Page 40 of Bittersweet Revenge
She sighs, not liking that answer. I’ve always wondered how she ended up with him, but then, from stories I heard, the lifestyle might’ve seemed exciting in the beginning. She didn’t grow up connected, she didn’t have much of anything, and here was this powerful, wealthy man who offered her the world. She took it, and now she’s miserable.
Rather than argue, she asks, “Are you reading anything good?”
“The Count of Monte Cristo. I got it from a friend.” A friend? Why the fuck did I call him that? More importantly, why did I mention him to her at all?
“A friend, huh? You never talk about those unless it’s Rory and Cil. Does this mean they’re a special friend?”
The laugh tumbles easily from my lips. She’s one of the few people who can make me do that. “Ma, I can’t believe you fuckin’ said that. Special friend? What the hell is that shit?”
“Well, I don’t know what else to say. And this is exciting. Boy or girl?”
Fuck. I inadvertently stepped into a minefield. With each step I take, a bomb could go off. “He, and it’s not like that. He’s just some kid who likes to read and gets on every one of my nerves.”
“Uh-oh. Well, if he’s getting on your nerves, then you’re in even further than I thought.”
A jolt of panic makes my heart lurch. I’m getting real fucking tired of people around me saying I’m into Dean or that he’s mine. “That’s not for me.” I’ve seen what love has done to her. Changed her from this wild, vivid woman Uncle Rian tells me stories about, to someone so sad and alone.
“It will be someday, and when it happens, I know you’ll be good to them. That you’ll treat them the way they deserve.”
Shame nearly suffocates me, chokes me, cutting off my airflow. She wants to believe I’m better than I am. That I’m better than him. The biggest regret of my life is always going to be that I’m destined to let her down.
“I gotta go, Ma. I got shit to do.”
Her voice is softer, even more distant when she says, “Okay…thanks for calling. I love you, sweet boy.”
“I love you too.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dean
“This is yourroom?” I ask Aislin, standing at the window and looking out. An orange leaf flutters behind the glass, and I watch as it falls to the ground.
I’m in Tiernan’s house, and he wants me to stay. That’s exactly what I’m supposed to want, exactly what I hoped for when I put this fucking plan in action, but now that I’m in the moment, it doesn’t feel the way I thought it would. I don’t know why, or what it means. There’s too much shit going on to deal with it. Right now, all that matters is helping them handle the man who tried to hurt Aislin.
“Yeah, I have a room here, but I rarely use it. I stay in the dorms because I wanted that experience, to be a college person, ya know? But it’s nice to be able to come here.”
I turn around and lean against the wall, looking at her. “Freshmen have to stay in the dorms.”
She picks up a pillow and sets it on her lap, fingers brushing over the fabric. “Come on, Dean. You’ve seen enough so far to know that rules most people have to obey don’t apply to us.”
I tense, not having expected her to say that. A million things run through my head as I try to figure out what to say. What would be realistic? Do I ask questions? Is this my chance? Not wanting to say too much, I simply ask, “Why?”
“Money.” She shrugs.
“Money?”
“I can’t tell you, or I’d have to kill you.”
The thing is, she means it. Aislin’s grinning, which settles into a smile, and I laugh it off too, but there are a lot of things they don’t want outsiders to know.
“My brother likes you,” Aislin tells me, which is the last thing I would’ve expected her to say.
My stomach ties into knots at her words. She’s wrong, of course. She must be. Tiernan doesn’t even know me, and he’s not the type to like anyone. “Did you miss the part where Cillian had to hold him back from killing me?”
She wrinkles up her nose as if I just said the most ridiculous thing. “If he wanted you hurt…well, you wouldn’t be here right now.” I cock a brow at her, and she amends, “In my room. He would have kicked you out. But he asked you to stay. And he’s covered in hickeys from you. I’ve never in my life seen anyone put their mark on Tiernan like that.”
My mind is all jumbled at what she said. I still struggle to believe what she’s saying could be true, but what has me wanting to ram my fist through a wall is that my first thought wasn’t that never, in a million fucking years, would I want Tiernan to like me. I shouldn’t be thinking about why he can’t, and instead about how I can use this or why I don’t want him to.
