I swallowed hard as his face fell and hardened into stone. My mother’s eyes flickered toward me, and I could see the anger growing in them again. Just like they had on the porch when she unleashed on me yesterday.
This wasn’t going to end well.
“What did you tell them?” she asked with a hiss.
“Just that you were interested in them,” I said.
“Not in the two you already fucked, no,” she said. “But this one I could get behind.”
She pulled herself away from Adam and gravitated toward Nick, her hips swaying and her tits shoved up to her chin. But Nick rose from his seat and stood toe-to-toe with her, looking down on her as if she was nothing more than gum on the bottom of his boot.
“I think I speak for all my brothers when I say we have no interest in women who compete with their daughters,” Nick said.
“Here, here,” Tyler and Tanner said.
My mother pulled herself upright and shoved her tits out farther. “But I could make your night, sweet cheeks. I’ve got more than my daughter could ever offer you.”
“And I said ‘no,’” Nick said.
I saw the pang of rejection sting my mother as she took a step back. She looked over at me as she pressed herself up against the bar, knocking Nick out of the way.
“You think you can turn this bar against me just because you sleep with a couple of men?” my mother asked. “I already told you, you have zero right to judge me anymore, you little slut.”
She grabbed Nick’s drink I had just made him and brought it back. My eyes widened as Lindy lunged for me, trying to knock me out of the way, but it was too late. My mother sprayed my face with the cold alcohol, stinging my eyes as I bent over at the bar. I knocked my head against the corner of it and stumbled backward into Lindy’s arms as I heard Nick and Adam struggling with my mother.
“You’re a good-for-nothing spoiled brat, Emma! You hear me? You think you’re better than me, but you’ll suck any cock put in front of you, just like me!”
Tears rose behind my lids, trying to clear the stinging alcohol from my eyes.
“Emma, we gotta get your eyes washed out,” Lindy said.
“Let’s get her in the back,” Tyler said.
I felt myself being picked up in someone’s arms as footsteps fell closely behind me. Lindy helped me to get my eyes washed out as I cried on the stool, then she sent me to her apartment for the night. Normally, I wouldn’t leave her alone to fend for herself at the bar, but it was a slow night, and I was suddenly exhausted.
I was crying behind the wheel of my car as I made my way to Lindy’s place.
I got out of the car and stomped my way up to Lindy’s apartment. The guys were right on my heels, but I didn’t fucking care. I couldn’t believe the fit my mother just pitched. I was embarrassed and angry and fucking fed up with her antics. Worst of all, part of me still wondered if she was right.
It was Tanner’s voice that broke through my tears as the apartment door shut behind Adam.
“Are you okay, Emma?” he asked.
“No! No, I’m not fucking okay! I’ve got a mother hell-bent on making sure I know I’m just like her. One who fucking shits on my dreams and offers me no support, and whose childish antics are gonna get me fired from my fucking place of work. I’m sick and tired of her! Why the hell is she so set on ruining me?”
I collapsed onto Lindy’s couch as Adam caught me in his arms.
“She can only ruin you if you let her, baby girl.”
“That’s right,” Tyler said.
“You can’t listen to her,” Nick said. “She’s clearly jealous of you because you have a plan for your life beyond whoring around town.”
“You’re nothing like her,” Tanner added. “Not one fucking thing about her is anything like you.”
“I’m so sick and tired of having to deal with her and all her bullshit,” I said breathlessly.
“It’s okay, baby girl,” Adam said. “Come here.”