“She’s not some piece of ass, Madison,” I sighed. “I’m sorry. Okay? I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“No. It’s not okay.” She pointed her perfectly manicured finger at me. “You will fucking regret this, Parker. I promise you.” And with that she stormed out of my room and out of my house.
When I emerged from my bedroom, my mother was sitting on the couch with a book in her hand. She had a sly smile on her face, and I could only imagine what was coming next.
She set her book down softly in her lap and pushed her dark brown hair out of her face. When her green eyes that perfectly matched mine looked up at me, I could see that she was trying her hardest not to give herself away.
“Let’s hear it, Mom.” I plopped down in the chair across from her.
“What do you mean?” She placed her hand on her chest in mock innocence. “I was just going to ask you why Madison ran out of here crying. What did you do to that poor girl?”
“I broke up with her.”
And just like that, my mom’s face lit up.
“Oh, thank God.” She slumped her shoulders. “I didn’t know if I could fake being nice to her for one more day.”
“Mom!” I laughed.
“What? It’s the truth. All that fake laughing and fake tan. A mother can only take so much.”
“Mom, you get spray tans too.” I pointed out stupidly.
“Yes, but I have a wonderful soft glow about me.” She ran her hand down her arms like she was modeling gloves. “That girl is orange.”
She stood from the couch to walk to the kitchen and I followed her. The smell of vanilla invaded me as she passed by me, and it was one of my favorite smells in the world. It smelled like home.
“Why didn’t you tell me how much you hated her?” I sat down at the bar as she started pulling pans out from the cabinets.
“Hate is a strong word. I would go with…” She tapped her finger against the counter. “Major dislike. Plus, you’re still young. I know that you’re still playing the field as you kids like to say.” She wagged her eyebrows at me and I died a little inside.
“Mom.” I chuckled.
“If you married her, I would have just disowned you. At least until you had kids because they would definitely need their Nana. Can you imagine what your kids would have looked like?” My mom shuddered. “They probably would have popped out with orange skin, platinum blonde hair, and a French manicure.”
“You could never disown me. I’m your baby boy.” I leaned back in my chair and grinned at her.
“That’s true, but I would try to beat some sense into you.” She waved her spatula in the air in my direction. “Or get Livy to help me.”
“How could Livy help you?” I leaned forward resting my chin in my hand.
“That girl has you wrapped around her little finger. You just haven’t figured it out yet.”
But I was all too aware of the effect Livy had on me. I just didn’t know what I was going to do about it.
L I V
Present
I never really understood why people called it a hangover because I didn’t feel hungover. I felt like I was dying.
By the time Mason and I had managed to pack up my sparse apartment and drive back to Tennessee, I didn’t care where I ended up. I just needed painkillers, a pitch-black room, and some peace and quiet.
So, that’s what I did for the first couple days. I settled into the guest room of my brother’s beautiful house, and I hid out.
It felt weird to be in his space. The whole house fit him so perfectly. My brother worked in construction, and you could see the craftsmanship in every aspect of his home. But it was also so easy to see that no one other than a bachelor lived there.
He had a large bath that I soaked in for hours trying to rid myself of my embarrassment from the night of Parker’s bachelor party.
I had been half naked.
In front of Parker, in front of my brother, and in front of all their friends.
I buried my head under the water and screamed out my frustration. I could remember bits and pieces of the night and the things I had said to Parker, but the more I remembered, the more I wanted to forget.
He seemed so angry with me. The whole night he watched my movements with a sour look on his face, but I didn’t care what he thought of me.
At least, I wished I didn’t.
He was furious when I pulled Brandon onto the dance floor and ground against him, and he looked like he was ready to kill me when I licked salt off his friend Josh’s hand before throwing back a shot of tequila.
After that everything became blurrier. I remembered arms lifting me in the air and carrying me home after I could no longer walk on my own, but I couldn’t remember whose they were.
When I woke up to Mason packing my apartment, I prayed that I was imagining things and that the night never really happened, but unfortunately, it had. I tried to think of every reason in the world why I shouldn’t come home with Mason, but everything I came up with revolved around Parker.
So instead of begging my brother to leave me behind, I came up with a game plan. Really, it was more like a ground rule.
Avoid Parker James at all costs.
Simple.
Or at least I thought.
I managed to follow my ground rule for one day.
On the second day of my hiatus, my mother showed up at the door while my brother was at work. I loved my mom. I really did, but I really loved being about three hours away from her.
“Hey, Mom.” I squinted out the front door into the sunlight.
“Oh God, Olivia.” She pulled me into her arms, and I stiffened. “I’m so happy you’re home.”
“Yeah. Me too.” I pulled the long sleeves of my shirt over my hands.
She pranced into my brother’s home, setting her oversized purse down on the bar, and made herself at home.
Her hair was the same dark brown shade as mine, but that was where the similarities ended. She was dressed in some extravagant hot pink dress and a pair of black heels, and she didn’t look like she was the mom of two adults.
“What have you been up to?” She pulled two bottles of water out of the refrigerator. When it took me longer than a second to answer, she spoke over me. It was something that I could always count on her for. “I can’t wait for you to meet my boyfriend, Peter. You are going to love him.”
Taking a sip of my water, I nodded my head. I’d met plenty of my mom’s boyfriends throughout the years, and sure, I liked some of them. They were all typically nice to Mason and me, but they were also not around for very long.
That was the thing about my mom. She needed a man in her life, but she never seemed to find one that could hold her attention for long. Or maybe it was the other way around. I didn’t really know. All I knew was that the constant influx of men tended to leave me and Mason to our own devices, and we preferred it that way.
We stuck together, we took care of each other, and we were each other’s best friends. Until I left.
“Are you dating anyone, Livy?”