by Claire Adams
"Who you texting over there?" Sam leaned over and tugged my phone from my hand. "Oh cool. Who's this Val person? A girl?"
"Yeah. The chick that I helped on the side of the road last night. She came by the shop today and we grabbed lunch together. She's pretty cool." I shrugged and leaned back against the plastic chair in the waiting room.
"Pretty cool? Did this chick really get you a try out opportunity for the swim team?" Sam's voice was filled with warmth.
I couldn't afford to share his excitement. I'd wanted to be on the damn team too long and had been shunned by them several times during my freshman and sophomore years. Tomorrow at two would be no different.
"Yeah, she's a great girl, but I'm not sure I'm going. You know those guys are dicks." I pulled my phone from him, turned it off, and shoved it back into my pocket.
"What? Fuck that. You're an incredible swimmer. Get out there and break all their fucking records. Then what are they going to do? Oh yeah. Right. Let you on the team," he snorted.
"I'm not sure I want on the team anymore, Sam. I have to start picking up shifts at the garage, seeing that Mom is already having trouble paying the rent, and now this." I lifted my hands in the air. "Jerry wants me to think about being the assistant manager, anyway. It's probably better if I just drop out of school and work on bringing in more money. I can't leave that burden on Mom. She's already about to drop."
"Did she have that cough checked on?" He sat up as a nurse walked toward us.
"No, but I'll make sure they do that while we're here." I stood to face the woman.
"Are you Tate?" Her smile was kind.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Your mom’s awake and wants to see you. Your friend can come, too." She turned and we followed her down the hall.
I almost thought I'd gotten away with my comments on leaving college, but Sam started in on me just before we walked into the room.
"You're not quitting, by the way. You're almost there. I'll help out. I have some money saved up." The ass made sure to say it as we walked into the room.
My mother sat up in her bed with a loud grunt. "You're not talking about quitting school again, right?"
"No, Mom." I reached for her hand, lifting it to my mouth and kissing her fingers. "Hush about that right now. You okay?"
"You're not quitting. Promise me now." Her eyes filled with tears. "Promise me."
"Fine, Mom. I'm not quitting." I leaned down and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner tonight."
"I'm not your responsibility. Besides, I'm going to file charges this time like I should have before. You were right." She moved back and gave me a tearful grin. "We'll put him away forever."
"Or I'll kill him." I glanced up at Sam. "Self-defense, right?"
"No, you won't." My mom touched the side of my face. "You know why?"
"Why, Mom?"
"Because you're nothing like him. Don't ever become that way, okay?"
I nodded and tried to let the torrent of emotions plaguing me die down. I needed a drink, a hot shower, and a long night with a good woman screaming my name. I knew two of those things were in the cards, but funnily enough, it was the last one that I needed the most.
I couldn't help but wonder if Val might be up for it. There was a high possibility that she needed it more than I did. I just had to figure out if I had the nerve to find out.
Chapter 11
Val
It had been a long week at school, but a busy one. I hadn't heard another word from Paul, which was good, but I hadn't heard much from Tate, either. Outside of his quick text back with a short thank you, there hadn't been anything. I was starting to wonder if I'd made up the connection we had the day we went to lunch together. I'd finally resigned myself to moving on. The ball was in his court on us seeing each other again, and I wasn't one to push anything that I was lukewarm about anyway.
My dreams were filled with lusty moments strapped to a bed with him hovering over me, but they were nothing more than dreams. He was a good guy, and I had too much drama and baggage to mess up what was probably a simple life for him.
Besides, if he wanted anything to do with me, he would call.
My alarm went off on Saturday morning far earlier than it normally would, which left me grouchy before my feet even hit the floor. My mother wanted me to spend the day with her, working on the last minute decorations for my sister’s upcoming wedding. While I love my sister Allison, the last thing I wanted to do was spend time with my mother. She'd focus on the wedding plans for ten percent of the time, and the rest of the day would be spent with her ripping me apart for my innumerable inadequacies.
