Chapter 17 Chance
Chance
Mom was stewing by the time I pulled into her driveway. Her SUV was back at the hospital, but she and Dad could figure out a way to get it later. For the moment, I didn’t care. Evie had wanted her gone, so I was making sure that happened.
“You’re picking some girl you’ve barely known a day over your own mother,” she threw at me, not for the first time.
“I’m not picking anyone, Ma,” I tried to reason. “If Everly attacked you, then you need to be away from her and the whole situation.”
“If she attacked me?” she said through clenched teeth. “If? I showed you the wound on the back of my scalp, Chance. There is no if!”
“Okay, Mom.”
“I can’t believe this. You don’t even care. My son, my only child, is taking some dirty whore’s side over mine.” She looked at me with a mixture of disgust and betrayal. “Out of everything I’ve been through today, that is what hurts me the most, Chance.”
Squeezing my fingers around the steering wheel, I breathed in slow and deep, counting to ten in my head before releasing it.
Whenever she would get into disagreements with anyone over something that Dad refused to get in the middle of, she would tell me I was the only one who cared about her—which never failed to hit my father right in the gut.
Matt Reid lived for his wife, but when she did something he didn’t agree with, he told her.
But he also didn’t allow himself to be pulled into any drama, never picking sides.
I almost always took her side. It didn’t matter what it was about, if she was right or wrong, I had my mom’s back.
On the rare occasions I didn’t, she tossed out that little bomb to make me fall in line.
Every damn time.
I hadn’t noticed it when I was a kid. Back then, it was a rare occurrence, but over the years, it happened more and more.
She began to manipulate me, trying to guilt me into regretting my choices.
Like when I patched into Angel’s Halo. Or I decided to become an electrician instead of going to college.
And when Reid, Elias, and I partnered to build the apartments, she was pissed for months.
Her reasoning was that I was choosing the MC or working at Barker & Reid or my cousins over her.
It always came back to me not being loyal to her, when I’d never once given her a reason to think otherwise.
Over the years, she’d alienated more than just Jos.
She’d stopped talking to Raven at one point because Max and I couldn’t get along.
To this day, I wasn’t even sure if Max and I hated each other so much because of our own shit, or if it was some petty argument that we’d had that had pushed our moms to pick sides and the cycle had simply never ended.
Then came the Casey thing, with Mom deciding Casey was who I belonged with.
No matter how many times I told her to leave it alone, to stop pushing the nurse at me, she never listened.
Not long after Casey had moved in to one of the apartments, I started the low-contact with my mom, and that had only escalated the whole “out of everything, you hurt me the most” mantra she had adopted.
I knew what she’d hoped to do by going into WomanLand to “talk” to Everly.
Everyone in town was aware that I was being different with Evie, and someone must have told her.
Probably Dad or any number of people taking pictures and videos of us the night before.
Ma had mixed up the twins, thinking Everly was the one I was involved with.
Whether she planned on things turning physical or not didn’t matter.
It had, and yes, I was pissed that Everly had put her hands on my mom.
But I was enraged with Mom for attempting to intimidate and cause discord between my woman and me.
Sullenly, Mom sat in the passenger seat of my truck, arms crossed over her chest, staring at the house in front of us.
From the yard next door, I could hear Raven’s grandkids screaming and laughing along with a few of the other younger kids from the neighborhood who always converged on Raven’s house.
She wasn’t just our MC’s queen—she was the town’s wise woman, the stern but never judgmental grandmother figure that everyone needed in some capacity.
Every minute I sat there waiting for my mother to start acting like a rational adult again was another minute Evie was upset with me. Once I was sure Ma was safely in the house where she couldn’t cause more mayhem, I could get back to the hospital and sort everything out with my peaches.
“I need to go, Mom,” I told her, trying for calm and reasonable.
Dad was on his way home from taking a load of special-ordered material to a worksite we were about to start a few counties over.
He’d texted me a couple times, letting me know he was aware of what was going on.
His current level of pissed off was in an entirely new sphere than I’d ever witnessed from him.
After seeing how smitten he was with Evie the night before, how enthralled she already held me, I knew she’d touched a part of my father that he rarely allowed anyone close to.
