Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
“You mean despite your husband beating me every night.”
She flinches at my words but says nothing in return.
“How long have you been out?” Oriana asks, changing the subject.
My mother’s eyes flick to mine, and I say, “Oriana knows everything.”
“A few months. I got a job at a small café, cleaning. I wanted to get presentable before I found Jake.”
“You look great,” Oriana replies.
I have to admit Mom does look good. She appears so much better than I remember. Maybe that’s what being sober does to someone.
“Is it okay that I’m here?” Mom asks me nervously.
“Oriana, this is Samantha, my mother.” I realize I never introduced them and continue with, “Let’s go inside before I change my mind.” I move to head inside but reach back and grab Oriana’s hand, pulling her along with me.
“What are we eating?” Oriana asks.
“The cook has made something.”
“You have a cook?” Oriana whispers. “Lord…”
I chuckle at her attempt to swear.
Pushing open the door, I lead the way in. Oriana gapes when we pass through the large foyer on the way to the dining area.
“This is beautiful,” she whispers when she sees the large, circular wooden table with blue velvet chairs.
“Sit.” I sweep my arm toward the table and they each take a seat, my mother sitting closer to Oriana than me, which is fine. I choose the seat on the other side of Oriana as the cook brings out a platter of cheese and places it in front of us.
“Jake, can you tell me what you do? Are you a bar owner?” my mother asks.
Oriana reaches for some cheese and waits for me to answer, but I’m fixated on that cube of cheese in her hand as she brings it to her mouth.
I know something that will fit in her mouth—just barely. I chuckle to myself about my lewd thought.
“I own several bars, even a sex club.”
My mother’s eyes go wide. “Sex club?” she asks, and the surprise in her tone is not lost on me.
“It’s not what you think. It’s tastefully run,” Oriana says, then adds, “Jake is very good at business.”
No longer able to hold it in and needing to know, I ask, “Why did you take the fall for me? I was ready to go to jail with a smile on my face at the thought I killed that bastard.”
She places her hands flat on the table and takes a steadying breath before replying, “Because I let it happen. It was my fault. I knew it at the time. I would wake to hear you screaming in the middle of the night. And I was too afraid to do anything. He would beat me if I interfered. So—”
“You took the fall in hopes I would forgive you?”
“No. I have never thought you will forgive me, but that doesn’t mean I am not going to try for forgiveness.”
“The first time I fell asleep with someone next to me, I strangled them,” I tell her. My mother’s eyes flick to Oriana’s neck, but her bruises are gone. Thank fuck.
“You hurt her?” she whispers.
“Not on purpose,” Oriana interjects. “He would never hurt me on purpose.” Oriana’s hand slides under the table and onto my thigh, giving it a squeeze.
“I am this way because of you. And I hate you because of it,” I tell her truthfully. Oriana squeezes my thigh again. My mother looks away, her eyes filling with tears and then one overflows and runs down her cheek. “But I’m learning forgiveness… It’s a process.”
Mom wipes her eyes and smiles. “I hope I can join that list one day,” she says sincerely.
“I’m sure you do,” I add.
“Do you know Jake’s brother?” Oriana asks, changing the subject.
“Grayson is back?”
“No, he just came to stir up shit. He’s just like our father,” I say, making light of it.
“You are actually more like him in looks,” my mother adds. “I heard your father died. Did you attend his funeral?”
“No, why would I? I didn’t attend your husband’s either for obvious reasons.”
Mom goes silent at my words as the cook brings out our dinner.
We spend the rest of the evening listening to Oriana talk about her new job.
And when my mother leaves…
I plan to fuck my woman.
Chapter 34
How I met your mother
Oriana
“He’s very taken with you,” Jake’s mother says as we walk to her car.
Jake has gone back inside to grab me a jacket because it’s getting colder at night. I don’t respond to her comment about us because I still don’t know where I stand with Jake.
“Just be careful of Grayson. He was always jealous of Jake.” Again, I say nothing. “You must think I’m an awful person.” Her eyes dip down to the ground. “That I let all that happen under my roof.”
“I’m sure you had your reasons.”
She meets my gaze and wipes a tear from her eye. “I was struggling, and sometimes when a woman is struggling, she will do anything to survive.”