Her eyes turned to steel. “Anything I did, I did to help you. You’d be rotting in some jail if it hadn’t been for me.”
“I’ve been rotting in the jail of my own guilt, don’t you understand that?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, as though I was a child with no comprehension of the situation.
“You can leave now, or do you want me to call the police? You’re trespassing,” Dee said. “If you have any argument with Alex, you can do it elsewhere. I have no business with you.”
Wow, Dee could out-haughty my mother when she tried. That was impressive.
Mother harrumphed but picked up her bag. “This isn’t the end of it.”
“Yes, it is,” said Dee. “Your money means nothing here.”
Mother stepped toward me, tapping my cheek. I flinched away from her.
“Come with me now or you’ll lose every bit of financial support we’ve given you. You’ll be on your own and we’ll never bail you out again.”
I knew my mother, and I knew that look in her eyes. She wasn’t joking. If I let her walk out that door, I’d never get a red cent from my parents again in my life. Not even a card for Christmas. It’d been the threat she’d used all my life: I’d be nothing without their money.
But now, when it came to the crunch, it was like a massive, crushing weight had been removed from my shoulders. I’d much rather face the future with my own power, even if that meant that I failed.
“Thanks, that’s all I ask for her,” I said.
She clenched her jaw.
“You’ll regret that. Your father has already been talking about your cousin, Phillip, being a more suitable successor. Once he makes that announcement, there’ll be no place for you. And I sure won’t be helping you out. Next time you get in trouble, deal with it yourself.”
I laughed. Phillip was welcome to it all. I had no desire to take anything from my parents. I’d been selfish and entitled but, in the end, that only lost me the things that mattered most.
“I hope you’ll be happy with that tramp,” she said. “She’s no better than her brother was, both of them problems to be eradicated.”
Dee rushed toward her but I grabbed her in my arms. It was better to let her go than to attack. It wouldn’t have surprised me to discover that Mother had just said that to get Dee angry.
Mother paused at the door.
“Leave. Now,” I said. “I never want to speak to you again.”
I didn’t let go of Dee. Her heart beat against mine, hard and fast. I held her until we heard the door slam and the car drive off down the street. I held until her body relaxed and her heart stopped pounding. Even then, I didn’t want to let her go.
Dee grinned. Hell, I had enough. I had more than enough. I had the most precious things in the world: my self-respect and this gorgeous woman. Nothing else mattered.
Dee
I couldn’t believe the things Alex had said. His mother was insane, that’s how it seemed to me. She tried to control him, but he’d stood by me. The way he held me kept me grounded.
I’d been about to lose my shit when his mother had been talking to me like that. Then she’d said that about Jake. I wanted to kill her. He was right to stop me from hitting her though. Her words couldn’t hurt me now.
When I’d kissed Alex, I thought he’d take me into his arms and kiss me to death, crush me with passion and never stop. Only, we’d kissed, and it’d been nice but then he’d pulled away. He held my hands in his and a slip of paper floated to the ground. I’d been so distracted by his mother, and then by him, that I’d forgotten I’d been holding that phone number. I’d crushed it into a ball in my hands. Hell, it was probably drenched with sweat after all that.
I hoped Alex hadn’t noticed but he bent to pick it up.
I snatched the paper off him and inhaled deeply. Would he be angry if I told him? No matter what, I had to be honest, though. This could ruin the frail thing between us.
“It’s the number of the dude at your music company. Matt? Sally got it for me. I was going to ring him and tell him you’d stolen the song.”
I kept my gaze on the floor, the filthy floor. Hell, when did we last mop? And why was I thinking about that when Alex would well walk out on me in disgust? He had nice shoes. Why didn’t he say anything?