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“Oliver?” my mum asked, her voice small and careful, and it sent my heart into my throat. “You got married?”
“It wasn’t what she said, Mia, it was the way she said it,” I explained as Mia wrapped my hand. She was sitting over our bathroom counter as I stood between her legs with my arm out between us. “Four years, Mia. For four fucking years, and she didn’t visit me once. Hell, she testified against me when everything went down with Oscar and Brad. Even when I saw her at the funeral, she could barely look at me. But as soon as she found out I got married …” I shook my head, “it was almost as if she cared.”
Gently, Mia pulled my double-wrapped fist to her lips, kissing my knuckles lightly. “All better.”
A grin fought through my perplexity. “Thank you.”
“What happened after she said that?”
Breath rushed out of me, and I lifted a shoulder. “Left without saying anything.” I leaned my good hand over the edge of the counter beside Mia. “You know, she lost touch with reality a long time ago. Paranoia, hallucinations … it almost killed us both, and all I ever wanted was for her to quit using and get help. But, Mia, that look in her eyes tonight—”
“You think she stopped?”
Pushing off the counter, I scratched the back of my head. “I don’t know. Maybe Oscar dying woke her up. Or maybe I’m that six-year-old again, getting his hopes up. I can’t be sure, but I can’t trust her either.” Every time I saw her, torment broke out inside me. Multiple times, Mum had tried to kill me, and those were memories that could ever be erased. Time and time again, Mum had proved she was a hopeless, incurable disease, one I’d never want in our future. But the way she looked at me …
Mia reached for my uninjured hand and pulled me back toward her. “She still doesn’t know Dex killed Oscar, does she? It’s weird, her hanging out with him.”
“I told you Dex and Oscar were mates growing up, and Dex and my mum fucked off and on since he was young. If I’m not mistaken, she took his virginity—”
“What?”
I nodded. “Yeah, so the bloke has a soft spot for her, and vice versa. If I told her Dex was responsible for killing her son, she wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
My past had quickly caught up to me, bleeding out into everything I treasured. And the only smart thing to do was push Mia further and farther away from it all. But like I said before, love turned us all into fools. Mia’s steadfast soul anchored mine, and she was the only reason I’d stayed sane through it all. With a sword in one hand, she was clutching my other, and I was hardly hanging on.