I should have let the toilet end me.
My jaw clenches as their heavy stares fall on me. “Now you decide to show up?” I mutter, gripping tighter onto the pole of the drip, wondering what kind of weapon it could make as I studiously ignore the way my mom wears her despair on her sleeve. I mean, damn. If she wanted to care about me, the time for that has passed.
“You honestly think anything in the world is going to keep me from seeing my daughter?” Mom questions, as if horrified by the very thought of not being able to see me in the flesh.
Dropping my ass to the edge of my bed, I try to scoot back into my spot and get comfortable. “Well, the sun certainly did. Tanner said he called you hours ago. I was looking for you and you weren’t here,” I tell her, unable to hide the pain in my voice. “The one time I really needed you, and you weren’t here.”
“Oh, honey,” Mom says, walking around the side of my bed to perch her ass beside me. She finds my hands and scoops them into hers, holding them tight. “It’s not like that at all. You know I would have dropped everything to be here with you. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I thought I was losing you.”
Pulling my hands out of hers, I look away, unable to handle the pain in her eyes. It’s so fake, so forced, and it only makes it hurt that much more. “Talk all you want, Mom. You can tell me how you would have dropped everything to be here until you’re blue in the face, but the fact is, you didn’t. You weren’t here.”
“Bri—”
“No,” I say, hating how obvious I am about how much her absence has hurt me. “Have you ever been stabbed, Mom? Have you ever laid in the grass bleeding out? I thought I was going to die. I’ve never been so scared in my life, and all I needed was to wake up and have you here, but you let me down. Again. You were supposed to be my family, but that means nothing to you now, does it? You’ve got the fancy husband and the fancy car. Money, mansion, designer clothes—nothing else matters to you anymore.”
Mom stands, gaping at me as though she can’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. “How dare you say that,” she whispers, her hand pressing to her lips as she tries to hide just how horrified she is. But hell, actions speak so much louder than words.
“Where were you when Colby wrapped my car around that tree, huh?” I ask. “I sure as hell didn’t see you by my hospital bed then. Or what about when Erica and Colby had me arrested on rape charges? Rape, Mom. I didn’t see you in the precinct demanding my release. Hell, all I saw was your palm across my face. You believed every one of their lies. How could you do that to me? You believed the word of a rapist over your own daughter. You’ve remained with a man who would rather help a rapist walk free than defend your daughter.”
Mom shakes her head, tears welling in her eyes. “You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly well,” I tell her, the remaining shards of my shattered heart turning black with poison. “You made your decision, and it wasn’t me.”
“That’s enough out of you,” Orlando says, stepping closer to my mother. “How dare you speak to your mother like that. Can you not see how much she’s hurting over all of this?”
I groan, my sharp gaze slicing toward Orlando. “Oh, fuck off, leech. Get out of my room. You’re not welcome here.”
“Considering I’m the one paying your hospital bills, I dare say I am. Now, apologize to your mother this minute.”
“Or what?” I question, my voice lowering and filling with venom, a clear warning not to fucking cross me. “You’ll cut me off? Kick me out of your stupid mansion? News flash, I don’t need that shit to survive. I’m not my mother. I don’t need cars and a fucking mansion to feel validated. I already have everything I need.”
Orlando laughs. “You mean the boy next door? Tanner Morgan?” he questions. “He’s a delinquent child with an aversion to authority. Do you honestly think he’s going to stick around? I’ve watched that boy go from girl to girl. You’re nothing but a whore keeping his bed warm until the next one comes along.”
My jaw clenches, but instead of falling victim to his bait, I turn my gaze back toward my mother. “I guess we have something in common after all.”
Mom gasps and stumbles back a few steps as though my words physically assaulted her. “What did you just call me?”
“Nothing that your husband didn’t call me first, but that wasn’t a big deal, was it?” I ask her before glancing back at Orlando. “For what it’s worth, that delinquent child is the only reason I’m alive right now. Without him, I’d be rotting in the morgue. If you insult him again, I'll take it as a personal attack against me. And next time, I won't be so forgiving.”
Orlando throws his hands up in frustration. “How blind are you, girl? Tanner Morgan is the reason you’re in this mess in the first place. He and his whore of a sister. If he hadn’t retaliated at the courthouse, none of this would have happened. Colby would not have felt the need to take matters into his own hands. Your blood is on his hands.”
My eyes bug out of my head. “Excuse me?” I spit, pushing myself up in my bed, not giving two shits about the pain coursing through my body. “You want to blame Tanner for the fact Colby couldn’t control his need to pick up a knife and slaughter anyone in his way? Do you even hear yourself speak?” I gape at my mother, unable to fathom how she can stand by his side through all of this. “Honestly, Mom? You’re throwing away the last eighteen years to be with that? What is wrong with you?”
“Honey, I—”
“No, I don’t want to hear your bullshit excuses. I’m done with you. You’ve had chance after chance, and I’m not hanging out to watch you fuck it up again. You’re on your own,” I say, looking back at Orlando, not nearly done with his bitch-ass. “But if you want to play the blame game, then let’s go ahead and blame the asshole who let Colby walk free in the first place. If it weren’t for you, Colby would be locked up, right where he belongs. Your fucked-up ego is the reason two of my best friends spent the night fighting for their lives, one of them being a fucking minor. A child.”
“Colby was cleared of all charges.”
I scoff. “No, you messed with the rape kit and forced the judge’s hand. Colby is not an innocent man, and if his parents don’t pull the fucking plug, I sure as fuck will.”
“Brielle,” my mother spits. “Don’t you talk like that.”
“Just get out,” I tell them both. “I don’t want you here.”
“No,” Mom says, giving a firm shake of her head, tears streaming down her face. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re my daughter, and I will stay as long as it takes.”
“You misunderstood me, Mother. There’s no amount of time you can stand at my bedside—pretending you give a shit—that’s going to fix this. I’m done. I don’t want anything to do with you. You’ve chosen him one too many times. Congratulations, I’m officially broken, now please leave. I’m not asking again.”
Orlando steps closer, his eyes filled with a sickening venom. “Watch your mouth, girl,” he says. “I pay for your whole lifestyle. Your school, your hospital fees, the food you eat. With just a click of my fingers, it could all be gone.”