Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,36

was it? Is it that tough looking guy that sneaks around here?”

My face turned red. “What… how…”

“Oh, come on, Winter,” she said. “You think you can sneak boys around me? I invented all the tricks. I broke all the rules. And when the rules were rewritten, I broke those too. Tell me about him?”

“If you’re talking about Talon, you’re wrong,” I said.

“Talon,” she said. “You know, I’m not dumb. He’s a Troc. You’re a Bump. You’re messing with some rough waters.”

“I am your daughter.”

My mother laughed. “You know, I never crossed that line.” She walked up to me and hugged me. “I’m proud of you.”

I shook her away. “No. I didn’t do anything…”

Lies. You and Talon. One time.

But that wasn’t what my mother was thinking.

“Don’t be upset about it,” my mother said. “I don’t care. You’re a woman. You need it. It might… wait a second…”

“What?” I asked.

“You really didn’t” - she clicked her tongue, meaning have sex - “with that Troc?”

“No,” I said.

“So then… oh…”

“No,” I said.

I wanted coffee. But I also wanted to escape my mother’s devious mind.

“Winter,” she said. “Which one of those guys did you fool around with? Come on. Tell me. They did what they did to you and you end up falling in love?”

“Love?” I yelled. I laughed. “Not even close. I’m using them.”

“Interesting. How so?”

I swallowed hard. “Not your business.”

“You’re like that spider… what one is it…” She snapped her fingers. “The black widow. Isn’t that the one that fucks the male and then kills it? Or the bug that eats the guy’s head off. Right?”

“I’m not chewing someone’s head off,” I said.

She grinned with all the nasty jokes that flooded her mind. And mine.

I cringed and blushed again.

“I just wanted some coffee,” I said in defeat.

“Get some coffee,” she said. “And tell Mommy all the things you did last night…”

“Now that’s weird and kind of gross,” I said. “I’ll go buy some coffee.”

I hurried out of the kitchen and left the house.

I was in the same hoodie and shorts as last night.

I licked my lips and remembered Noah… Easton… Xavier…

My face burned and burned.

I saw the bright yellow car pull into the driveway and I let out a sigh of relief.

I ran down the steps and to Gia’s car.

I jumped into the passenger seat.

Gia looked at me and pulled her sunglasses down.

“Whoa, you look like-”

“Just drive,” I said. “I need coffee. And I need to think.”

“Okay,” Gia said. “Any requests on where to go?”

I looked at her. “Anywhere but here.”

“Wait. Turn here.”

I almost forgot about the place.

There was this tiny side road that was next to impossible to find. The human memory was an amazing thing. I hadn’t thought about that side road in a long time. The last time I had been there was…

“What is it?” Gia asked.

I shook my head. “I just suddenly remembered this road. Like it had slipped my mind, you know?”

“Yeah. That happens to everyone. You can’t remember everything all the time. That’s normal.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Hey, do you remember the summer that baseball team crashed at the beach houses? Not around where we live though, but on a different part of the beach. They weren’t from around here. Some other place. An academy or private place or something like that. Not sure if you would remember it.”

“Why? Because I’m not cool enough?”

“Gia…”

“I’m joking,” she said. “Relax. I don’t remember any baseball teams over any summer. Sorry. My summers have always been busy though. Lots of running to do.”

“I met a guy that summer.”

“Nice.”

“He was awesome.”

“You fell in love, didn’t you?”

“You know what? I kind of did. But it was a summer love thing. Not real love. I loved the whole idea of him and summer together. There was freedom. There was fun.”

“There was fucking,” Gia said in a deep voice.

I laughed. “Your point?”

“Damn, Winter,” Gia said. “Good for you.”

“It wasn’t like that,” I said. “But whatever. I’m just… it’s funny to me that all of that slipped out of my mind until just now. His name was Timmy. I told him the day I met him that made him sound like a little boy. So I called him Tex. Because he was born in Texas. Wow, all of this is hitting me at once.”

“Uh, Winter,” Gia said. “Not to cut you off, but this road is getting bumpy. And coming to an end…”

“Shit,” I said. “Stop right now.”

Gia hit the brakes.

I flew forward.

I had a flashback of the accident and let out a whimpering scream.

I threw