Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,11

froze in place.

Heat rushed to my cheeks.

“What?” I asked.

“You remember,” my mother whispered. “You’re faking.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. The anger in your eyes. You hate me. You remember who I am.”

“I spied on your conversation with Dad,” I said. “Just now. I heard what you said. That’s it.”

I backed away from my mother and turned.

I made it a few steps before she spoke again.

“Someone did this to you, Winter,” she said.

I turned around. “What?”

“You have my fire, Winter,” my mother said. “You can hate me all you want. But you’re my daughter. I made you. I carried you for nine months and three days. You’re my daughter. Someone tried to hurt you. Well, they did hurt you. Maybe they wanted more to happen.”

My face was bright red.

I was caught.

I shrugged my shoulders. “What’s your point?”

My mother stepped toward me. “Well, we can tell the truth. Call the police. Figure this out. Someone messed with your vehicle, right? They wanted you to crash. They wanted you to get hurt. But what would happen then? All these rich assholes around here… you know how it goes. It’ll be lawyers upon lawyers and bullshit. You’re smarter than everyone around here, Winter. I’m proud of you.”

“You don’t know a thing about me,” I said. “Two years… remember?”

“I had a bad moment then,” my mother said. “We can talk about that later. When you’re at my place.”

“Your place?”

My mother smiled. “I’m not staying here, Winter. Neither are you.”

“Is that so?”

She moved closer to me and took my hand. “My sweet daughter… this is quite the sight to see. You’re a cold, ruthless, heartless bitch, aren’t you?”

“I guess I get it from you.”

“Yes you do. But don’t forget who I am. Your dad got you this house because you were a princess. I’m the fucking queen.”

“Is he the king?”

“He’s the jester,” my mother said. “Now listen carefully to me. You’re going to tell me everything. Beginning to end. And we’re going to get these fuckers back.”

“We’re?” I asked.

My mother squeezed my hand. “Put it this way, Winter… you do what I say now or this ends now.”

I ripped my hand away. “Don’t mess with me.”

“What are you going to do about it?” she asked. “How long can you keep up lying to everyone?”

“As long as I need to,” I said.

“You remembered all along, huh?”

“Actually, no. I didn’t remember at first. So there.”

“Perfect. Your father is on a call. He’s leaving today. So what are you going to do?”

“Whatever I want,” I said.

“Wrong answer. When he comes back here, you’re going to tell him you want to be with me. I have a place right on the beach. Not far from here. It’s small and quiet. I mean, small compared to this place.”

“So, it’s Dad’s beach house?” I asked with a sly grin.

“Oh, you are a little bitch,” my mother said. “We’re going to get along great, Winter.”

“No, we’re not.”

“Oh well, then. If you don’t tell your father what I said… I’ll blow your cover. And, trust me, it’s not hard to do. You think you can keep this up? I will break you down, Winter. It’ll take me two minutes to make you confess the truth to him.”

I swallowed hard.

I hated her.

I hated my own mother.

But in a way… she was right.

She knew how to be a terrible human.

And that’s what I needed to become.

I shut my eyes for a second.

I saw their faces.

I knew their names.

Noah. Easton. Xavier.

They fucked with Tank and made me crash.

“I’m sorry about that,” Dad’s voice echoed as he came back into the kitchen. “I just had to… what’s wrong?”

I opened my eyes and looked at Dad.

He looked sad and guilty.

I knew that look.

He always gave me that look when he had to leave.

Face it, he wasn’t the greatest father either. He was always chasing the next project, investment, and paycheck. Nothing was good enough for him.

Except me.

I was perfect to him.

But that wasn’t enough to have him stay close by.

I looked from Dad to my mother.

Her eyes almost looked like an evil grin, if that made sense.

Resting bitch face… she made that look like a cute baby’s face.

The worst part though was that I saw myself in her face. In her eyes. Her nose. Her lips.

I was her daughter.

“Jack, I think Winter has something she wants to tell you,” my mother said without looking away from me.

I swallowed hard and nodded.

My mother was a horrible person and a rotten bitch…

And I needed her right now.

I packed up all my