Page 50 of Bloody Quarter

“Oh, and what will I consider it?”

“A deliciously dangerous dessert,” he said, his voice rough as it rolled over my skin and somehow touched me as intimately as if he’d used his hand.

“Alright, deal. I want you sitting here topless when I come back.

Laughing, Greyson pushed back from the car and smiled. “That I can do.” Stepping back, he dropped his arms and I missed the intense heat he gave off. Wrapping the leather coat around me, I headed for the mouth of the path. “Doll?” I looked back at him. Fuck, he already looked sexy, leaning against the car. I was doomed to be with a bad boy from the first time I watched Fast and Furious. “Make sure you scream loud.” Smiling, I nodded. He had a one-track mind.

There were a few people here today. It was as if the cool weather had called us here to speak to those whose bodies were forever cold. My eyes went to the empty bottle still lying at my sister’s grave, and tears stung my eyes. What had I almost done? I remembered everything. I’d never been like those people who drank to forget. My mind wouldn’t allow me to do that. If anything, it remembered every last thing I said or did in vivid detail to throw at me later, so I felt the shame of falling prey to weakness.

No, I didn’t drink to forget. I drank to numb myself. The soft buzz and images that came but weren’t followed by a bite of pain. That was what I craved. I’d never want to forget Evie.

“You have some nerve.”

My head jerked up at the sound of my mother’s voice. I turned toward the shadow on the ground and stared at the woman who gave birth to me. There was so little of me that I saw in her. Her angry glare was locked on my face, and her hands balled into fists.

“How dare you come here after what you did to her.” My mother held her hand out toward the bottle. “And I see nothing has changed. You disrespect your sister by doing the very thing that got her killed while at her grave? How could you?”

My mother stomped forward, and I knew she was going to try and hit me. But I wasn’t the same person I had been even a few weeks ago. I didn’t know exactly what Greyson had done to me, but I felt…stronger…more of my old self, and yet different. As she swung for my face, I grabbed her arm and jerked her closer.

“Don’t ever touch me again,” I said before forcing her to step back and letting her go. “Don’t insult me, and don’t bother trying to ban me from visiting Evie. I’ve been coming here almost every day since my release. Funny how this is the first time I’ve seen you bother to show up.”

“How dare you talk to me like that,” she said.

“How dare I this, how dare I that. I’m not sure why you don’t just say what you really want to say. How dare I remain breathing while Evie is dead?” Tears filled my mother’s eyes as she looked away.

“It was all your fault.”

“Mother, I can’t deny that I made mistakes. In fact, I’ve made many mistakes, but that night, no one was blameless. You want to toss all of this at my feet? Fine, you can do that if it helps you sleep better at night, but I won’t let you add your guilt on top of mine anymore,” I said.

“How is this my fault? All I did was try to provide a stable home for the two of you after your father left us with nothing. All you did was act out and make my life hell. You skipped school, slept around, drank, partied, and probably did drugs while Evie looked up to you. There is no wonder she ended up at a party. That’s on you.” She pointed at me.

“No, Mother. It’s on you.” She stepped back like I slapped her. “You’re the mother, and you were too busy to notice that both Evie and I were struggling. I wasn’t acting out because I wanted to hurt you….” I waved my hand. “No, I’m not doing this. You’ll find some way to twist everything I say because you never wanted to believe me. I don’t think you ever believed in me.”

“You still think you didn’t do anything wrong,” my mother said, her voice flabbergasted.

“No, that’s not what I said. I said that I’m done taking all of the blame. I didn’t say that nothing was my fault. There is a big difference.”

“You never should’ve stolen the car. What you should’ve done was come in and tell me that Evie needed a ride, but instead, you wanted to remain her hero.”

I snorted a laugh at the ridiculous comment. “You couldn’t be further from the truth. I told her to call you and flat out refused, but she begged me.”

“Of course she did. She wouldn’t want to be grounded for all the good it would do. Alora, you were seventeen and old enough to know not to drink and drive. But you did and killed two people,” she said. Fuck, I was sick of repeating myself. Bending, I picked up the empty bottle. I stared at the blue label and hated that I ever started down this road.

“I didn’t drink and drive,” I said.

“Stop with the lies. Everyone at the party saw you drinking a beer. Then you picked Evie up and terrorized another group.”

I snorted. “Terrorize…wow, that is a stretch. You have no idea what really happened, or you don’t want to know because then you’d have to admit that you didn’t believe me, your daughter. You were never around. You have no idea what I was or wasn’t doing, but instead of listening, you assumed the worst, just like everyone else. You testified against me and disowned me, all before you sent the cops after me for killing your boyfriend. Do I look like a murderer?”

Yeah, I knew who killed him, but there was no way in hell I was turning on Greyson. I had no idea if Dave deserved what happened or not, but at this point, it didn’t matter. Not only was I too tied to him. He’d worked whatever strange magic he had against me, and I was under his spell.

“Did you even stop to think for just a second how that would hurt me? Did you even care?”

“You were at the house that day. The detective asked if there was anyone who hated either one of us, and I mentioned your name. It wasn’t like I jumped up and down yelling that my daughter did it.” She wiped away a tear and crossed her arms. “That’s why I’m here. It was Dave’s service today.”

“I’m sorry.” Touching Evie’s stone, I sighed. “I come here all the time and talk to her, and sometimes it feels like she is right here beside me.” Before another fight erupted, I decided I’d come back another day and walked past my mother.

“Alora?” I stopped but didn’t look back. “Tell me what happened that night.”