I am struck with so many emotions, I can’t even move. The questions burning through my mind are ridiculous. What the hell is she doing here? How does she know where Grey lives? Where I would be? Is she here to pick yet another fight? Or, doubtfully, to make up and hug? Better question: How did she get in? I may not know her well, but I do know that she isn’t juvenile enough to know how to pick a lock.
“Mother…what are you doing here?” My voice comes out watery, and I feel like I’m drowning in them, struggling to break through the surface.
Her red lips twitch into a small smile, like a calculation made by a fashionably dressed robot. “I’m here to inform you that you will be spending the holiday with your family…” Her eyes, blue and shimmering, cut over to Grey, who glares through her, and she smiles a tad bigger. “Where you belong,” she finishes.
“Before we start this shit-show, tell me how the fuck you got into my apartment,” Grey booms, seething with anger. I would be pissed if a known psychopath broke into my house, too. “I would talk real fast before I call the cops.”
“I’m not so sure you, of all people, should do that.” Her tone is clipped and laced with venom. “That is, unless you’d like to re-visit a jail cell.”
Grey tenses next to me, but I link my fingers through his and give him a sense of support. We can face her together. We have before. And this time, she will not break the bond we have worked so damn hard to build and strengthen. Receiving a blank expression, but eyes that speak a language only I can interpret, I smile softly before shifting my eyes to my mother.
Her face lights in condescending amusement as she steps around the coffee table and walks over to us, the slimming red dress that clings to her wide hips and big chest, which I inherited from her, making her appear as the devil in six-inch heels.
“What are you doing here, Mother?” I reiterate.
Her eyes cut from Grey, to me. “I am here to save you, Liv.”
Save me? What does she have to save me from? Grey?
“I’m not leaving Grey, Mother,” I inform her with a firm grip on his hand.
She glances at our interlocked hands, and her jaw twitches, her fingers curling just the slightest—her tell-tale sign that she’s getting pissed.
“As you have cried so many times before,” she mutters.
“You still have yet to answer my question, lady.” Grey takes a step toward my mother, and her eyes flick up, her mouth corner widening. She’ll call the cops, even though she was the one who broke into his apartment, and he’ll get arrested. And Lord only knows the wound that would re-open. I step forward and yank him back.
“Answer him, Mother,” I order.
She glares at me but doesn’t drop that nefarious smirk of hers. “I informed you I was coming here in person, but you didn’t reply, so I took it upon myself. I was worried about my daughter when she wouldn’t answer my calls or texts, so I informed her phone carrier. And what do you know, they were so very helpful in informing me where she and her device was. Would you imagine my surprise it’s here in this not-so-safe neighborhood? I mean, you only proved how much you don’t love or care to protect her, bringing her here to corrupt her in a ratty apartment complex, where the landlord just opens apartments to anyone.” She shrugs.
She really is evil. How did I not see it before?
“And I thought my mother was crazy,” Grey blurts without any shame. “Listen, I don’t care how underhanded or insane you are, that doesn’t give you the right to just track her down like she’s an animal and break into my fucking apartment.”
Wait…
“I didn’t get any calls or texts from you recently…” My blood pricks with fire as I look at Grey. He has his head tipped back, eyes averted. “You blocked her, didn’t you? When I found you last night, you blocked her? Answer me, Grey.”
“Fine, what if I did?” He shrugs like it’s no big deal. But it is. Because it gave her enough reason to come and search for me. It’s why she’s here right now. If I had seen her calls about coming here, I would have been able to let her down about Christmas and avoid having to face her here, now, in his apartment.
“Don’t be mad at me,” he pleads.
“I’m not mad!” I snap and take a deep breath, ignoring Mother’s smile. She’s enjoying this, but I will not give her any more satisfaction, seeing us fight. We can talk about what he did later. But right now, I need her to leave. “Mother, what is it that you’re really here for?” I ask with as much calmness as I can muster.
“You,” she says. “You have gotten out of control. A little too out of control. You’re living here in this dump with him?” She gestures to Grey without even looking at him.
He makes an animalistic sound, but I put my hand on his chest, maintaining eye contact with my mother.
“I’m not living with him, Mother, even though that’s none of your business.” I straighten my posture, giving Grey a look to keep calm without my having to touch him, and he rolls his eyes. I smile inwardly and keep my expression impassive as I face my mother. “I’m just spending a little time with my boyfriend. And there is nothing wrong with that.”
“Yes, there is, actually!” she snaps, losing her cool. I raise an eyebrow as she runs her palms down the front of her tight dress, a smile twitching on her full lips. When she opens her eyes, I swear the cerulean shade swirls with frost surrounding her irises. “You’re beginning the long trail to heartbreak. But you’re too deep in his lies to realize it. I care for you, more than he ever will!”
“You do not care about me!” I cut her off. “If you did, then you would see how happy I am, how much I love him, and leave me be!”
“Love?” she scoffs and rolls her eyes. “What you’re feeling is lust, not love, darling.”
