“I think I can take it from here,” I said.
“And one more thing,” my brother said. “I will protect my baby sister and her child at all costs. No matter what. So whatever plan you’ve got rolling around in your head, know you’ve got me and my entire squadron watching your every move. And I won’t hesitate to kill you if it means making sure they’re okay.”
“Nick!”
“I will protect my own.”
Gray’s voice sent shivers down my spine. He stood toe to toe with a military man who could rip him limb from limb and not on
ce did he flinch. My eyes darted between the two of them as they bucked up to one another. Stood in defiance of one another over a single person.
Then, I felt a hand come down onto my shoulder.
“Come with me,” my mother said.
“What?” I asked.
She pulled me away from the door and shut it before she dragged me into the kitchen.
“Mom. What the—what are you doing? I don’t want to leave Gray out there with Nick.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?”
I furrowed my brow as my mother shook her head.
“You’ve hooked a rich man who wants to take you to his luxurious mansion in Napa and you’re telling that man no?” she asked. “Are you an idiot? Have I taught you nothing?”
I frowned deeply at my mother as I backed down the hallway slowly. Apparently, she had been listening. And apparently, she was exactly the kind of woman Gray was afraid of.
“He’s loaded, and you should take advantage of that. It gets you out of here, and who knows? Maybe his home’s big enough for all of us, his extended family.”
I furrowed my brow at her in disbelief.
“I’m not going to be told what to do with my child, Mom. Not by anyone.”
She rolled her eyes and I wanted to smack them right out of her face.
“So you’d rather struggle for the rest of your life because of your pride rather than take some hot ass man up on his offer to provide everything for you?” she asked. “Really? Don’t you want the best possible life for your child? For yourself? Money can give that child a better life than you ever could, and you know it. That man can give that baby a better life than you ever could.”
“Money isn’t everything!” I exclaimed.
“Do you want that child growing up like you did? Huh? You’ll be barely eating and just scraping by while working three damn jobs and never seeing the child? Is that what you want? Some ramshackle house pieced together with duct tape and prayers? Putting out pots when it rains so the damn floor doesn’t mold out from underneath your fucking feet!?”
I watched tears rise in my mother’s eyes, and for a split second I thought she cared. I could’ve sworn I saw her caring. Felt her caring for my situation. She rolled her shoulders back and blinked her eyes, relieving herself of the tears before she wiped them away.
Then, she cleared her throat.
“Think long and hard about it, because that’s what you’ll relegate yourself to. Three jobs, no future and a child who resents you for never being around.”
“I don’t resent—”
“Or, you can take that man up on his offer, even if it is temporary, and try to get a better life for your child. Even if he doesn’t want you, it sounds like he wants that child. So you have a choice to make.”
“I’m not giving my child over to someone,” I said. “I’m raising my child.”
“Then use the options available to you,” she said. “Give that baby the best start it can get. And if he doesn’t want you? But he does want that kid? Think long and fucking hard before you bring it back here and force him or her to live the life you did. Because I’m telling you, your child won’t survive here. You won’t survive here. You and Nick couldn’t wait to get out of this place—it sucks people bone dry.”
Tears rose to my eyes as she moved past me down the hallway.