Page 43 of The Paths We Cross
This bitch. I shouldn’t let her goad me like this, but I’m fucking petty.
Everly: Shut the fuck up. You wouldn’t know a good mother if one hit you in the face. I’ll be there in one hour.
I shouldn’t have agreed, but I need to know what this bitch has to say. I don’t know what she thinks she could say that would make me understand her logic.
“Everly?” Nicole yells from the phone, making me jump. I forgot that she was on the line.
I hold it back up to my ear. “Fuck, sorry. You’re not going to believe who just texted me and wants to meet up.”
“Your mom? No! Are you actually thinking about meeting up with her?”
“Yes! I told you; I just want to end this. I don’t think I can talk any sense into her, but maybe I can get her to back off.”
“I don’t know, Everly. Maybe you should talk to Rowan about this.”
“I don’t want him to stop me from going,” I tell her. “I promise I’ll call him if anything feels wrong.”
“Okay,” she concedes. “But if I don’t hear from you in two hours, I’m calling him myself.”
“Yes, Nic,” I grumble. “I love you and I’ll call you when I find out what she wants.”
“Just be careful! I love you.”
“I will!”
I end the call and open up my navigation app to type in the address on my phone. It’s in Charlotte and will take me forty-five minutes to get there. I need to get out of the house without Rowan noticing me in the next five minutes so I can get on the road and make it there in an hour.
I go to Hazel’s room and check on her. She’s still sleeping, and Rowan took her baby monitor out into the garage so that I could have a moment to cool off. She’s safe and Rowan will take good care of her while I’m gone.
My SUV is on the street since Rowan is working on his bike in the garage, so I sneak out the front door, closing it and locking it as quietly as possible. The soft sounds of rock music is wafting from the open garage door, and it helps to muffle the sound of my footsteps.
This is all pointless if Rowan goes inside and finds out that I’m gone too early. I know that I don’t have to worry about him finding me if I need help because we share our location with each other. All he has to do is check the app and he’ll be able to find me. Which isn’t a bad thing in this situation. He’s going to be so pissed at me, though.
I unlock my Telluride and slide into the driver’s seat, starting the engine with a wince and hoping he won’t hear it. When he doesn’t make an appearance from the garage, I feel like I’m in the clear. I shift my car into drive and slowly pull away from the house and toward Charlotte.
My drive to Charlotte is nerve wracking, to say the least. I keep waiting for Rowan to call me freaking out. I’m worried about leaving Hazel, no matter how safe she is with Rowan. I keep thinking that Nicole is going to tell Rowan what I’m doing. I’m second guessing myself that this could be a trap and I’ve played right into her hand. I don’t know what I’ll do if that’s the case. What kind of trap would my mother lay, though? She wants custody of my child. She doesn’t want me dead.Right?
My GPS tells me to turn right and then my destination is on the left. In front of me is an abandoned business with a dilapidated parking lot. My mother’s black Audi SUV is sitting in the middle of the lot.
I swallow down my nerves and pull in front of her, not willing to park right beside her. I can see her in the front seat, but the second row of her vehicle has tinted windows, so I can’t see if anyone is inside or not.
She doesn’t move to get out, so I reach for my handle and push my door open. I slide out of my vehicle and move to stand in front of it, waiting for her to get out. She finally opens her door and moves to join me.
She looks like her normally put together self. She’s wearing a pair of black slacks, a gray cardigan over a black camisole, and flats are on her feet. Her hair is styled in a perfect sleek bob, and her makeup is perfectly in place.
She’s everything that I’m not, but for the first time ever, that thought doesn’t pain me. Rowan has shown me what it is to be truly loved for who you are. He appreciates every curve and flaw that I have as much as he loves the things I love about myself.
“I didn’t think that you would show,” she murmurs as she stops in front of me, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I have so many other things I’d rather be doing today, but you piqued my interest,” I tell her. “Why are you doing this? My daughter is perfectly healthy, happy and safe.”
“Hazel is anything but safe with a bunch of criminal bikers,” Laura sneers.
“You know nothing about Hazel, and you know nothing about my life!”
She chuckles. “I know that you’ve already spread your legs for that biker thug, and I know it’s only a matter of time before he dumps you and moves on to the next whore, probably leaving you with another bastard child.”
My hand snaps out, closing around her throat and thrusting her against her SUV. “Do not speak of them that way,” I growl.
