Jaded (Jaded #1)(63)

I tensed, but threw my leg over the balcony and grasped the window’s ledge from the bottom bathroom. Bryce and I climbed our way to the ground and sprinted for Bryce’s car. Once we got inside, he reversed and grasped his phone in the other hand.

When his finger cleared the nine and moved to the one, I grabbed it and said sharply, “No.”

“What? Why not?”

“Those weren’t burglars or whoever from before,” I sighed wearily and my head hit the seat’s headrest.

“Who was that then?”

“My mother,” I said weakly.

Bryce didn’t say anything, but he glanced at me sharply.

I sighed, “I recognized her voice. That was my mother.”

Bryce braked quickly and turned the car around.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re going back to talk to her and tell her what’s going on. That’s what we’re doing,” Bryce said harshly, his jaw clenched.

“No. Please. I can’t see her now. I just—I can’t. Not yet.” I needed time to regroup. I needed time to…figure out what I even wanted to say to my mother.

He looked over my clothes and asked with a smirk, “Do you have some extra clothes at school?”

“No.” The ones I did have were dirty. I used my second set when I’d met Mena for the first time.

Bryce twisted into his backseat and came back with a hooded sweatshirt in hand.

“You can wear this,” he said simply. “Sure you don’t want to go back to your house?”

“I have clothes at Corrigan’s house.”

So we went there and we weren’t the only ones.

In the basement, we were met with a flushed and shirtless Corrigan. He looked like he’d just ran his hands through his hair because it stood straight up and his jeans were unbuttoned with the zipper halfway pulled up.

Bryce smiled and asked, “You found Logan.”

Corrigan cracked a grin and said, “I found Logan so scram. I’ve only got another hour before Stephen gets home.”

I bypassed them and changed into a different set of clothes. Now dressed in jeans and an added bra with a green top, I moved back to the stairway and found Bryce sitting, waiting for me.

No Corrigan.

Just then we heard a moan from a closed door and I rolled my eyes. “Can we please leave?”

“Yes, please.” Bryce sighed and stood up.

Back in the car, he didn’t move to start the engine, but said instead, “You have to go and see her. You know that, right?”

I did, but… “Fine,” I surrendered.

Bryce reversed again and we drove back. We were met with flashing headlights from two police cruisers that were parked where we’d vacated. As we got out of the car, I recognized Officer Sheila on the front porch, talking with my mother and a notepad in hand. Her partner stood right behind her and another man stood behind my mother.

Or a boy, actually. He looked early twenties and he could’ve been a personal trainer from the sheer white shirt that clung to him. Tight trendy jeans rested over a pair of beaded flip-flops. His hair looked almost wet from the overload of hair gel, which said a lot when I saw it from a distance.

And my mom.

The knot of dread and nervousness exploded inside of me.

My mom looked good, but she always looked good. Corrigan had tried his hand

multiple times with my mom. She flirted, loved the attention, but—thank god—she’d never accepted his offers.

Her blonde hair was swept in a diamond-studded hair clip. Her long curls cascaded to frame her heart-shaped face. She matched her boy toy with a long white sweater wrapped around her that was tied with a sash. Her tailored jeans peeked underneath and instead of beaded flip flops, she wore diamond-studded high heels. The diamonds matched the ones that circled her neck and hung from her ears.

I didn’t feel the hand that Bryce placed in the small of my back as he guided me to the front porch.

Sheila skimmed over my pale features and glanced at Bryce behind me as my mother squealed, “Sheldon!”

She swept me against her chest and patted my hair delicately. “I’ve missed you so much, honey!”

“Really,” I said dryly.

“Oh my gosh, honey. I had no idea. Are you okay? Our house was broken into, can you believe it? Officer Padley told me that this was the second time and you were here during the first. I can’t believe it. My room was destroyed. All my valuables and jewels are all gone. I can’t believe it.”

I pulled away and saw the wry look in Sheila’s eyes before I said firmly, “The men who broke in didn’t do that to your stuff, mom. I did.”

My mom had been standing in front of me for five minutes now, but at my words—I finally saw my mom.

A flicker of rage flashed in her eyes, but it was gone instantly.

“You did what?” Her comforting hand turned into a cold grasp.

“You heard me,” I clipped out.

I felt Bryce shift closer, just one step, behind me.

Sheila coughed and asked, “Could I have a word in private with your daughter, Ms. Jeneve?”

“It’s Carlton now,” Sharon Jeneve said coldly as her eyes swept over Sheila, to Bryce, and settled on me.

I bit back a grimace.

“Of course, Ms. Carlton.”