“I’m not asking you to help me.” I hold up a hand. “I’m asking you to check on her. That’s all. I swear it.”
Whether Savannah can forgive me is up to her, but I won’t stop caring either way. If she needs money for rent, I’ll make sure she has it. I hate thinking of her all alone, feeling as if she has no one.
And knowing I’m the reason she feels that way is gut-wrenching.
Finally Josie blows out a breath and picks up her phone. “Fine, but I’m not doing this for you.”
I nod. “I know.”
She taps the screen a few times, then the ring tone echoes loudly through the kitchen. With the device on speaker, she sets it on the counter between us.
After two rings, Savannah picks up. “Hey, Jose. I can’t really talk right now.”
“Well, you’re going to need to because your boy toy just showed up at my house and demanded I tell him where you work,” Josie grouses. “And since I was under the impression that your only job was atJolie, I was a little thrown.”
“Fuck, sorry about that,” Savannah says.
Just hearing her voice kills me. I want to reach through the phone and hold her.
“It’s not a big deal,” she rushes out. “I just needed a quick influx of cash because my bitch of a mother stole my rent money.”
It takes everything in me not to growl and take the phone. Tara is such a fucking cunt.
“What? Why? When? Why didn’t you tell me your mother was in town?” Josie narrows her eyes at me, throwing figurative daggers, then picks up the phone and starts pacing with it.
“Because she’s a bitch? I don’t know. I don’t want to waste any more time thinking about it, honestly. This week has been hell, but I’m finally starting to feel like I can breathe again. I made enough over the last two nights for this month’s rent. Hopefully I’ll make enough tonight to cover next month’s. Then I should be good.”
“But what are you doing?” Josie says, her tone full of suspicion and concern.
I feel the same way. Hands fisted, I focus on breathing evenly, even as I want to dart out of here and hunt her down.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine,” Josie says. “And why did you and Cam break up? What’s going on, Sav? You’re making me nervous.”
“Honestly,” she says, her tone resigned, “I think he found out that he used to date my mother and he freaked.”
Josie spins around, her eyes wide.
My own fall shut. So she does know. I assumed she did, but fuck.
“He what?”
Savannah groans. “It’s gross, I know. My slut of a mother cheated on Cam when she was a senior in high school. She got pregnant. The story is far too long to tell now.” Her tone gets a little watery when she continues. “I don’t know how he figured it out, but a few days ago, he told me this story about seeing his ex and her daughter in a bar. He mentioned that she was carrying around a doll with pink hair. That’s when I realized the connection. I remember being at a bar with my mom, playing with that doll while I waited for her. I put two and two together, and my suspicions were confirmed when my mother said she was in town to seduce him.” She gags.
Face screwed up in fury, Josie stabs the mute button. “So help me god,” she whispers, “if you fucked her mother?—”
“I didn’t,” I hiss.
Her expression doesn’t soften as she unmutes the phone. “So did she? Seduce him, I mean?”
Savannah makes another gagging noise. “I really fucking hope not. But I don’t think so. She sent me a text later that day saying she got a call from some married pilot she’s been having an affair with and that he was in Boston.” She sighs, the sound making the crumbled pieces of my heart hurt. “Yeah, my mother is that kind of winner. So she took my money—borrowed, is how she put it—and took off to meet him.”
“Your mother sucks,” Josie grumbles.
“Tell me about it,” Savannah mutters. “That same day, Cam sent me a text telling me he couldn’t do this anymore. And he asked me to leave his house.”
Josie hurls a cookie at me, but I’ve still got good reflexes, and I dart out of the way.
