Damn, why was she here? Why couldn’t she leave us alone? Why was it always—
Michael took my hands and squeezed them. “Hey, everything is going to be okay.”
“Michael!” Linda shouted from across the room.
Everyone suddenly quieted down, some people glancing over at us. The two goons who had been trying to flirt with me earlier stared intently at her, then back at me.
She looked like she was put together for once in her entire life, but I could tell by the sway in her step that she had been drinking yet again. I had seen that walk one too many times.
She walked toward us, eyes landing on Serena, who sat next to him.
“Fucking two young whores now, Michael? I didn’t think you had it in you.”
CHAPTER11
MIA
Michael tensed and swore under his breath, peering back at Linda, who continued to stumble over to us. Everyone in the entire bar stared over at her, and I couldn’t imagine how embarrassing this must’ve been for Michael.
I grasped his hand tighter, wrapping my fingers around his palm. “Michael, she’s trying to get you angry,” I whispered to him, but it was too late.
Michael was already fuming at her, his eyes cold, cheeks red with anger. “Are you following us?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“I didn’t know you were here,” Linda claimed. “I just wanted to come get a drink. This is my favorite place to get drunk, think about better times when my husband wasn’t such a prick and didn’t prey on little girls.”
I glared at her. Michael had said she was his problem, but she was interfering with my life too. She was putting stupid fucking rumors in Mason’s head, making him and Melissa think that we’d tarnished their family. And while I trusted Michael to handle this, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” I asked, drawing her attention away from Michael and to me.
“What was me?” she asked, eyes wild and crazy.
Was she always like this? Always this crazy? This manipulative? This much of a liar? Was that why Michael had finally ended it with her?
My hands balled into fists under the bar, and I realized how stupid I was for not telling Michael that I had run into Mason earlier. I didn’t have much time. I had been running late for work, had to speed here to clock in on time.
“Mason,” I said, hoping she’d get the damn hint.
Michael tensed and sat up taller. “Mason?”
I clenched my jaw. “Mason came to visit me at Serena’s house today. Was standing outside your car, waiting for me …” I turned back toward her, anger rushing through my veins. I tried to keep my voice quiet, but I couldn’t contain my anger any longer. “You’ve been telling him lies about me and Michael—that I slept with Michael when I turned eighteen.”
Linda tilted her head and cackled. “I did no such thing. That boy asked me what happened between us, and I told him the truth.”
After taking a deep breath so I didn’t punch her straight in the face for wrecking my life, I glanced back at Michael, who looked both hurt and angry.
Guilt washed over me, and I furrowed my brows together and gripped his hand from across the bar. “I refused to let him get near me. I would’ve called you when it happened, but I was late for work. I’m sorry. I was going to tell you tonight.”
Serena nodded at Michael. “She was. She told me.”
Linda cackled. “Trouble in paradise?”
She collapsed down onto a barstool next to Serena. Michael grabbed Serena’s arm and pulled her off the stool and away from his ex-wife.
“Anyway, I want something hard.”
I pursed my lips together. “I can’t serve you.”
Her cheeks turned a blazing pink. “I said I wanted a drink.”
