“No, Austin. You’re not understanding me. I want you there to be part of Lilly’s life, but I want you there for my life too.” I run my hand through her hair. “Move in with me, Austin.” I can’t imagine my life without her. This amazing woman is everything I never knew I wanted. And in case I had any doubt, the past two weeks without her made me realize just how true that is.
Her dark green eyes start to well up with tears. “I don’t know …”
“You dared me to show you a side of me that no one sees. And I have, Austin. Now I’m daring you to give me a chance to be more than the guy who hurt you.” I give her a soft smile. “Move in with me and let me show you that I can be what you need.”
AUSTIN
Cole and I walk into my father’s house. “What do you wanna do today?” he asks me with a smile on his face. It’s been two weeks since my birthday, and things have been going great. Too great if you ask me. I’ve never considered my life to be normal, but things have been just that. Cole and I spent all of spring break together hanging out with Becky and Deke or just chilling at my house with Lilly. My bruised face had healed some by the time we went back to school. Shelby removed the stitches, but the bruises are still visible without makeup. But no one questioned it. Shane and Bennett have been calling Cole, but he keeps their conversations short when he does answer. I think he’s mad at them for not throwing Kellan out of the group when he and Deke first suggested it. And as for Kellan—he’s been everywhere this last week. Over spring break, it was easy to avoid him, but now that school is back in session, not so much. He’s everywhere I look and always smiling at me. It gives me the creeps and pisses Cole off. And I hate that I’m always looking over my shoulder. When I’m not in school, I always have the Taser on me, prepared to use it at any given second.
“Let’s take Lilly to the zoo,” I offer.
He nods. “Sounds good to me.”
“Austin? Is that you?” I hear Celeste call out.
Instead of answering, I walk down the hall, Cole’s hand in mine, and enter the living room. I come to a halt when I see she’s not alone.
Cole’s hand tightens on mine. “Mom?” I shriek. “What the hell are you doing here?”
I never did respond to her text that she sent me on my birthday. And she never sent me another one.
She smiles brightly at me. Her green eyes go to my hand in Cole’s, then she looks him up and down before her eyes return to me. They trace over my face, and I square my shoulders, knowing she can see the faint bruise. We just got back from spending the night at the clubhouse, and I didn’t put any makeup on. She allowed Phillip to hit me, but he also hit her. I’m sure she thinks Cole did this to me.
Celeste clears her throat and pushes her blond hair behind her ear nervously. “Your mother wanted to come and give you the good news in person,” she says.
“Good news?” I ask, arching a brow.
My mother smiles brightly and holds out her left hand. “We got married.”
My eyes go to Phillip for the first time as he sits on the couch next to my mother. He doesn’t smile at me; instead, his eyes take in my face. My freshly fucked hair and lack of clothing. I’m wearing Cole’s black zip-up hoodie and a pair of cotton shorts and tennis shoes. That’s it. No shirt underneath and no bra, which is why it is zipped all the way up to my neck. Cole ripped both off me last night.
Cole takes a step forward, jerking on my hand, reminding me he is here. I pull him to a stop.
“When did this happen?” I ask, trying to figure out why she’s here. Why she thought I would need to know this. I couldn’t care less what they do. You would think she already knew that.
“Two weeks ago.” She claps her hands. “On St. Paddy’s day.”
I’m not surprised.
“You married this piece of shit on your daughter’s birthday?” Cole growls, finally speaking.
My mother narrows her eyes on him, and Phillip stands, bowing out his chest, thinking he’s the superior man in this room. He’s not. “I don’t know who you are, son, but I’d suggest you not talk to her mother that way.”
Cole snorts. “I’m not your son, and she sure as hell is not a mother to her.”
My mother shoots to her feet. “Who the hell is this, Celeste?” she demands.
“His name is Cole, and he’s my boyfriend,” I snap.
Celeste runs a hand through her hair. “I think it’s time you and Phillip go.” She clears her throat. “You got what you were promised.”
“Promised?” Cole questions.
I don’t care what they are talking about. I just want them gone.
Phillip chuckles, throwing his arm over my mother’s shoulders. “It’s adult business, son. You wouldn’t understand.” Phillip looks at me. He stares at my eye again and smirks. “Guess I trained you right.” Then he looks at Cole and winks.
“Out!” Celeste snaps.
I stand frozen to my spot as they walk past us and down the hall. Celeste follows them out and shuts the door behind them.
“What the fuck was that?” Cole demands, letting go of my hand.
Celeste joins us once again and sighs. “It’s nothing—”
“Bullshit!” he interrupts her, making me jump. “Why the hell were they here and what were they promised?”
She looks at me and then down at the floor.
“I don’t want to know,” I say softly.
Cole looks at me, and his features soften. “Austin …”
“I don’t care, Cole. Don’t you see? She got what she wanted. She got rid of me, and she got him to marry her.” Then I turn, walk out of the room, and head up the stairs to my bedroom. I sit down on the end of the bed and pull my cell out of my pocket, going to my mom’s number. I hover over it for a few seconds, trying to remember a time when she was actually a mother to me. When she hugged me. Kissed me. Tucked me in. Any time that she actually acted like she cared about my well-being. And I come up with nothing.
I delete her number as the door opens. Cole walks in and kneels in front of me. “I gotta go,” he says, pushing some hair from my face.
“Where are you going?” I ask. “I thought we were gonna take Lilly to the zoo?”
He nods. “Later. I got something I have to go do.” Standing up to his full height, he leans over and kisses me on the forehead. His phone starts to ring in the pocket of his jeans, and he pulls it out. I see Deke flash across it. He silences it. “Why don’t you go and get Lilly and then meet me at the clubhouse,” he offers, and I nod.
“Here.” I stand and remove his hoodie. His eyes go to my naked chest, and his hands grab my hips.
“Are you trying to distract me?” he asks roughly.
“No,” I say honestly. “Just thought you would want it back.”
He leans down and kisses my cheek. Then his eyes meet mine. I wait for him to give me something—some indication of where he is going or why Deke is calling him—but he doesn’t. Some things about Cole will never change.
He turns and walks out, and I sit back down, knowing that deleting my mother’s phone number was pointless. She won’t be calling me anymore anyway, but I’m okay with that. Like Cole said, she was never my mother.