“You’re lying! You are!” she repeats, clenching her teeth so tightly I think they might shatter. “Don’t believe, him, Karen, he’s just trying to--”
Alright, she wants to play dirty, I can play dirty. I take something out of one of my pockets and place it flat on the table. Clara's eyes almost jump out of their sockets as she realizes what I’ve placed right in front of her. She grows pale, her skin a sickly white.
“What’s that?” Colt asks me, reaching for the tape recorder I’ve just placed on top of the table.
“See for yourself,” I tell him, and he reaches for it and presses play. Clara's recorded voice echoes in the ample and empty restaurant, and she grows even paler.
“I don’t care… D’ya think I came back because of them?” The recording starts, and I see a lone tear streaming down Karen’s face. Right now, I don’t think I’ve ever hated anyone as much as I do Clara. “It’s simple, Daniel. Your business is sinking fast… Give me the money and I’ll make a few calls to help you. Then I’ll be gone, and none of you will ever see me again.”
I press stop and just look Clara straight in the eyes. Her complexion has grown so white she looks like a ghost.
“You…” she hisses, her hands balled into fists. “You fucking --”
“Get the fuck out,” Colt says, taking one step toward her. She seems to shrink as she looks into Colt’s eyes, a merciless angel in his lips. He just stands there, staring her down until she has no other option but to go. She grabs her purse clumsily and turns on her heels, walking out of the restaurant. The three of us look at her ago, the sound of her heels clicking across the floor the only voice in the room.
Alright, now it’s time for something far more important than Clara. I go toward Karen and, going down on one knee in front of her, take hold of her hand.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, the sorrow in her face enough to fill my heart with an angry sadness. No mother should ever make her daughter feel like this. “I really am.”
“No,” she says, and a brave smile starts to form on her lips. “I’m the one who’s sorry… For doubting you.”
“Forget about that…” I say, looking her in the eyes. Fuck, I’ve missed those eyes.
Surprising me, Karen lays the palm of her hand on my face and leans in, brushing her lips against mine.
“She’s gone,” she says, more to herself than to Colt and I. “She’s gone and I’m going to forget she ever existed. There’s only one thing that I want right now…” she trails off, looking at me and then over my shoulder at Colt. We exchange a curious glance and only then does she complete her sentence. “How about we all go back to the room?”
Now there’s something I’ve been dying to hear.21KarenWhen the whole world tells you ‘no’, that’s when you have to shout out a ‘yes’.
What Daniel, Colt and I have… It’s wrong. It’s indecent. Or so society will say. People will look at us with judging eyes, and they will shake their heads. And you know what? We don’t care.
After finding out the kind of person my mother really is… Well, I guess that shattered whatever respect I had for society’s norms. When your ‘true’ family becomes the wrong one, why is choosing the ones we love so wrong? Family is a choice, not genetics.
“It’s over now,” Daniel tells Colt and I, closing the hotel room door behind us. He turns to face us, and there’s an easy smile on his face. The kind of smile that says the worst is behind our backs.
“It is,” Colt agrees, placing one gentle hand on my shoulder. I look from one to the other, but I don’t say a thing. I just take Colt’s hand, and then I take Daniel’s. I guide them across the room and then sit on the edge of the bed, a sweet song of happiness in my heart.
They sit next to me, Daniel on my right side and Colt on the left. After my mother left, and then after what happened between Zach and I, that I tried to shut out all emotion, but these two men broke through all my barriers like a hot knife through butter; I can’t help but feel like a happy (and horny) teenager all over again. I’m so crazy for them that I can’t even tell where love ends and where lust starts. And that’s the way things should be, don’t you think?
“I guess we can all use some celebrating,” Colt says with that grin of his, placing his hand on my knee and sliding it up my leg. When he meets the hemline of my dress, he locks eyes with me and starts lifting it up to my waist. Knowing what’s to come, I already feel an aching warmness between my thighs. I look toward Daniel and, placing two fingers under his chin, reel him in and press my mouth on his. He parts his lips, kissing me slowly as Colt massages my inner thighs with a gentle patience I didn’t know he was capable of.