a fucking passion.
I notice her school blazer discarded on a chair by the window. She’s barefoot and smiling at whatever Liam was saying, but as soon as she sees me her smile freezes in place and I blink, feeling the faint remnants of her fading smile, making my heart beat painfully slow.
“What the hell is this?” I demand before Mom can say anything. I pass her, walking toward Liam’s bed, my eyes zeroed in on Mia who quickly jumps off the bed with a yelp, her eyes wide, watching me.
“Julian,” she gasps, but she looks away, her cheeks tinged red.
“Mom?” Liam starts, looking at the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Liam Christopher Fitzgerald!” Mom exclaims, her voice hard and unyielding. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were in an automobile accident and that you were laid up in here?”
Liam looks up at me, panicked. I was going to help him but after what I just walked into, the anger in me is demanding that I punch him right in the throat and then rip his fucking heart out. As for Mia….
“Uh, hey, Mom,” Liam stutters, then adopts his charming smile that works on our mom all the fucking time. “What’s up?”
“Hey Mom, what’s up? That’s all I get?” she starts. “I’ve flown all the way here, worried sick, my heart in my throat thinking that you were dying and here I find you with some skank who should be in school.”
Mia’s head snaps up and she looks straight at my mother, her jaw dropping open.
“Excuse me?” she starts, her eyes filled with shock.
“You heard exactly what I said.” Mom waves her hand. “I bet you had your five seconds in heaven with my son. Leaving school for that? Yeah, no future and no brains. Now leave.”
Stunned into silence, I watch as Mia’s face pales, then she glances at me as if I’m going to say something. I don’t, even though the look on her face is making me feel shitty inside.
“Mom!” Liam chides. “This is Mia and that was rough. She doesn’t deserve your bitter anger over the fact that no one called you.”
The way Liam defends her makes me straighten up, my chest puffing out.
“Really?” Mom folds her arms again, staring Mia down like she’s the scum under her expensive shoes. “What’s so special about this gold digging, trailer trash little scum? Look at her, you can see her bones peeking? Are you here for money? Are you starving? I think I have loose change in my purse somewhere.”
Mia looks at Liam then she looks at me, her eyes hardening into aqua crystals right before my eyes.
“Mrs. Fitzgerald,” Mia starts, her voice calm, but firm. “I neither want, nor need your filthy blood money that you obviously have never worked for a day in your life.”
Mom reels back, as if she’s been slapped.
“And with all due respect, I’m not one of your son’s latest conquests—and honestly, I don’t know what that says about your parenting skills,” she says, keeping eye contact with my mother as she puts on her shoes. “But from what I can see here, we should be asking you what’s so un-special about you, that your sons would make a conscious decision NOT to call you about something as serious as this. Your son’s in the hospital with bruised ribs, a broken arm and a mild concussion and…they didn’t tell you. How do you feel about that, as a loving, dedicated mother?”
Liam clears his throat loudly, trying not to laugh and I just stand there, watching my Little Minx prove herself all over again. Letting me know that she not only has a mind of her own but that she’s as sharp as a whip. That fire on her tongue makes me want to kiss her into submission and everything else that makes her behave like she’s fucking mine.
“What did you just say to me, little girl?” Mom demands, her jaw slack.
“You heard exactly what I said,” Mia counters, a sugary smile on her face. “But then again, I think I shouldn’t make assumptions about you, seeing as I don’t know you.”
“You’re damn right you don’t know me, you little—” Mom starts but I effectively cut her off, keeping my voice low but sure.
“That’s enough.” I walking toward Mia. She tenses but doesn’t look at me so I grab her blazer and bag, shooting Liam a look when he starts saying something. “It’s time for you to go. You’re not wanted here,” I murmur