Back Where We Belong (A Second Chances New Adult Romance) by Alana Hart, Caia Fox Page B

you?”
    She bends over and picks up a
handful of condoms from the floor.
    “I expect he already knows you're
a sure thing, Madison, doesn’t he? Once your legs are open you can't keep them
closed. Is that it? Like that slut your father has taken up with? Maybe you're
more like him that I thought. And deceptive. Nancy couldn't make it for dinner
so I came straight home, but you thought you'd make use of the house in my
absence, didn't you? You couldn't wait to take off your panties for that piece
of trash.”
    “Mom, don't you dare talk to Luke
like that.” She's really getting into her stride now and soon there'll be no
stopping her tirade.
    “I'll dare all I want. It's no
more than he deserves. Look at him. He thinks he's good enough for you, doesn't
he? Maybe you belong together. You're both trash. But I know you, you're just
bored, and he'll do fine and dandy for the summer. You'll find bigger fish to fry
at college, someone more suitable to open your legs for.”
    “I'm sorry you walked in on us,
Mom. But you've got everything wrong. It's nothing like that.”
    I want to get dressed. I can't
bear sitting like this, clutching my clothes. I put my t-shirt on and bend over
to stagger into my panties.
    “You're all red!” Mom pulls at my
t-shirt. “What? Don't tell me he beats you up. I can't believe this. Has he
been forcing himself on you?”
    “You,” she yells at Luke, “out
before I call the police for assault.”
    “It's not like that.” I have to
stop her making it seem like something terrible, what we did.
    “What is it like?  You're not
telling me you like it!”
    I don't say anything. Luke puts
him arm around me protectively.
    “You’re sick, depraved,” she
screams. “My own daughter. How many men have you let beat you? Dear God, don't
tell me you let your father do that? Is that what turned his head so he went
after that young bitch? She looks just like you, you know.”
    “No. Of course Dad doesn't hit
me. He's never touched me.”
    “Luke,” I plead. “Please, just
go. I'll see you tomorrow.”
    I need to calm her down. And I'm
never going to manage that while he's here.
    “Over my dead body,” she says.
“This stops right now. You can forget tomorrow. This has gone on long enough.”
    “I'll see you tomorrow,” Luke
whispers to me and I say, “Just go,” and I squeeze his hand. I'm used to my
mother. Luke isn't. And I've no idea what she'll say next or how bad this will
get before the day is out.
    “So,” she goes on as soon as Luke
goes out and closes the door behind him. “You might like to know your father
has got that girl pregnant. He's never coming back. A young slut just like you.
No doubt you put ideas in his head flaunting your body around behind my back.”
    “How can you say that? You know
that's not true. You said Dad didn't think much of me. You said he thought I
was worthless.”
    “Worthless. Slut. Trash.
Whatever. You're all those things. I can't stand the sight of you. You're just
like him. Neither of you cares how I feel. It's all me, me, me with you two.
Well, you can forget summer at the beach. We're going home before he tries to
move that slut bitch in there and we're out on the street.”
    “Dad's not going to do that.”
    “No, he's not, because we'll be
there to stop him,” she says. “You had better get your things packed.”
    “When are we going?” I can see my
summer crashing to an end.
    “Tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow? We can't go tomorrow.
I need a few days. I'm babysitting for Jill on Friday. I can stay here on my
own and come home later.”
    “So you can move your trash
'friend' in, you mean? There's no way I'm letting him anywhere near you again.
You're coming with me.”
    I know she doesn't care what I
do, how I feel. She's not protecting me. I have something good in my life, and
she wants to ruin it. But it's pointless arguing with her. She'll only dig in
her heels. I know she's just being spiteful, attacking me where I'm most
vulnerable