Because one day, despite everything, I plan to be greedy in my desires.
One day, I’m going to have them all.
Chapter 17
I’m still reeling from the events of Saturday night when I hear my name getting called to the office first thing Monday morning. There’s only one thing it can be.
Victoria is lucky I don’t run into her on my way to Dr. Baxter’s office, because I have half a mind to drag her in there and have it out. Let Baxter know the truth. If I’m about to be expelled for something I didn’t even do this time, I’m not going to go down without a fight.
When I storm into the front office, all prepped to refute another set of lies, I realize I’m wrong. I freeze where I stand in shock.
I’m not here to see Dr. Baxter. I’m not in trouble.
I have a visitor.
But it might be even worse.
“Ms. Martin?” I gasp as I take her in. She’s standing there looking like hell with her unkept hair, her thickly pasted on makeup—which I can give an educated guess at being at least three days old—and clothes I’m fairly certain she stole from me before she kicked me out.
She’s leaning on the edge of the secretary’s desk, her hands picking absentmindedly at the corner of a brochure taped to the countertop. At least, to anyone else, she looks like she’s doing it absentmindedly. I know she’s just waiting for the opportunity to swipe something when no one’s looking.
Ms. Mason, who’s been eying her suspiciously this whole time, glances up at me as soon as I come in and looks relieved. Finally, she must be thinking, someone to come take this awful human off her hands.
Well, she’s about to be disappointed. I don’t plan on taking this woman anywhere.
My ex-foster-mother throws her arms wide and grins at me like we’re old friends, and it only confirms my own suspicions that she’s here to get something from me. That woman has never hugged me once in my life, and I lived with her for more than three years. I think if she tries to touch me now, I won’t be held accountable for any injury that occurs.
“Teddy! Look at my little peach pie!” She comes for me while I stare at her in horror and back up, dodging her hands as she reaches to pinch my cheeks. She reeks of booze. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
Her eyes shift sideways to the secretary, and for a second, she looks like her old vindictive self.
“Absolutely not,” I say, crossing my arms across my chest and giving her a well-deserved look of disgust. “What do you want?”
She manages to grab hold of my arm with another swipe, a
nd looks over her shoulder at Ms. Mason with a fake smile. “Why, I just missed you so much! Just because you’re gone doesn’t mean that you’re forgotten.” She tries to bubble effervescently, and it sounds like an off-key note on an untuned piano. Even Ms. Mason scrunches up her face in sympathy across the room.
I shake her free.
“I don’t have any money to give you,” I say. “So you’ve wasted your time.”
Ms. Martin looks properly horrified. “Money? What? Now … what are you talking about? How could I be coming to you for money? You’re a child! Come on. Come with me and let’s go talk.”
This time, with her back to Ms. Mason, her face darkens. “I think you’ll really want to hear what I have to say.”
My curiosity outweighs my dislike, and I let her drag me out of the office and towards a corner at the side of the main stairs, where fewer people can see us. Something is going on and the show she is putting on in the office is only saccharin frosting on a toxic cupcake. That frosting dissolves the moment we’re out of sight.
I’m expecting her to try and tell me some sort of lie to try to extort money out of me again, but the moment I turn back to talk to her, she lunges at me and shoves me up against the hard marble of the staircase. She twists the front of my blouse up in her fist and presses me even harder.
“You little bitch!” she hisses.
I gasp and stare at her, too shocked to even try to struggle out of her grasp. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Does the name Rutherford sound familiar to you?”
“I have no …” I start, and then it dawns on me. She sees the recognition on my face as I place Dana’s last name.
“So, I’m right then,” she spits. “After all the years I took care of you, this is how you repay me.”