“Um… the professor who preceded Dean at King’s.” I’m about as stunned by Crystal’s sudden wrath as Maggie is. “He… he retired.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Crystal steps forward, getting into Maggie’s space and forcing the girl to retreat against the building. “You really thought an old married professor would screw up his life for you? You never figured out that you were just a piece of ass to him?”
“I loved him!” Maggie cries, tears filling her eyes.
“Sure you did,” Crystal retorts. “And he said he was in love with you, right? Did he tell you that while you were stripping for him or while he was filming himself fucking you?”
Maggie starts to cry in earnest, her shoulders shaking. I put my hand on Crystal’s arm, feeling the anger tightening her muscles.
“Face it, Maggie,” she says, her voice cold. “The bastard used you, and you made things worse by trying to get revenge when you found out he wasn’t the hero you wanted.”
“You don’t know anything about it!” Maggie wipes her runny nose, her eyes glinting with fury.
“I do know something about manipulative bastards who want to use you,” Crystal replies. “Men who sweet-talk you while secretly thinking you’re a piece of trash. But I learned early on how to turn the tables, to get what I wanted from them. If this guy seduced you into—”
“He didn’t!” Maggie snaps. “I was the one who started it. I knew I wasn’t good enough to be in the grad program. I couldn’t understand all the stupid theories and methodologies. But I had to get my masters, and I’m… well, men have always liked me, so I approached Jeffrey and… it started.”
She swipes at a tear. “But then I started falling in love with him. He made me feel special. So when he tried to break it off and told me he couldn’t be my advisor anymore… I just snapped. If I was going down, then I was taking him with me.”
“So you broke up his marriage, and for what?” Crystal asks. “Nothing, right? And when Dean West wouldn’t play the same game, you found another way to threaten him. What the fuck is the matter with you?”
My heart is hammering. Though I find it hard to believe that my mother would ever defend my husband, the stark truth of her statement echoes in the narrow alley like the ringing of a bell.
“If I were you, I’d be less worried about your father finding out about this mess than the entire freaking community,” Crystal continues. “One click of a mouse, and that video will end up on countless porn sites. Then what’ll happen to you?”
Maggie stares at her. Crystal’s arms are crossed, her eyes blue fire. Her skin is flushed with anger, her jaw tight, her hair escaping the clip holding it away from her face.
For the first time in my life I experience an actual sense of sympathy toward my mother. Because I have the sudden, wrenching suspicion that she knows exactly how Maggie Hamilton feels.
“I’m not worried about what will happen to me.” Maggie straightens, scrubbing at her eyes as a resolve seems to strengthen her spine. “My father would never believe I did anything wrong.”
“What about everyone else?” I ask. “What about you?”
She blinks, as if no one has ever asked her that question. “What about me?”
“You haven’t wanted to do anything your father has demanded of you,” I remind her. “You’ve gone along with it because you need his money, because you don’t know what else to do. But isn’t it about time you figured it out?”
“I don’t need your advice,” Maggie retorts. “I’ve never had a choice about what to do.”
“Of course you have a choice,” I say. “No one knows better than I do that you have a choice.”
I feel Crystal’s sudden tension. I don’t look at her.
“You can stay,” I tell Maggie, “and be controlled by your father. Or you can leave and start your own life. A new life.”
Just like I did.
“Yeah, right.” Maggie’s expression hardens, as if my words are ricocheting off her. “Is that what your husband is trying to do with his stupid resignation? You think that will get him off the hook?”
She backs toward the street, her eyes flashing from Crystal to me.
“My father will destroy you, Mrs. West, if you or your husband threaten me again,” she snaps. “And you’d damn well better hope he doesn’t find out about this.”
She turns and stalks away. A hush falls in the air.
“You don’t reason with a girl like that,” Crystal says. “She’ll make the same mistakes until she realizes she’s fucking up her own life.”
My stomach twists. “Why did you tell her all that?”
“Because I know what it’s like to be used, and I learned my lesson.” Crystal turns to face me, still rigid with anger. “But you wouldn’t know about that, would you?”
I stare at her, my heart racing.
“Oh, I’ve learned lessons, Crystal. Hard ones.”
“Sure. How not to be like your mother.”