“Go where?” she snarked. “Back to those dirty—”
“Don’t say it,” I barked, cutting her off.
“You said you weren’t picking sides, yet there you sit, taking up for complete strangers over your mother who raised and loved you every day of your life. What’s so special about that girl, Chance? She’s no one, from God only knows where.”
“All you need to know is that she’s someone important to me, Ma.”
She rolled her eyes. “By tomorrow, she will be like all the other castoffs. We both know the only reason you’re even mildly interested is because she’s a new toy for you to play with.
Eventually, you’re going to realize that Casey is perfect for you.
She’s been patient with you so far, son.
Why can’t you see that you’re losing time with the person you’re meant to be with and settle down with her?
No one is saying you should marry her, just commit for once in your life. ”
“You’re right. I am wasting time.” Her triumph was lost on me as I got out of the truck and walked around to her door. Opening it, I waited until she was out before continuing. “Wasting time listening to your nonsense when I should be with my girl right now.”
“All you ever do is break my heart. You don’t care about anything I say, do you?”
“Right now, no. I couldn’t possibly care less about anything you say.” Slamming the door, I went back to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel. I didn’t bother looking back to see what she was doing as I reversed out of the driveway.
Back at the hospital, more people had arrived to check on Everly. Elias, Max, Tanner, and Jack were in the waiting room with Mila, Sammy, Jos, and River. I jogged over to the group. “Any news?”
“We just got here,” Elias informed me. “Reid’s back there now.”
“I need to head over to the store. Lyric locked up for me since we left in such a rush, but I should close everything out,” Mila said.
“I’ll take you since everyone but Rory rode with Jos,” River offered. “Plus, I need to get home.”
“Sammy, let Everly know that one of us will drive her Jeep over later tonight or tomorrow.” Mila hugged her, then Jos. “Keep us updated if anything changes.”
“Is Ben going to get involved?” Max asked after the other two had left.
Everyone looked at me expectantly. “Don’t ask me. I’m not my mother’s keeper. If she does, she does.”
Jos sighed, shaking her head at me in disappointment.
I gritted my teeth. She could make me feel guilty without saying a single word.
“Rory kept saying she was going to call him. She was just as much at fault as Everly. If she calls him and files charges, it wouldn’t amount to anything but a possible restraining order. ”
“Never a dull day around here,” Tanner grumbled, scrubbing the hand that was missing its pinkie over his face.
“Jack, go ahead and talk to your mom, just in case our girl needs a lawyer. We are calling dibs on her to represent Everly before Matt does.” With a grunt, Jack walked off, his phone already to his ear. “Where is my brother anyway?”
“We needed a special order picked up for a project. It was last minute. With you and the boys dealing with MC business, no one else was available who was licensed to drive the truck,” Jos told us. “At least not anyone I trusted with that particular shipment.”
“Okay. Well, that explains why Rory was left unattended. Anyone hear from Raven on where she stands with this?”
“She said she would remain neutral until someone gave her a reason not to,” Max said with a shrug.
That was the best option for me. If Raven stayed out of what was going on, she wouldn’t cause trouble for either my mother or Evie and her sister.
“I can live with that,” Tanner muttered, shooting me a look that I ignored. I didn’t need a fucking lecture or anything else he might want to mouth off about.
The door beside the nurses’ station opened.
Evie walked out with Abi and Vaughn. Seeing me, Evie scanned the waiting room, no doubt looking for my mom.
I went to her, but she stepped back, lifting her hands defensively.
“No, I’m not doing this here.” Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, her face sickly pale.
Tanner stepped around me, putting an arm around Evie before she could shy away from him. “You doing all right, darlin’? How’s your sister? Does either of you need anything?”
Tipping her head back, she looked at him, a little shell-shocked. “I…I’m okay. Evy is being discharged. I don’t know what will happen now. This is all new to me.”
Jos hugged her from the other side. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Reid will get everything sorted with Everly, and then we’re going to get you both home. It’s been a long day, but tomorrow will be better.”
Evie’s head shifted back and forth between them, her eyes filling with more tears. “Okay,” she whispered, dazed.