Page 15 of Abel

“Yeah, what he said, hot stuff.” Travis mimics Cam’s slap to my ass, kissing my cheek. “You really look gorgeous. I hope you find someone to dull your pain. At least for the night.” He winks.

Warmth grows in my cheeks, and I’m sure they are turning rosy red from his comment. Travis is really amazing.

They both are and I’d be completely lost without them.

Giving myself one last look, I grab the purse he tossed on my bed for me, stuff it with the essentials I’ll need for the night, and head to meet the guys.

“Alright, you two kids have fun tonight. Iv, do everything I would do and then some. Cam, keep our girl safe. I’ll text you both later tonight.” Travis mutters, turning into quite the mother hen.

“Thank you guys… For everything.” I always get emotional when it comes to things like this. They’ve both been there through my thick and thin.

I didn’t have a rough childhood, it just wasn’t the best.

Mom was great.

The most beautiful girl in the world.

I knew she loved me more than life itself.

She would shower me with hugs and kisses that felt like they were delivered from the angels themselves. I remember, whenever I would look at her, she always had a smile on her face.

I didn’t care what she was doing, it was always there.

She used to dress me in the cutest outfits, sometimes she dressed us alike so we could match for the day.

Those were the best days.

She would make a game out of it, even though she’d already had our outfits planned. We would play dress up and put on a fashion show.

Dad would get upset and leave the house, making mom sad.

One day, I guess she got tired of being a mother and left.

My dad didn’t want the responsibility of being a parent to begin with, so he dropped me off to my grandmother, and she raised me.

My nanna.

She was my everything until she died last year.

I resented both my parents for a long time, but my nanna wouldn’t allow me to do so when I was growing up.‘You have to learn to forgive, baby. Nothing good comes from harboring feelings like those to grow and fester inside you until all you know is that pain.’I can hear her wise words as if she were saying them to me right now.

God I miss her.

As it turns out, my father and I don’t speak. He still doesn’t acknowledge the fact that I’m his daughter.

I thought after I grew up and started to resemble him more than I did as a kid, he would want me, but that, like so many other childish dreams, never became a reality.

One day I hoped to bridge the gap that we built between us, but that day still hasn’t come.

It probably never will, but a girl can hope… Right.

Enough with the pity party, thanks Melanie Martinez. That’s one of the main reasons Cam and I are going out tonight.

He was fed up with me wallowing in sorrow for a failed relationship that was probably doomed from the beginning. Maybe I was in love with the idea of love.

I don’t know.

That’s a complete lie.

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