Page 74 of Reckless Goals

“Ash?” Rhys’ voice was dark, questioning, and gave me a chill down my spine. It was nothing I had heard from him before. There may have even been a hint of fear.

My mother laughed and took two steps into my apartment. I shut the door to spare my neighbors but with all three of us standing at the foot of my bed, it was crowded.

“So I guess she doesn’t know,” she said to Rhys, still laughing in that smug way she always did.

“Know what?” Rhys and I both said at the same time.

“You mean you both have no idea? Rhys,” she crooned, making the S on his name sound like a snake. “You knew.”

“Mel,” he got closer to her, “If you don’t leave us the fuck alone, I will make sure—”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, making Rhys turn to me as my mother started laughing again.

Not Melvin. Melanie. Even worse.

“Now we just need Lover Boy to figure it out.”

“What the hell–?”

“Rhys, this is my mother.” I said quickly. “And I am assuming she is also your ex.”

“Your…? I thought…” Rhys was looking between the two of us, too stunned to speak.

My knees were close to giving out and I felt as though I was spiraling into a panic attack.

“Oh I am sure she made you think I was some drugged out skank. She likes to pretend I’m a huge disappointment in her life.”

I stayed quiet, not yet finding my voice. Rhys was staring at me, and he started to get closer when he realized I was fading.

“Ash?”

I held a hand up to stop him, not wanting him to touch me until I knew I was strong enough to face them. My mother was laughing and rolling her eyes, but Rhys kept his focus on me. His concern was only about me, and he was completely ignoring Melanie. That alone gave me strength to speak.

“The only thing I ever told him was that you were absent in my life, and provided nothing for me, or my grandparents, since the day I was born. And how I want to be nothing like you.”

“And yet here you are, stealing my fiancé. Momma has good taste, doesn't she?”

I wanted to vomit. I had to back away for a minute and regroup again. The fact that my mother was the one Rhys had been trying to get over hit me hard. A part of me felt I should have been angrier, but all I felt was confusion and heartache.

“Your names aren’t even the same.” Rhys was still looking between us, also confused and still trying to make sense of the fact that his ex was my mother. I guess in a way, I wasn’t shocked at all. It would be just like her to date someone, and then disappear. She filled him with lies of her hopes and dreams about a family when all she really ever cared about was herself.

It made me feel guilty for being related to her in any way.

“She got married when she was eighteen to an old man who didn’t want kids around him and his fancy things. The marriage lasted four months but it was long enough to get her name changed and her college paid for.”

“You told me you had never been married. Never had kids.”

“Rhys,” she whined like he wasn’t getting the point. “I love you so much, I was scared. Afraid you’d reject me if you knew I had trouble when I was younger.”

“What about when you got older?” I yelled. “Even as you became a fucking doctor and started working at that fancy practice, you still never acted like I existed, unless you wanted something. Grandma and Grandpa had to sell their things just to feed me some days.”

“Ashlynn, this is not the time. This is not about poor you.” She put a hand to her temple, as if I was causing her great strife in her life. “I need to talk to Rhys alone.”

“Fuck no!” Rhys yelled. He was finally done processing what was going on and stepped in front of me. “I already kicked you out of my apartment and you show up here? How the fuck did you even know I was here? That I was with Ash?”

“I saw a picture of you at my daughter’s game. On the news. It made me wonder why. Didn’t take much digging to figure out you were fucking her. I was actually moved that you would go as far as using her to get me back. Though, you definitely have my attention now.”

My panic was twisting with my hatred and I started to come around Rhys, wanting to scratch her eyes out. Not just for me, but for Rhys. Melanie was a snake, she always had been.

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