“I want answers now,” she demands.
I get up from my bed, anger storming through me. It’s her fault he’s gone. “You stay away from me. If you wanted answers, you could’ve asked. Instead, you insulted Zeth and practically kicked him out!”
She’s staring at me, motionless, and I can see the shock etched in her eyes. It takes her a second before she says anything. “Don’t talk to me like that. I’m your mother. This boy, this thug, has corrupted you. He’s made you become this terrible person I don’t even recognize. This isn’t my daughter.”
“You don’t recognize me because you don’t know me!” I try to control my anger. This is my mother. I will always love her, but it’s time I stop letting her control me. “You’ve made every decision in my life. I love you, but I’m done letting you control me.”
“He’s made you a monster!”
I take a step back when I see someone slipping through the doorway and into my room. My temper rises at the sight of him, and I want to smack him across his arrogant face.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I yell.
They both wince at my choice of words.
“Your mom called me,” Cam answers.
He takes a step closer, and I back away. I can’t even stand looking at him. He has a giant smirk on his face like he’s about to win something. That something isn’t going to be me.
“You get the hell out of my room, you cheating scum,” I say, pointing to him and then to my door. “Actually, both of you get out.”
Cam shakes his head. “What happened to you? That guy, he’s ruined you, Addison. Sure, I’ve made some mistakes, but I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I hurt you. But you ran straight into his arms. You let him manipulate and use you.”
“He ruined me?” I hiss. “It wasn’t catching you screwing my best friend while we were on a date? Who knows how many other times you cheated on me, Cam! We’re done. I’ll never trust you again. I’ll never take you back, and I’m happy we broke up.”
“Let me explain myself,” he begs, his face falling when he realizes I’m not falling for his pathetic speech.
“There’s no explaining. Now both of you, out.” Neither one of them move. “Fine, you don’t want to leave? Goodbye.”
My shoulder bumps into Cam’s side when I leave my room. He tries to make a grab for my arm, but I quickly pull away.
I run down the stairs, get in my car, and drive until it turns dark. I ignore everyone’s phone calls, but keep my phone in my lap in case Zeth calls.
He doesn’t.
I hit someone else’s name.
“Hey, I need a favor.”
21
Zeth
You mother fucking idiot,” Kelton yells. “You’re lucky I picked your dumbass up. I was tempted to leave you here to rot. You need to think about your stupid decision.”
He was waiting for me when I walked out of the airport. I sent him a text telling him what time my flight was landing and then shut my phone off. I haven’t turned it back on. I’m dreading it. I don’t want to know what Addison thinks of me now. I can’t see her texts if she wants to talk. We need a clean cut from each other.
At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
I throw my bag in the trunk of his car and slide into the passenger seat. “I’m smart and doing the right thing for once.”
“Don’t bullshit me. You fucked up one of the best things you had.”
“Wow, best friend, glad to know you think the only good thing in my life is the pussy I was hitting.” I cringe at my words. Addison was never just pussy, not even at the beginning, but I have to let my emotions go. That’s how I need to see her if I want to move on.
“Shut up. You know what I meant. Not to mention, you might be doing jail time for coming home early and breaking the court order.”
A headache starts to ride through my skull, and my heart kicks in my chest. Fuck. I never thought about breaking the court order when I left. I’m sure my dad called to rat me out the second I walked out his door.
“I’ll have to deal with whatever consequence is thrown at me. Either way, I’d end up in jail. There’s no way I would’ve been able to stay around Leonard for more than five minutes without kicking his ass.”
My phone vibrates when I finally turn it on. Five voicemails and ten texts from Addison. I won’t be opening or listening to any of them until I get home.
Kelton shrugs. “Doubt anything serious will happen. You somehow managed to keep your ass out of trouble last time.”
“My dad helped pay for my lawyer. I’ll be fighting this one on my own.” The chances of getting out of trouble are higher when you have an attorney and not a public defender.
“You’ve always been a fighter, man. You don’t need him.” He chuckles. “Look on the bright side, you have quite the résumé now. You’ve worked with the rich and famous. You can get a job working for some actor or reality star.”
“Screw that. I’m going back to the tattoo shop.” I can’t wait to get back to work. It’ll clear my head and keep my mind off Addison.
Kelton pulls into the parking lot of his apartment complex. “Now, back to the stepsister. I take it you left her ass high and dry. What happened?”
“Her mom walked in on us.” I knew it was a bad idea sleeping in her bed. My intuitions are usually on point. I was just geared off track by Addison’s sweet voice.
“She walked in on you fucking her?”
“No, we were in bed together.”
He laughs. “And you couldn’t come up with a good excuse to get out of it?”
“We were naked. No story would’ve changed her mind. Not to mention, Addison deemed it necessary to tell her the truth.”
He grabs an old water bottle from the backseat and takes a drink. “Eh, I guess you have a point there, but you should’ve tried. I would’ve given you some points for creativity.”
He steps out of the car, and I follow him into his apartment.
“Thank God, I’ve never had to come up with an excuse like that at the top of my head,” he goes on. “I tend not to screw women who still live with their parents. Fucking amateur.”
