AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This girl…
Mindlessly, my index finger hooks into the waistband of her cotton shorts, and I yank her forward, allowing her body to hit my chest before bouncing off it. “Don’t forget who has the upper hand here, Op. I’m the boss here, at work, at your home, every-fucking-where. Don’t make me be a dick.”
“You can’t help yourself.”
“Be nice to me,” I tell her as if it would really matter in the grand scheme of things. “You wouldn’t want to hurt my sensitive feelings.”
Liv takes a small step backward, and I’m surprised she’s aware that the line we haven’t talked about yet is there. “I think those shriveled up and died, too.”
“You done with the old jokes?”
“I’m never going to be done with the old jokes,” she professes and it’s game on, then. If she wants to keep pushing buttons, she’s going to learn what my generation does to push back.
“You keep this shit up, I’m going to have you dry my laundry on a clothesline outside for the next three months. I have a plethora of other ideas, too. Do you want to hear them?”
Liv shakes her head as a ghost of a smirk illuminates off her lips. “I should because you might forget them. But keep me in suspense for now, big man.”
You don’t need to be standing here with her anymore, moron.
“Bike,” I remind her for the both of us because any more back and forth and I might do something I can’t take back. “Finish it then order me dinner, Opie.”
“Whatever you want, boss man.”
Damn kids.
six
. . .
LIV
“I don’t understand why you just won’t take Rory. Why does it matter if you have a kid?”
I throw the last piece of clothing in my suitcase and don’t face my best friend full-on. It’s bad enough that I feel guilty for not mentioning anything about my daughter to anyone outside this room, doing exactly what my mother has ever since she was born.
I keep Rory’s existence under lock and key, not because I’m embarrassed about being a single mom, but because it’s no one’s business. She’s been shunned by my mother and sister, called anything but a bastard child, and my brain just keeps her safe and sound from the world because I don’t want anyone to judge her.
That, and I don’t want her to sense from my own mother and sister that she’s unwanted. I can’t imagine what that would do to a small child and I don’t want to bring her into that kind of environment.
Plus, she’s not missing anything, anyway.
“I don’t want Norah and my mom to make her feel uncomfortable,” I say nonchalantly. “You know how they are with her.”
“Fuck them,” Mia replies. “They don’t deserve to be around her. She’s too magical.” She is. Rory is the sweetest and a fiery little thing. “However, I was talking about Hudson.”
“No,” I instantaneously clip out. “He already despises me enough. The last thing I need is him using my kid against me.”
“How?” Mia plops down on my bed to look up at me as I put more clothes in my suitcase. “That’s stupid.”
“Well, he’s not the most understanding guy in the world. And I’d rather him know as little as possible about me.”
Mia is silent for a moment before she says, “I understand. Though, what if your mom says something about it?”
I scoff. “She won’t. It’s as though she doesn’t exist.”
“How is that even—” I snap my neck to my best friend because I know she doesn’t mean anything by it. But I’m tired of thinking about how empty my family has made me feel ever since I had my daughter.
My father is always traveling for work and is the only person that asks about her. But, since it’s mainly Mom and Norah, they make it difficult to function like a normal family.