“Stop it, just stop!” I plead and shake my head, losing my composure. “I do love him, Mother. And you’re just stepping in the way…” I gulp and suck on my lower lip to regain composure. “Look, I do love him. It’s not lust, and I’m not crazy. Why can’t you see that?”
“Why can’t you see that he’s using you?” she fires back. Then she takes a deep breath. “I came here to confirm you’re coming for Christmas. You will be picked up at nine. Be ready before the driver gets here. And dress presentable…” She looks me up and down with visible disgust. “You have changed so much…I only wish I could go back in the past and keep you from attending that wretched school. I had no idea he would be there to mess everything up. If I did, you’d be studying in New York.” Shaking her head in disappointment, she brushes past me, headed toward the elevator.
Funny, she thinks this is the last of the conversation.
“Sorry to shit on your parade, but Liv is spending Christmas with me,” Grey announces with a proud smirk, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
My stomach tightens, and I cling to him, anxious for her reaction. I was going to tell her, but I had to gather the stomach and confidence to so. Unfortunately, I didn’t have either. She can be like a volcano. Dormant for long periods of time but explosive when one thing has enough power to disrupt her façade.
She stops short of the still-open elevator door. “What was that?”
“Grey, I don’t think—” He stops me from speaking by placing his palm over my lips. I glare up at him, and he sends me a wink before turning to my mother, who slowly pivots on her red-bottomed heels.
“You heard me right,” he gloats with a wide grin. “She’s staying here, spending that glorious family holiday with me.”
Smack a sticker that says, “Take that, bitch!” on your forehead, why don’t you.
I push his hand off of me and face my silently fuming mother. “Thanksgiving didn’t go well. Things won’t be any different this time around. And I thought I could, maybe, spend it with…him?” I ball my hands together and fiddle with his charm between my fingers.
“Have you lost your mind?” she screams, a vein throbbing in the middle of her forehead. Green and prominent, it makes me flinch and cower into Grey’s arms. She stomps over to me and gestures wildly with her hands. “He’s just using you, you stupid little girl! Why can’t you see that? You will not be spending any more time with him. We’re leaving right this instant! The nerve!” She grabs my wrist and tugs me forward. I nearly stumble and fall. Tears well in my eyes, and all I can do is cry.
I am transported to the time I messed up when practicing the violin with my tutor, and my mother dragged me out of the pristine white room, promising that I would go nowhere in life if I didn’t do better.
You always need to do your best and better, Olivia.
I thought you were my bright girl, so stop messing up!
Really, Olivia, couldn’t you have chosen a more…appropriate dress?
They all flood my mind, leaving me writhing in pain and tears.
“No!” I scream, but she just keeps tugging and tugging and tugging—
“Get your fucking hand off of her!” Grey yells.
Suddenly, I’m on the floor and my chest is on fire. I frown, confused why she would ever let go of me, why she would ever stop trying to control me. When I look up, I gasp and am rewarded my answer.
Grey has my mother pinned against the wall by her shoulders, and he is shaking in rage. So much so that I’m afraid he’ll hurt her. And then the cops really will need to be called. And I’ll be damned if I let him go to jail for something—someone—not even worth it.
“Stop!” I push to my feet and rush over to him. I try to pull him off of her by his shoulders, but he locks them in and transforms into a man of steel. He doesn’t budge, not even when I scream his name and plead for him to let go. Her blue eyes bulge out of her head, fear and shock embedded on her face. “Grey, please don’t! Let go of her!”
“This is the monster you choose over me? Over your family?” she spits.
“He is not a monster,” I say breathlessly. “Grey, listen to me. Put her down or you’ll just be proving her right…please!” I beg, and he glares at me over his shoulder. I plead through my eyes for him to let her go. To trust me. He huffs out a scoff and scowls at her. “Grey!”
“Fuck,” he mumbles but finally lets her go. “I don’t want to see you here ever again. I don’t want you to lay a finger on her. I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re her mother. She is with me because I care for her, more than your cold heart ever could manage. I love your daughter more than I have ever loved anything or anyone in my life. She makes me a better person, though whenever you show up, I go right back to being a dick. If you can’t believe for a second that Liv can handle herself like the fucking adult she is, then that’s your own damn fault.”
She opens her mouth, but he punches the wall and she scuttles to the side.
“Now get the hell out of my apartment!” He points his finger to the open elevator.
She shifts her eyes to me, but I avert my eyes. “You’re making the biggest mistake of your life, Olivia! You may choose to ruin your life, but you can’t come crying back to me when he breaks your heart.” This was the last thing I ever wanted.
“Mother.” My voice cracks, and a warm tear drops down my cheek. I take a step toward her, to make her see, to tell her that he means the world and everything more to me. But she firmly shakes her head, narrows her eyes at me, nose flaring, and storms into the elevator. Her heels click on repeat, each echo ringing in my head. “Mother, please, just listen—”
The door closes, but not before she gives me a glower that will haunt my dreams.