“Margo still lives with her parents, dumbass,” I fire back, not in the mood for his bullshit.
“Margo isn’t shit. I was fucking her when we were in high school. There’s a difference. All my lays have their own crib now.”
“And a full range of venereal diseases.”
“You call her yet?” Kelton asks.
I started back at the tattoo shop yesterday. It’s been four days since I left Addison, and the fuck-head has asked me about her relentlessly. He even took the duty to let every co-worker of mine know about her.
“Nope,” I answer, getting my table prepared for my first client.
He shakes his head. “That’s fucked up. You’re breaking her heart.”
“Putting her needs before my own isn’t fucked up.” I tell myself I’m doing the right thing every time I grab my phone, feeling weak to call her, but stop myself. She quit calling two days ago, finally giving up, and it’s time I do the same.
He raises a brow to let me know he thinks I’m full of shit. “Her needs before your own? What she needs is you, dumbass. Give her that before it’s too late. If you don’t, you’ll regret it later down the road. Tell her how you feel. Go be with her.”
“She wants a life I can’t give her. She’s steak. I’m chopped liver. It’ll never work. It’s best to end it now and move on with our lives. I don’t have the money to be her prince charming.”
“Pleasing girls isn’t expensive,” Yasmin cuts in. “It doesn’t cost a penny to not be an asshole and treat her right.”
Yasmin is one of our regulars, and she’s waiting on Kelton to get his station together to finish her back piece. I’m positive the two of them are fucking, but Kelton’s never been one to kiss and tell.
“And give her pleasure like no fucking other,” Kelton adds. He looks over at Yasmin and gestures to the
chair. “Now, get your ass here, babe.”
“She was a great fuck, a good time, but it’s over,” I say, grabbing my bag. I need some fresh air.
“Ruin your life then, asshole,” Kelton yells to my back. “But don’t get mad at me when you realize you’ve made a mistake and it’s too late.”
22
Zeth
I walk into my mom’s apartment and come to a halt. “You here to haul my ass off to jail?”
He’s sitting on the couch, playing with a beer bottle in his hand, and my mom is nowhere in sight. Her apartment looks different. It’s sparse, empty. The only furniture is the couch. Boxes fill the room. The fuck?
Floyd doesn’t seem surprised to see me. “No.”
Confusion swarms me. “Then what are you doing here?”
Floyd was the attorney that got me out of trouble by making a plea with the prosecutors. The only reason he’d be here is because he found out I broke my part of the bargain.
He looks too comfortable lounging on my mom’s couch in a gray suit. His receding hairline makes him appear old, but other than that, the dude is in decent shape.
We both look up when my mom comes into the room with a bright smile on her face.
She wraps her arms around me and kisses my cheek. “Honey, I’ve missed you so much.”
I pull away and kiss the top of her head. “You look good, mom.”
She does. The lines across her forehead and the circles underneath her eyes still tell you she’s worked hard all her life, but they’re not as dark as they were before. She must be getting better tips at work. She cut her hair–the long, black strands that used to hit the bottom of her back now stops at her shoulders.
My eyes narrow when I watch her sit down on the couch and grab Floyd’s hand. My stomach churns, and nausea hits me.
I shake my head, and it takes me a second to swallow down the bile in my throat. “Mom, please tell me you’re not screwing him to get me out of trouble.”
Floyd tenses up when I head toward him.
I stretch out my arms and put my hands in front of him. “Call the cops and get the cuffs on me because I won’t allow that to happen.”
There’s no way in hell I’m letting my mom hoe herself out to save my ass. I did the crime. I’ll do the time.
Floyd laughs. “Zeth, I told you I’m not here to take you to jail, nor is Bonnie prostituting herself out to me.”
“Then what the fuck are you doing here?”
“We’re together,” my mom answers.
I shake my head violently. “Ma, you don’t have to do this.”
“We’ve been together for months. We were together when you beat up Pete.”
“You were dating two dudes?” Damn, my mom is a better player than I am.
“No, I broke up with Pete months before he showed up and assaulted me. That’s why he did it. He found out I’d moved on.”
I look at Floyd. “Is that why you got me off the hook?”
He nods.
“Not because of Leonard?”
“Your dad didn’t hire me. No one hired me.” He looks at my mom. “I did it for her.”
I don’t miss the sparkle in her eye, the happiness on her face. She’s in love with him. And from the way he’s looking at her, and how he put his ass on the line for me, it seems the feeling is mutual.
“Then why the fuck did you ship me off to Leonard’s?”
“I couldn’t completely get you off the hook for beating a man to a bloody pulp, even though I’m glad you did. You had to have a punishment. I found the easiest one I could get without any serious consequences.”
I brush my hands over my face. “Well, shit. Thanks, then. What’s going to happen from here since I came back?”
“I got you community service. Your father has called me multiple times, giving me this ridiculous excuse about you creating havoc there, but I’m not worried about that. I talked to the judge, told him you had been working there, getting your life in order, but your dad had his own family issues. So we came up with a new plan.”
