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"Lucky," Derek snapped. "Stay out of this."

"And let you all talk down to Hope like it'sherfault that your screwed-up son is a junkie? " Hunter countered. "You can shit in your hands and clap if you think I'm gonna let that happen."

"Tell them why Jordan fell off the wagon in the first place, Hope!" Annabelle, hell bent on taking me down, demanded. "Go on. Tell Jordan's parents what you did!"

"Hope?" Mom turned and looked at me. "What's she talking about?"

"Your daughter has been having an affair," Annabelle hissed, not giving me a chance to speak. Raising her finger, she pointed it directly at Hunter and spat, "With him!"

"You're getting on my last fucking nerve, Blondie," Hunter growled, rubbing his jaw. "Seriously. Someone needs to throw some holy water on your ass and banish you back to the hole you slithered out from."

"Lucky!" That was my mother. "Is it true?"

When he clenched his jaw and didn’t respond, Mom turned to me.

"Hope, is this true?" she asked shakily. "Are you having an affair with Lucky?"

****

Lucky

Well, the shit had hit the proverbial fan in Thirteenth Street.

"Hope, is this true?" Lee demanded, eyes locked on her daughter. "Are you having an affair withLucky?"

All the pain and suffering and fucking isolation came down to this moment.

She had to do it.

She had to make a choice.

Claim me or shame me.

I had been expecting the inevitable; her begging them to forgive her for something she had no business apologizing for, and then turning around to me and ripping my heart to shreds.

But what I had been expecting was the opposite of what happened.

"I'm not having an affair with Lucky," Hope replied. "I'mwithhim, Mom."

Lee turned white. "With him?"

"Yeah, Mom. I'mwithhim," Hope repeated, voice a little shaky. "We'retogether."

The pressure in my heart was so extreme in this moment that I reached up and rubbed my chest for relief.

Well shit…

She did it.

She actually fucking did it.

"You fucking bastard." Derek shoved his chair back and jerked to his feet.

Derek lunged for me, but was quickly held back by Karen. "Don’t, Der," she ordered. "He's not worth it."

"He's a piece of shit," Derek snarled, glowering me.

"Back off, Derek," Hope snapped, shocking the hell out of me by coming tomydefense. "It's not his fault."

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