All because of jealousy and spite.
My mind played images of Noah, Easton, and Xavier with those girls. All the things they were doing. Or could do. Or would do.
“Ohgod,” I whispered to myself.
As a Bump my life was to avoid anything that resembled work and manual labor. That was just how things went.
But I was certainly good with a shovel, huh?
Digging the hole for myself one breath at a time.
I was almost afraid to look at my phone the next morning.
I expected dozens of texts from Talon teasing me.
But my phone was quiet.
I found that to be a disappointment too.
It was like living in a no-win situation.
That was my life.
No matter what I did, I could not win.
But I could get some coffee and breakfast.
So that was a win. A small one, but a win.
My mother was in the kitchen, which wasn’t a surprise. She looked at me and her eyes told me she hadn’t slept yet.
“Long night?” I asked.
“Very.”
“Was it worth it?”
“Eh,” she said. “I stayed, hoping it would get better.”
“Let me guess… it didn’t.”
“Nothing worse than mediocre,” she said. “You spend hours waiting for the moment to come and then it does…”
She cringed.
“Was it a is it in moment or a that was it moment?”
My mother tilted her head. “Look at you asking these dirty questions. Hmm. How was your night?”
My face instantly turned red.
Because of what should have happened with Talon.
“Boring,” I said.
“The color on your face says otherwise.”
“Trust me, it’s not that.”
“Why are you blushing?”
“You’re my mother,” I said. “The subject matter is…”
“So mothers can’t talk to their daughters about sex?”
I poured myself a cup of coffee and prepared it.
I sat at the counter and took a sip. “No offense, but you were never around. So this is new and weird for me.”
“It always goes back to that, huh?”
“I mean, it’s the truth,” I said. “I’m not holding it against you. I’m not throwing it in your face. I’m just telling you what it is.”
“Does it hurt that I wasn’t around?”
“What?”
“Just an honest question.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“You had a good life, Winter. Everything was taken care of.”
“Maybe I did,” I said. “Maybe that wasn’t what I wanted.”
My mother frowned. “I…” Her phone buzzed on the counter. She looked down at it and then flipped it over.
Her cheeks looked a little flushed.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Oh, yes I do.”
“Uh… well… your mother is kind of talented.”
“Okay…? You mean like singing? Writing? Painting?”
“My talents are best in the bedroom.”
“Oh,” I said. “Then… what…”
She smiled.
“Do I really want to know?” I asked.
“My ten second friend from last night into this morning just sent me a picture of what he wants me to have for breakfast.”
My face turned red again.
“Let me guess…”
“I better go freshen up.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked.
My mother shrugged her shoulders. “At least I know what to expect now. Why not, right?”
“Sure,” I said.
She moved from the counter and stopped. “Wait. Are you leaving today?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Make sure you have your phone,” she said. “And text me if anything happens. I mean it, Winter. If you need help. You need a ride. I’ll call in something fake to break up the ball and get you out of there. Whatever it takes.”
“Really?”
“Believe it or not, I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she said. “I know I’m years too late, and that’s fine, but when I got the call about your accident, it hurt me. It ripped right through me like nothing had ever done before. You don’t want to get into it, which is fine, but when I left your father, my thinking was that it was all for the better. For all of us. Nobody was happy. Did I use him for his money? Damn right I did. Did I get a baby out of him for that same reason? Yeah. That doesn’t mean I didn’t love that baby. But there came a time when…”
Her phone buzzed in her hand.
She looked at the screen and smiled.
“I better go,” she said. She looked at me. “Be safe. I know what you’re doing here isn’t safe, but I hope you’re as safe as you can be. Don’t let them win, Winter. Don’t fall for their eyes, muscles or words. Trust me.”
She waved her phone.
“So don’t do what you’re doing right now?” I asked with a smile.
“See? Don’t ever say I didn’t do anything for you.”
My mother hurried out of the kitchen.
I lifted my coffee mug and took a deep breath.
I had no idea what to think of her.
Crazy, lunatic bitch.
Hiding her pain and regret by fooling around with men.
Yet, she was my mother.
I wasn’t sure if I loved her.
But I really wanted her to love me.
The rest of the day was as busy as I expected it to be.
The lonely coffee and breakfast was the quietest part of the day.
I luckily didn’t hear from Talon at all.
My only hope there was to not hear from him until I got back from the ball thing. By then my stupid text messages would hopefully be old news. And even if they weren’t to him, I could just wave it off as old news.
Simple.
The last thing I did was supposed to be the first thing.
Which was packing.
I stood at my dresser with Gia next to me.
She hooked her finger around a pair of panties and lifted them up.
“These?” she asked with a grin.
“Can you not?” I asked. “I don’t need you touching my clothes. Not with that smile on your face.”
“Sorry,” she said.
Gia was in a really good mood today. Which I kind of greedily needed her to be.
She backed away from the dresser and sat down on the edge of my bed.
“I’m just making sure I have everything. Just in case.”
“What could go wrong?” Gia asked.
“Too much,” I said.
I walked a handful of clothes to my bag and dropped them down.
I was packed like I was going away for a month.
But, seriously, I had no idea what to expect.
And with all these rich people, I didn’t want to be caught off guard. I wasn’t sure what was going to be fancy or casual or in between. Even my bathing suit… I had to pack three. Just to be safe. I didn’t want to be seen swimming and then have the same bathing suit seen again later or the next day.