Page 55 of The Stud

“Mom-”

“Don’t you dare ‘Mom’ me, Arden Grace,” hisses the woman notorious for being the less fun parent. “Youare the one being ridiculous right now.”

“Worst pre-game prep-talk ever.” I bump fists with Potato during his stroll by to the charter bus that’s parked out front of the hotel we’re in for the night. “We’re talking even worse than the one you gave me when Ivolunteeredto help Dad arrange a charity hockey tournament to help fund the building of a new rec center in a low-income area.”

“I was trying to save you the stress that comes from workingwithyour dad.”

“By insisting I didn’t have the organizational skills to put together a social event with pillars of the communityIbasically live and breathe?”

“You’re overselling that speech.”

“You’re under remembering.”

“You’re avoiding.”

“You. Are. Correct.” Tapping fists with Groffee precedes me happily pointing to his new LMC coffee cup the demon that wears Dior wants them promoting. “I don’t wanna have this conversation.”

“Not wanting to have it doesn’t change the fact that it needs to be had.”

Cap is next to lightly pound his knuckles with mine.

“You wanted a second opinion about the surgery. You got three.”

“I was just being thorough,” I defensively mutter prior to engaging in the action with Hedgie.

“And now you’re just being stubborn.”

“I learned it from watching you.”

“You learned it from watchingus,” she helplessly snickers.

“Truthskies.”

Bothof my parents are headstrong as fuck.

It’s why the business has steadily grown and expanded and ventured into, along with held its own, in markets people told them they would never survive in.

And that gift of determination?

It’s one they gave to us.

The difference of course being I use mine for good while the womb sharer uses her for evil.

Example?

I was literally laughed out of the room for auditioning to be a hockey commentator only to use my resolve to become one of the highest paid media coordinators in the league andthe highestpaid one with tits, yet when she was denied the opportunity to model some on the rise, plus-sized brand– something she is clearly not– she bought the company, fired everyone, and resold it to what would’ve been its biggest competitor in the market for the price of one luxury rooftop brunch.

See.

Evil.

“You need the surgery, Arden,” Mom scolds, tone more concerned than anything else. “Your vertigo episodes are increasing.”

“Only a little.”

“And your tinnitus is getting worse.”

“I mean…it’s not getting better.”

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