Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I’m considering waking him with my mouth on his dick when someone bangs on the front door.
What the fuck?
“Stay here,” I grit out when Hollis’s blue eyes pop open.
I climb out of bed and walk into the living room. After I throw my sweats on, I answer the door, ready to kick Jordy’s ass if he’s busting down my door before noon on a Sunday.
It’s not Jordy.
Jesus fuck.
“Mom?”
She looks better than I saw her last, which means she’s trying. Sometimes she tries. Her long, dark brown hair has been straightened and glimmers with some glitter shit she’s sprayed in. Amber eyes that match mine and Roux’s have been done up with smoky eye shadow, black cat eyeliner, and thick black mascara. Her lips are painted a glossy pink. She’s obviously headed to work because she’s dressed like a typical stripper in tight-ass spandex shit. No kid wants to see his mom dressed like this.
“Hey, Roany,” she purrs, eyeing my living room with interest. “Did I interrupt you with your girl?”
It’s obvious with clothes littered in the living room, the two glasses on the table, and all the half-eaten snacks that I’m not alone.
Crossing my arms over my bare chest, I block the doorway. “You interrupted my morning. Yes. Now what do you want?”
She purses her lips and waves a manicured hand in the air. “I’m here for Roux, sugar.”
“No.”
Her eyes flash with fury. “You don’t get to ‘no’ me. You’re my son, and while you may be eighteen now, Roux is not. It’s time for her to come home.”
“Fuck no,” I growl. “How did you find us?”
She rolls her eyes. “Please. I know you two have been playing daddy with Mike for years. It’s the first place I came to be honest.”
“Leave.”
“Not until I have my daughter.” She narrows her eyes at me.
“She’s not here, Mom. Spending the night with a friend.”
Mom laughs. “Roux doesn’t have friends. Is she here?”
“She has friends,” I snap. “You’d know this if you weren’t fucking high all the time.”
“Look at me,” she bites back. “I’m fine. I’d fallen off the wagon, sure, but I’m fine now. I want my baby girl back home. You’re welcome to come back too, you know.”
“No, Mom. She’s not safe there.”
“Oh, please. She’s fine.”
“Alejandro—”
“Just looks after you two like you’re his. Better than your worthless daddy who left me high and dry. Better than fireman Mike who thought he was too good taking on a woman with baggage. Joke’s on Mikey, though. Look where you two ended up anyway.”
I start to shut the door in her face, but she sticks her heeled foot inside before I can close it. “I want you to call her and get her here. I’ll wait.”
“No. She’s not going with you.”
Her face turns red with fury. “She is not your child, dammit. She’s mine. You’ve always acted like you were better than me. You’re not, you piece of shit. I’m the one who kept food in your ungrateful mouths. I’ve had to shake my naked ass for years to keep a roof over your damn heads. And this is the thanks I get? Screw you, Roan. You’re just like your fucking father. I want my little girl right now. Find her.”
“No, Mom,” I spit out at her.
“I’ll call the police.”
I stiffen, watching her features for any tell she’s bluffing. Fire blazes in her eyes. She’s not. Fuck.
“They’ll know you’re a fucking tweaker,” I threaten. “I’ll tell them.”
“They’ve known for years,” she says in a sickly sweet voice. “But they always let me keep you two. They know children belong with their mother.”
“Leave.”
“I will because I’ll be late for work if I don’t, but this isn’t over, Roan. Tell Roux to pack her shit because I’ll be back. I’ll bring the cops if I have to. You’ve been warned. Don’t make a fucking scene.”
She stomps down the stairs and over to Alejandro’s beat to shit Maxima where he waits in the driver’s seat. How dare she bring that trash to my home? He watches me through the windshield, as he blows out a billow of smoke that clouds the car. Mom bitches to herself the whole way to his car. Thankfully, they drive away.
This isn’t the end, though.
I feel it in my gut.
Fuck.
“Are you okay?”
I swivel around to find Hollis dressed and sitting on the arm of the couch. A worried expression twists up his handsome features.
“No,” I rasp out. “I…she’s going to…I don’t know what the fuck to do.” I run my fingers through my hair and tug at the strands. “Fuck, Hollis. What do I do?”
“You can’t do this alone,” he says, standing and pulling me to him for a hug.
“What can you do?”
“Not just me. We’ll talk to my mom and Aunt Karen and Mike. We’ll figure something out together.”
My chest warms knowing I have other sane adults on my side.