“You should probably focus on your actual baby mama, don’t you think?” I stroke my jaw. “Gwen’s gotta be what, two or three months along now?”
Gwyneth Barclay is the most pretentious reality star on the face of the goddamn planet and the very type I can’t fucking stand.
The kind who’s famous for having a rich grandpa and a few smokin’ hot sisters. Not because she’s actually good at anything.
Not even sex…according to Memphis. Their relationship was supposed to be nothing more than a quick fling, but apparently mother nature had other plans. The permanent kind.
“That chick is fine as fuck,” Storm notes. “Can’t blame him for dipping his wick in that a few times.”
I cock my head. “Dipping his wick? Christ. You’re starting to sound like Grams.”
Memphis grinds his teeth. “Will you two shut the fuck up already?”
Aw, the whittle baby is upset we’re discussing his girlfriend. Serves him right for talking about my sister.
Storm snorts as we turn a corner. “You better invite me to the baby shower.”
Memphis flips him off. “You better suck my nut sack.”
Storm grins. “Only if it’s dripping with Gwen’s cu—”
Storm stops talking, and I stop breathing the second we enter the greenroom.
Skylar and Chandler are sitting on the couch with grave expressions on their faces. However, it’s the familiar woman sitting between them that causes my chest to cave in.
The woman who left me fifteen and a half years ago.
“Mom?”
Rising off the couch, Skylar looks at Storm and Memphis. “Hey, guys. We need a minute.”
Storm squeezes my shoulder. “I’ll be around.”
Memphis slaps my back. “Me too.”
Chandler starts in the moment they leave. “We can’t keep Quinn here unless we call the cops and tell them what’s going on.”
My mom recoils. Even after all these years, the thought of her being scared causes something inside me to unhinge.
“We’re not calling the cops,” I bite out.
That’s when she finally looks at me…for all of two seconds.
Like she can’t bear the sight of me.
“We need a few minutes alone.”
“Of course,” Skylar says as they head for the door. “Come find me after you’re done and let me know what you want to do.”
“Wait,” I call out. “Where are Lennon and Quinn?”
“Your mom tried to make Quinn go with her against her will, so Lennon took her out to the bus.”
That explains why she wasn’t there for the song. She was protecting Quinn…because I wasn’t able to.
I’m not even surprised. That’s just who Lennon is.
Last night she told me that whenever I’m spiraling, I need to hold on to an anchor.
That’s exactly what she’s always been for me.
I thought Lennon coming back was my karma—and while that’s still true—I also think it was serendipity. Almost like the universe knew I was going to need her in order to hack seeing the woman in front of me again.
Skylar closes the door behind her, leaving me all alone…with my mother.
I always thought I’d have a million things to say to her if we ever crossed paths again.
Turns out, I only have one.
Make that two.
“You’re not taking Quinn.”
Her head whips up and I’m struck by how little she’s changed.
Genevieve Walker—or Moore—has the kind of beauty that could stop traffic.
The kind of beauty that would make a secure man appreciative she was his, but an insecure man even more insecure.
The first fight I remember overhearing involved my father ramming his fist through the wall because one of his bandmates flirted with her.
Guess the apple doesn’t fall far.
Maybe that’s why she left me. She could sense the evil inside me…lurking.
Waiting for the right fuse to set it off.
“I’m not letting you keep Quinn.” She sits up straight. “She doesn’t even know you.”
“Whose fault is that?”
She shrinks back—withdrawing—just like she always did whenever she didn’t want to talk about something.
Once again…the apple doesn’t fall far.
Too bad for her, I’m no longer seven. Upsetting my mom is no longer the plight it once was.
I want an answer to the question that’s been gnawing at my goddamn psyche since the day I woke up and realized she was gone.