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I clench my jaw. “I’m sick of this being a one-way street. I want to be able to contact you both whenever I need to. Angelle knows we’re in contact, and if he approaches me, I need to be able to reach you.”
She shifts her weight. “You’re overstepping again. I thought you knew better by now.”
I should’ve known basic logic wouldn’t work with her. Taking a page out of her own playbook, I decide to try threatening. “Give me a way to contact you freely, or I swear to God, I won’t go through with graduation.”
She’s frozen for a long time, then her neck cords and an animalistic sound scratches from her throat. “You realize you’ll suffer some major consequences if you don’t, right? You think these little Angelview bitches have made your life terrible? You have no idea, Eden.”
That’s always refreshing. Finding out your psycho mother is an OG mean girl.
I throw my shoulders back and lift my chin. “I don’t care.”
She studies me for several moments. I expect her to shoot me down and pile me with threats of her own, but then she releases a deep, exasperated breath and flaps her hand dismissively.
“I’m not sure whether to be furious or proud—or both,” she admits. “Fine then, I’ll give you a number you can call. Get a piece of paper to write it down because I’m only saying it once.”
I hurry to grab a notepad and pen from my desk and she rattles off a phone number that I quickly scribble down.
“I don’t want you calling me with bullshit little girl problems, do you understand?” she snaps.
I don’t know what all she means by little girl problems, but I’ve no intention of calling her on any kind of regular basis. Having a direct line to her, though, could prove useful as I figure out a way to stop her.
“Thanks,” I say in a tight voice. “I’ll only reach out if it’s an emergency.”
She scowls. “Perfect.”
Without another word, she turns and opens the door to disappear into the hallway. I quickly shut the door with a shaky breath.
I feel like I just dodged a bullet. Creeping away from the door, I quickly strip out of my dress and hang it up in my closet, then change into my regular clothes. Once I’m dressed, I go to my desk and run my fingers over the paper with Nora’s number written on it.
My gut tells me I can use this against her. I’m just not sure how yet.
I’m jerked from my thoughts by a sudden knock on my door. My heart hammers and I feel the color drain from my face. Fuck, is she back? Did she decide she left me off the hook too easily?
Another knock sounds, more insistent than the first. Slowly, I make my way across the room and hesitantly answer it.
A breath of relief rushes past my lips when I see Loni standing at my threshold. Her eyes are wide and she looks stu
“Hey,” I say with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
She points her thumb over her shoulder. “Was that Je Shit. Grabbing her wrist, I yank her into my room and slam the door shut. And before Loni can lose her shit, I tell her everything. It all just kind of flows out, but once I start talking, I can’t make myself stop. Her expression grows more and more shocked with each word I spit out, but she remains silent and listens intently. I tell her about Nora and Mr. Angelle’s history, as well as their separate plans for me. I tell her about Ghost, and how I drove him away. And I tell her that I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to stop any of them. To my surprise, Loni doesn’t take too long to snap out of her state of shock. She also doesn’t appear angry that I’ve kept all this from her. Her expression is one of concern, however, and I think I might’ve freaked her out with my confession. “You have to tell Carley,” she says, taking me by complete surprise. “What? Why would I do that? It’ll only upset and worry her.” She grabs both my shoulders and holds me so I’m forced to meet her gaze. “She needs to know what’s going on,” she insists. “She has a right to know, Mallory. She’s the only parental figure you have who’s worth a shit. If you can’t rely on her, who the hell can you count on? I get it—Je I hate that she’s right. Hate it with everything inside me. I’ve been trying so hard to shield Carley from everything that’s happened, but maybe I’ve been making things worse by keeping her in the dark? If she found out I’ve been lying to her, I know she’d be more than angry. She’d be devastated. Releasing a sigh of defeat, I bob my head. “You’re right,” I murmur. “Shit, I know you’re right.” She let’s go of my shoulders to grab my phone from the top of my desk. I take it from her when she holds it out to me. “Call her. Now,” she gently orders. I stare down at the phone for long moments as I summon up the courage to pull up her number. When I finally do and hit the call button, I hold Loni’s gaze as I put the phone to my ear and listen to it ring. I mentally pray that she’s at work and can’t answer, but she picks up after only two rings. “Hey, baby girl.” I can hear the smile in her voice. She’s in a really good mood. “What’s going on?” “Hey, Carley,” I say, my own voice soft and hesitant. “Um … I have something I need to tell you.” “What it is, honey?” The smile is gone from her voice, replaced by instant concern. And once again, it all comes out. Loni nods and offers me small smiles of encouragement as I talk. I’m not sure I’d be able to do this without her here. At last, I finish by telling Carley about Nora’s visit not even an hour earlier. When I’m done, I wait for her to respond. She doesn’t. In fact, the silence stretches between us for so long, I begin to wonder if the co “Carley? Are you still there?” “Hmm.” “Are you … are you okay?” “No.” There’s more silence, and guilt swarms over me. “I need time to process this all, Mallory. But I’m not happy. At all.” “I know,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.” “We’ll talk in a bit,” she says, her tone harder than I’ve ever heard it. “Don’t you dare go near Nora again.” I hate that I can’t promise her that, but she doesn’t give me time to reply. The phone clicks and the call ends. Slowly, I lower the phone from my ear. “What did she say?” Loni asks in a gentle voice. “She said she needed time to process things. She was upset, which I expected, but I didn’t expect her to just … hang up.” Loni flinches. “So, she didn’t take it too well.” “I can’t blame her.” Before I can react, she wraps her arms around me and hugs me tight. “It’s going to be okay. It’s a lot to take in. She’ll figure out a way to support you in this. I know she will.” I want to believe that too, but I know I’ve hurt Carley. I just hope it’s not enough to make her decide I’m not worth the trouble.
“Mallory? You okay?” I glance up and meet Liam’s concerned gaze from across the table. It’s the next morning, and I’m having breakfast with him, Saint, and Gabe. I haven’t been able to stop worrying about Carley’s reaction to everything I told her last night. The stress I’m feeling is so sharp, I don’t even have much of an appetite and have been poking at my meal listlessly. I don’t even have the energy to hide the fact that I’m upset.