Page 14 of Pitiful Lies

“No,” I tell him, and give him a look that says he’s crazy.

“Koukla, call your mother. She might be worried about you.”

We’ve been driving for four hours, but we haven’t even made it to the top of Florida yet. This state just seems to go on forever, and I95 isn’t even packed yet.

“And tell her what? That some lunatic kidnapped me from the nail salon?”

Angel sighs and just shakes his head. Before I can ask him what he’s doing, he’s pressing a button on the complicated-looking steering wheel of the insanely hot muscle car he’s driving.

Then, he dials a familiar number. I can see it on the enormous monitor.

Oh my God.

It’s my parents’ number.

“How the fuck did you get?—”

But I can’t finish that question because my mother’s voice greets me over the speakers.

“Is that you, Angel? Honey, an Angel is calling me on my phone,” she says with laughter lacing her voice.

I think she’s talking out loud maybe to my dad, but then again, she talks to herself whether or not he is there sometimes. My mom is fun like that.

I am too stunned to speak, but it appears I don’t have to. Angel does it for me.

“Hello, Mrs. Vega,” he says, and he’s smiling.

Like, he’s really fucking smiling.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that before. My heart constricts. It feels so full and tight all at the same time. A flurry of emotions hits me.

Sadness, regret, and a sort of mourning fills me. A requiem for lost dreams.

There’s more, too. I don’t know what it is exactly.

Maybe hope.

But that’s idiotic, and I quickly douse that ember of feeling before it can become something else.

Something deadly.

You are so fucking pitiful, Sisi. You know that?

But I ignore my bitch of an inner voice, and I tune into the conversation between my cheating ex whatever and my mother.

“Now, what did I tell you before? If my handsome new almost son-in-law is going to call me anything, it’s going to be Mom,” she says in a sing-song voice.

“What?” I gasp before Angel can answer.

He’s grinning at me now, and I want to hit him.

“Mom, he’s not gonna call you that! What did you do?” I shout and mouth the last part to him.

But he doesn’t bother answering me. Of course, he doesn’t.

Fucker.

“Sisi, are you back in Jersey? I want you to check on Resa, she’s been having trouble with her RA at school,” she says.

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