AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My fingers shake as I fumble with the key. It takes three attempts before I’m finally able to steady my hand enough to slide the thin metal into the ignition and start up the engine. Air rushes from my lungs in relief as I stomp on the gas pedal and speed from the driveway. It’s only when I leave the subdivision behind in the rearview mirror that my heartrate settles and rational thought once again prevails.
I can’t believe he’s blackmailing me into helping him get revenge on Jasper.
There’s no way I can go through with this. No matter what he threatens to do. I’d rather live with the consequences than be his puppet.
When I see Austin tomorrow, I’ll tell him that I refuse to get sucked any further into this game he’s intent on playing. He can threaten all he wants. When it comes down to it, he can’t force me to do anything. Even though the thought of everyone at school finding out about Mom and Pembroke is humiliating, it’s better than being a pawn used to inflict damage.
At the end of the day, that’s all I am to either of these guys.
I won’t allow them to use me this way.
By the time I drive through the stately iron gates of Hawthorne Prep and arrive at the front entrance, I’ve concocted a plan for moving forward. If that means everyone finds out about Mom’s relationship, so be it. That’s the risk they took when they decided to have an affair. I’ll just have to keep my head down for the remainder of the school year and hope it blows over at some point.
What other choice is there?
I’m knocked from those thoughts when I catch sight of Mom stalking from the stone building. My brows pinch together as I study her ashen features.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think she’d been crying.
A bad feeling settles over me as the muscles in my belly contract.
She jerks the handle of the passenger side door before dropping onto the fabric seat and clutching her brown leather purse to her chest. I’m almost afraid to ask what’s going on because it’s clear from her demeanor that something is gravely wrong.
The tension ratchets up in the atmosphere as I silently pull out of the parking lot. Just as I work up the courage to ask what’s wrong, she turns and glares.
“How could you?”
Eyes widening at the barely concealed fury that simmers in her voice, I give her a sidelong glance before focusing straight ahead. The brief look is more than enough to see the sparks of fury flying from her narrowed eyes.
When I remain silent, unsure what to say, Mom snaps, “You threatened the poor man?Really, Delilah?”
My mouth drops open. “What? I didn’t…” My voice trails off as my earlier conversation with the headmaster explodes in my brain. At the time, it hadn’t been my intention to coerce him intodoing what I wanted, but I suppose that’s exactly how it came off.
As a threat.
Blackmail.
Precisely the same thing Austin is doing to me. Using information—the same damn information—to secure my cooperation.
Oh, the fucking irony of it all. If I didn’t want to cry, I’d be tempted to laugh hysterically.
It seems impossible that my life has become such a tangled mess. I stare blindly through the windshield, unsure what to say or how to make the situation better.
“And for what?” Her voice escalates with every word that falls from her lips.“That troublemaker, Austin Hawthorne?”
“He’s not a troublemaker,” I murmur before wincing as the previous hour spent in his company rushes back to haunt me. “I didn’t want to see him get expelled. What happened Saturday night wasn’t his fault. Jasper provoked him.”
“Who cares!” she screams, eyes turning wild. “You realize that if anyone finds out that Edmond and I have been seeing each other, it’ll cause a huge scandal and we’ll both be out of our jobs?” There’s a pause. “What will we do then? How will we pay the mortgage, buy groceries, or put gas in the car?”
“You can get another—”
“No, I can’t! It’s not that easy. This job is high paying, has excellent insurance, benefits, as well as a pension. I don’t want to lose that. There’s no way I’ll find anything else like it in Hawthorne.” A mirthless laugh escapes from her. “I’m forty years old. What will I do? Start over at my age? Should I ask Jasper’s father to give me a job in his factory?”
Sickness churns in my belly. Any second, the bile will rise up and spew all over the place.
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
Her body slumps as if all the air has been released from it. “No one else can find out about this, do you understand? There can be no mention of it.”