"Turn the alarm off. Jeez," Katelyn grumbled from her bed, and I realized that I was lying there letting the alarm continue to scream at me.
"Sorry. Shit." I scrambled out of bed and turned it off before letting out a long yawn. "Get up. You're coming with me."
"I'd ask where, but I don't want to know because my response will be the same. No. I'm tired, and I want to sleep in." She pulled her covers over her head as I yanked the curtain back and let the sunlight in. "Amy and Lucinda are coming, too. Let's go wake them up and get this party started."
"Why are you in a good mood? You hate getting up early." She sat up and gave me an exasperated look.
"We're going to my mother's to work on wedding stuff for Allison. I'm not in a good mood, but I am looking forward to having someone cook all three of my meals today." I smirked before pulling my pajamas off and dressing in a knee-length skirt, a nice blouse, and designer boots. A sweater and leggings sounded much better, but I didn't want to give my mom too much ammo. She was already upset about the car situation and me having broken up with Paul. There was a lot stacked against me, and I'd yet to walk through her front door.
"I don't like your mother. She makes me feel like a bug under a microscope." Katelyn got up and let out a frustrated sigh. "But...I'd do anything for you, so I'll go. I'm wearing what the fuck I want to, though."
"I'm good with that. She's not going to say anything to you, Katelyn. She only berates me. I'm the punching bag." I ran my brush through my hair and fixed my makeup perfectly. I hated the fact that I had to get dolled up to the extent that I did, but I just did. It was expected.
"I'm going to trick punch her if she makes you cry like she did last time." Katelyn yanked on my ponytail on her way to the restroom, causing a huge lump of hair to lift in the middle of it.
"I cry every time." I pulled my hair back down and did it again. Anything out of place was going to get me an ass chewing. I'd tried standing up to her several times, but that only made the drama more intense and usually got my dad dragged into the center of the explosion.
No thanks.
"That's bullshit, but I know you know that." Katelyn stopped beside me a few minutes later. "Jeans and a sweater okay?"
"Yep. Whatever you want to wear. Seriously." I got up and sprayed a little bit of perfume on my chest. "I really wish Tate would call. I didn't get him the tryout with Martin so that he would like me, but it kinda hurts that he hasn't so much as called or texted anything but a quick thanks."
"Val." She worked her hair into a bun before pulling her scarf around her neck and tying it in a way that I could never get mine to work.
"What?" I got up and pulled my jacket from the closet.
"I don't know the guy, but from what Martin says, he's really, really poor. Not that him not having money should matter at all, but I'm sure that causes him to reconsider calling you. You're way out of his league. You're not just some pretty girl from a nice middle class family. You're a Scott." She lifted her eyebrow at me. "That means a lot around here."
"Yeah, well, I wish it didn't." I let out a painful sigh and grabbed my purse. "Come on, let's go visit the famous Scotts and try hard not to leave feeling like we're two inches tall. My mom's good at shrinking people and their egos."
"Your mom is the wicked witch of the west." Katelyn opened our door and followed me out into the
hall. "Tate is probably crazy about you, but you know as well as I do that he's not going to call. If he's mature, then he'll leave you be."
"Shit. Thanks." I gave her a pseudo-glare.
"Don't look at me like that. You're going to have to date a richy-rich just so they can stand to be around your family. Hell, you dragging the three of us there today should prove that. You can't even stand to be around them." She laughed, and I tried to let her words slide off my back, namely because she was right.
*
The look on my mother's face when she opened the front door of our enormous, dark-brick mansion was almost comical. Almost.
"Valentine. You brought company." Her smile was tight and eyes piercing as she looked around the group, but continued to block the doorway. She seemed to have forgotten than it was twenty degrees outside where we were standing.
"Yep. You remember my friends." I glanced back at them as they all gave shit-eating grins. I loved every one of them. "Lucinda, Katelyn, and Amy."
"Right. Come on in, then. You'll catch your death out there." She moved back and opened the door wider.
