Page 64 of Love From the Ashes

“Not another word from you.” Reid spun around and headed toward the door. He yanked it open, marching into the parlor, his hands balled into fists at his side.

I bolted from my chair and ran after him, stopping him as he advanced toward Nick.

“Reid, stop, please,” I begged, trying to keep it from getting physically ugly.

Reid glared at me. Then he turned to Nick, a menacing look distorting his face. “What do you want?”

“Now, now. There’s no need to be upset,” Nick said, his voice deceptively smooth as he put his hands in the air and took several steps backward. “We came to see my long-lost sister, hoping she’d welcome us into her home.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Reid said, his voice tight.

There was a movement off to my right. I turned, catching sight of my mother standing up from the couch. It was the first time I’d seen her in years. She looked old and worn, and her face was caked with makeup. Her clothes were partially visible underneath her open coat and looked disreputable. She was braless, and her boobs were practically falling out of her slinky, low-cut blouse, her skirt so short it almost exposed her crotch. She looked every inch like the drug addict and prostitute that she was.

Reid stood there like a statue, staring at her.

“There’s my baby girl. Liv, honey, I’ve missed you.” My mother smiled, her previously crooked and nicotine-stained teeth replaced with ill-fitting dental implants. She took several steps toward me.

“Don’t you dare come near me!” I threw my palm in the air, motioning her to stop. “And don’t you dare pretend to love or care about me.”

“Liv, sweetheart, what are you saying? I’m your mama. Of course I care.” She took another step toward me. “Come on, baby girl. I haven’t seen you in a long time. Don’t treat your mama this way.”

“My mother?” I said, spitting the words from my mouth. “You were no goddamn mother to me. After Daddy died, you shacked up with boyfriend after boyfriend, half of which leered at me, and I was only nine years old at the time. I told you what was happening, and you called me a liar. And when you were high, you didn’t even bother to go to your bedroom. You screwed your boyfriends in front of me. I had to see it and hear it. And then you shacked up with your drug-dealing pimp, Denny. He made my life a living hell, and you let him.”

“Liv, honey. It wasn’t that bad. I put a roof over your head and took care of you.”

“Took care of me?” I took a deep breath, my mind spinning like crazy. She was insane. “Is that what you call taking care of your child? I hid at the public library every day after school to get away from your leering boyfriends. And Denny attacked me. You remember that one, don’t you? I was fourteen years old, and he tried to have his way with me, telling me it was time I learned the trade so I could sell myself on the street, and he was going to break me in. You told him I wasn’t old enough and asked him to wait a year. You had to throw a lamp at him to make him stop.”

“He was thinking about your welfare, trying to teach you how to make some money,” she shouted. Her behavior and intelligence were just as I remembered.

“You’re fucking insane,” I shouted back at her. “That’s not what you’re supposed to teach your daughter. You were supposed to protect me but tried to pimp me out instead. And you did it again. I had just turned fifteen when you and Denny came home high and drunk and demanded that I earn my keep on the street. Do you fucking remember that? Do you?” I yelled.

“We were trying to teach you something!”

“Teach me? You threatened me with bodily harm if I didn’t stand there and watch you go down on Denny. Then you told me it was my turn and pushed me to him. And you stood there. You fucking stood there and watched him grab me by my hair and shove his dick in my face. I had to bite him in the leg to get away, and then I had to trade my virginity to Dean in exchange for a place to stay.”

Reid stood there in apparent shock at the words and memories spewing from my mouth like vomit. His hand was on the wall as he leaned against it for support. He was ashen, the look on his face devastating.

“Liv, honey…”

“You bitch! You tried to pimp your daughter. Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out!” I screamed.

My meltdown brought Anderson and Lawrence running into the room from downstairs. Reid seemed to snap out of his fog.

He stepped toward Nick. “Get out of my house, and don’t you dare come back, or it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” He let out a low growl as he took another step forward.

Lawrence put his hand on Reid’s shoulder to stop him, and then he grabbed Nick by the arm to forcibly escort him out.

Nick shook Lawrence’s hand off his arm and lunged toward Reid. “You’re going to pay for this. I swear to God I’ll get you.”

Reid swung his fist, a crunching sound filling the air. He stood over Nick, now a crumpled heap on the floor. “Get both of them out of here, now!”

Lawrence picked up Nick and dragged him to the foyer.

Anderson grabbed my mother. She kicked and screamed while he wrapped his arms around her chest and tried to force her toward the front door.

“We’re Liv’s family. You can’t kick us out,” she screamed.

“I can. Get the hell out of my life. Don’t ever come near me again.” I glared at her, all the hatred I’d carried for her over the years coming to the surface. I pinched her cheeks with my fingers, my eyes boring into hers. “I wish you the same hell you put me through all those years.”

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