Page 27 of Brutal Days

I should have let it go, but I couldn’t, and I pressed the button to call her. It wasn’t what I would do with any other girl, but I wanted to hear her voice. And I wouldn’t read into it.

“Hi.”

I was almost surprised she answered. She was so prickly and combative most of the time. “Hey. How did it go with your mom after I left? Was she upset?”

“No.” She yawned, followed by a rustling that could have been her getting into bed. “She wondered why I went outside and asked who owned the Range Rover, but that was it.”

“Did you tell her about me?”

She snorted. “No. I told you before, no one can know about us.”

Why does that annoy me?“It’s nice that you spend time with your mom.”

“Do you miss yours? That was a stupid question. Sorry. Of course you must.”

“It’s a fair question.” I was so fucked in the head about it. “I didn’t appreciate her when she was around. Things were… a struggle. I was team Dad, and Cole was team Mom.”

“It’s hard to look back sometimes, to wonder what you could have done. If anything.”

“Yeah, trust me. It’s on my mind a lot more than I would like. Mom struggled with depression. She was estranged from her family except her sister, my aunt. That wasn’t her only issue. She wanted our dad’s attention so much, but he didn’t care about her as she did him.”

“Are you sure about that? It’s hard to have a clear view into someone else’s relationship.”

I sat on my bed with my back against the headboard. “Our dad was a cheater. Mom knew about it, but I didn’t believe all the bullshit flying around. I assumed dad was just busy. He has businesses and clients all over the country, and her fears were so dramatic and, at the time, seemed delusional. My brother bent over backward to ensure she was okay, and Dad hired a nurse for when he wasn’t around… but it wasn’t enough.”

“I’m sorry. It sounds like things were tough and you were in an impossible situation.”

“I refused to see my dad clearly. It’s on me.”And I’m afraid that I’m like him.“I didn’t call to talk about my family.” I never did that, which probably wasn’t healthy. “What did you and your mom watch?”

“Enough.”

“What’s that?” I’d never heard of it. And I liked talking to Sky, hearing her voice, so I planned to ask whatever I could think of to keep her on the line.

“It’s an older movie, starring Jennifer Lopez, about a woman in an abusive relationship who takes back her life, and her daughter’s, then kicks ass in the end. Mom likes to watch it occasionally, and because of my dad, it’s been a regular in our go-to movie list.”

“Your dad was abusive?” My hand clenched into a fist at my side.

“Yes. The lovely crescent scar on my temple is a souvenir from him.”

Her voice had that clipped end-of-discussion quality, but I needed to know if she was in danger, because I fucking hated the thought of that. “Does he live with you?”

“No, he’s in prison.”

“Good.” And because I sensed her discomfort with the turn of our conversation, I switched topics. “How did you and Gia become friends? You’re very different.”

“We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

Her voice returned to the relaxed, sexy tone that I strained to hear in the hallways. That was what had brought me to call her rather than just text. I liked so many things about her. It was odd for me since I didn’t normally associate feelings with my hookups.

“What happened with Gia tonight?” she asked.

“Nothing.” That chick was just tiring.

“She said things were going great and then not so much.”

“That was your fault. You wouldn’t answer my texts.”

“Huh. I’d never thought of you as needy.”

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