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That vacant stare turns into one of defeat. “No, Kyle, I don’t want to beyour friend.I don’t want anything to do with you or your family!”
I throw my arms up in the air. “Here we fucking go again with your fucking obsession with my family! The truth is out! It’s over now!”
She lets out a cold laugh. “No, it’s not over! You want to know why?” She advances my way. “Because, now that your father’s secret is out, your parents want custody of Trey. They can provide abetter environmentfor him.”
Whoa. What?
“Who told you this?”
“Claudia.”
I scowl. “You’re believingherout of all people?” I rub at my brow. “Chloe, if my mother evenconsideredtaking custody of Trey, she would’ve told me. Claudia said that to hurt you.”
“Really?” She raises her voice. “Did she tell you she visited Claudia in the hospital?”
I slam my mouth shut. “No.”
“I saw them, Kyle! Your mom and dad were there!”
“Maybe for another reason. There’s more than one patient in that hospital,” I stupidly reply. “My mom does charity work there.”
Annoyance floods her face.
I scrub my hands over my face. “Chloe … we … this.” I’m at a loss for words. “Let me talk to my mother.” I can’t deny it because it sounds like my mother—always wanting to fix the problem and create a better life for someone. She sees Trey as a charity case.
She gestures between us. “This has to be done. Too much terrible shit has happened for us to ever have a healthy relationship. From what happened in high school to the secret about your father and now this. Too much damage has been done. We need to stop kidding ourselves that we’d ever work out.”
My heart rages in my chest.Is she fucking kidding me?“Or maybe it’s time to stop kidding ourselves and realize this can work between us. How about that, huh?”
She frantically shakes her head. “No. It’ll never work. I’m asking you to leave.”
“Chloe,” I beg, another attempt for her to understand what she’s doing.
“Leave!” she screams.
Anger crushes through me like a bullet. “Fine, keep pushing people away. Don’t be upset when you’re alone and nursing a broken heart for the rest of your life because you’re so goddamn stubborn.”
My words seem to add more power to her anger. “No, I’m being smart to stop my heartache. It’s time I stop letting people in. All I get is pain and hurt.”
“What have I done to hurt you?What the flying fuck have I done?I did something shitty in high school that Ithoughtwe’d moved on from. I said some stupid shit to you. Now, let’s take a step back and talk about what you’ve done to hurt me. You’ve done nothing but lie to me—about my father, about me having a brother I never knew about, about my father fucking your sister behind my mother’s back! I’m the one taking the risk with you, not the other way around.”
“And I didn’t know your mother would take custody of Trey!”
“Whoa, whoa. Who’s taking custody of me?”
I whip around and spot Trey standing feet away from me with a dumbfounded look on his face.
He whips his arm out to me. “Your mom is trying to take me away from Aunt Chloe?”
I hold my palm out and shake my head. “It’s a big misunderstanding.”
“It’s not,” Chloe counters. “I called the social worker. They’ve talked to her, and with your parents’ influence, cheating scandal or not, they have more power.”
Horror flashes through Trey’s eyes. “I’ll never live with anyone else. Fuck that.”
“Trey, watch your mouth,” Chloe warns.
He shrugs. “Ground me. Do whatever. I’ve already lost enough anyway.”
