Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School #3) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,30

needed you, when she told you she was being set up to take the blame for the trouble you fell in like a fool, you left her hanging! You left her to break and shatter for two weeks as she tried reaching out you, only to receive cold silence back!”

“I was—” I trail off, having no defense.

What was I doing beside reading her texts and dreaming of her lips just to kiss her one more time? Oh yeah, being an asshole.

“Yeah, that’s right! You don’t even have an excuse that makes sense, so you’re the one I wouldn’t dare trust, seeing as the way you broke her heart led her to make some kind of deal with Courtney that has landed her and I living here with no explanation.”

“Wait, what?” Liam demands. “Mia made a deal with Courtney?”

“What do you mean?” Cole asks.

“Boys, please,” Dad says. “Give Nicky a moment and stop ganging up on her like that.”

I ease away from the front door, slowly trying to come up with what I need to do.

“Well, first of all, both Mia and I have been living here for the past two weeks. Actually, from the day you were arrested,” Nicky says, waving her hands in the air the more upset she is, just like Mia. The mannerisms are the same, the passion, the same, the anger—same. “And in all of this, the whirlwind of the press hounding her for a statement, the silence and sadness she’s been in, she hasn’t once uttered a word of explanation of how we are here, but I have my fucking suspicions.”

“Courtney.” Liam and I say at the same time.

“You’re damn right,” Nicky seethes. “That bitch hates my daughter and I’ve tried keeping her away from that snake, but some kind of deal was made between the two of them.”

“But wait, weren’t you living back at our house?” Liam questions clearly confused.

“Well, I felt it wasn’t right…”

“If you’re going to tell the truth, Nicky, say the whole truth,” Dad says now. “You moved out because of that bastard, Nathan.”

“Oh my God.” Nicky deflates right in front of us. All the strength and war like resilience she just displayed evaporating like a drop of water in a desert. Fear is now clear in her eyes as she talks a step back.

“Nathan,” she whispers, looking down at the floor. “Nathan and Courtney are working together. She confirmed it again this morning.”

“Wait, what?” they all but explode, but honestly, who is shocked here? This is barely shocking and I’m barely holding on to my sanity.

Dad briefly glances at me, then he looks back at Nicky. “What do you know about that deal?”

“Everything happened so fast two weeks ago that I didn’t notice, but I remember the day Mia came back from Europe, just before your son was arrested, Mia went to see Courtney.”

“She what?” I demand. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would Mia go to my mother after everything she knows about that woman?

“Oh, so now you’re concerned?” she snaps. “Mia went to see your mother in the hopes that she’d stop what was about to happen to you, and I guess when she arrived, Courtney wasn’t alone.”

“Nathan was with her,” Dad mutters unhappily, calmly, and that’s never a good sign with him. He’s livid.

“Yes! Mia was so upset and in tears when she came looking for me so we could pack our bags, to move out, but she told me about Courtney and Nathan, and then, nothing else and with everything going on I—” she trails off as another car drives up the elegant driveway.

Before we know it, Nicky is pushing past all of us, shoving me aside as she runs down the stairs and straight for the car.

I watch as she throws open the driver’s door of the very familiar E-Class Mercedes, and practically drags my mother out by the roots of her hair.

“Well damn, now this is a show I’ll gladly settle in and watch,” Liam says as the two women start screaming and fighting. It’s not the first time they’ve gotten into it, but it is the first time Nicky actually wants to bash Courtney’s head in. I wouldn’t be opposed. At this point, count me in as a fucking fan.

“For God’s sake, stop them before the kill each other and whatever deal Courtney made with Mia is lost,” Dad says.

Cole and Liam rush toward the two women. I try to think how fast I can I make my fucking escape and go get