She didn’t stop when she got to me, and she didn’t acknowledge me; she kept walking without a backwards glance. I’d really managed to piss her off this time. She was a feisty woman and over the years we’d had our arguments because she was the kind of woman who gave it to me straight. If she didn’t agree with something I said or did, she didn’t hesitate to tell me. But we’d always moved past every argument; we always knew we could count on each other. When she’d told me to stop getting my dick out for every chick I met, she’d caught me in a bad moment and I hadn’t taken it well. And I’d reacted by cutting the friendship. It’d been a lonely few months without her, but being the asshole I was, I’d refused to own up to my shit. But fuck, I’d missed her. I’d realised how much just having her to sit and talk with meant to me. I might have wanted to rip her clothes off over the years but if you gave me the choice between fucking her and talking to her now, I’d give up the sex in a heartbeat. And that realisation right there had done my head in so I’d kept my distance ever since it’d hit me.
Watching her walk away from me without a word exchanged, hit me in the chest. It was painful; not as painful as some things in my life but it fucking hurt. Shit. I raked my hand through my hair. I had to fix this. But first I had to fix the raging hard on I was stuck with. I scanned the room looking for someone to help me with that. Tonight I’d take care of pressing matters and tomorrow I’d take care of my friendship with Velvet.
Chapter 6
Golden ~ Lady Antebellum
Velvet
As I opened the cupboard to start putting the groceries away, my mother complained, “You’ve got to stop spending your money on me, Velvet. I can buy my own groceries.”
Why did she always have to whinge about the shit I did for her? Sometimes it felt like I couldn’t get anything right where she was concerned. “Mum, we’ve been over this a million times. I know you’ve struggled ever since that asshole boss of yours fired you and I like to help you when I can.”
“You did enough for me when you moved in and looked after me while I was sick. Now that I’m better and you’ve got your own place again, it’s time for you to live your life and stop worrying about me.”
I looked at her like she had two heads. “Like that’s ever going to happen.”
She huffed. “I just want to see you happy. You deserve that after all the shit you’ve been through. And fussing over me is a waste of your time.”
I stopped what I was doing and gave her my full attention. “I am happy, Mum. Yeah I’ve had some hard times but I feel like I’m getting my life together. My beauty course is nearly finished so I’ll be doing that full time soon and I’ve made some good friends the last few months. I’ve got savings in the bank for the first time ever and I’ve paid off my car. And, I have you and Anna back in my life which makes me very happy.” I smiled as I thought of all the good things in my life. The good had been missing for a long time, but it finally felt like I was moving past that phase of my life.
A slow smile spread across her face. “The day you came back to us was one of the best days of my life. Promise me you won’t ever leave again.”
Regret sliced through me. I’d been so selfish and self absorbed when I walked away from my family all those years ago. I’d cut them out of my life like they were a disease that needed to be eradicated. And for what? To make me feel better about myself by forgetting where I came from. To please a man who could never be pleased. I’d walked away without a second glance thinking my life would be so much better without my white trash family in it. Little did I know that my life would be so much darker and desperate without my family to provide the love and support that my new family didn’t have in them.
I pulled her close and hugged her. “I promise, Mama.”
She broke the embrace and gave me a concerned look. “James was here this morning.”
“Shit. He came and saw me yesterday, said he has a proposal for me. Turns out he’s going into politics after all.”
“I thought he said he never wanted a bar of that.”
“He said a lot of things that weren’t true.” The memories of all the lies he’d ever told me punched me in the gut. I’d been so dumb to believe anything he’d ever said.
Mum smoothed her hand over my hair. “I know you feel stupid for believing him but that’s not on you, Velvet. That’s on him and he’s the fool for treating you that way. He’s the idiot who is missing out on everything you would have given him.”
My mother had a way of saying the exact right thing just when I needed to hear it. She might be a difficult woman a lot of the time but when her mothering instincts kicked in, she rocked the mother gig.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“What kind of proposal does he have?”
“He wants to buy my silence. Obviously he realises what a shit he is and knows that it would end his political career if people ever knew what he’d done.”
“Are you going to take it?”
“God, no!”
“Maybe you should think about it. You could do with the money.”
“I don’t want to touch his dirty money. He can shove it where the sun don’t shine.” I barely contained my anger and she felt it.
“It was just a thought; there’s no need to bite my head off. I figure you may as well get what you can out of him seems as though he screwed you over in the divorce.”
“I’ve been free of him for five years and that’s the way I want to keep it. If I take this money, we’re tied together forever; he’ll find a way to hold it over me. Plus, I won’t sink that low. I’ve got no intention of telling our story to the world but I don’t need to be paid off to do that; I’ve got more integrity than that.”
She listened quietly while I spoke, and then said, “It’s one of the things I love the most about you.”
“What’s that?”