Chapter 23 #2
I clench my jaw. “Lovely seeing you again, as always, Mother. You can see yourself out.” I’m not going to let her come in here and spew her venom on Sloane.
Of course my mother won’t let it go that easily.
“You will not dismiss me,” she demands, tipping her chin up in that haughty way she has. “When can I tell your father to expect you in the office?”
“I’m not off the team, just doing rehab on my shoulder. You shouldn’t listen to Madison. The only thing that comes out of her mouth is bullshit.” So much for not using profanity around my mother.
I’m on a roll now, so I press on. “And for the record, we aren’t going through a rough patch. We’re over, permanently. That’s what happens when you come home and catch your girlfriend in bed with another guy.”
She gives me another dismissive wave of her hand. I swear I could turn that gesture into a drinking game, but it would probably end with me hospitalized for alcohol poisoning.
“You leave the poor girl alone all the time, what did you expect? Once you’re done with this little hockey thing, she won’t need attention from another man.”
“You have to be joking,” I grumble.
Sloane gets off the couch and crosses the room to me. She stretches up on her toes and kisses me on the cheek. Unlike my gesture to my mother, which was perfunctory, Sloane’s kiss offers support and empathy.
Close to my ear she whispers, “I’m going to go into the bedroom to give you a chance to speak to your mother.”
I tuck a long strand of hair behind her ear and let my fingers brush along her chin.
“I won’t be long,” I promise her.
I don’t say anything else to my mother until I hear the door to the bedroom click closed.
“Let me make myself clear to you. If I join the company, it will be on my own terms and timeline.”
She opens her mouth to argue, but I hold up my hand. “I’m not done. I don’t care how close you are to the Hawthornes, Madison and I are over. I’m with Sloane, and if I get the choice it will stay that way.”
“You can’t be serious,” she says for what feels like the thousandth time.
I’ve long rewritten my family history in my head to say that we aren’t close. The truth is that they don’t really know me, my mother in particular. They want things for me that don’t align with what I want, and that has always been the case.
Where my father, William Rennick, is concerned that is mostly true.
Naturally, he wants to pass along his legacy, but I could be anyone.
He’s always spent more time at work than with the family.
I don’t have an adversarial relationship with him like I do with her though.
My father hasn’t really bothered to get to know me, my mother actively ignores the person she sees in front of her.
The truth is they both suck as parents, but at least he and I can have a cordial conversation.
Also, my father couldn’t give a shit who I date. I’m not even entirely sure he’s the one concerned if I take over the company. I used to think he wanted to retire, and that is where this pressure came from, but I’m not sure anymore.
Katheryn Rennick is different. She’s always been an odd mix of neglectful and overbearing. She was perfectly content letting her team of nannies raise me, but also kept a tight rein on my public image.
It’s kind of funny that she hates the fact that I’m a professional athlete, because she has herself to blame for it. I guess having an acclaimed high school athlete for a son fit her ideal for a son, but a grown man playing a game for a living was not part of her plan.
I was supposed to go to my father’s alma mater, get a degree in business, and go to work for my father. If she wanted that she shouldn’t have paid for all the private coaching and club teams since I entered pre-school.
My father is a lot less uptight. Not to mention he’s made a lot of deals using my fame as an icebreaker. Free seats in the owner’s box goes a long way to grease the wheels of capitalism. There’s nothing rich people like more than free stuff.
I’m glad he supported me back then, because eighteen-year-old me wasn’t very good at standing up to my mother.
It’s something I’ve only recently started getting better at.
After everything went down with Madison, something changed inside of me.
My capacity for tolerating bullshit just to keep the peace disappeared.
I guess my breakdown wasn’t all bad. After all, it did bring me Sloane.
My mother snaps her fingers in my face. “Knox, are you listening to me?”
“It’s hard not to when you screech like that,” I say. I totally wasn’t listening to her, but I’m rather enjoying pissing her off.
“Knox William Rennick, I’ve had about enough of this playboy behavior from you. If you absolutely refuse to reconcile with Madison, fine. I am not happy about it, but you’re a grown man, so I’ll make my peace with it.”
“How magnanimous of you to recognize that I’m an adult. It really doesn’t matter if you make your peace with it or not, it’s the way things are.”
“Either way, you will end this dalliance with that girl—” she points toward my room— “and you will start working for your father. There are several business dinners, fundraisers, and the like on your father’s calendar.
You will attend with us, and we will introduce you to appropriately aged women that have the right connections.
You are a Rennick, and it’s time you start living up to the expectations that come with it. ”
I laugh so hard I bend at the waist. It takes a few minutes to get myself under control. When I do, I wipe tears from my eyes.
My mother is getting increasingly frustrated. She props her hand on her hip. “I fail to see what is so funny about what I said.”
Here she stands, in my luxury penthouse, and thinks that she’s got leverage to force my hand. “How exactly do you think you can force me to follow along?”
Her forehead furrows. Rather impressive considering the amount of Botox she has pumped into her face. “If you don’t, all of this disappears. You won’t get another dime from either your father or me.”
I guess she did notice my home after all. I’m rather going to enjoy exposing the truth to her.
Grabbing my phone off the coffee table I dial my father and put him on speaker.
“Knox? Is this an emergency? I’m having drinks with clients,” he says when he answers.
“No, it’s not an emergency, but it should only take a minute.”
“Alright then. I can give you a minute,” he agrees.
“I was hoping you could confirm something for me. Mom came by, and she’s under the impression that I’ve been living off of family money. Can you tell her how much money I’ve been given since I graduated from college?”
I can hear him sigh into the phone. “Katheryn, I wish you’d have come and spoken to me first.”
“I’m more than capable of bringing our son in line. It’s time he settles down and joins you at the company.”
“I’m not sure how you plan to make him. To answer his question, Knox hasn’t taken a single cent from me since he signed with the Titans.”
I take the call back over. “Thanks, Dad. I’ll let you get back to your clients.”
“I’m sorry about this, son. Let’s have dinner soon. And, Katheryn, leave the boy alone. I’ll speak to you about this when I get home.”
My father ends the call and I stand there staring at my mother. After a long and very awkward silence, I walk past her, heading for the door.
I hold it open, a clear sign she’s no longer welcome.
“I think it goes without saying that I won’t be doing any of the things you’ve demanded. Until you can accept my relationship with Sloane, I have nothing to say to you.”
Refusing to be embarrassed, she holds her head high, and walks past me without saying a word.
After her visit, my head is pounding and my shoulder aches again due to the tension tightening my already overworked muscles.
“Just one more pill,” I whisper to myself. I just need one more to ease the pain.
I’m not sure even I believe it though.
There’s a voice that speaks in my head telling me there will always be one more, and another reason to come searching for the escape they bring.