Michael placed his hand on my upper back, guiding me to the waiting room. I sat next to him, my knees bouncing, and dialed Mason’s number. The call went to voice mail, so I hung up and called him again.
When he didn’t answer for a second time, I left him a message, my words coming out so fast that they sounded slurred. “Mason, please, pick up the phone. My mom is back in the ICU.”
After I hung up, I pursed my lips and texted Melissa and Serena.
Me: Please meet me at Mercy.
My frown deepened when I didn’t receive an immediate response back, and I sank into the chair.
Michael looked over at me, his knee grazing against mine. “What do you mean, your mother isbackhere? She’s been here before?”
My heart ached, and I gazed into his gray eyes. This was it. This was when he’d start treating me differently. Things wouldn’t ever be the same from now on.
I nodded and wrapped my arms around my body. “About four years ago, she had a brain aneurysm. She’s been stuck in assisted living”—I shook my head, hoping more tears wouldn’t fall—“when she should’ve been living with me.”
“Mia,” he said, voice gentle, “I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me?”
I stared down at my knees and didn’t say a word. I was ashamed, so ashamed that I couldn’t support myself and that I had to use Mason for money.
When I didn’t say anything, he sighed through his nose. And then he placed a hesitant hand on my knee and squeezed lightly, fingers brushing against the inside of my thigh. It was unlike any other time he had touched me. His touch was so gentle.
“What about your father? Should you call him?”
And that was when I burst into tears.
“My dad …” I whispered. My body heaved back and forth, and I tried so hard to hold myself still, but I couldn’t. I hung my head in shame—more damn shame. It was all I felt.
By the way Michael shifted beside me, I could tell that he wanted to comfort me more than he already was, but he was hesitant. “Mia, you don’t have to tell me.”
“My dad hit my mom, cheated on her, took all her damn money, and left us.” It was the first time I had ever said those words out loud. I hadn’t dared say them before to Mason—he already knew what had happened. I didn’t dare say them to Melissa and Serena—I didn’t want them to know. I hadn’t even said the words to myself because that would make it so much more real than it already was.
All I could feel was pain from it because … I was turning into my father without even trying to. I was taking Mason’s money. I was mooching off of him. I was cheating on him with Michael. And I might’ve felt guilty about the money part, but I didn’t feel guilty about—I gazed down at Michael’s hand resting on my knee—this part.
Michael looked down and clenched his jaw.
I didn’t know how long we sat in silence, but it had to have been almost an hour. The nurse hadn’t called us up to the counter, and I was getting anxious. Michael’s hand hadn’t left my knee, only calming me down for a bit.
CHAPTER17
MIA
The elevator doors opened, and Mason walked out of the elevator with Melissa and Serena. I hopped up from my chair, so Mason didn’t see Michael’s hand on my knee and hurried over to him.
A look of worry crossed his face for a brief moment, and he wrapped his arms around me. “Baby, what’s going on?” he asked, pulling away from me.
“Mom had another brain aneurysm,” I whispered.
He looked down at my bandaged arms, then back up at me. “And these?”
I pulled my arms away from him and shook my head. “I got cut with glass at work.”
Then, after those two simple questions, he gazed over at Michael. “You called Melissa’s dad to come here before me?”
I pressed my lips together, heart pounding in my chest. Why was he jealous at a time like this? Why was he constantly jealous? Up until recently, I had done nothing to him. I was his perfect girlfriend; I let him go out with the guys, sacrificed nights out with the girls, didn’t talk to any other man that he didn’t want me to. And he was jealous while my mom was being transported into intensive care.
“I didn’t call him,” I said through gritted teeth. “He was at the bar when I got the call.” I pulled away from him and walked to the other side of the waiting room, sat in a chair, and stared at the ground.
If I wanted to get out of this relationship with Mason, I couldn’t ask him to help me with these bills; I’d be in his debt forever. I had to either do it myself or …
