“Oh, there she is. Saint Cameron. Always so good. So much better than everyone else.”
“When have I ever said that?” I asked, offended even though I knew offense should be the least of my emotions right about then.
“Always had the good grades. Cheerleader. Popular.”
“Are you angry because I applied myself at school? Lucas, that was ages ago,” I reminded him. “I’m hardly anyone’s cheerleader now.”
Except his.
I’d always been his best—his only—cheerleader, there to pep him up when he refused to even try to do it for himself.
And this is what I got for that?
This derision?
This cold hatred in his voice?
“No, but you’re so much better than us, right?”
“Better than who? You and Nicky?” I asked, shaking my head. “When have I ever given that impression?”
“You’ve always looked down on us for working for Colin.”
“I have not. I knew you only did what you had to do. You didn’t have a choice.”
“I had a choice. I made my choice. I chose my side.”
He chose his side.
And, clearly, that was not my side.
Which only left… Colin.
He was siding with Colin?
“Lucas, what are you talking about? Are you feeling okay? You don’t seem like yourself.”
“What do you know about who I am?” he asked. “You left. And Nick and I had to learn to survive on our own.”
“I never left you.” Well, that wasn’t completely true. I had moved out with Cody when things had gotten serious. “I was always there for you if you needed me.”
There was no way he could deny that. I was constantly stopping back home to make sure the water and heat and electric were on, that they had food to eat and clothes to wear.
They weren’t babies at that point. They were each in their teens.
I’d been a parent to myself and them for so long. I just… I needed a break. But I made sure they were okay. And they were. They were okay. I would have gone back if they weren’t.
“You abandoned us,” Lucas seethed. “And we had to finish growing up without you. You have no fucking idea who I am.”
“I am starting to see that,” I agreed, unable to stop the hint of bitterness from slipping into my voice.
“You have no right to look down on me,” he snapped. “After everything you have done.”
“I raised you!” I snapped, getting me other foot out of the trunk. “I raised you and Nicky when mom and dad were too shitfaced and selfish to do it. I was a kid myself, but I did that. You were practically grown when I left. It wasn’t wrong for me to want a little bit of a life of my own. I—“
“Oh, there she is. Saint Cameron. Shut the fuck up. I wasn’t talking about that.”
“What were you talking about then?”