Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School #3) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,25
that deal we made…” she trails off. I tense up, my heart pounding.
“What more do you possibly want?” I whisper, feeling weary and disheartened. “You already took everything from me.”
“I simply wanted my sons to—”
“Stay away from me, yes I know,” I snap. “I agreed to your stupid terms and now, you need to uphold your fucking side of the deal and I don’t see you doing anything! Why the fuck are you here?”
“Mia—”
“He’s going to court in a few hours, why exactly are you here?” I demand, turning around to look at her, Cole’s text from earlier now starting to make sense. “Why is Julian still going to court? It’s been two weeks.”
Courtney has the decency to look away then, her eyes shifting to look at everything except my face. Dread sinks its nasty claws into me. I feel goosebumps rise to the surface of my skin. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, that she’d at least follow through but now, looking at her…
“What. Did. You. Do?” I grit out, each word feeling like it’s being ripped from out of me.
“Mia, you have to understand,” Courtney starts, taking a step closer to me, her voice a bit shrill with the panic and fear she was trying to mask since she showed up. “I didn’t do anything, your father—”
I can’t help but laugh at that. It’s as humorless and hollow as I feel inside.
“This is not funny.”
“On the contrary, it’s fucking gold,” I laugh. “Let me get this straight before you get any further. You trusted all the bullshit he spewed that day when I came begging you to help your own son and now you just realized he’s a traitor and skilled liar who doesn’t give a damn about anyone’s wins but his own?”
She looks away and BINGO! I laugh humorlessly. “How does it feel? To be backstabbed?”
“I thought he’d keep his word,” she says, fake sincerity in her voice.
“Aww, how cute,” I mock, anger igniting my words. “You’re the last conniving bitch I thought would ever have a naïve moment. And it’s pathetic to say the least.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“I think not,” I seethe. “I lost all my respect for you the moment you sacrificed your own sons. Then I heard of what you did to Aiden… you lost my fucking vote. Hating me, I wouldn’t have minded but what you did… there’s a special place in the pit of hell for people like you.”
She looks away then, twirling her car keys in her hands. “Yeah well, until that day comes, I need your help to get Julian acquitted.”
“You put him in that situation, set him up for a national scandal so disgusting, his entire future is in jeopardy—”
“Now don’t you start judging me!” Courtney snaps. “Every move I made ensured that Julian’s future will be set with the girl he is to marry and continuing on the Mason-Fitzgerald legacy and then with the power of the Bishops, he’ll be unstoppable.”
I smile my best smile, hiding the pain and cutting devastation as I regard her, looking into the green eyes that I miss with an ache that’s threatening to spit me in the deepest, darkest part of an unknown abyss.
“Oh good, then why don’t you march right up to the Bishops amazing mansion and ask them to help you bail out your son from the mess you put him in,” I get in the car. “I mean, what else are in-laws for if not to be there for you in your time of need.”
Bitter. I feel bitter and rotten inside.
“Mia, please,” she rushes, stepping right in front of the door before I can close it. “I wouldn’t be here if I knew you couldn’t help.”
“Yeah, after what you made me do? I don’t owe you a damn thing,” I say with all the venom I can’t contain. “Now move before I move you.”
“He’ll go to prison for life!” Courtney shouts. Just then, the front door opens and Nicky steps out, a frown on her face.
“What are you doing here, bitch?” Nicky demands, quickly walking over to us. “Step away from my daughter.”
“Honestly, Nicky, I didn’t come here to fight with you or with Mia,” Courtney says, rolling her eyes.
“You’re just here to antagonize her, huh?” Nicky snaps, folding her arms. “Why are you really here?”
“To ask for help,” Courtney says. “And if you want me to beg, Mia, I will. I’ll get on my knees if I must, just please, help me keep my son from going