When The Grave Calls (The Veil Diaries #9) - B.L. Brunnemer Page 0,40
along with Maria and Jess.”
“Where are they going?” Jake asked. “Are you going with them?”
“South, I think. I wasn’t really asking. And no. Rory would have to get me in the car by force and he’d never do that. I’m just expecting a fight soon.” I shrugged, even though he couldn’t see it. “Just be careful, someone ran Rory off the road last night and now we’re worried about everyone we’ve been seen with.”
“Oh my God. Yeah, I’ll be sure to keep aware of my surroundings and all that. I’ll let you go deal with that, then,” he said. “Just, be careful. I expect the full story later.”
“You got it, hon.” I hung up the phone and rubbed my eyes. Turning, I started to go into the house only to freeze.
Stepping onto the front lawn was a woman about my height. Lackluster brown hair and sunken hazel eyes, my mother had obviously been pretty once, but years of drug and alcohol abuse had aged her horribly. The lines of Lisa Delaney’s face deepened as she saw me. Her smile was yellow and crooked. “Baby girl.”
“Why are you here?” I asked, my voice catching on the last word. A storm began to build inside me, jumbling everything up until it was all I could do to stand there facing her.
“Well”—she glanced at the door to Rory’s house then back to me—“aren’t you going to give me a hug?”
Every muscle in my body went rigid at the thought. “Why would I? Last time I saw you, you were beating me.”
“Lexie?” Zeke came around the SUV to my side. “What’s wrong?”
My mother looked up at him, drawing in a frustrated breath. “Who is this?”
“None of your business,” Zeke told her before turning back to me. “Lexie?”
“She’s my mother,” I said in a clipped tone.
His hand went to my shoulder, urging me back several steps. “You don’t have to talk to her.”
Her nostrils flared and I watched her jaw sawing back and forth. “Excuse me, but this has nothing to do with you, young man, so you should just go on inside.”
“Not happening,” Zeke snapped at her before turning back to me. “What do you want?”
Still struggling, I looked up at him, wrapping my arms loosely around myself as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and back again.
“Do you want me to go inside?” he tried.
I shook my head.
“Do you want me to get Miles? Or Isaac?”
Casting a quick glance back toward the house, I shook my head again.
“Take your time.” His eyes were shadowed as they ran over my face.
I took a deep shuddering breath and let it back out slowly. What I wanted was the last thing my common sense said I needed. With everything going on—the war, Jadis, the threat to our lives—I wanted to walk into my mother’s arms and have her tell me it was all going to be okay. A single tear slipped from the corner of my eye as I tried to convey that to Zeke without words. He got it.
“Whatever you want, Baby,” he whispered as he reached up and wiped it away before anyone saw.
I turned back to her, emotions simmering below the surface. “What are you doing here?”
She visibly wilted, head bowing slightly. “The last time I saw you I was so out of it I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Was it real? Could I believe her?
“But I’m clean now and it’ll never happen again,” she assured me.
I wanted to believe her. Wanted it almost more than anything. She was my mother, and it still felt like I needed her to be okay. “That doesn’t answer my question, Mom. What are you even doing here?”
Her face softened. “I came to town hoping you’d see me. I’ve missed you.”
Questions swirled around in my mind, all fighting for supremacy, but there was one above all else that I needed to ask. “Why? Why did you beat the shit out of me?”
Her eyes narrowed as her lips pressed into a thin line. “It’s in the past. Let’s not go over it. This can be our fresh start, sweetheart.”
I began shifting my weight between my feet again. “Why did you call me a demon child? You knew the truth.”
Her gaze flicked between Zeke and me. “I really don’t see why we need to go over it, Lexie. Let’s move forward and rebuild what we have.”
She just wanted to spackle over the past and pretend it never happened? I couldn’t do that. Once I