Page 95 of Toxic Kiss

Hot tears run down my cheeks, and I quickly wipe them away. She blames me…I don’t blame her because I have the same thoughts.

Some aches fade with time, others linger in the dark recesses of your brain. But Patrick’s death is as agonizing today as the day that I got the call. Nothing can numb it or the loss I felt when Haven left. Together, it was too much, and it was the beginning of the downward spiral that I took like a kid jumping on a park slide.

Now she’s avoiding me.

Fuck.

When I’m ready to face the band again, I walk into the hallway. I can hear Eren and Ledger playing the piece I just sang. They’ve slowed it down, and I smirk. Patrick would’ve loved this. He loved hanging out with the guys, helping us write music. He couldn’t sing his way out of a wet paper bag and couldn’t play an instrument to save his soul, but he had a poet’s heart. A true wordsmith.

When I reach the front door, I notice that it’s open a crack. Whoever grabbed the dinner delivery must not have shut it. I freeze when I get close enough to hear my mother’s voice in the hallway.

“She’s not equipped to handle this big of a job. We need someone with more experience,” my mother says.

Auguste is staying with us for the night and flying out first thing in the morning. My mother, on the other hand, is not even allowed to be in the hotel. She’s supposed to be on a plane back home already. I reach for the handle, but then I stop myself. I want to hear what they are saying first.

“I disagree. Haven needs time to settle into the job, and you can’t deny that sales are through the roof,” Auguste replies.

I can’t believe that after my last warning, my mother is at it again. She never learns. Irritation flares in my gut.

“This isn’t the time for emotional ties that will only hold us back.”

“Haven is my daughter. I’m certainly entitled to having emotional ties to the situation. Why don’t you tell me what is really upsetting you?”

“I’m not saying this to be cruel. You know that, despite our confrontations, I think of her as my daughter.”

I almost laugh out loud with that load of bullshit.

“But this job is beyond her, at least right now,” she says with mock concern.

“On what grounds?”

“My son has been in the hospital already. You know as well as I do that she caused his spiral before. I don’t want him falling into old patterns,” she says, and my hand curls into a fist.

I’m fucking twenty-four almost twenty-five. I’m not a child, and yet she is not only continuing to treat me like one. Regardless, blaming Haven is idiotic.

“Besides, the board has concerns,” she tacks on like it’s not the headline.

“You spoke to the board behind my back,” Auguste says, his voice angry.

I manage to open the door a few more inches, and I can just make them out in the hallway.

“No, of course not. But I have my ear to the ground, Auguste. I hear things. They were already worried that it would be seen as playing favorites. Cyrus being in the hospital is a terrible blow.”

Auguste doesn’t say anything for a few minutes.

Finally, he sighs.

“I’ll give her half of the tour and then revisit this conversation. I stand by my decision and feel that she is a good influence. Haven has an incredible work ethic and a very creative mind.”

“But Auguste….”

“No, that is my final decision,” he says.

The door bangs, making them jump as I step out into the hall. My mother’s face pales, and there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that I make her nervous. Well, my cutting her off makes her nervous.

“Cyrus, I’m sorry I’m here. I needed to speak to Auguste, and I wanted to say goodbye before I left.”

“You’re full of shit,” I say, crossing my arms and looking between them. “The answer is no.”