“Why didn’t you come up with that plan first?”
If I’d stayed here, I would’ve never met Addison. I close my eyes. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. I do know one thing, though. Knowing Addison has made me want to be a better man.
“I was hoping you could form a relationship with your father, but that was a mistake on my part,” my mom says, answering for him.
I nod and point to Floyd, ready to change the subject from Leonard. I don’t want to think about him or Addison. “You better treat her right.”
My mom raises her hand, and I nearly choke on my own spit when I notice the flicker of a diamond in the light. “He’s been amazing to me.”
“Hold up, did you get married?” My stomach sinks. She wouldn’t get married without telling me, would she?
She shakes her head. “In six months.”
I blow out a breath of relief. “I’m happy for you, ma. What’s up with all the boxes though?”
“I’m moving in with Floyd.” She claps her hands. “Now, let’s get some dinner, and you can tell me all about this Addison girl.”
I blink a few times. “Fucking Kelton.” He’s always had a big ass mouth.
She laughs. “You know that guy can’t keep secrets from me. Especially when it’s you falling for a girl.”
“Ma, it’s done.”
23
Addison
Two Months Later
I double-check the address on my phone to make sure I’m standing in front of the right apartment and remind myself to breath. I raise my hand, lower it, raise it again, and finally tap on the door before I lose the courage.
“Margo! You need to get your crazy ass out of here.”
My stomach goes hard at the sound of his voice. This is the right place. He’s in there. I should turn around and leave. I gulp down my breaths, like I’m trying to keep quiet so he doesn’t hear me.
“But you don’t understand,” another voice yells. A woman’s voice. Any angry woman’s voice.
A knife stabs through my heart.
“I understand everything,” he fires back.
I’m trying to process what’s going on when the door flies open. I jump as Zeth appears in front of me, standing in the doorway, and a skinny blonde comes stumbling out. She stops in the hallway with a vicious look in her eyes.
I grip my luggage and start my journey of getting the hell out of there. I can hear Zeth behind me, but I ignore him while picking up my pace. I don’t make it far before he grabs my arm to stop me. I refuse to look at him. I can’t. It’ll break my heart all over again. I lose that option when he turns me around to face him.
“What are you doing here?” he asks.
I debate whether to lie to him. “I live here.”
He hesitates before speaking. “In California?”
“Yes,” I stutter.
He rubs his forehead. “What? How?”
I don’t want to explain myself to him. I want to get out of here. “I changed my plans.”
The past few months, I was dying to call him and tell him the news. I wanted him to know I was making a new plan for us, but I stopped myself every time I grabbed the phone. If he told me it didn’t matter to him, I knew I’d back out. I had to do this for myself, not for Zeth, for me. Even if he didn’t want me, I had to make my own choices and live how I wanted.
“So, no Columbia?”
“No Columbia.” I want to smack the grin off his face. “Now, you can go back to your girlfriend, and I’ll get out of your way.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I don’t have a damn girlfriend.”
“The girl you were just arguing with in your apartment. The one standing only a few feet away from us with tears running down her cheeks. Looks like you’re still a manwhore.”
I shake my head, trying to fight back tears. I’m so incredibly stupid. I knew there was a chance that this would happen. Kelton has repeatedly t
old me Zeth wasn’t seeing anyone, but I guess he’s good at hiding things. Or he’s still having one-night stands.
Yeah, that’s probably it.
Thank God, I had a backup plan, in case Zeth didn’t want to get back together. I’ve been accepted into a new school, and I can meet new people.
“That is not my girlfriend,” he says, looking like I gave him the biggest insult of his life.
I eye him skeptically, but can’t help my gaze from roaming over him. He looks good. Damnit. Why couldn’t he have gained three hundreds pounds and let himself go?
My knees are weak, begging me not to walk away from him. I shouldn’t want to jump his bones right now. My breathing stilts, and I shake my head. Use your self-control, Addison!
I wave my hand in the air like I don’t care. “Okay, your one-night stand … whatever.”
He laughs and turns around to look at the girl. “Margo, she thinks I’m desperate enough to sleep with you.”
The girl snorts, leaning against the wall. She’s wearing a short skirt and a halter-top and looks like she just got home from the club, even though it’s the afternoon. She must’ve stayed with him last night.
“Yeah fucking right,” she says in a hostile tone. “I can’t stand this asshole. I’d rather have my vagina cut out than be with him.”
I cringe, suddenly feeling my vagina ache at her reference.
“She’s Rose’s mom,” he explains.
“And I want to see my goddamn child,” she screams.
“Shut your fucking mouth, Margo,” Zeth yells.
A few apartment doors open, and his neighbors look out to eavesdrop on the commotion. They notice Zeth’s tempered face and slam their doors shut.
“Your ass can go sober up and then you might be able to see her,” he goes on. “Until then, get the fuck out of here. I’ll tell Kelton you’re looking for him.”
She pushes herself off the wall. Her ratty hair is pulled into a ponytail. She looks at me before shoving her way around Zeth. “I’d stay away from this jackass. He likes to keep mothers away from their children.”
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