Forbidden Prescription 5 (Forbidden Medicine 5)

She stumbled backwards and gasped, having just realized that Earl was standing in front of her. She looked from him to me and her eyes narrowed into a hateful glare that I knew all too well. The flush of her cheeks wasn’t just from the wine anymore, now it was rage that made her look like a man in drag .

“You!” she hissed so loudly that it shook my eardrums. “You led me here as a trap! You let me say all of those things with him in your apartment !”

“What?” I exclaimed in shock .

“Don’t you dare try to turn this back around on Tabitha!” Earl boomed .

We both jumped, but my mother was quicker to recover. “How dare you try to tear me and your father apart!” she bellowed. “What have I ever done to you? Our love isn’t going to be broken by you or her though .”

“Are you kidding me right now? After everything that I just heard, you think I’m going to buy that shit ?”

“Thank you,” I said .

He spun around and glared at me. My heart skipped then sank to my stomach. “I am not defending you. I can’t believe that you knew about this,” he said .

“Earl,” I begged him. “I didn’t know ab — ”

“I don’t want to hear it!” he yelled. Turning back to my mother his voice got eerily quiet. “And you, just wait until my father hears about this. I think he’ll be interested to know how you really feel about him .”

“Son,” my mother begged in a pathetic display .

“Earl,” I said quickly taking his arm .

He pulled away from me. The door slammed behind him, making me jump. I stood there frozen for a minute before turning my rage back to my mother .

“You did this,” I hissed. “You ruin everything that you touch! You are a monster .”

She pulled her jacket around herself tightly and looked down at me, “Oh don’t be such a brat. I think we’ve got a good thing going here. You can go after the younger one and I’ll stay on the father. One of us is bound to end up on top. I’ll even go fifty-fifty .”

“Are—” I stammered in shock. “Are you kidding me right now? You just ran off the man that I love! I never want to see you again !”

“Suit yourself,” she said with absolute disdain. “You never were very bright. I’ll come out on top of this, just you wait and see. That disgusting man would never pick his son over me. Not with what I do to him .”

“Get out!” I screamed at the top of my lungs .

To my petty happiness the shriek made my mother jump and she quickly scurried to the door like a rat from a sinking ship. She didn’t stop to tell me goodbye or bother to shut the door after herself, but I didn’t care. I was just glad that she was gone. Standing in the silence, though, my mind started to process everything that had just happened. Earl was gone .

My heart felt like it was being crushed. I stumbled backwards and collapsed down onto the couch as it dawned on me. The week of beauty and love was over and now he was done with me. He thought that I knew what a monster she was, but how could I fathom such a beast? Everything that had happened was my fault. It was too good to be true so it could never last. The pain coursed through me, taking over all the wonderful places of pleasure. Now they were just painful reminders that Earl was gone .

I wanted to call him, but there was nothing to say. He would think what he wanted and I couldn’t stop him. Still, I couldn’t survive this alone. With shaking hands, I dialed my sister’s number and managed to tell her what happened between crushing sobs. The conversation was brief, but it was done. An hour later she was sitting on the couch with me, playing the role that my mother abandoned. We did it for each other because that was all we had left .

“I—” I could barely speak. “I don’t know why she came here .”

Selina shifted as she stoked my hair. “I think I might. We got into a fight last night, a pretty big one. I had no idea she was taking money from Gary on the side .”

“What?” I stammered .

“Yeah. Well I was looking at getting my own place so I had the bank run a credit check. Turns out my credit is great because I have almost a million dollars in offshore accounts .”

I gasped. “What !”

“Don’t get jealous, though, because you do too. I hope you don’t mind, I had them run yours as well. I didn’t know what to do! I thought someone was stealing our identities so I called Gary because he knows all those high-powered attorneys and stuff. It was a huge thing that happened last week .”

“That’s why you were so upset with her,” I said, connecting the dots finally .

“Well, aren’t you? She was stealing money from her husband and hiding it under our names! Who knows what else she’s done .”

I frowned, I had a pretty good idea. I knew what kind of person she was. “Yeah, I’m upset about it, but then why did she come here ?”

“Well,” she stalled. “I might have told her that you and Earl were a thing in a fit of rage .”

I groaned. “Why ?”

“Because she kept going on and on about how Gary and Earl were both morons and she was going to take everything from the father then move onto the son. I just go so angry .”

“Hey,” I said as I pulled her into my arms. “It’s not your fault okay? This whole mess isn’t your fault. You just got caught in the crossfire. Everything will work itself out in the end okay ?”

“Promise me that you’ll never leave me,” she said in a soft voice .

I squeezed her tighter. “I promise you, Selina, I won’t ever leave you and Mom can go to hell .”

She laughed softly. “Yeah. She can go right to hell .”

Chapter Seventeen

Earl

“S orry I’m late,” my father grumbled as he sat down. “You would think with the membership fees we pay to this damn club they would get a better valet service .”

I chuckled, he was less than sixty seconds late, but my father had always been a very punctual man. I made a point of planning my arrival’s a full ten minutes before our actual meeting time. It was a trait I knew he appreciated. I’d already ordered us a round of their best whisky, dry for him and mine on the rocks. It was one of very few differences between us. We didn’t always agree on woman, but whisky was easy .

“I was starting to worry,” I said with a grin .

He rolled his eyes. “I’m so happy your sarcasm survived past the teen years.” He laughed. “So, it sounded pretty important on the phone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have lunch with my son any day of the week, but twice in one week? Something’s fishy .”

I leaned back, it wasn’t a conversation I was happy about having. “How well do you know Opal, Dad? Like really know her ?”

He shrugged. “We dated for quite a while before getting married, son. You were busy with your own life, I don’t blame you for not knowing all the details .”

“Dad,” I said carefully. “There is something that you need to know about her .”

“If it’s about her past, I already know. There isn’t any reason for us to relive all that. Don’t tell me you called this lunch just to dredge that up .”

“No,” I told him. “I wanted to talk to you about your marriage .”

“We have a pre-nup if you’re worried about your inheritance,” he said with a chuckle .

I laughed. The money didn’t matter to either of us. We were both well off, it was a running joke between the two of us. I didn’t want to talk to him about his money or even how the stocks were doing which was a regular theme between the two of us. It was going to be hard for him to accept that the woman he loved was a fraud .

“Whatever is on your mind isn’t going to come out on its own. Don’t you think that you should just blurt it out already ?”

“She’s a gold digger, Dad,” I said quickly .

“I didn’t think that gold diggers would wait around for someone. You know I was the one who pursued her .”

“You only think that you did. She was planning this from the beginning

.”

“How do you know all this?” he asked .

I sighed. “You aren’t going to listen to me unless I tell you everything, are you ?”

Gary shook his head. “Nope .”

I sighed. “Opal and her daughter got into it last night. I was there when it happened. Of course, Opal didn’t know I was there, but things got ugly and she said some things, things about getting to know you .”

He chuckled softly. “You are worried over a lover’s quarrel? We fought last night, I’m not surprised that she went to Selina .”

“I wasn’t with Selina,” I said .

Gary set his drink down, his eyebrows arching. “Oh ?”

“We’ve been seeing each other. At least we were until last night. I don’t know anything now though. I feel like she kept this from me .”

“What did she keep from you exactly ?”