Page 248 of There's No Us Without You
I stumble backwards, clutching at my stinging cheek, hot tears filling my eyes.
“How dare you!” She spits the words at me. “I let you come back home when those boys threw you away like rubbish. Me, Eden.” She pokes her breastbone. “Me. And you dare speak to me that way?”
Holding my cheek, I step away from her, my breathing heavy and fast. Tears sting my eyes. “I’d rather be on the street than spend one more second in this fucking house.” I turn and race upstairs to my room, snatching my handbag, Will’s car keys, and my suitcase which I still haven’t unpacked.
That should have been the first sign that living here again was never going to work.
Kent is holding my mother when I pass them again. He steps back and holds his hands up. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Fuck you,” I say, giving them both the finger over my head. “You deserve each other.”
My mother gasps, but I don’t wait around to see the look on her painted-on face before I slam the front door behind me and storm towards Will’s car still parked out front.
I shove the suitcase in the back seat and grab my phone from my bag. There’s only one place I want to go to right now, but I can’t, so I pull up Stella’s number instead. I press the call button and place the phone on speaker because my phone isn’t linked to the Bluetooth in Will’s car.
“Hey, girl,” Stella says in her cheerful voice when she answers.
“Can I come over?”
“Yeah, of course.” Her tone lowers. “Are you okay?”
“Not really. I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I say and hang up.
How could they try and conspire against me like that? That woman will never change, and Kent is just her little lap dog atthis point. He really needs to get his own life and stop getting sucked into my mother’s dramatics.
When I pull up in front of Stella’s house, Carter’s car is parked in the driveway.
Great. I should have known he’d be here, but where else do I go?
Stella rushes out of the house when I climb from the car. “Eden,” she says, wrapping me in her arms. “What happened?”
“My mother happened.”
Her body sags, and she pulls back, leaving her hands on my shoulders. “What did she do?”
“Do you have all day?” I say, shaking my head with a roll of my eyes.
She winks, giving me a small smile. “For you, of course.”
I follow my friend inside, closing the door behind us. Her little sister is colouring in at the dining table, and Carter is making a sandwich in the kitchen.
He lifts his chin when he sees me and takes a bite of his food. “Eden,” he says through the mouthful. “You look like shit.”
Stella whips her head towards her boyfriend, her squinted eyes zeroing in on him. “Rude much?”
“What?” Carter lifts a shoulder, crumbs falling from his mouth. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Just . . . you know, she looks sad.”
“Oh my god.” Stella rubs her eyes then turns to me again. “I’m so sorry, Edie. Don’t listen to him.”
Sniffing, I rub my hands over my thighs. “It’s fine. He’s not wrong. I am sad.”
Seeing him has me nearly breaking down, my knees almost giving out beneath me. He’s a reminder of what I lost.
“Whoa,” Stella says, grabbing my arm and leading me to the lounge chair. “Carter, get Eden some water.”
“On it,” he says, dropping his sandwich onto the plate in front of him.
Stella kneels in front of me and takes my hands in hers. “Tell me what happened.”
