“We were under the impression that you slept with Morris,” Vito said in confusion.
Birdee visibly recoiled. “What?”
“Morris broke up with me before the rehearsal dinner and explained that he was in love with someone else. You.”
Mable’s words had me pulling her impossibly closer.
If she could crawl inside of my chest, she’d be there.
She was standing there, looking so incredibly lost, and every single cell in my body was encouraging me to pull her in close and never let her go. To protect her from everything that might hurt her.
The fierce protectiveness inside of my soul that wanted to wrap around her and protect her with every fiber of my being was dangerous.
I couldn’t have someone this close to me.
I had a secret that could never be revealed.
And that wasn’t something that a woman should have to live with—half of a man.
I should be giving her my all. Not pieces.
There were things that I could never share with her.
What kind of life would that give us if I couldn’t give her all of me?
“Morris is a crusty piece of shit on the inside of a toilet bowl.” Birdee shook her head in disgust. “When I saw him kissing our mother, I knew that I would never look at him with any kind of respect.” She leveled Mable with a look. “I would like to point out that I warned you about him, too. I told you he was a sick fuck, might I point out. You told me that I was jealous.”
Mable cleared her throat. “I thought you were trying to get me to break up with someone that was great to me. You didn’t want me to be happy.”
“Get over yourself, Mable.” Birdee shifted uncomfortably. “Nothing is all about you. There are always two sides to every story. And in this instance, eighteen. I think you need to take those rose-colored glasses off and look at the world with your real eyes. Maybe if you did, you’d see that your life is pretty damn cushy.”
She struggled to stand up from the couch.
“God, I need a fucking vacation,” she grumbled. “I should freakin’ move.”
“You went on my honeymoon.” Mable snorted. “You had a vacation recently.”
That was when Birdee slowly turned her head and focused solely on Mable.
The angry gleam in her eye had me stiffening, because I knew she was about to hurt Mable with her words. But I also had a feeling that the words were going to be true.
“I most certainly did not,” Birdee disagreed. “I haven’t been anywhere in years. I don’t even have a passport or a Real ID. I couldn’t get on a plane if I tried. Oh, and when you finally open your eyes and see the world for what it is, call me. Maybe I’ll be nice and answer. But don’t hold your breath. You’ve literally made my life a living hell, and I don’t altogether even like you.” She walked to the door, where her father refused to get out of the way. Birdee didn’t say a word as she waited for him to move.
When Gentry came up behind her, he ordered, “Move, man.”
Vito moved, but not without saying, “Birdee, can we talk for a bit?”
Birdee ignored him and kept on walking.
Gentry followed her out into the night.
“She’s right,” Apollo said as he threw a stack of papers on the table. “Everything she said was true. After finding a little tiny clue, I was able to figure it out. All this crap that’s happening to you, Mable, was also happening to her. And all of it boils down to your stepmother, Whitney. From an early age, she started pitting you two against each other. It started in school—there are literal documents that show her contacting teachers and school administrators about the two of you. Text messages are in this stack of papers, too. Some between your ex-boyfriends. Boyfriends’ parents. Bosses that you both worked for. Hell, there are even some in here where she contacted the vet and had Brawny’s microchip details changed. And she’s good enough with a computer that she can do this all anonymously, so it was really confusing at first. But I truly think that she was arrogant enough that she believed she would never get caught. She would message you from a spoofing website meant to appear like Birdee’s number. Half those texts you got that were so awful didn’t even come from her. Whitney literally documented everything she did. It’s all here and more.”
“I can’t believe this,” Vito replied in stunned disbelief.
“Oh, you got it worse, my man,” Apollo said. “All the times that you thought you were texting your daughter, you were really texting her mother. And the times where you actually got Birdee were the times you were saying all the hateful stuff like ‘I disown you as a daughter’ and ‘you’re a disgrace.’”
Vito looked sick.
