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“This doesn’t involve you,” I say to my mother.
“You’re right, it doesn’t. Because if it did, I would have smacked you the minute you gave that girl lip.” My mother’s hands go to her hips. Keir quietly watches as our mother goes off on me. “She’s hurting, and you are being an asshole about it.”
“She lied and deceived me. She’s lucky to be breathing,” I snarl.
“So are you, but I remember your brother giving you another chance, which he never does.”
“Damn right, Ms. Rossi,” Piper says, clapping. I glare at her, but she merely shrugs without a care in the world.
“Be nice. You don’t have to take her back. Hell, we all know you love her. So be nice, Joey. I raised you better than that. You know how to treat a lady.”
“She ain’t no lady,” I mumble.
Then she smacks me again on the back of the head and swears at me in Italian before she storms off.
THIRTEEN
ADORA
“I should go.” Jerome is playing with spaghetti and laughing with Wren, having no idea what is happening around him. Unfortunately, I’m so wound up that it’s hard to stand still.
“No, don’t let him win.”
“He’s already winning. I don’t want to fight anymore. I’ve done that my whole life and don’t want to continue… it’s exhausting.”
We stop talking when we hear his mother yelling.
“She likes you, you know. More than me, that’s for sure,” Sailor says as Joey’s mother, Bianca, walks back in.
She strides over to my side and wraps her arms around me. “You and your boy are staying with me. Pack your stuff and meet me at mine.” She looks to Sailor, then back to me. “Now, go. Eat.” She pushes us out the door and walks over to the children.
I want to tell her no, but I have a feeling she’ll insist anyway, and having a mother figure around is not something I am used to.
As soon as we enter, Joey stands. “We should talk… in private.”
“Oh, please don’t. We enjoy it,” Piper says, lifting her glass of wine and downing it. Clearly, she’s drunk. I don’t say a word, and he’s leading me out of the dining room, down a side hall, then opening a door. Before I enter, I look inside and see it’s a bathroom. He follows me in and shuts the door behind us.
“We need to stop this,” are his first words.
I meet his gaze and take a deep breath. “You started this.”
His shoulders rise and fall at my words. “No, I did not. I accepted this from the very beginning. All this shit we are in now is solely because of you.”
“I wanted to be happy with you,” I tell him honestly. “But a part of me was missing.” He has to know that—he has met the missing part of me.
“You still wouldn’t be happy now. Let’s not play those games, darling.” His jaw clenches.
“You use that word in anger, but it does the opposite to me, just so you know,” I fire back at him.
“Good, I’ll continue to use it.” His eyes assess me. I’m wearing a purple dress that stops above my knees but shows a little cleavage.
“Why do you stare at me like that?” He’s made it clear he doesn’t want me.
“Like what?” he asks, his eyes tracing my body.
“Like you want me but hate me.”
“Because I’m at war with myself and those two options.”
