I was wrong.
“Mama came after me after I left,” I admit quietly, the room growing tense as I turn around and lock eyes with my brother, “It was the night of the fundraiser for struggling families…”
“I remember, Mama pulled Dad aside and claimed you had to leave because of school work,” Brady states, a scowl on his face.
“I’d already graduated from college, Brady, with honors at that. I was accepted into law school,” I inform him, and he sucks in a breath, and I look at Logan, our daughter's head leaning on his shoulder, her eyes closed. “I was going to tell you about her that evening, that’s why I messaged you asking if we could talk. I was so scared you wouldn’t be happy, that you’d leave me, but I was adamant I was going to tell you everything, including my upbringing, but then your mama… I don’t know how she knew I was in the hospital, I don’t know how she knew about me, but she made her threats, and I had to leave.”
“Mama attacked you, didn’t she?” Brady confirms, and Logan's eyes harden.
“I mouthed off,” I whisper, not breaking eye contact with the man I love. I explain, “She kept trying to bring up Bruce and me getting married, even tried to make a statement to the press, and I couldn’t take it anymore, so I told her I had a boyfriend, that I lived with him and that we were expecting, and I ensured I told it in front of the town gossip.”
“Miss Palmer,” Brady mutters, “Mama explained she’d had too much to drink and thought you and Bruce were expecting…”
I still don’t break eye contact with Logan, who has gone deathly still.
“My whole life, if I wasn’t the perfect daughter, if I didn’t eat only salads, or wear the right clothes Mama chose for me to wear, if I wasn’t poised enough, I’d end up in the basement, noblankets, wearing a rag and only allowed bread and water,” I confess, “I even had to use a bucket because I was kept down there for weeks at a time sometimes. But with you by my side, I was no longer scared of her, no longer intimidated and I used the strength you gave me every single day to stand up to her. I walked out with my head held high, ready to leave her behind me and begin our future while praying you wouldn’t leave me, leave our child.”
“What happened, Jasmine?!” Brady demands.
My chin wobbles, and trying to calm my emotions, I finally look away from Logan and a sleeping Aisling and look at my brother as I admit, “She grabbed my hair from behind, shocking me and pulled me back, and because of the heels she forced me to wear, I fell, and she saw an opportunity. She kicked me several times in the stomach, trying to kill my daughter.”
Brady takes a step back, shaking his head as Doc confirms, “I saw it happen, and your mama ran when I shouted. I didn’t know she was Tank's girl at the time.”
Tank’s girl.
I look down. “She threatened Logan. Yes, I panicked, but while in the hospital, I knew I needed help and was going to confess everything. I wanted to protect myself and our baby so for added protection until I could get in touch with Logan, I made sure the doctors wrote that I miscarried for my daughter’s safety, because I knew Mama would show up at the hospital pretending to be concerned,” I whisper, then look at Logan.
“But then Mama showed up,” he confirms, and I nod sharply.
“I didn’t want to ruin your relationship with her and then over the years, I allowed myself to believe that my mama would destroy your club,” I choke, and he shakes his head.
“This is why we should have spoken about our childhoods, buttercup,” he sighs, “I hate my mother with a passion, way before you and I began dating. She hated that I wasn’t a girl andmade sure I knew it before spending years ignoring me until I was fourteen years old and decided I needed to be with her best friend's daughter,” I frown until he emphasizes, “The cougar's daughter,” and I scrunch my nose up in distaste, making him smirk.
Dark blonde hair, light brown eyes, and a trench coat that was slightly open, showing she was naked underneath and her nipples were nearly showing...
Logan was in the doghouse for weeks after that crap, when she showed up demanding I leave her man's house because she'd come to surprise him.
She actually believed I was the cleaner.
“Who’s the cougar?” Brady asks, and I mumble, “A woman like fifty years older than Logan, who he screwed from the age of sixteen until I came along and showed up at our home.”
Our home slips out, but I try not to react to my words, though I don’t miss my brother tensing.
“She’s only twenty years older than me, Jas. Your jealousy is showing,” Logan teases, and my jaw ticks as Brady and Doc try to cover their laughter.
Assholes.
I raise a brow at Logan and confirm, “Okay, so you’re okay with a man coming to your front door in nothing but low-cut jeans demanding that you leave so he can have his way with me?” his jaw ticks, and I smirk this time and retort, “Careful, Logan, your jealousy is showing!”
Okay, should I be sassing him when I deserve his anger? No, not really, but the man has pissed me off.
The woman was a leech, an old one that I wanted to smack.
Brady and Doc laugh while Logan glares my way, but I just shrug and remind him, “You spent nearly a month in the doghouse for her little move.”
“And you spent six years running, keeping my daughter from me, living in this dump, instead of trusting me to keep you both safe.” He snaps, and my stomach sinks as I look away from him and his anger.
The laughing hyenas quieten instantly, and I take a deep breath to try to control the urge to fall to the floor and sob and whisper, “I didn’t want my mama or yours to destroy you and your club, I didn’t want them to hurt our daughter. I thought I was doing the right thing and I’ve tried my best here and no matter how high the bills get, Aisling always has food in her stomach and clothes on her back so don’t you dare come into my home and call it a dump when I have always put her, you and your club before my own needs.”
