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I see red. I don’t care that I’m half naked as I march toward them, inches between my mother and myself. “Get the fuck out of my house before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.”
My mother laughs. “Please, Liam. You wouldn’t do that to your own mother.”
“I’m sure there’s breaking and entering that could be added to the charges as well,” I say, crossing my arms. “Get the fuck out now. I’m not warning either of you again.”
“No,” Tracey says, her voice rising. Whipping my head around to face her with growing dismay, I eye her as she gets out of bed and pulls on her dress. She grabs her heels from where I’d tossed them last night and slips them on. “I’ll go. I’m not going to stand here and listen to them call me names. I’ll see you later.”
Before I can protest, she runs out of the room and down the stairs. Chloe looks smug as she moves between me and my mother.
I step around Chloe and run down the stairs. Grasping Tracey’s arm, I stop her before she can get to the door. She turns around, her eyes glassy but her jaw set in place.
“I get that you have some other things going on in your life.” Her tone is even, but her eyes… those expressive eyes of hers are an ocean of conflicting emotions. She’s angry, hurt, scared. “I understand a messy life.” Tracey laughs bitterly. “It’s no secret that my life is fucked up at the moment. But I’m not going to stay in that room and listen to them call me out of my name. I have higher standards than that.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, running a hand through my hair. “I’ll deal with them, I promise. It won’t happen again.”
Tracey shakes her head. “Liam, I like you. I really do. But this is just too much for me to handle. Things will only get worse the longer we stay together.”
I don’t want to think that we’ve ended before we’ve even gotten the chance to begin. “Let me deal with them, and then I’ll call you. And we can talk about all the messy details, okay? I’m not going to let them treat you like that, and I certainly don’t want you walking out of my life.”
Tracey nods, shifting her belongings in her arms. “I’ll talk to you later.”
I wait until she’s gone, taking a deep breath before marching back up the stairs. Anger is boiling my blood as I step back into my bedroom to find Mom and Chloe looking smug.
“Why are you sleeping around when we’re engaged?” Chloe asks, having the balls to sound hurt as her hand reaches for my chest.
I take a step back. “Don’t touch me. We aren’t engaged. We haven’t been for a long time now. Get over it, Chloe, and get the hell out of my house.”
“I don’t see why you’re dating the help,” Mom says, her eyes narrowing as her lip curls. “Really, Liam? A black woman?”
“Nope. We’re done here. You and I, Mother, are completely fucking done.”
As much as I love my mother, she doesn’t get to say things like that. She doesn’t get to treat people the way she is treating Tracey. Enough is enough.
I take the keys from her hand, sliding my key off the ring. “Get out of my house and don’t come back. I’m done with both of you. That woman is a better woman than both of you combined.”
“You can’t do this to your family,” Mom says, shaking her head. “You are going to ruin us because of one woman who means nothing to you? You are willing to walk away from our family because of… of that woman?”
“Chloe means nothing to me, Mom,” I say, not missing the hurt look on Chloe’s face. “Tracey? She means a lot to me. I can see myself being with her for a long time. In fact, if things continue to go well with us, I won’t waste any time. I’ll marry her right away… if she agrees, of course.”
God, I hope so.
Tracey and I are still new, and this fucked up situation isn’t going to endear me to her. But I’m nothing if not optimistic. Of course, anything can happen. We might not even be together over the long haul, but here’s the thing. I’d known Chloe for most of my life, was engaged to her for years. We were compatible—on paper, at least—and we still broke up.
I’m done with wasting my time when it comes to matters of my own damn heart. Tracey has been the only woman who checks all my boxes: she’s beautiful, she has a kind heart and cares for others, she’s obviously a great mother, and she gets me. Not to mention, since blowing me off when we met each other the first time, she’s been completely up front with me and tells me exactly how she feels. In the world in which I was born and raised, people have their home face, their office face, their social face—so many damn faces. It’s hard to know what’s real, because they all mask their true selves. I guess that’s what we should expect in polite society, at least the society I was raised in.
But with Tracey? She’s real.
Mom scoffs and waves that dismissive hand of hers as if such a thing is impossible. “That’s not going to happen, and we both know it. You are going to marry Chloe and continue to uphold this family’s values.”
“And what values would those be?” Fighting to ignore the burning in my throat, I press on. “The ones from the days where nobody who isn’t white is allowed to have a good life? The one where I can’t fall in love with a Black woman?”
“Liam, you’re being ridiculous. Stop this tirade right now and apologize to Chloe.”
Chloe’s eyes water as she looks at me. “Liam, please just come back to me, and we can fix this. I’m willing to forgive everything.”
“See,Liam? Chloe is willing to get back together with you even after all the pain you’ve caused her.” My mother smiles at Chloe. “Son, there is still a chance for you to have the kind of future I have always wanted for you.”
“The pair of you are unbelievable. Get out of my house. We are done. Chloe, I’m never getting back together with you. And Mom, if you continue to disrespect me or Tracey, I’ll show you what walking away from our family really is.”
