Page 32 of Rocked: The Price of Dreams

Ergh! Where had my mother found this guy?

He was nothing like the men she usually brought home. With a huge gold TAG Heuer watch on his wrist and expensive suit, he reeked of money. He was not the low-to-average working-class loser or vulnerable shmuck she often had in her bed.

“Come away with me this weekend?” Nolan buttoned his shirt as he stared into her eyes. “Let’s go to my house in the mountains. Just you. And me. The birds and the bees.”

Oh. My. God. Vomit bubbled up my throat. I swallowed the foul taste in my mouth. “Hello. Company present.”

“Argh!” My mother shrieked and jumped. Placing her hand on her heart, she threw me a strained smile. “Gemma? Sweetheart. What are you doing here?”

Sweetheart? What the fuck? She never called me that. “Um...I live here.”

“Why aren’t you with your friends?” Hate flared in the whites of her eyes as she twirled and tugged on her dangling earring. “Playing music.”

“I had to work. It’s late and I have homework to do.”

“Oh...right.” Mortification grayed her face. “Nolan, this is um...my daughter.”

Nolan jerked his chin back. “Oh. I didn’t know you had a daughter?”

Mom threw her head back and laughed, fake and full of shit, like the rest of her. “She does her own thing so often, it’s like I don’t. She’s a senior. She’ll be gone at the end of the school year.”

Feeling the love, Mom. Not. Never. But that wasn’t unusual.

Nolan eyed me up and down like I was a waste of space...Exactly how my mother looked at me. “She’s no trouble, is she?”

“No...never.” Mom patted Nolan’s chest. “She’s more of a roommate than a daughter. I’ve raised her to be a strong, independent young woman.”

What the hell? Was my mother drunk? Raise me? Me, my dad, Derek, and the lady next door had done that. Not her.

“Hmm. That’s what I love about you.” He snaked his hands around Mom’s waist and kissed her. “You’re strong. Sexy. Sassy.”

Oh yeah...Now I was definitely going to throw up.

“I’ll pick you up at four on Friday.” He nibbled on her ear. “Okay, sugarplum?”

She giggled and blushed like a schoolgirl. “I look forward to it. I’ll see you then.”

Taking his hand, Mom showed Nolan out the door. The second the door clicked shut, she turned and stormed toward me. “How dare you interrupt me and make me look like a fool in front of Nolan?”

“Um...I didn’t know you had someone here. You should be at work.”

“I’m on a dinner break. I have to go back in ten minutes.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, you should. Nolan and I have been seeing each other for a while. It’s serious. He’s a property developer from Philadelphia and comes up every two weeks to check on his multimillion-dollar housing project...and to see me.” A greedy glint shimmered in her beady green eyes. “I’m certain he’s going to ask me to marry him soon. I’ll make sure of it.”

What? I pinched my brows together. “But you’re already married. To Derek.”

She fluttered her eyelashes and shimmied her shoulders. “Not if Nolan asks me.”

“You’re gonna leave Derek?” I gripped onto my pen tighter, so tight it should’ve snapped. “Why? He’s a good guy.”

“Oh, please.” She swatted the air with her talons. “He’s a small-time insurance salesman with no ambition and will never make millions. I deserve better.”

So did he. But for some strange reason, he liked Mom. And he loved his job. “If money is all you’re after, you could get a better job.”

“Me?” She splayed her hand across her chest. “Why would I do that? I won’t need to work if I marry Nolan. He’ll take care of me. Give me a better life. Treat me like royalty.”

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