“Then why are you friends with him?” Logan asked quietly.

“Because he calls me in the morning,” I said sweetly and left with my shoulders high. Strong.

I shook my head in disgust as I walked through the front door and heard my mother’s flirtatious shriek of laughter. They were in the kitchen and Boy Toy was glowering from a seat at the kitchen table.

Sharon Carlton glowed as Corrigan stood right next to her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

“Corrigan,” I said simply.

He looked up.

“Out.”

He left.

And my mother sighed as she turned to regard me. She crossed her arms over her chest and noted, wearily, “You’re furious with me. I’ve gotten the message, Sheldon.

You didn’t have to destroy everything I loved.”

I flinched at her words. She hadn’t come back for me. She’d come back for those things she loved so much.

I looked at the Boy Toy and pointed out, “You haven’t introduced me to my newest brother. Are you thinking of adopting so late for his age? That’s quite charitable, mother.”

Her mouth tightened as she clipped out, “Now, now, daughter dear. No need to be snippy and rude.”

“Is it not becoming of me?” I taunted and shifted to the back of my heels.

My mother was an intelligent, shallow, and selfish woman. Her intelligent eyes pierced through me as she drawled, “His name is Luther and we both know who he is.”

“I guess we both don’t,” I said pointedly. “I didn’t know his name was Luther, now did I?”

While mother and daughter played our game, Luther sat quietly.

“Tell me, Sheldon,” my mother spoke again, seemingly bored. “Have you stopped yanking your friends around by their chains? Corrigan was positively enamored to see me. I wonder how Bryce felt considering it’s his bed that you’re in for the most part.”

“Why would Bryce care if Corrigan was happy to see you?” I asked, but I knew I shouldn’t have.

“Corrigan doesn’t want my bed, darling. He wants yours. It’s so obvious.”

“Please,” I laughed. “Do you know how many times that ploy’s been thrown my way?”

“Really.”

“Really,” I delivered in contempt for my own mother. “Get some new material.

You’d probably think of some if you weren’t on your back more than I was.”

Luther laughed, coughed, laughed again, and sputtered to compose his puppyish begging for scraps.

My mother froze and pierced me again with her eyes.

She asked softly, “Did you just call your mother a whore, darling? That’s not very loving of you.”

“That’s funny. I don’t ever remember you teaching me how to be loving.”

Sharon took a breath and I felt her move farther away even though she never moved.

I waited, breath held in suspense.

A controlled smile graced her lipstick mask and she murmured, “We’ll be going to a hotel from now on until I’ve found a new house for us. Now, if you’ll excuse Luther and myself, we have important packing to do now. We need to sort what’s worth saving and throw what’s damaged.”

Her words punctuated the right buttons and I felt a stab to the gut.

I stepped back and witnessed a flash of astonishment mixed with sympathy in Luther’s brown eyes before he stood and followed my mother.

I stood by myself in the kitchen until I heard their bedroom door close upstairs.

I checked the window, but Corrigan’s and Bryce’s cars were both gone.

After another shower, I changed clothes and grabbed my phone as I moved into my backyard. It didn’t pass my consciousness that I visited the backyard the first day my mother had returned home.

I stretched on one of the loungers and called Bryce.

“Yeah?” he asked and I heard the sounds of a video game in the background.

“You’re at Corrigan’s?”

“Yeah,” he grunted and swore after I heard a crash.

“You just died, huh?”

“Yeah.”

I rolled my eyes and snapped, “Bryce!”

“What? I’m here.”

“Forget it,” And I hung up. The phone rang a second later, but stopped with no message when I left it untouched.

It was the best time ever for my two best friends to abandon me.

It took me another second before I realized that Mena’s house stared back at me.

In fact, I had a perfect view of their driveway and living room. They only saw the back of my house with my garage at an angle. They could only tell if anyone was home if they actually walked over or saw headlights in the dark.

Not me. I saw perfectly that Mena was home as well as Denton’s luxury Sedan.

I leaned forward from the lounger and squinted. I was able to make out four people in their living room. They all stood and suddenly the front door opened and slammed shut after Denton. He had a female companion with him that looked skanky with a barely-there red dress.

She was saying something as Denton walked her to his car—correction, her car—and just before she got into the driver’s side, the kiss she tried to skim over his lips was met with air when Denton evaded her with a shake of the head.

Huh.

I saw her pull away and stiffen in anger before she peeled out of the driveway.

Denton stood a moment and watched her car before he raked a hand through his hair. He took a step towards their house, but stopped. He turned towards mine. I saw him jerk when it dawned on him that I had watched the entire thing. Another moment passed before he stepped towards me and I watched as he crossed the lawn separating our homes.

“You saw that, huh?” He dropped onto the lounger beside me.

I sat there, my eyebrows arched.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he muttered as he buried his head in his hands, his elbows braced atop his knees. “God—this was an awful day.”

“Tell me about it,” I murmured, sarcastic.

“Mena has been…awful lately. I don’t know what’s going on with her. She just is angry and she takes it out on everyone. Dad’s called me three times this weekend to come over because he can’t handle her anymore. And Kari—it’s our three month anniversary.

She wasn’t really understanding when I told her that I needed to stay with my family. We were supposed to fly to New York and have dinner at the Four Seasons.” He laughed.