Chapter Thirty-Four
Corey
When Damon tells me what Rosalind said, I feel a whole bunch of different emotions. One, I don’t want my mother hurt, so of course I want to do whatever we need to save her. Two, I don’t want her here, with me. Three, I also don’t trust Rosalind as far as I can carry her, which is a big “not at all.”
But that doesn’t matter right now.
I call Mom’s number, and she finally picks up on the tenth ring. “Mom? It’s Corey. Listen to me: you aren’t safe, there are men coming to your house. Can you drive to us? Or do you want us to come and pick you up?”
She sighs on the other end. “I will be fine. I told you, Tatum won’t hurt me.”
I grit my teeth and hand the phone to Romeo. Who tells her the exact same thing, except this time, of course, she agrees to get in her car and drive here.
I don’t know how she continues to make me feel so small with any interaction I have with her.
But here I am, still not good enough.
Romeo kisses the top of my head. “It’s not you, it’s her.”
I look up at him. “She makes me feel like it’s me. I know she basically raised you, so you care about her, but I don’t get that same version of her.”
“She’s different now,” he admits, brown eyes gentle. “Especially after Matthew died. Don’t take anything she says or does personally, Corey. She has her own issues and I think since you’re her only daughter, she takes them out on you.”
“She needs to go to therapy.”
He laughs, and scruffs my hair. “Yes, she does. But right now, we just want to keep her alive so that River doesn’t kill us.”
“Fair enough.”
Julianna comes into the kitchen, face red with anger. “I can’t believe my parents let Rosalind be around Julian. I specifically told them not to! They are never looking after him again because they clearly don’t respect my boundaries. I just can’t trust her, and I wish that I could. But after everything she’s just not someone I want around him.”
I can totally understand where she’s coming from. My mom won’t be going around any kids that I may or may not have.
I frown as it hits me that I even entertained the thought of having kids for a second.
Shit.
Am I becoming more flexible to the idea?
Who am I?
“It’s okay,” I say, taking both her hands in mine. “Breathe, Julianna. It won’t happen again. And he’s fine. Now you know you can’t leave him with them without them letting her see him.”
She nods, taking deep breaths. “The thought of her holding him makes me feel sick. He’s the next president of this MC, the MC that she betrayed! All because she didn’t get the guy she wanted.”
I nod, letting her vent.
“Would you turn against us if you didn’t get Damon?” she asks, but answers for me anyway. “No, you would not! Because you are a loyal, beautiful person.”
“I’d probably just go for one of the prospects instead,” I whisper, and she laughs, the tension leaving her body.
“Out of curiosity, which one?” she asks, lowering her tone.
“I don’t know, because I haven’t been looking at them like that because I’m head over heels for Damon,” I reply, glancing out to make sure no one else can hear this hypothetical conversation we’re having right now, right in the middle of a crisis, might I add. “But going on looks alone, I think Blaze. The boxing thing is hot, and goddamn but that pornstache is growing on me.”
She bursts out laughing, then covers her mouth before someone comes in to ask what’s so funny. “Okay, I’m never going to repeat that.”
“Excuse me, how about you? Who would you pick if Romeo didn’t exist?”
She just laughs and leaves the kitchen.
Sneaky.
Damon comes in when I’m squatting down in the fridge, trying to find the snacks I hid in here last night.
“If you’re looking for the chocolate-covered strawberries, Jag found them,” he says, running his hands over my ass.
“There is no time for that right now,” I reply in a dry tone, standing back up and closing the fridge with a swing of my hip. “My mother is on her way here now. Are you ready to meet her? You’re probably more ready than I am.”
“Are you going to tell her about us?” he asks, pinning me back against the fridge door. “Or are you going to save that for another time?”
“I have nothing to hide,” I reply, my gaze dropping to his lips. “But she’ll probably have something to say. She might ask you why you want to be with me, or something like that. Who knows?”
“And I’ll tell her it’s because you are the most beautiful,” he stops to kiss me, “Sexy,” another kiss. “Intelligent,” another kiss, “talented woman I’ve ever met in my life. I’d be a fool to let that go.”
“You would be a fool,” I agree, grabbing onto his face and kissing him back.
“Yes, get that all out of your system before your mom comes here,” Bella teases, amusement in her tone.
I look around Damon to see her. “Great, I forgot that you’ve met my mom, and that she loves you. That makes it all so much worse.” I bet Bella is the daughter she always wanted, but never had. Just another slap in the face.
“It will be fine, Corey. I promise you. We all have your back.”
“I know. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to go and mentally prepare myself for seeing her after all of this time,” I say, gently pushing Damon off me and making an escape to my bedroom. He gives me about half an hour before he comes to check on me.
“You okay?” he asks, closing the door behind him. “She’s going to be here soon. You know if you don’t want to see her, we can just hide up here for a while?”
He wanders around my room, looking at my art, until he comes across the easel in the far corner. When I hear his slight gasp, I lift my head up to see what he’s looking at.
Ah, shit.
“When did you do this?” he asks, raising it up into the sunlight and examining it. “Corey, this is amazing. Why didn’t you show me?”
Sitting up, I enjoy watching his expression as he stares at the painting of himself. I spent extra time trying to get the color of his eyes just right, the close-up portrait showing every perfect angle of his face. “I painted it before we were together. And then I forgot about it. Or maybe I hid it, because it’s kind of embarrassing to be painting a man that wasn’t even mine.”
“Well, I’m yours now, and I don’t think it’s embarrassing at all. It’s beautiful.”
“You’ve always been my muse, Damon. Ever since I first laid eyes on you.”
I could paint him all day. I wish he knew how truly beautiful he is to me, inside and out. Whatever life throws at us, he’s worth it.
He holds up the painting next to his face. “I think you’ve made me better-looking than I am in real life. See, love really is blind.”
I roll my eyes. “Modesty doesn’t look good on you. The painting pales in comparison to you. You are seriously the hottest man I’ve ever seen in real life.”
“Yes, blind,” he replies, with a cheeky smile. “Can I hang this up in my bedroom? This is the best thing I’ve ever seen. It shouldn’t be hidden away in the corner of your room.”
“Sure, you can have it,” I reply, laughing at the best thing he’s ever seen being a painting of his own face. “It was always meant to be yours.”
He puts it down and jumps on the bed, cuddling up against me. “When this is over, I’m taking you on a date. A proper date.”
“I’d like that, and maybe afterward you can rip off my clothes...”
A knock on my door makes me jump. “Lisa just called. She will be here in thirty,” Julianna calls out.
Wonderful.
“I guess we better get this over with, then,” I sigh, looking up at the ceiling. “At least she’s safe, right? I’m going to keep saying that to myself over and over again.”
Maybe she will surprise me and be kind and hug me. And tell me she has missed me? I can dream. I’ve pushed her out of my mind as much as I can, and that’s how I’ve been dealing with it, but now there’s no more hiding.
I don’t need her to like me.
I don’t need her to like me.
I am a good person.
Damon kisses my temple and helps me get up. “Don’t let anything she says get to you, okay? Don’t let anyone have that power over you, even your own mother. You know who you are. Everyone who loves you knows who you are. And that is enough.”
It is enough.
And I am enough.