“Right,” Mom says with a laugh, her eyes darting behind me before leveling her glare on me again. “Just likeyou’dnever hurt anyone? You were always a stupid boy, but I didn’t believe you werethatdense.”
My eyes sting from the cruelty of her words, and I take a step back. I’ve never intentionally hurt anyone, but my mother clears up any confusion real fast, like a swift blow to the gut.
“Mom—”
“I’ve seen the marks she bears. You thinkanybodywill believe that it’s merely a coincidence that you twomagicallyreappear, after months of silence, both covered in scars on your bodies? You think others can’t see the pain that girl hides?”
I rear back, realizing she’s talking about Collins. But the conclusions she’s drawing are like a knife to my heart.
She can’t mean…no.
“I would never—Mom, I-I love her?—”
“You really are a disease, Riley. I see all the damage you’ve caused that girl plain as day,” she spits, sneering at me with a curl to her lip. “Youhurt.”
Tears gather.
“Mom—”
“Youdestroy.”
“Stop—”
“You break and ruin and sully all that is good.”
“Please, Mom?—”
Mom sneers at me, her lip curling in disgust. “You’re pathetic, and soon they’ll realize that I was right. Best to get out of their lives now before you ruin yet another family.”
The first, treacherous tear falls.
Then, chaos.
“You fucking bitch,”
“That’s enough?—”
“Creed, wait!”
“Goddamnit!”
Several bodies fly around me in a cacophony of curses, snarls, and threats. I feel numb as hands fist the back of my shirt and tug. I don’t move, though. I’m stuck, rooted to the spot. The weight of my mother’s words settles over me like a ton of bricks.
A flash of pastel colors whirls in my periphery before a loudCRACK!echoes off the brick of the building before silence descends around us.
I’m jerked against a hard chest, and an arm bands around my waist, squeezing tight, but not painfully. Just enough to force my mind back into the present. I blink several times, clearing my eyes of the tears that blur my vision as the scene before me comes into clarity.
A quick glance down at the tattooed skin gripping my chest tells me that it’s Creed’s who’s got a hold on me. I look back up at the sound of Collins growling the best she can at my mother, her hair is a wild mess around her face, and her hands are braced on the one arm that Bear has wrapped around her, hauling her away.
It doesn’t take long to put two and two together as my mom stands stock still, gripping a blooming red mark on her face while Bear slings a litany of curses at her as he backs away with a fuming Collins in his grip.
I can’t hear anything they’re saying, and time starts to feel choppy because suddenly, we’re all loaded into the back of Bear’s SUV. Ayla is speaking frantically in the front while her brother listens intently. Hands wipe at my face, trying to clear me of my tears, voices whisper sweet words into my ears and my neck as they nuzzle into me.
I have no idea how long the ride lasts or how I wind up in my own bed later, but when I finally settle back into myself, I’m alone and the door is locked.
Did I do that?
Checking my phone, I see I have six missed calls from my mother and three voicemails. I feel too tired to give her any more of my reactions, so I block her number and delete the messages without a second thought. I have a few texts from Ayla.
