Page 108 of Creed

She straightened the silverware in front of her as I took in her features. It may have killed me to admit it, but my mother was a very beautiful woman. Well, at least on the outside. She dyed her hair blond, despite the fact that she had red hair. Her eyes were similar to mine and her face looked tight, like she had one too many Botox shots. Honestly, she probably didn’t need it. Nicole Powers knew how to take care of herself, but only herself and nobody else.

“If you’d tone done your anger you’d realize I only want one thing, and that’s to get my son back. Your childhood was stolen from me, and I want to make up the time we lost.” She pouted.

“Bullshit Nicole. You want to use me against your own family, to gain some sort of notoriety from my relationship with Morgan, and to be everyone’s center of attention.”

My childhood was stolen from her? She could fuck off for just that one comment.

“You think too little of me and it’s unfair. You don’t even know me.” She was still pouting.

“That’s right I don’t know you. You took off, married some other man and didn’t even tell him I existed. You banned your family from knowing me, and almost ended my dad’s life. So don’t pull that shit on me. You are not a victim.” I spoke through my teeth in the lowest voice possible.

The server approached and I ordered a sandwich and told him our bills would be on two different tickets.

As soon as he walked away her eyes met mine. “You have two brothers that would like to meet you.”

Fuck that shit. I knew what she was up to, she wanted to dangle them in front of my face like she did to her father for so many years with me. “They’ve lived this long without knowing me. I think they’ll survive.”

“Why did you even meet with me if you were going to be so damn stubborn?” She finally snapped.

I sat back in my chair. “I have a few things that need to be said to you, and I expect this to be the last time you even think of me. I need to make a few things clear to you for once and for all.”

“You’re my son, of course I’ll think of you every day until I die.” She wasn’t that convincing.

“First of all, I’ve been called back up. In less than three weeks I’ll be deployed. My will is iron clad, and all you get is one dollar if I die and don’t you dare contest it. The rest will be split between my business partners and a young woman that’s just starting her college career. You don’t get a dime. You are also not listed as my next of kin. My vice president has power of attorney if anything happens to me. It’s important you know this because I am going into a war zone. This is probably the most dangerous mission of my life, and the chances of returning home safely aren’t on my side.”

She gasped. “But you retired. They can’t do that, Alis. No, they can’t do it. I won’t have it.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re a horrible actress. Anyway, my power of attorney has been instructed to handle you if you as much as breathe Morgan’s name again. I am not a good man, Nicole. I have a past that would turn your stomach, so don’t doubt me. Stay away from the people I love and leave your father alone for God’s sake. He’s an old man that just wants to live outhis days on his farm. The world doesn’t revolve around you, so get over it.”

She leaned forward. “Don’t tell me I can’t worry about my eldest son when he’s being sent off to die!”

“If that’s the case, then where the fuck were your letters every other time I was deployed? Where were you when I stepped off that plane and dad was the only person there waiting for me? Do you even know what my job was in the Army?”

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “You were a soldier, of course I know.”

“I was special ops. My team was so elite the president didn’t even know we existed. Do you know I was captured and stabbed, left to hang off chains as I was tortured in Afghanistan? Did you know I was left behind when the fucking president abandoned us when he ordered the entire military out of the middle east? Do you know I held a baby as it died in my arms? Did you fucking know I was chained up and forced to watch as terrorists raped my female team mate? You don’t know a goddam thing about me, so don’t act like it. Don’t act like you know I’ve been on thirty one fucking missions and my luck is running out just as I found happiness. I’m in love for the first time in my life and the fucking government is taking me away from her. So don’t waste what little time I have left with my girls just so you can have your little tantrum about daddy’s farm. A fucking farm you have no use for, dammit you make me sick. The world is a whole lot bigger than you.”

Her eyes were welling up with crocodile tears.

“Consider this your son’s last wish. Leave Morgan the hell alone. Stop fucking with your dad’s head, and be a mother to those two boys. You’re pretty damn lucky to have two sons whenI don’t even get to have one. You never gave a fuck about me, so stop acting like you do.”

A tear fell from her eye. “I have three sons, not two.” She shut her eyes and took what I perceived as a calming breath before she opened her eyes and looked at me. “This is real? You’re really saying your goodbyes?”

“Unlike you, I don’t run away. I face it, even if it’s death. If our mission is successful, it will save countless people. I’m just one life, a small sacrifice for saving thousands.”

She shook her head as her shaking fingers tore the napkin in her hand into tiny pieces. “No, that’s not true. You’re not a small sacrifice. You’re my son.” She put her hand on her belly. “I can still feel your tiny little feet kicking in my belly. I can still hear your first tiny little cry, and I remember the way your father cried the first time he held you.” She broke down and cried a little harder. “You took your first steps when you were ten months old. Mama was your first word, and I can still feel when you would fall asleep right here.” She patted her chest. “I counted each one of those tiny little breaths and thanked God for every single one of them.” She wiped her tears away then wouldn’t look at me. “Excuse me, please don’t leave.” She stood and took off for the restroom.

I shook my head and sat back in my chair. I wasn’t going to let her fool me. She may have fooled my father, but I wasn’t as weak as him. My sandwich came and I started eating. I wasn’t too interested in staying much longer.

“Excuse me.” I looked up when my meal was interrupted by a young woman.

“I think I saw a woman leave your table. Was she your mother?”

I shrugged. “Something like that, I guess.”

“I just thought I should let you know she’s really sick in the bathroom. She’s throwing up.”

I gave her a nod. “I’ll give her a few minutes. Thanks.”

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