Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,3

your sex life.”

“Well then tell me about yours,” she said.

I laughed. “I don’t have one. I mean, at the moment.”

“Oh, right. You’re still on the revenge path. Like a snail…”

“Really?” I asked. “I’ll have you know, things are going exactly to plan.”

“Yeah? Is that why you’ve been in bed for, what, two days? Three days? How long has it been since you left the house?”

I drank more coffee and mentally flipped my mother the middle finger.

“You don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “Fine.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said. “I’m handling things.”

“And then what? What’s the big finale here, Winter? You just magically remember one day? Then what?”

“I haven’t figured it out yet,” I said. “As long as they suffer…”

“You really think they can suffer?”

“You’re the one who’s been all over this,” I said.

“I mean, from the outside, this is amazing. But I keep having these feelings, Winter. I think… I think I might be a decent mother.”

I laughed. “Now there’s the joke of the day. Thanks for that laugh. I really needed-”

The doorbell rang.

“Who the fuck is that?” my mother asked.

“How would I know?” I asked.

“Go answer the door.”

“Why me?”

“I’m not wearing a bra,” my mother said. She stepped back and pointed to her chest. “You see these things? I’ll give someone a heart attack. Or a hard on…”

I groaned and hurried out of the kitchen.

I’d rather deal with whatever was at the door than my mother talking like she was.

It wasn’t even the sex talk that bothered me. It was that what she said was true.

That she was getting it and I wasn’t.

Even though I knew I had Talon just one text away.

Trocs and Bumps didn’t fuck each other, but Talon could be an exception.

He took the edge off once… right?

I cringed at how much my mind sounded like my mother’s.

I opened the door and a tall, skinny man stood there with a large bouquet of flowers. And a box of chocolate.

“I’ll go get-”

“Winter?” the man asked.

“What’s that?”

“I’m looking for Winter… Winter Semen?”

My eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”

“Do I have the wrong house?”

“I’m Winter,” I said. “My last name is Seacrum. Not Semen.”

“Oh, my apologies,” the man said. “The order was placed that way. These are for you.”

I had to put my coffee mug down so I could hold the flowers and the chocolates.

The delivery man wished me a good day and left.

I stood with the door open and looked around for the tag to know who sent it.

“Who was… holy shit…”

My mother was now next to me.

I put my head back and sighed.

“Those are for you?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I don’t know who se-”

“Here’s the card,” she said.

She grabbed it and opened the tiny envelope.

“Oh, wow,” she said. “This is… interesting.”

“What?” I asked.

“Winter… hope to see you soon. Things aren’t the same when you’re not around. Don’t forget about me… there’s a winky guy face thing. And then it says… oh… wow…”

“What?” I yelled.

“It’s from Noah,” my mother said.

“What?” I asked.

“Stop saying what,” she said to me.

I hurried to put the flowers and chocolates down.

I grabbed the card from her.

I read it myself.

It was from Noah. For real.

I swallowed hard.

This was part of a game, right? It had to have been. Sending me flowers and acting sweet to keep me close. To confuse me. To throw my mind and heart around a little.

I heard my mother laugh.

“What’s so funny to you?” I asked.

“Yeah, it looks like you really have things under control here, Winter,” she said.

She walked away, shaking her head.

Okay, fine, maybe things were a little hectic at the moment.

But the fact that I wasn’t around proved they were still skittish.

Easton had purposely walked by the beach house last night.

And now Noah sent flowers.

They were thinking of me. They knew the truth. They didn’t know I knew the truth too.

This was fine.

Just fine.

I reached down and grabbed the chocolates.

I would eat those for sure.

For good measure, I ripped up the card and let it fall to the floor in pieces.

Chapter 2

the middle of the truth

I walked the beach. Alone.

I felt bloated and gross after eating too many of the chocolates from Noah.

Maybe that was part of his plan too.

Who knew what anyone was planning, right?

There was just too much happening at once in my head.

Not in reality though.

For all I knew, everything could have been nice and quiet and in place around me.

Inside my head it was a storm.

I was anxious as anything.

There was no way I could hide in my room, the