Page 117 of Grease Monkey
I grimace. “I know, but I can’t leave him, Shay. I love him.”
She nods thoughtfully, then smirks, her eyes sparkling with trouble. “Think Teddy would let me be your roommate if you move in with him?”
I laugh and push her out of the bedroom so I can quickly swap my blouse for a top she’d given me for tonight. Ducking into the bathroom to brush the taste of carbonara from my mouth, I’m just wiping my lips with a towel as a knock sounds from the door, and I shout, “That’s probably Teddy. Can you get that?”
Shay’s footsteps echo in the small apartment as she walks toward the door. Swapping my purse and phone from my laptop case to my handbag, my hand freezes mid-air as she shouts, “Oh, hell no.”
I dart out of the bedroom, and nearly trip as my mom glares at me from the doorway.
“Mom? Wh-what are you doing here?”
Mom’s glower flicks to Shay, who’s standing like a bouncer at the door of a club, not letting her inside the apartment.
“Ms. Sylvester, do not test me. Please move so I can speak to my daughter.”
Shay shrinks as her false bravado slips. She might like to think she could stand up against my mom, but we both know whenever she looks like she could kill you with her eyes alone, none of us stands a chance. We are back to being teenagers all over again, being told we aren’t allowed to be friends.
Mom steps forward, her handbag clutched against her stomach and her arms squeezed tight against her body like she’s afraid to touch the walls or something. Her eyes scathingly search the space, her top lip twitching as her gaze runs the length of my body.
“Alone, Ms. Sylvester.” My voice cracks through the silence like a whip, and Shay and I both jump.
“Erm, Juliette…”
“Mrs. Adler.”
Shay’s face pales. “Sorry, Mrs. Alder. I want to stay if it’s alright with Morgana.”
“Well, it is not alright with me. Need I remind you that this is a family matter, and you are not family, Ms. Slyvester. When I arrived, I should have known I’d find you here too. Was this your doing? Filling my daughter’s head with ridiculous ideas?”
“I…” Shay‘s wide blue eyes blink frantically, like she’s trying not to cry; that’s just how powerful my mom’s icy tone can be.
“Shay’s got nothing to do with this, Mom. This was all me.”
Mom’s head whirls around to me. “Oh right, I see. And this has got also nothing to do with Teddy?”
My heart stops. “Wh-what?”
Mom levels me with a stare, and then aims it straight at Shay. Shay backs toward the door, sending me a look of apology before slipping out and closing it behind her. Mom looks around the small kitchen before placing her handbag as close to the edge as possible without it falling off.
“I know you don’t take me for a fool, Morgana. An assignment to Phoenix? To the place thatboywanted you to run off to, and just over a month later, your engagement is broken off? I don’t think so. Pack your things. We’re leaving.”
“No. Richard doesn’t want to marry me. And I don’t want to marry him. We don’t love each other.”
“What is with your obsession with love, Morgana? It’s a pointless, meaningless emotion that makes people make irrational decisions.” She steps past me and walks into the bedroom, going to the closet and pulling out my cases. “Lucky for you, Richard has agreed to forget all about yourindiscretionsand take you back as his wife.”
Indiscretions? He wouldn’t have told her about Teddy and me, would he?
“He’d never agree to that. He doesn’t want this,” I growl, but as soon as the words leave me, I’m suddenly unsure. He told me he was groomed to follow a specific path his whole life, and maybe a quick five-minute conversation with me wasn’t enough to make him change his mind. But my gloves are tied and ready and I won’t give up without a fight.
“No?” Mom laughs in surprise. “Richard is smart and knows what is best for him.”
My breathing falls short as my shoulder smacks against the bedroom doorjamb, watching my mom pile my clothes into cases. “What did you do?”
Calmly folding a pair of pants, she sets them inside the case and runs her hand over the top. “What needed to be done.”
My heart lurches in my chest. “How can you be so cruel?”
She smiles, vindictive and vicious, as she takes calculated steps toward me. I flinch as her hand tucks my hair behind my ears. “When you have children of your own, you will realize you will do whatever it takes for them to succeed. Now hurry up and pack.”
