Chapter 26
Stephanie grabbed onto the vanity as shame rushed through her at Court’s parting words, which were louder than the slamming of the door. They hit exactly how the blonde had wanted them to. She was gutted.
No matter what had happened over the last twenty-four hours, nothing had changed since Court had left her sleeping after a night of hot sex.
As far as Court was concerned, Stephanie was just an easy lay, and getting to know her hadn’t changed that.
It was cruel, and Stephanie felt far worse than she had the week before.
Now she knew Court even better, and the feelings she had were getting deeper every minute they were together. She’d been sure that Court was feeling the same pull, but she hadn’t been. Now she was sure she was completely devoid of feelings.
“Stephanie, what was going on in here?” Marlene asked from the doorway. How she had opened the door without Stephanie noticing, she didn’t know. But she was the last person she wanted to see right now.
“Nothing, Mom.” She peeled her fingers from around the vanity, forcing herself not to look devastated.
Marlene closed the door as she came into the room, and only when it clicked closed behind her did she ask in a harsh whisper, “What were you doing in here with her?”
Rolling her eyes at what her mom was implying, she answered, “I was talking to her.”
“Why?” Hands on hips, her mom demanded.
Instead of holding back like she always did with her mom, she said what she should have said the night before, when it became obvious that she was treating Court badly.
That she was allowing everyone else to do it also, “Because that’s what a family does, we talk.
I know that’s a foreign concept for you this weekend.
From what I’ve seen, you’ve done everything in your power not to talk to the woman.
You're treating her just like when we were kids. Like she doesn’t belong. ”
“She doesn’t.” Marlene insisted, her anger obvious on her face.
Biting back a curse, she insisted, “Because you didn’t allow her to. When she needed a place to stay, you told Calvin not to let her.”
“Don’t call him Calvin. He’s your dad,” Marlene insisted.
“No, Mom, he’s never been my dad, he’s just the man who raised me.
And in doing so, he wasn’t there for Court anymore.
Someone who needed him more than I did. Because at least my mom cared about me, she didn’t have that.
” Yanking open the door, Stephanie brushed past her as she walked out of the bathroom.
She didn’t want to spend another moment in the same house as this woman, much less in the same room.
“He was a great father to you and your siblings.” Following Marlene insisted, as if she didn’t hear a word Stephanie had said, and she probably hadn’t. She never listened to anything she didn’t agree with.
Regretting not having kept her things as organized as Court had, she started cleaning up her clothes.
Looking over to where Court’s things had just been, she wasn’t surprised that they were gone.
She should have left the day before. There had been no reason to stay because there was no reasoning with these people. She was ashamed of them all.
“Where are you going?” Aaron asked, a cookie in one hand and a beer in the other.
“Leaving.” She mumbled as she finally got everything in her backpack and zipped it up.
“It’s only Saturday?” Her mom said, as if they hadn’t just had an argument not a minute ago. “You promised to stay the entire weekend.”
“The weekend’s over as far as I’m concerned. Bye.” She slammed the front door closed. Finally able to let her anger go a little.
Glancing at the driveways, she saw the BMW was gone.
Her parents had been convinced Court was here for money, but anyone who saw her car knew she didn’t need any.
If she guessed correctly, it was this year’s BMW model and tricked out with every option available.
But since it wasn’t a flashy color, nobody seemed to notice.
But Stephanie did, because she was the car enthusiast in the family.
Slipping her backpack onto her back, she climbed onto her motorcycle.
She needed the two-hour ride home more than anything right now.
Her mind was a complete jumble about everything that had happened in the past week.
From meeting Court at the bar to meeting her again at her parents’ house. She needed time to process.
“Are you leaving, Steph?” Dylan asked from the side of the house. It seemed her mom had spread the word. Or maybe Aaron had told on her. Either way, she didn’t care. There was nothing they could say that would make her stay.
“Yeah, something came up.” She lied and realized why she was doing it.
That she had to stop hiding her true feelings around her family.
Because Court was right, she wasn’t all that open about who she was with them.
But that was going to change today. Today, she was going to start being the out bisexual who owned her own gym and was proud of herself.
“Court left because of how we were treating her. All she wanted to do was talk to Calvin, but he ignored her. Instead of him and Mom pretended like she wasn’t even here.
And we were jerks to her from the beginning. ”
Laura came out of the house, her arms crossed in anger, very much like their mom. “You know Dad regretted asking her to come. They were never all that close.”
Turning on her sister, she wasn’t letting that change anything.
“He asked her to come. If he regretted it, he should have uninvited her instead of ignoring her while he was here. Remember when she was here when we were kids? He never took time out of his life to spend any time with her. Instead, he worked, leaving Mom to deal with her. And Mom was a bitch to her all the time. And we were no better. I wish I understood how he could treat her like that.”
She hoped her siblings could see what had been so wrong with that situation. He should have treated Court better than anyone else in the house. She should have been the most special kid to him. Before the Bexley’s came into his life, she was everything to him. Then everything changed.
“They don’t have much in common.” Laura assured her.
Adjusting the helmet in her hands, she said to her sister, “Except they might, if he got to know her. Even this weekend he chose not to try.”
Dylan shoved his hands in his pockets. “He left her on the dock. I pushed off, but he didn’t go back for her as a joke. But he should have gone back.”
“Yeah, he should have.” She said as her dad walked out of the house, his steps quick as he walked towards them. Turning to her siblings, she admitted, “I can’t do this right now.”
Taking a step forward, Dylan placed a hand on her arm to stop her for a moment. “You got the closest to her this weekend. Do you know how to get ahold of her? Tell her that what we did was wrong. Apologize.”
“I don’t know if it’s of any use. The only person she wants a relationship with isn’t me, it’s him.” She said, and they all turned his way as his steps slowed.
Before anyone could say anything back to her, she slipped her helmet on her head and turned on the motorcycle, drowning out any more talk even as Calvin got close enough to them to say anything.
As a last action she knew would annoy her parents even more, she turned her bike around on the grass before speeding away from the house.
She didn’t look back, but she knew it would be a long time before she saw any of them again.
It was possible that two of her siblings were able to see her side of the situation, but they were with their parents for another few days. Anything could happen during that time.
As she hit the highway, she knew she had to decide if she wanted to find Court.
Which could be the easiest part, she knew where she hung out.
But would Court want to see her again? And more important could Stephanie’s heart take seeing Court again?
Because she would probably have a woman on her arm.