“I was so fucking scared for you,” he grumbles into my neck. “When Alec texted… fuck.” He pulls back and his glassy eyes meet mine. “I was the one who suggested you get out…”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“I should’ve been there,” he argues. “Alec was focusing on Lexi and—”
“No, you shouldn’t have been because you were where you were supposed to be, with your mom because she needed you.”
“Next time you go to the club, I’ll be going with you.”
I scoff. “Trust me, that won’t be happening. Me and clubs are done.”
Before he can reply, there’s a knock on the door. “I’ll get it.”
A minute later, my mom walks through my door with a sad smile on her face. “I wasn’t sure if you would be awake, but I told Chase I would be by with soup…”
“You don’t have to come up with an excuse to check on me,” I tell her. “You’re my mom.”
“I know,” she says with a watery laugh. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. Sore and tired, but I’m alive.”
“You are,” she says, tears pricking her eyes. She sits on the edge of my bed and pulls me into her arms. “I was so scared, Georgia. You’re my baby girl and if something happened to you…”
Chase walks in with a tray at that moment and my mom pulls back. “I’m sorry. I guess it just really hit me. We could’ve lost you.”
“You didn’t lose me, and nothing like that will ever happen again.”
Chase sets the tray on my lap. There’s a bowl of chicken noodle soup I recognize from my favorite deli, a glass of orange juice, and some crackers.
“Thank you,” I tell both of them. “It smells delicious.”
“I’ll give you guys a few minutes,” Chase says. “Holler if you need anything.”
When he’s gone, Mom waggles her brows at me. “He’s sweet.”
I groan. “And just a friend.”
“Your choice?”
“No, his. He was hurt and isn’t looking for anything more.”
“He seemed awfully worried about you for someone who’s just a friend. He yelled at Alec and wouldn’t leave your side.”
“He blames himself. It was his idea for me to get out.”
“Yeah, I heard that, but I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I just got a vibe.”
“A vibe, huh?” I laugh as I take a spoonful of my soup. “Well, your vibe is way off. We’re just friends. He was my wingman, but now that I have no intention of ever going back to a club, I have no idea how I’m going to find a man.”
My mom eyes me for a moment. I expected her to appreciate the fact that I’m planning to stay away from clubs, so I’m shocked when she frowns. “What happened was scary, but you can’t let one bad experience keep you from doing what you want to do.”
I set my spoon down. “I was drugged, Mom. I went out to a club a few times, hoping to find a guy, and I was drugged. I think I’ll stay right here, in my house, where it’s safe. Maybe I can try online dating or something,” I half joke.
Mom doesn’t laugh. “Do you remember last year when you were dating Robert?”
“Ughhh… How could I forget?” I groan.
“He wasn’t a very nice man,” she agrees.
“Hence why I broke up with him.” I take a spoonful of soup.
“But afterward, instead of getting back out there, you went months without dating,” she points out.
“Who would want to date after that?”
“And now, you’ve had something bad happen to you, and you’re saying you’re not going to go back to a club…”
“So?” I set my spoon down and take a sip of my orange juice.
“When I was married to your father,” she says, her voice a tad shaky. “Not Tristan… But your biological father, Justin… He was abusive.”
Her words have me abandoning my food and drink. My mom doesn’t talk about her past life, ever.
“And not only verbally,” she continues. “He would hit me too. He would come home and attack me.” She visibly shudders. “As you got older, it got worse. I was terrified that one day he would hurt you, so I came up with a plan to run away with you, to get away from him.” A single tear slides down her cheek and she swipes it away. “I slowly put away money so we could disappear. But before we could, he caught me. We fought and I hit my head. When I woke up, I couldn’t remember what happened, and he claimed you were dead.”
“What?” I choke out in shock.
“I was devastated and ran. I had no clue you were really alive and he was hiding you to punish me.”
I don’t even know what to say. What horrible person would do that to a mother? And I share DNA with him? But now it makes sense… My memories of my bio dad locking me away in my room. The way he treated me.