"Is that Val?" My sister's voice caused my heart to squeeze tightly in my chest. I loved her tremendously, but it was a hard relationship to reconcile within me. She was the reason I wasn't good enough, but she couldn't help that. She was just perfect, and it had little to do with anything vengeful toward me.
"Hey, Allison." I moved into her warm hug and squeezed her tightly. "You remember my friends?"
"I do." She moved out of my hold and gave all of my friends hugs as my mother tugged at my arm.
"Valentine, a word." She pulled me into the study just beside the entrance to the house and closed the door. "Why didn't you ask if it was alright to bring a whole entourage to the house? We have things to do, and the place is filthy."
"It's not filthy, Mom, and besides, they came to help us. I know you wanted to make some of those little paper mache flower things. All of my friends can work on those. Stop being dramatic." I cringed as the words left my lips. Why I couldn't just shake my head and nod was beyond me.
"I'm not being dramatic, but I'll start if you'd like to see me act as such." She moved into my face as her face contorted into the look I was used to seeing – disappointment. "Just do as you’re told today and try to remember that this isn't about you. It's about Allison."
I nodded, biting my tongue so hard it hurt. It was always about Allison. How the hell could I forget that? Neither my mother nor father ever let me.
"Yes, ma'am." I followed her back out into the foyer to find my friends gone.
"Great. Where are they?" She glanced back at me before walking toward the kitchen.
I kept my sarcastic remarks to myself and followed after her quietly.
All of my friends were standing around the kitchen counter, laughing with my older sister as we walked in. I moved up in between Katelyn and Amy and pressed my elbows to the counter as Allison lifted her eyebrow at me.
"The girls tell me that you finally dumped that jerk, Paul. I never did like him. He looked too much like a Ken doll." She winked at me.
"He did, didn't he?" I picked up a chip from the bowl in front of me and nibbled on it. "He cheated on me."
"He did not." My mother stepped up beside Allison. "Your father spoke to him earlier this week. He said that the two of you grew apart. Things happen, dear. Don't spread rumors."
"He was having sex with Carolyn Jacobs, Mom. I walked in on it. I'm not spreading rumors." My temper went from zero to burning hot.
"Okay. So first things first." My sister reached out and grabbed my hand. "We've got three types of cakes to taste. These are the final ones that I liked. Grab a fork and let’s have some fun."
I picked up a fork and let out a slow breath as Allison moved us into the dinner room and escorted my mother somewhere else.
"God, your mother is a bitch." Amy moved up beside me and pretended to stab the air in front of her with her fork. "I think we should egg Paul's car tonight. He's a lying bastard to tell your family that you guys grew apart."
"Yeah, and who calls someone’s parents after cheating on them?" Lucinda gave me a look. "We need to wait for him in a dark alley."
"Word." Katelyn shook her head and moved ahead of us. "Someone needs to teach them all a lesson."
"We're not teaching lessons, beating anyone, or egging anything. My mother has always been like this, and I'm not at all surprised that Paul called. He's just like them. He didn't care about me. He wanted in with them, and now that he's figure out how to do that, good for him." I shrugged and moved up to the three large chunks of cake sitting on the table before us. "Let's wait for my sister or I'm liable to eat the cakes in the wrong order and the room will blow up around us."
My friends chuckled as we gathered around the table.
Lucinda poked at me with her fork. "Tell us more about Tate. That's his name, right? The biker mechanic guy."
"Oh yeah, that's his name." Katelyn wagged her eyebrows. "Tell them all about him so I'm not jealous all by myself."
"Why are you jealous? Martin is a great guy." Amy gave Katelyn a look. "You don't get to be jealous. Us single girls get that right."
"Oh Lord, come on already. I want to know more about him." Lucinda grumbled as my sister walked back in.
Allison stopped across the table from me. "More about who?"
"This guy I met." I shrugged. "We'll talk about it later. This day is about you, so tell us what we're doing and what you want from us." I gave my sister a genuine smile.
