AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I can't believe my own daughter would speak to me like this." Caroline actually managed a sniffle.
"You"—I poked her chest again—"are being an ass. I've done everything for you, and this is how you treat me?" I stood back, really looking at her. "You do what you want. Blackmail Pierce, go to the press. I don't care anymore."
I made it to the door before she spoke again. "I guess that means you don't care about protecting poor Kyle either. I don't think Pierce will take it too well, whatever scenario I choose. If this gets out, Pierce will probably push Kyle away again. For good."
My chest heaved, but I refused, I absolutely refused, to cry in front of her. "You leave him out of it."
"You're the one leaving him out of it, darling. You're only thinking of yourself."
I actually laughed, leaning back against the door so I didn't just collapse. "I'm the one thinking only of myself? That's a good one, Mom."
"Your actions have consequences. Just think about what would happen to your career if this comes out. What will happen to Kyle's relationship with his father? And it'll ruin Pierce. His launch will go so far south, it'll be in the South Pole."
"That's the North Pole, Mother."
She shrugged. "Whatever."
"So now you're blackmailing me, too?"
At least she had the decency to examine her nails instead of staring blatantly at my face. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
"You aren't a girl." I laughed again, but this time I was closer to tears. "It's official: your lifestyle, your clothes, your pocketbooks, and your face are more important to you than your daughter
."
She looked back at me. "That's not true. But I can't go back to living like a Texan hick. I can't live in an apartment building somewhere and go… grocery shopping. And wear clothes from Target. And watch cable for fun. I'd die like that—wither away."
"I think I'd like to test that theory."
She looked as if I'd just slapped her. "What is the difference with you? You've always supported me—financially and emotionally. Why're you turning on me like this? Is it this boy?"
"He's not a boy. He's a man."
"From what I remember, he was always trouble." She crossed her arms and stood there, waiting for more of an explanation, which was more than she deserved.
"He's changed. He's not like that anymore." I sighed; Kyle seemed like a more mature adult than most people in my life by the nanosecond. "But it's not just him. It's everything that's happened this year: the stuff with Lucas about my weight, that video… and yeah, Kyle. I'm starting to wonder what it would be like to have a normal life." I shook my head, furious with myself. "Ugh, why am I even talking to you? You threatened to blackmail me two seconds ago!"
She smiled a little. "Sorry about that, but you're talking to me because I'm your mother." She came over and touched my hair, fixing it and making me wince. "It's always just been you and me against the world. You can't turn your back on me. I'm your blood. You and I would never do that to each other. Not after your father walked away from us."
I swallowed hard. For all of her faults, I loved my mother. "I'd never turn my back on you, but that doesn't mean I'm giving you seven hundred thousand dollars for pocket money either."
She dropped my hair and stepped back.
"I don't have it, Mom. I'm not saying that to be mean."
"You're not leaving me with a lot of choices, Lowell."
My mother had burned through four husbands and tons of my money with that very tactic: the threat of a temper tantrum and a bitch-slap to the person saying no. But I was no longer negotiating with her. "Do what you gotta do, Mom." I just wanted to get on the plane, go to sleep, and block out this entire miserable day.
In spite of all the Botox, she still managed to look surprised. That did nothing to sway me. For the first time in my good-girl life, I walked out and slammed the door on my mother.
* * *
I was sitting in the waiting area at Logan, extra-large sunglasses plastered onto my face, when my phone buzzed. I looked at it warily. I hoped it was Kyle, then I really hoped it wasn't, because I would probably crack.
It was Pierce. Oh, fuck.
"Hello?"
