AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hate her.
Ten years wasn’t long enough to forget the hell she put me through or what she allowed that bastard to do to me. As she takes a step toward me, I retreat, pacing a few steps to our left so Riggs can find his spot on the grass. “Sorry, he has to piss.” Right on cue, Riggs lifts a leg and does his business.
“You’ve grown into a man,” she says, walking over.
Could it be because I am a man? I draw in a deep breath, hoping there’s a shred of patience in the air that will fill my lungs. I don’t want to be an asshole to the woman who bore me, but every feeling I have about her is her fault.
I exhale, not finding any. “Yep, that’s what time does.”
She huffs. “Stop being so stuffy. Come sit with me for a few minutes.”
“Mom. I have to get back to work.”
“A few minutes,” she repeats with a slight pleading undertone. I nod once in resignation and gesture to the bench. She turns and I follow her until we’re both seated, Riggs settling at my feet. “He’s a handsome guy,” she says, leaning over and scratching his head.
I catch the faint scent of her musky perfume and have to swallow back the revulsion. After all the years, she still wears the same perfume.
Her phone dings, and I glance down and read it. I shouldn’t care, but her unexpected visit has me on edge. Beth, where are you? She grabs it before I can see who it’s from. Probably that asshole who keeps her on a tight chain.
The one I almost killed.
Almost.
I exhale. “You still with Ray?”
“Noooo,” she says with disdain. She should be repulsed by how he treated the two of us. But I doubt I’ll ever hear a sorry out of her. She waves me off. “I haven’t seen him in years.” That surprises me. I was certain that he’d kill her before letting her leave him. He was that much of a bastard he’d do it.
“Are you still living in Oklahoma?”
She bobs her head. “A little here and a little there. I’ve adopted the nomad lifestyle living in a trailer.”
I turn toward her, gripping the leash in my hand. “Are you running from him?” Despite my resentment, she’s here now, and there’s a deep-rooted instinct to protect her if she’s in trouble. It’s who I am at my core.
No thanks to her.
“Sweetie, I’m fine,” she says with a singsong voice, the same one she would use when talking to family and friends about how things were going after my dad passed away.
She wasn’t fine. Anything but. I glance at my watch. I have a meeting in ten minutes, so I need to hurry this along. “Why are you here, then?” I wonder how long she had been waiting out here. Did she know I would come out, or was she sitting here debating about coming into the precinct?
“I’m headed out west. Going to give beach living a try,” she says. “I got a job as a traveling nurse.”
It’s always baffled me how someone without compassion could be a nurse.
I’ve yet to hear how this concerns me. I didn’t care where she was for the last ten years. Why does she think I’ll care about the next ten? Is she wanting money? “Mom. Do you need something from me?”
“No, Paxxy. I just wanted to see if you were doing okay. It’s been so long.”
I bite my tongue to stop myself from reminding her why that was. She rubs Riggs on the head again and then looks over at me. “Are ya married?”
“Nope.”
“Seeing anyone?”
Kali, of course, comes to mind, but I sure as hell don’t want to tell her about her. She’ll taint it somehow, or God forbid, start thinking she’s a mom and ask to meet her.
“Nope,” I say, shaking my head and staring ahead. I’ll be damned if Kali meets her before Grams does. “It’s just me and Riggs.”
I feel her eyes on me for a moment, and then see out of the corner of my eye as she looks forward with a quick hum. Hmm what? “I hope you’re not against love because of what happened to me.”
