Page 68 of Reformation

I shake my head. “They raided our house after the arrest, but she had already shot up anything that was inside, and she was unconscious when they arrived. She went to the hospital, but no charges were filed. Ralph never kept the drugs he planned to sell at our house. He always just got what he could distribute from his guy, so he never had any extras laying around, which always pissed my mom off when she needed a fix.”

“At least your mom got treated when she went to the hospital.”

I let out a laugh that is laced with years’ worth of frustration. “Those five days she was in the hospital are the longest she has been clean in twenty years. Do you want to know the best part? What she said to me when I picked her up from the hospital? She told me to drop her off and to leave. To never come back. That she knew it was me who ratted Ralph out and that I ruined her life when I turned him in and that I no longer had a home. My own mother kicked me out because I turned in her drug-dealing boyfriend who tried to kill her. How messed up is that?”

“I’m sorry… she did what? You can’t be serious.”

I sit back down. “As a heart attack. I told her that if she kicked me out, then that was that. She couldn’t call me or look for me. That I was going to be gone for good. She told me that she was finally glad to be rid of, in her words, her ‘ungrateful bitch of a daughter.’”

“Paige, I’m so sorry.”

I shake my head. “Don’t be. That was the best thing she did for me. It was only a few weeks from graduation. I had been stealing money from Ralph, so I had been saving for a while. I found a cheap hotel where the manager let me clean in exchange for a room. I finished the tests I needed to take to graduate, and the day that I could leave, I left for Virginia and I never looked back.”

“You haven’t talked to your mom since?”

“No. Well, yes. Kind of. I changed my number and never made contact after I left Alabama. A few months back, I started getting calls from unknown numbers, but I ignored them. One day after school, I answered on accident. It was her. I freaked out and hung up right away. I hadn’t heard from her again until today. Now… Garrett now I think she’s in Virginia.”

“What makes you think that?”

I sit up, away from Garrett’s hold, because this is the part I need him to hear. “That last call. She told me. She said that I must have had a late night with my doctor. She knows about me. About you. Garrett, I have no idea what she wants. Or what shape she is in. I’m sure there’s a new boyfriend. Ralph was sentenced to fifteen years because of the kid who overdosed. But Garrett, she’s not right. She’s unstable. I don’t want… If something happens to you or your family. Or my students… I’m scared, Garrett.”

And just like that, I’m back in his arms. “Shh, Angel. I’ve got you. What happened to you, no one should ever have to go through that. Nothing is going to happen. I won’t let it.”

And somehow, I know he won’t.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Garrett

“Mark!” I shout my brother’s name as I come barreling through his door. “Mark! Where the fuck are you? Get your ass down here now!”

“What the hell, man?” he says, coming down the stairs, Charlie right behind him. “We just got the kids to bed. You’re going to wake them up.”

“I don’t care. I need you. Paige needs you.”

“Garrett, sit down,” Charlie says. “You need to settle down. What’s the matter?”

After Paige told me everything—and wow, I wasn’t expecting any of that—I didn’t want to leave her side. And I didn’t for the rest of the day.

She told me a little more about her childhood, and every time she brought up her bitch of a mother, it took everything I had in me not to punch a hole through the wall. How do you call yourself a mother and treat your child that way?

Then she told me about how she came to Virginia. How she was determined to let the past go and start something fresh. During her first week on campus, she saw a flyer about volunteering at a drug counseling center.

She started the next day.

So many people would have been crushed by what Paige went through. I know I would have. Not my girl. Not only did she overcome, she has also helped others along the way.

But who has helped her? No one. Which is why I have to do everything I can to make sure that she is safe.

Which is why I’m now talking to my brother—who just so happens to own a security firm.

I tell him and Charlie everything I know. Well, not everything. They don’t need to know that I’m never spending the night here again now that I know what it’s like to be inside Paige.

“Wow,” Mark says, rubbing his jaw. “What does she think her mom wants?”

“No clue. She hasn’t talked to her since she left Alabama. How could she get her number?”

“It’s not hard if someone really wants it,” Charlie says. “Heck, she could have called the school, said that she was her mother, and they probably assumed it was OK to give it to her. If you’re persistent enough, people will give you what you want. We can have all the security measures we want, but if people want it bad enough, they will find a way.”

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