Page 68 of The Wrong Prom Date

She waved my comment away. “Oh, please, Liam. Don’t start on your pathetic pity party now. I’ve had to fly across the country to clean up your mess, and I’m not in the mood.”

“Well, you needn’t have bothered. There’s no mess for you to clean up. I have everything handled.”

Mother scoffed. “In one afternoon, you’ve offended your director, almost cost yourself the part in your next movie, and turned down a large sum of money, all so you could keep playing student at your little school.”

“So what?” It wasn’t like I needed the money, and Josh might have been disappointed I turned him down, but he didn’t run my life. He wanted to move the schedule forward forUnder the Bleachers, and to do that he needed me to leave Lincoln early so filming could start. I only had one chance at exploring what I had with Teagan though so I’d refused him; even when he offered me an enticing lump sum to reconsider.

Mother folded her arms over her chest as she stared me down. “You didn’t go to Lincoln High to be a student,” she said. “You’d do well to remember your attendance there was simply part of fulfilling your contract and nothing more.”

Her gaze cut right through me, more sharply than any physical weapon could have. “You know, it’s lucky you aren’t the one managing your career and I’ve been able to fix things,” she continued. “If it were left to you, you’d never get work in the film industry again.”

“Mother, what did you do?” My words came out in a deep rumble filled with warning, but the woman standing before me didn’t seem to notice or care.

“I did what was necessary,” she replied, her voice as icy as her stare. “You should be thanking me for agreeing to this for you. Josh had every right to want to bring the project forward. There’s so much hype for the film after you landed in the papers for that high school party it would be crazy to let that fizzle out. I won’t let you anger the director and risk losing this role.”

I laughed darkly as I shook my head at her. It was obvious she was only worried about the money. Josh hadn’t seemed angry with me when I’d knocked his offer back. He had told me he understood. I was sure he was disappointed, but I hadn’t felt like my role in the movie was in danger.

“Well, I know I’m not at risk of losing the role, and you’re going to be the one who’s disappointed because I’ll be finishing my semester at Lincoln High.”

A smile curled at the corner of her big, fat lips. “I thought you might need some convincing.” She opened her Louis Vuitton handbag and pulled out a series of photographs before handing them to me.

My heart stuttered to a halt as I looked at the first photo. It was an image of Teagan and I kissing in the school parking lot. That moment had been so precious to me, and I thought we’d been completely alone. How the hell did she get a picture of it?

I wasn’t sure what my mother was hoping to accomplish by showing it to me. Other than proving she was watching me, there wasn’t much she could do to use it against me. I’d kissed plenty of girls before, so it wasn’t exactly controversial. It wasn’t even that obvious that Teagan was the girl, so I wasn’t concerned she’d be targeted because of it.

I shook my head. “This is supposed to force me to go through with the deal?”

Her smile widened. “Keep looking.”

I frowned and flicked to the next photo. It was from today. I was sitting on Teagan’s front doorstep with the flowers, and in the following photo, I was giving them to her. This was hardly incriminating stuff.

I glanced up at her, and she nodded for me to continue. The final photo was of a woman I didn’t recognize walking into a large brick building. The woman was about my mother’s age. She was very beautiful with long, blonde hair and bright green eyes. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at until I saw a sign plastered over the doorway the woman was headed toward: Begonia Treatment Center. My heart seemed to falter as I stared at the picture. I’d never met Teagan’s mom before, but I knew it must be her in the photo. The woman looked just like an older version of her daughter, and the similarity between them was uncanny.

“How do you have this?” I growled.

My mother’s face was so smug I wanted to slap her. “I’ve been keeping a close eye on you, Liam. And I know how much you like the little blonde girl. I’d hate to think how it would ruin her life if it came out that her mother was in rehab.”

I swallowed, uncertainty swirling in my gut as I looked at the picture again. Teagan and her mom would be on the front page of every tabloid in the country by tomorrow morning if Mother made the pictures public. Teagan was so incredibly private about her home life and kept it hidden even from her closest friends. I had no doubt something like this would devastate her, and I couldn’t let that happen.

I slowly lifted my gaze to glare at my mother. “How can you do this to me?”

She walked over and patted my cheek. “I’m not doing anything to you,” she replied. “I’m the one who’s looking out for you.”

I begged to differ and wished I could see a way around this. I had no clue how to fight her though and felt thoroughly backed into a corner. She’d left me with no choice because I cared about Teagan too much to risk the photos getting out.

My mother must have seen the resignation in my eyes because she smiled and turned to walk from the room. “You’re booked on the next plane home,” she called over her shoulder. “Make sure you don’t miss it.”

I didn’t respond. What could I say? I simply stood there staring after the horrible woman who’d given birth to me. It was only once the front door closed that I broke from my frozen stance and sank into a chair, running both my hands down my face.

“I’m sorry, Liam,” Zeke said, slowly coming to stand at my side. “I had no idea she planned to ambush you like that.”

“It’s my mother; it’s what she does,” I replied. “Tell me you’ve got a brilliant plan to get me out of this?”

Zeke looked as defeated as I felt though, and he shook his head. “I wish I did, but that woman has us both hogtied. I don’t think there’s any way out of this other than doing what she wants.”

“I really hate her,” I spat. “And the worst part of all of this is that now she has those photos she can bring them out whenever she wants something from me.”

Zeke paled at the thought. “We’ll think of a way to get around them,” he said. “But for now, I don’t think you’ve got much choice but to go back to L.A.”

---