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My heart sinks into my stomach. I haven’t heard from her in a while now, and I don’t want to. My mom had her ass kicked to the curb when she disrespected my dad’s ol’ lady, Jo. I can’t even feel bad for her, even now. She was told numerous times to get her shit together. As much as my mom wanted to be my dad’s ol’ lady, he was never going to do that.
“What do you want?” I might sound brash to some people, but not to me. After everything she’s done, she doesn’t even deserve for me to answer the phone. She’s called me numerous times, and I haven’t answered one of her calls, not one. This time was a pure accident, but I’ve got her on the line, so I might as well see what she wants. It doesn’t mean I’ll give it to her.
She takes in a ragged breath. “Leon, I need help. I . . . I n-need help s-so bad.” Her voice is shaking worse than it was when she said my name, and it sounds like she’s sobbing.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” She doesn’t deserve for me to help her, but my mom hasn’t ever been the type who just cries for no damn reason. Then again, her reason could be something stupid, like she wants to be back in the club.
“I g-got a-attacked by a m-man. I’m h-hurt r-real b-bad, Leon.” She barely manages to get every word out.
“Where are you?” I’m trying to talk myself out of this as my words pass through my lips, but I need to check on her. Even though she’s done horrible, stupid shit, she’s still my mother. I know I don’t owe her anything. I can’t even give her credit for raising me because other women in the clubhouse did.
“O-on 6th Ave North, b-by the Hampton Inn.”
“Okay, are you somewhere safe?”
“I g-guess so. I’m at the p-parking lot across the street.”
“Okay, stay there. I’m coming.” I hang up the phone and get off my bed in record time. I slam the door behind me and rush down the steps like the club is on fire. By the time I reach the bottom step, Hades is looking right at me.
“My mother called. She said she got roughed up, so I’m headin’ to check on her. She doesn’t sound good.” The last part of what I’m saying doesn’t really mean much, but I can at least check it out to be sure.
Hades gets up from the couch and heads toward the door as I am. “I’m headin’ out with you. Better to be safe than sorry.”
I nod, and we both leave. I hop in my truck and start her up with record speed. By the time I’m ready to leave, Hades is too, and he’s following me. I’m like a bat out of hell, and I’m not even sure why. My mother hasn’t been great to me over the course of my life, but I guess she hasn’t been the worst she could have been, either. At the end of the day, I know things could have always been worse. She could have dumped me on the streets or even left me on my father’s doorstep, and then who’s to say he would have taken care of me?
I push back every thought running through my mind and keep heading in the direction she said she’d be in. Eventually, we pull up to the parking lot she described, and she’s standing behind a tree. Sure enough, as I hop out of my truck and get closer to her, I can tell she isn’t lying. Her cheek and eyes are already beginning to swell from whatever the hell happened.
I’m torn right now. Should I give a shit that she’s been hurt, or did she do something to deserve this? My mother is notorious for stepping over very clear lines and disrespecting boundaries.
“Oh, L-Leon! I’m so g-glad you’re here. Look at me. Just look at me.” I take a good look at my mother. She’s thinner than I can remember, which makes me wonder if she’s on drugs. Her hair has been bleached a bit more, but it hasn’t been done professionally. There are still patches of lavender running through her hair, making it look blotchy. Her eyes, though, they’re what look the worst to me. I don’t wonder if she’s high anymore. I can see it in her eyes. They’re pin needle-thin, and I’ll almost guarantee she’s using heroin.
“Mom.” I shake my head, unable to hold back my disgust. I have a really hard time feeling sorry for her because she did this to herself. If she had just respected boundaries at the club, she never would’ve been forced out.
“P-please take me back, Leon. I can’t live out here anymore. I c-can’t keep doing t-this. Look what k-keeps happening to m-me.” She begins sobbing uncontrollably, and Hades is only a few feet away. My mother stops looking at me and looks to the VP of the club. “Hades, please talk to Zeus. Please ask him to let me come back. I can’t k-keep doing t-this.”
“Risk, as much as I’d love to call Zeus and plead your case to him, I can’t. You’re the reason you’re in your current predicament. You have no one else to blame, and frankly, I don’t think you have anyone else to call.”
“So, you’re just going to let me die out here?!” Mom screams at Hades, and Hades shakes his head in frustration.
“You really aren’t understanding. Here, I’ll make it simple.” Hades fishes his wallet out of his back pocket and, pulls out a stack of cash, then hands it over to my mother. “We can’t help you any more than we already have. You’re on your own now, Risk. You fucked up your place with us, and you aren’t our responsibility anymore. Leon here is a good kid and still somehow gives a shit about you. I’ll blame that on your own manipulation because you don’t actually care about him. He was only ever a ticket to buy yourself more time at the clubhouse. Don’t call him again, not unless you’re literally dying.” Hades begins walking back to his bike, and I follow his lead.
I get back in my truck, and as I buckle my seatbelt, I take one last look at her.
Everything Hades said is true, and as much as I don’t want to write her off just yet, I need to let her go. She might call herself my mother, but she was pretty much an incubator. She never put in the hard work raising me, and she only ever called or spoke with me when she needed me for something.
I’ve only ever been a tool in her eyes. A tool that will no longer be in the shed for her to use whenever she pleases.
TEN
Rebellion
I don’t expect Leon to be overly sentimental about us sleeping together. Most men aren’t. And it’s not like we pledged our dying love to each other.
But I’m more than a little pissed about not getting even a text until late the next afternoon.
Does that make me needy?
Fuck it, I decide. I don’t care.
