Page 119 of Grease Monkey
“What are you doing here?” she asks, for once looking unsettled, like she’s losing the upper hand I’m starting to believe she didn’t have in the first place.
“I’m here to make sure Morgana doesn’t let you manipulate her like you always do.” He links their hands together and winks. “Hey, kiddo.”
She sucks her lips between her teeth, stopping the quiver to her chin. I kiss the back of her head, and she shifts, her stance widening, her spine straightening, and she suddenly looks ten feet tall.
“I’m done bending over backward to keep you happy while I slowly die inside. I’m done being controlled by your threats and my fear. I’m just done, Mom.” Her fingers link through my hand still on her stomach, like I’m her anchor. “You’re a user and a liar.”
“I have never lied to you.”
“Maybe not to me, but you did to Teddy.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” her mom says, folding her arms across her chest.
“I know you told Teddy I was on a date that day you made me break up with him. You knew he’d fight for me. You knew he’d turn up and find me there with Richard”—my hand flexes in hers at the mention of that bastard—“and think it was more than a lunch to discuss Yale as a potential school. I cried for most of that meal while Richard tried to comfort me. That was the worst day of my life, and finding out when I got home that he’d left, and I never got to say goodbye... You stole seven years from us, and you’re not stealing any more.”
“Think about what you’re doing,” Juliette spits, her hands balling into fists. Her eyes flick to me, then to the son she hasn’t seen in years. “Do you want to end up like your brother? Cut off? No longer part of this family? Living paycheck to paycheck, barely scraping by. Because that is exactly what will happen if you stay withhim.”
“I think, if you remember,Ididn’t have a choice in that, Mom,” Skip says with a growl. “But hey, you did me a favor. I might not have the money I would have had if I had followed in Dad’s footsteps, but I don’t live paycheck to paycheck either. I’m asuccessfulchef—no thanks to you—cooking for celebrities and even royalty.”
“You do?” Ana beams at her older brother, pride and love radiating from her.
“Yeah, but I’ll tell you about it later,” he says with a fondness for his sibling before narrowing his eyes and glaring at their mom. “Believe me when I say, Morgana would be better off without this family.”
“Morgana,” her mom growls.
Ana tilts her head back to look at me, and I press a gentle kiss to her lips, giving her the strength I know she already has to do what’s needed.
“Leave, Mom. Get out of my apartment and go home.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you. Your father won’t allow it.”
“My father won’t care,” she says, agitation coating her words. “He’s never cared. I’m not fully convinced he even knows he has a daughter.”
“Mor—”
“You had no problem letting go of one kid. You should have no problem letting go of the other,” Skip interrupts, and Juliette’s face finally shows something as the vein in her forehead pops out, and her cheeks flush pink.
“I will not forget about this, Morgana,” she spits.
“Yes, you will, Juliette,” I say, tightening my hold around Ana’s stomach. “You will forget about Ana. You will leave us alone, and you will not try to get between us again because, believe me when I say, my threats are much worse than any you could dole out.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” she seethes.
I drop my hold on Ana and take one step toward Juliette. “Your husband’s opposition might find it interesting to hear that his wife forced her daughter to break up with her boyfriend because he doesn’t come from money. Over eighty percent of your husband’s demographics are working-class,Mrs. Adler,and who knows how many would change their minds on who to vote for as their next Governor if they found out his wife thinks she’s better than them?”
“No one would believe you.”
“Maybe not him,” Skip says, coming to my side. “But as their only son, who was cut off at eighteen, they might just believe me.”
Juliette’s jaw clenches as she stares between her son and me.
“Who do you think you are?” she says through gritted teeth, and I grin back at her.
“Your future son-in-law.” Ana inhales sharply, and I’m dying to go to her. Sure, we haven’t spoken about it, and she was engaged to someone else a week ago, but I will marry her one day. “Now get the fuck out.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Morgana
