“Your choice is clear, Tessa.” My mother’s eyes are watering, her lips trembling. “When I saw you’d removed that disgraceful tongue piercing for Hunter, I thought maybe you were … Why did you even come today?”
“You removed the piercing for me?” Hunter blurts out, evidently unable to read theyard. What he can read is the incensed man beside me, so he clamps his mouth shut.
“I came for Violet,” I snap, ignoring him, my eyes burning. “That’s who I chose.”
“No, you didn’t.” My mother shakes her head, her hand flitting between Maddox and me in a dismissive sweep. “You came for you—to flaunt the values you weren’t raised with, to rub your despicable ways in our face—”
“Lor,” my father chides, snapping the first syllable of my mother’s name—Loretta. “Give it a minute.”
My father is a stoic man. He doesn’t like heated confrontations. He’s also tenderhearted, so he’s well aware that mine is being ripped out right now.
“There’s clearly been some misunderstandings,” Maddox starts with a cordial nod to my father as all eyes flick to him. “First, Tessa didn’t invite me here. I came to surprise her. I knew today was important to her, and I wanted to be a part of that. I didn’t realize it would cause so many issues. Second”—he pins Hunter with that demented grin of his that would send Jack Torrance fromThe Shininginto hiding—“she took the piercing out for me—”
“Maddox,” I snarl, and the jackass winks at me.
“I’ve got one more, baby girl.” He slides his hand over the small of my back and kisses my hair, which both comforts and aggravates me, but I don’t react because everyone is gaping at us, dumbstruck. He turns to my mother, and though he’s composed, there’s a chilling undertone of warning. “Tessa is a grown woman—a damn impressive one who balances both strength and compassion, which is why she’s tolerating this with far more poise than anyone here deserves—so I’m going to resist the urge to drag her out of here and away from this uncalled-for disrespect. But lashing out at her isn’t—”
“No one asked you to weigh in here,” my mother cuts him off, her green eyes flinty.
“Loretta, that is enough,” my father rebukes her again. “He brought a gift for Violet and Derek and askedmypermission to see Tessa, so—”
“And you granted it?” She grips her chest, betrayal written in every line of her features before she addresses Maddox. “My husband might be swayed by whatever charm you cast on him. But I am not. We know all about your family, about what goes on at that establishment, about your parents, about your moth—”
“With all due respect, ma’am,” Maddox says, shocking the hell out of me with his even-keeled temperament and considerate tone while being attacked, “leave my mother out of this.”
“You look just likehim,” she sneers, glaring at Maddox before she sets her disgruntled leer on me. “It repulsed me that you would work for them, and I tried to look past it for years. It’s not like I hadn’t been bracing myself for you to fall into this type of lifestyle since you were fifteen years old, but I thought … I tried not to be hurt by you, returning to thatjob. But romantically involved? I won’t stand by and watch you become another casualty of their evilness. Do you know why he wants his mother left out of this? What his father—”
“Mom,” I scold, knowing she’s headed to the ugly rumors that circulated about why his parents died in that housefire, which have no place here. “I understand that you’re upset, and I will handle it, but being rude to Maddox isn’t—”
“You need to go,” Eden says with her docile husband by her side. “I don’t want him oryounear my kids.”
“You know what, Eden?” My composure shatters, my arms flying out, rage boiling in my veins. “This has nothing to do with you. Your kids are fine. This is Mom and Dad’s house and Violet and Derek’s party, so—”
“Tessa?” Violet’s voice cracks on my name, her face as white as a ghost. She glances from me to Maddox, and then she runs.
Without a second thought, I take off after her because she’s why I’m here. And I can only imagine what the sight of Maddox just triggered for her.
“Vi, wait,” I rush out, seconds before my hand manages to clasp her elbow. “Talk to me.”
“How could you?” She whips around, tears streaming down her face. “How could you bring him here?”
“I didn’t. He came to surprise me, but …” I take her in, the beads of sweat on her forehead and the terror in her eyes, and a sigh rips from my lungs. “Violet, he saved us. I understand why the rest of the family views him … the way they view him, but you know he’s got a lot of good in him.”
“I think the fact that you see it that way is far more telling about you. He took me to their hospital, and they treated me well. I’m not ungrateful about that. He cleaned up a murder and kept you from getting arrested, so I get it. To you, he’s a hero. But to me …” She stares off into the distance for a beat, her hands tightening into fists. “He’s the face of someone who has the resources to do that without effort. Just because I reaped the benefits of it on the worst night of my life doesn’t mean I want any part of it. And Derek doesn’t know any—”
“And he never will,” I assure her. “That’s why I called Maddox in the first place, so you wouldn’t have to—”
“You really believe that, don’t you?” She scoffs, scrubbing her hands over her face to dry her tears. “If that was your reasoning, you would have asked me. I told you to call the police.”
“And I knew you’d be put through hell if I did.”
“Fine, maybe that was your motivation.” She shakes her head, so resigned that it’s clear I’ve already lost before she even goes on. “But you think that night sets me apart from Mom and Eden in how I see him. All it does is reinforce their fears aboutwho you’ve become by working for that family. You took a life without batting an eye and didn’t think twice about covering it up. And if that wasn’t enough, by returning to that job, you shouted your approval for what they do. Who knows what else you’re involved in?”
It doesn’t even matter that Maddox insisted I come back to work. This is a completely separate issue. It’s not him they disapprove of. It’s me. I won’t apologize for saving her life or pretend I feel an ounce of remorse for killing that rapist. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
“I showed up for you that night. I have always shown up for all of you. But who shows up for me, Violet?” I smack my chest with the same brittle force that reality is battering me with. “You know, you’ve all treated me like a heathen for years, and I have never once asked that. I’ve been here, welcome or not. But who shows up for me?”
“Obviously,hedoes,” she snipes, “so go home, Tessa.”
