’s eyes practically bulge out of his head. “What fucking video?” he roars. “If you made a fucking sex tape, Henley. So help me God.”

  “No,” Noah rushes out, hopefully to throw a little light on the situation. “It’s a video of when she got hurt,” he says with a cringe. “The first time with Monica and Candice. When you were jumped.”

  “What?” I shriek, not giving a shit that I haven’t been able to come up with any other words to convey what’s going on in my head. I all but dive across my bed, grabbing my phone off the bedside table and ripping it off the charger.

  I’d put it on silent last night and clearly, that was a mistake.

  The screen lights up to at least fifty messages, all from kids at school. I search through them and scroll straight past the missed calls and urgent texts from Noah until I find the original message that comes with the video attachment.

  I open the video as dad watches over my shoulder.

  The video starts and the first thing I see is Monica’s back before my voice comes shooting out of the speaker on my phone as a broken cry for help. “No, no, no, no, no,” I say, repeating myself over and over again as the last piece of dignity I held onto escapes me. Noah had said this was sent through the whole school so literally everyone I know has witnessed my weakest moment.

  “Who sent this out?” I beg, desperate for answers.

  Noah shakes his head, not wanting to give me the information that’s on the end of his tongue, but the answer is crystal clear. “I’ll give you one guess.”

  “Monica,” I sigh, looking down at the girl in the video, pummeling her fists into my body over and over again.

  I should have known. Monica gets her kicks by keeping dirt on her victims. I literally just took her down for this shit. I found every last piece of dirt she was hiding and destroyed it. How could I have been so stupid to assume she wouldn’t have something on me?

  The video goes on and on until my phone is ripped out of my hand and thrown across my room, splintering against the wall into a hundred little pieces. “Someone is going to fucking pay for that,” Dad promises before storming out of my bedroom.

  I storm out right behind him, not giving a shit that I’m not dressed and head straight for the entryway table.

  I gr
ab the keys to the old pick up and reach for the door when Noah grabs my arm, pulling me back. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m fucking dealing with this, that’s what,” I tell him. “Either come with me or not, but whether or not you’re by my side, I’m going to fucking end this. She’s gone too far.”

  Noah pulls the keys out of my hand and tosses them back on the table. “Fine,” he says. “But there’s no way in hell you’re driving. Go get some proper clothes on and I’ll meet you out front.”

  Thirty seconds later, I’m out the door, ready to knock some fucking heads together.

  Chapter 20

  I storm through the school just moments after the first bell sounded with Noah right by my side. We sat in the car in absolute silence as he raced towards the school. I resisted telling him to hurry it up and drive as though he was on a racetrack while he resisted asking me about my, ‘I have more important things going on right now’ comment.

  Students still linger in the halls, but the majority of them are already in homeroom. The lingering ones though, they get one look at the expression on my face, most likely having already seen the video, they take in the deathly fury radiating out of Noah and they scram like little bitches. The cuts and bruises covering me, only serving to help my cause.

  Nobody wants to be around for this. There was the Spencer drama a few weeks ago and compared to this shit, that was just child’s play. People are more than happy to sit around and enjoy that show, but this…this is fucking war.

  This was taking a direct hit against their queen, trying to take me down. Every last person who walks these halls knows that if they even accidentally stand in my way right now, they’ll be going down right alongside the bitch who dared wrong me.

  Within seconds of us walking through the doors of Haven Falls Private, the hallways are a fucking ghost town.

  “Game face,” Noah reminds me in a low murmur, assuming that my emotions will get the best of me and I’ll fuck it all up. If only he knew about the baby mumma drama, he probably wouldn’t bother with the reminder. My game face has been on since dad walked through my bedroom door this morning.