Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Your mom sounds like a bitch,” Dima muttered.
I thought about that for a long time before saying, “My mom is a bitch.”
I snatched my phone out of my dress pocket and quickly looked up, then dialed her number.
I found it after a few scrolls of my phone log and hit call, then put it on speaker.
Maven grinned wickedly at me. “Let me talk to her.”
I pointed at her. “No.”
She snickered as she leaned back in her chair.
Shasha pressed a kiss to her forehead before looping his arm around her shoulders and tugging her closer.
Maven went willingly.
My best friend loved her siblings, even if she was still slightly overwhelmed at times with their presence.
“Hello?” my mother answered cautiously.
I counted to five before I said, “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
There was a long pause before she said, “Not that I know of.”
“How about you tell me about…”
“Hey, not to interrupt, but I was about to call you,” she said. “I had a call from someone from the orphanage we got you from. They were letting us know that your birth mother passed away from a disease that might be hereditary, and she recommended us getting you a blood test to make sure you don’t have this genetic malformity.”
Shock poured through my system at her words. “What was wrong with her?”
“Hold on, I wrote it down in case you asked.” She shifted what sounded like papers around. “I can’t find it. But it’s something to do with a blood disorder that makes too much blood or something. Your birth mother didn’t know she had this condition and she died a couple of weeks ago.”
My mouth fell open. “A couple of weeks? This happened a couple of weeks ago and no one thought to tell me?”
I was very open with my mother on my desire to meet my birth mother.
From what I’d learned from my father’s paperwork, my birth mother had me when she was thirteen, and her parents had forced her to put the child up for adoption.
I’d wanted to learn who she was. I wanted to get some background info.
But again, my mother had freakin’ complained that I didn’t love her because I wanted to know my real mother, so I’d put it on the back burner.
But she’d known about this for weeks?
“Oh, no. Only a week and some change. I called the doctor, and I made you an appointment to get your blood drawn next Tuesday,” she explained as if she hadn’t just rocked my world with her words.
I gritted my teeth. “I already told you I don’t like using your doctors.”
“Yeah, but they were able to get you in right away,” she countered. “And I didn’t want you to needlessly worry about it.”
“I can move it up to tomorrow, if you want,” she said after I stayed silent.
Gable’s hand tightened on my hip, and I somehow knew without looking at him that he was trying really hard to keep his mouth closed.
He was angry.
I could feel it in the tension of his muscles.
“I have to work tomorrow,” I replied shortly. “Next Tuesday is fine.”
She sighed. “What about Friday?”
I ignored her. “I can also find my own doctor. Can you send me whatever info you’ve given your doctor so…”
“No, no.” She started to sniffle. “Please, Athena.”
I fucking hated when she used her tears on me.
“Mother.” I drew in a deep, calming breath. “Just…”
“Keep the appointment, honey,” Gable murmured quietly, squeezing my hip for emphasis.
I worked my jaw for a long few moments before saying, “Mother, you remember the reason for my call, right?”
“You asked me if there was anything I wanted to tell you,” she hedged. “I assumed it was for the blood test thing.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “No. I didn’t know about that. How could I if you hadn’t shared? But I did find something at my house today that was very… informative.”
She drew in a quiet breath. “I can explain.”
Why did she sound like she was so relieved to hear about what it was that I wanted to talk to her about?
“How about you do that?” I suggested.
“Well, actually, see…” She thought about it for a long moment. “I guess maybe you need to give me more details.”
She was hoping I didn’t know the full extent of what she’d done.
Maven made a sound of anger, ready to launch herself at my phone by the looks of it, but Shasha caught her before she could make a single move toward me.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose with one finger—the middle one because telling my mom to go fuck herself would’ve been frowned upon by my dad—and said, “The cameras, Mother. I know about the cameras.”
She inhaled sharply. “I really can explain.”
I waited for her to do just that, but after a few long, awkward moments she hadn’t said anything, and I snapped.