Page 59 of Verses

That was probably the moment I fell completely in love with Wolf Jackson.

CHAPTER 16

No matter how old I got or how much my psyche managed to repair itself, there was no escaping my mother or how I felt after talking with her. Like taking a bitter pill, I answered the phone when she called. Better to swallow her shit now rather than later. She was always easier to deal with if I talked to her when she first called rather than after she’d frantically dialed me a hundred times in two hours.

Unfortunately, the first thing she asked after telling me about everything going on in her life was how Kyle was doing, and I told her as much truth as I could bear.

“You broke up?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

Oh…I didnotwant to tell her any of the drama that had surrounded our breakup or what had led up to it. No way. Especially knowing how my mother would turn things around.

Somostof the truth would have to do. “We just realized we’re not compatible anymore.” Actually, I was beginning to realize we’d never been.

But hormones and youth had masked the obvious for a long time.

“Did they kick you out?”

They?Had she forgotten about Liam already? “It’s just me and Kyle here, mom—and neither of us can afford to move out, so we’re just in different rooms.”

“What happened to his parents? Where are they?”

Jesus. This was one of my mom’s things. She apparently didn’t remember Kyle, Liam, and I had moved out of their mom’s house years ago. I was convinced it was because my mother still, to this day, didn’t care enough about my life to pay attention to the details.

Or she liked pretending she didn’t know. Either way, I got tired of repeating myself all the time.

“His mom still lives at their house. Kyle and I are in an apartment, remember?”

“When did you move?”

“A long time ago. It doesn’t matter. I just wanted you to know what happened.” Even though she’d probably forgetthattoo and I’d be telling her again in a few months.

“I thought you were going to be together forever. That’s what you said. You both said you loved each other.”

“Wedid. And I still care for him—but not as a boyfriend.”

“No, it doesn’t work that way. If you love him on some level, you just need to work on it.”

“That’s bull, mom—and I hope you know that.”

“No, I know that true love—”

“Just stop right there, okay? How many true loves did you have before Phil came along?”

“Hayley—”

“You know it’s true. Like Jeff. When you married him, you were going to be together—”

The tone of her voice told me that had I been standing in front of her, she would have slapped me across the face.

And I would have gladly taken it to see the look on hers.

“We vowed years ago to never talk about that. That evil man was a mistake, and it’s better to forget about him.”

That was easy for her to say. All she had to do was sign some paperwork.

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