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She pressed her lips together and shrugged out of Brad’s hold, the socks on her feet dampening the sound as she moved into the kitchen, not paying a lick of attention to any of her siblings’ protests.
Her mother couldn’t justdoanything she wanted and get her way anymore. Teagan was an adult. She was going to demand respect. For herself and her guest.
Chapter Thirteen
She entered the kitchen, hit with the enticing smell of the roast her mother had prepared. The onions and garlic were sharp and pungent, hanging in the air. Salad veggies were laid out on the cutting board.
“Teagan, I can’t believe you,” Mom started immediately, without looking up. As if she’d known her daughter would follow her in.
“Where’s dad?” she asked, wondering if he was going to swoop in and soften the blows at all, or if she could speak as she wished.
“Don’t bring him into this, he’s going to agree with me,” Cassandra shrilled.
“Fine, go ahead. I can tell you want to start in on me. Wouldn’t want to deny you the pleasure.”
“The pleasure? Do you think it’s a pleasure to see my oldest daughter throw her entire life away on… onJaxon Lawson?” the last part, she hissed, more than a bit quieter than the rest. Like the other people down the hall couldn’t guess what she was talking about.
Teagan waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. Instead, she stared expectantly, like she thought Teagan should contribute here. But she didn’t.
“I thought for certain you’d have some explanation for why he’s with you. His truck broke down. You found him stranded on the side of the road. He had a gun to your head.Something!”
“God, mom. We’re dating, okay? We’re dating.”
“Teagan…” her mother practically bemoaned. Her disappointment was clear and concise in the two syllables of her name. “Teagan… he… and Brad? The drugs?”
Teagan rolled her eyes. “You need to accept that your precious Bradcando wrong, and did do wrong, and admitted freely to doing wrong in that particular instance. Besides, Jaxon doesn’t smoke that anymore. He only smokes… regular cigarettes.” She arched an eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest, squaring her shoulders.
“How do you know? Are you with him all the time?”
Ah, that was a loaded question. Cassandra thought she was being so sneaky. As if Teagan didn’t want her knowing exactly what she was up to.
“A fair amount of it,” she replied, a small smirk settling on her lips. Perhaps some of Jaxon’s salt had rubbed off on her.
Cassandra looked like she was going to be sick. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before replying. “You know he sleeps around.”
The words cut, even though Teagan knew that it wasn’t true, not for a while at least. But hehadadmitted to bringing women back to his blanket nest on the floor and the women stayed the night there, so he must dosomethingthey liked…
God, that thought hurt more than what Mom had said.
“Not currently,” she replied curtly.
Cassandra turned and opened a cabinet, pulling glasses down onto the countertop. “Teagan… if you wanted to irk me, you could have gotten a tiny tattoo on your ankle or something. Pierce your nose.Notleap into bed with Jaxon Lawson.”
“I could do much worse,” Teagan countered. “He’s kind to me.”
“I’m sure he is, while he’s getting everything he wants.”
Teagan closed her eyes. If her mother only knew exactly what Jaxon was doing for her. How much she was getting from him and not vice versa. She could leave this to lie and walk away now. Or she could grab a shovel and dig herself a little deeper. If it gave Jaxon more brownie points in her mother’s eyes. She’d do it. He deserved at least that. Even if he wasn’t growing feelings for her like she was for him, he deserved more than what her mother thought of him.
She grabbed a shovel.
“The last person I dated seriously treated me like garbage, if you’ll remember. He coerced me into sending lewd pictures and then distributed them,” she said bluntly. “Or have you forgotten?”
Mom tilted her head sympathetically. “Joshua’s a little gremlin who got to see the business end of myself and your father. But you aren’t with him anymore. You aren’t garbage, so why are you degrading yourself further?”
“Further?” Teagan gasped. “Are you kidding me?”
Cassandra waved her hand vaguely. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out. Obviously Jaxon is better than Joshua, but Teagan-”
