Page 52 of Bearly Hanging On

“Mum!”

She frowned as she looked me over and then pushed her way inside.

“So you are still alive.” With a cursory eye, she took in my kitchen and living room, then sniffed. “Which doesn’t explain why you haven’t answered my messages.”

I looked down at my phone and then scrolled with it, my heart sinking as I saw all the messages. Had I left my phone on do not disturb or just silent? They got more and more hysterical in tone as I scrolled, but that was something I’d need to deal with later.

“Sorry about that,” I said, “but I’ve got to go. I’m late?—”

“Why did your grandmother tell me you were dating three men?” she snapped, instinctively moving to place herself between the door and me. “Why am I only just finding out you rejected Brendan for…” My eyebrow jerked up as my mother looked around, as if the neighbours were eavesdropping on this conversation. “For a pack of animals.”

There was so much in that statement. Prejudice, fear, concern for me, but I shook my head, knowing I didn’t have time for any of it.

“I have to go,” I said firmly. “That means I’m leaving the apartment now. If you want to, stay behind here and have a cup of coffee with Daria when she wakes up.”

“That girl.” Mum waved a hand. “She’s probably the one that talked you into this ridiculousness in the first place. Always been a bad influence, that one.”

Do not engage, I thought furiously. That’s what she wants. I snatched my car keys off the kitchen counter and then made a beeline for the door, which drew my mother after me.

“You can’t do this,” she said. “These… shifters. They’ve been hiding in plain sight for all of these years doing god knows what.”

“Mm hmm…”

I took the stairs two at a time, forcing Mum to run after me.

“This is why you didn’t give Brendan a chance, isn’t it?” she said. “These… animals have filled your head with thoughts of being destined mates.”

“Fated mates.”

Talking, even to correct my mother, was always a mistake. I paused, watching her fluff up to twice her size.

“They have, haven’t they?” She poked a finger in my direction. “For goodness sakes, Harper. You can be a smart girl when you try. I was watching a segment about these shifter creatures onToday Tonight, and they talked about the girls that have been scammed by men like this. That’s what this is. People aren’t fated to do anything. They choose to be together based on mutual goals and compatibility. You need someone sensible, who’ll look after you?—”

“Like Barry?” He was one of Mum’s first boyfriends after she broke up with Dad. Her face went white, because she knew what was coming. “The guy that came into my room at night to talk.”

He didn’t do anything else thankfully, but it took until I was an adult to realise how dodgy that was. I’d hated him on sight, behaved pretty badly when Mum and he got together, and for some reason, he thought it was a good idea to have a ‘chat’ with me in my room while Mum slept next door. I hadn’t told anyone about it until I got older. Mum asked quietly if anything else happened, but it hadn’t. Honestly, the chat was enough to reinforce the feeling of being unsafe, even when I was asleep. To have a grown man that wasn’t related to me sitting on my bed, talking to me in a low voice so my mother wouldn’t hear us. The secrecy, it was weird enough, without something worse happening.

“You’re never going to forgive me for that, are you?”

I hated the very real pain in her voice, but it felt like we couldn’t have a conversation without someone hurting, and I voted not me.

“It isn’t a matter of forgiveness, Mum.” I unlocked my car and jerked the door open. “It’s a matter of boundaries. I won’t bring up the past if you butt the hell out of my life. Who I date, what I do, is not up for discussion. Now, I need to get to work.”

“Harper…” She rushed towards the window as I started the car. “I just want you to be safe. You’re my daughter.”

But it was too late for that. By the time she decided to step up and be a mother, I had years of looking after myself under my belt. I wasn’t going to relinquish that autonomy for anyone.

“That’s not an outcome you can guarantee, Mum,” I told her as I pulled my foot off the brake. “No one can. Look after yourself and I’ll do the same.”

So much forpost-dream sex afterglow. I frowned so damn hard on the drive to work I arrived with a headache.

Work was a relief. What people wanted from me all day was easy to provide and explicitly stated. I wrote up orders, took them to the kitchen, then delivered guys their food and processed their payments. Didn’t have a chance to think about anything until my break. When I was doom scrolling, I saw that more than one person had messaged me. Beyond Mum’s hysterical texts, now amended with some sulky ones, was one from Kieran.

Somehow, I still felt an ache deep inside me from where his dream fingers had worked. Apparently, he was equipped with a G-spot attachment that promised to rock my world. That alone had me opening his text to see that I had another invitation. He’d followed up the initial one with a flyer for a school fair that was on tonight to raise money. Fairy floss, rides, games, and multiple orgasms sounded a helluva lot more interesting than what I had planned for tonight, so I tapped out a reply.

Love to. Where did you want me to meet you?

No leaving me on read for hours here. A reply came in almost immediately.

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