"This day isn't about me, silly. Tell me about the guy while we try the cakes. Just see which you like best, and we'll vote. It's the bride’s cake we're trying to decide on. I'm not going to spoil it by telling you the flavors beforehand. Just try them." She picked up her fork. "And it's just us, so pig out."
I laughed and took a big bite of the first one, groaning in delight as the sugary goodness rushed over my tongue. I rarely ate treats, but when I did, I realized what I was missing and would usually overdo it for a few days.
"Tell us about Tate." Amy took a big bite of the last one and grimace. "No. That one is gross."
"Really?" Lucinda moved down to the last cake and tried a bite after Amy. "What? This is delicious. I love it."
I rolled my eyes and continued to try the cakes until they badgered me into talking about Tate. There wasn't much to tell, but I figured I'd share what I could.
"He seems like a nice guy. He's a little taller than me, broad shoulders, sandy brown hair. He's got a great smile, beautiful lips, and warm brown eyes." I took a bite of the middle cake and gagged. "Nasty."
"Nasty in bed or like he has a nasty attitude?" My sister glanced up at me.
I laughed. "The middle cake is nasty. I don't know Tate that well. We just went to lunch the day he fixed my tire."
"Oh, a man who's good with his hands. Fun." Amy wagged her eyebrows. "Didn't you say he was a mechanic?"
"Yep, and he has tats all over his neck and arms, too."
Lucinda wagged her eyebrows. "He sounds delicious. Did you get to see him the other day when you took her over there, Katelyn?"
"Unfortunately, no, but Tate is trying out of the swim team. Val got the opportunity for him with Martin by winning a bet." Katelyn smirked at me.
"A bet? Sounds interesting." Lucinda stiffened, and I turned to see why. My mother had walked back into the room.
"It's nothing. I scored the first three points of the intramural games the other night on the boys’ league. Just a quick fake and shot, and I got the tryout opened back up for him." I smiled and mimicked the move that sunk my three-pointer.
"Who's Tate?" My mother asked, and it was as if she'd sucked all the air from the room.
"Just a guy who helped me fix my tired that other night, Mom." I took a bite of the last cake, trying not to get into a conversation with her over it.
"And, you got him a spot on the swim team? Sounds quite self-sacrificing to me." Her tone was less t
han friendly. Where I used to be embarrassed by the way she talked to me in front of my friends, I was rather used to it now. There was no changing it.
"The first one is my favorite." I glanced up at Allison and smiled.
"Valentine, I'm speaking to you." My mother gripped the back of my arm.
My friends started to give their recommendations to my sister as I turned to face my mom.
"I'm sorry. I was just trying to stay focused on Allison like you asked me to." I kept my tone steady and soft, though I didn't want to.
"By talking about some heathen guy that you're helping out at school? You have more important things to focus on than becoming someone who just hands out random opportunity to charity cases. Understood?" Her brow pulled in tight as she studied me with open disapproval.
"Being nice is free, Mom. Tate's a good guy, and I was happy to help him out as a repayment for helping me first." I shrugged and pulled from her. "He's not open for discussion."
That was obviously the wrong thing to say. She spent the next twenty minutes berating me on my choices and lack of ambition. Allison was kind enough to pull my friends into another room a few minutes into the ass-chewing, but much to my horror, my father walked in at the end of it.
I stood there in stony silence and went to a happy place in my head where neither of them existed. It was the only way to get through any of it. Screaming at my mother would have just made matters worse, and knowing that her blood pressure was causing issues left me defenseless against her. She'd keel over in front of me, and though I hated her with every cell in my body, I loved her just as equally.
Too bad I was the only one that felt that way between the two of us. She didn't care for me then, and I wasn't sure she ever had.
"Do you hear me?" she screamed in my face as I glanced over to my dad.
"See you guys later. Sorry I showed up today." I turned on my heel, collected my friends, and got back in the car as my teary-eyed older sister waved from the front door.
None of us spoke a word back to campus, but then again, there really wasn't much to say.