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“This is really good, Mom. Thank you.”
“Anything for my baby,” she says, yawning and trying to cover it up with her teacup.
“Go to bed,” I say before shoveling another forkful of crispy potatoes into my mouth.
“I will when you’re done eating.” She looks down, tracing the new ink on the back of my hand, trying not to grimace.
“They’re just tattoos.”
“But on your hand? Everyone can see.”
I shrug. “So what? It’s my body. I like it.”
Mom bites her lip, looking away and trying her hardest to not say anything hurtful. I appreciate the effort even though it’s obvious she hates the way I’m marking my skin.
“It’s okay. You can say it, Mom.”
She exhales, placing down her cup of chamomile tea.
“Do girls really like that?” Her lips twist, and I can’t help but laugh at her subtle distaste in the ink that adorns my body. I have around twenty or so tattoos, but I will probably get more. Sometimes, I know what I want, other times, I let the artist use my body as a blank canvas.
“They do. Girls like the badass look.”
Her brows furrow and she stares off, as if she remembers something. “But nice girls like Zoe don’t like bad boys. They don’t need bad boys. They need good guys that will take care of them.”
The food gets stuck in my throat. “That was random. Is everything okay with the Jacksons?”
She shrugs, picking up her tea and sipping on it without making eye contact. “Have you spoken to her?”
“No…why would I?” I school my features.
“Has Aaron said anything?”
I’m trying really hard to remain calm and look disinterested, but my stomach is flipping in on itself.
“Mom…what’s going on?”
Her blue eyes finally meet mine as she hesitates to speak. I rest my elbows on the table, feeling it shift beneath my weight, my patience wearing thinner by the second.
“Things have been a bit difficult for that poor girl lately. I saw her crying in the grocery store parking lot a few months ago. I asked her to go to coffee, and she refused, poor thing was so spooked and didn’t want anyone to see her. She finally agreed to come for tea after I told her I wasn’t leaving, and we talked for a long time. Right where you’re sitting, actually.” Mom shakes her head, her expression changing. “Her parents are awful human beings. They should be put away for the way they’ve been treating that sweet girl.” Mom’s eyes bulge and she smacks her hand over her mouth.
Fresh anger wells up deep within my chest. No, they shouldn’t just be put away; they need to be addressed and permanently removed from Zoe’s life. They should be dealt with properly.
“Those assholes deserve way worse than to be put away. What did they do this time?”
“Dominik!” Mom gasps, shocked by my blunt words. As if she’s not thinking the same thing about Bob and Elaine, Zoe and Aaron’s parents. I’ve always put my head down and stayed out of it out of respect for Aaron. And because it was none of my business, but every time I hear more shit has gone down in that household, it makes me want to interfere and take care of them myself, even scare them a little.
After an extended pause, she levels me with a firm look. “They kicked her out when they found out she was dating a guy who had tattoos. Well…kicked her out is not the correct term, actually. She was apparently paying rent while living with them, and they put a lock on the outside of her door. A nineteen-year-old woman, can you believe it? Just because she was dating someone they didn’t approve of. Something about her tainting their image.”
I’m not sure I heard her correctly.
“When I caught Zoe crying at the grocery store parking lot, she was living in her car. She had bags of stuff in her back seat. She told me she was trapped in her room for days with no food. They took her phone so she couldn’t call anyone. She was so shaken up. I forced her to come stay here with me for a couple of weeks. She left as soon as she found a place. She was so broken, Dominik.”
I’m going to fucking commit murder; hockey career be damned.
They were always looking for a reason to punish Zoe for simply existing. Sick fucks.
“Jesus fuck…Mom, that’s incredibly sweet of you to take her in. Thank you. I can’t believe she didn’t tell Aaron. It’s not like her to hide shit like that from him.”
