I clenched my hands into fists.Control yourself, Michael. She’s fucking with you.
She stepped closer to me, and I stepped back.
“Take one more fucking step, Linda, and I’m calling the police.”
“Calling the police for what?” she asked, testing me. “Sleeping with an underage girl?”
“I’m twenty-two,” Mia said, seizing the railing. “Old enough to make my own decisions.”
Linda hummed amusingly. “Sure,twenty-two…that’s what we’ll call you.”
“If you come close to me or Mia again, I will get a restraining order against you.” And I meant it. I could deal with her craziness, but I wasn’t going to put Mia’s life in danger. “Leave.”
Linda narrowed her eyes at me, and then she walked down the stairs, out the damn door, and to her car. I shut the door behind her and growled under my breath. She was a fucking bitch who’d do anything to ruin my life like she had ruined hers. She had to try to bring me down with her.
“Michael,” Mia whispered as soon as the door closed. Something about her was off, as she wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Michael, you know I love you. I don’t want to get in the way of …anything.”
“Don’t think you’re the problem, Mia, because you’re not.”
“I don’t want her to hurt you. You’re respected in the city. If people find out that we’re dating, they’re going to look at you differently. And …” A look of fear crossed her face. “What if she says something about us that isn’t true? What if she says that we’ve been together since I was in high school?”
I gulped. Linda would spread those rumors around town. But I didn’t want Mia to worry about this. Linda was my problem, and I would deal with her.
“It doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks,” I said, pulling her closer to me. There was hesitation in her stature, but she eventually relaxed in my arms and wrapped her arms around me. “The truth matters, Mia, and you and I know that best.”
CHAPTER2
MIA
After Melissa’s mother had left yesterday morning, I had felt off. Something about the way she’d barged into the house made me feel much lesser than her. She had been the woman before me, had almost spent more time with Michael than I had been alive, knew more about him than I did.
“Hello?!” Serena said, waving a hand in front of my face. “You going to finish your work, so we can hang out, or no?”
I glanced down at the computer with my psychology work on it and frowned. The sunlight flooded in through her apartment window, and I could hear Victor and Damien playing video games in the other room.
“Sorry, I was thinking.”
“Daydreaming about Michael?” she asked, brow raised.
“Just about everything.” I typed some words into my document and submitted it through the online system to my professor.
I had been taking summer classes, and I wished it were over already. Melissa and Serena had both graduated last semester, and I had been so caught up with Mom’s health and everything else that I had to drop two classes.
So, here I was, in the middle of summer, studying and writing stupid reports.
“I’m so happy you’re graduating soon!” Serena said, squealing. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and smiled down at my computer. “It might not be on time, but so close!”
I sighed down at all my work I had to do. “Yeah, I wish I’d had some time for myself, some time to actually enjoy college, but I wouldn’t change anything.”
“Well, let’s take a break.” She pulled me to the bed. “Have you heard from Melissa?”
I arched a brow and glanced over at her. “She came over to see Michael once a few days ago when I was visiting Mom. He hasn’t said much about her since. I think they’re talking, but not as much as they used to talk.”
She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her Contacts to Melissa’s name. There were some unanswered texts from her, some answered ones. I frowned at the phone and at how desperate Melissa seemed over text to talk to someone. Part of me felt so bad about it.
“Are you going to text her back?”
Serena shrugged and sighed again. “I don’t know. I don’t want to after what she did.”
