Stepping outside into the sunshine after being shut up in a classroom all day I lifted my face to the sunshine and inhaled the salty breeze. Summer would be here soon and I couldn't wait to spend it with Marcus. Cage was planning a two week road trip with some of his friends. He wanted me to come too but I was looking forward to those two weeks alone with Marcus. This would be the first time Cage and I had been apart for that long. It worried me some but the fear of being left alone was beginning to wane. Since the morning I'd seen the tears in Marcus's eyes when he thought he'd lost me I'd felt more secure in our relationship.
He loved me just as fiercely as I loved him. I no longer doubted that. Calling Cage when I needed someone never even crossed my mind anymore. The first person I wanted was Marcus. Besides Marcus bought my Jarritos now. He never let them get low enough for Cage to notice. He kept me so well stocked it was comical. Cage had grumbled about it at first but he'd gotten over it.
My happy thoughts were interrupted when my eyes landed on my sister standing against a new Mercedes SUV
smiling like the cat who caught the canary. Or more like the cat who caught the rich old dude. Walking toward her I frowned taking in her new wheels. I wondered if it had been purchased from one of Marcus's dad's lots.
"Tawny," I said stopping in front of her.
"Like the car?" Tawny all but purred from pleasure. No. I didn't like the way she'd gotten it. But I did like the fact Larissa would no longer be hauled around in that death trap of my sister's.
"You got it by spreading your legs, sis. I'm not a fan of home-wreckers."
She rolled her eyes and gave me a disgusted look. As if I was the gross one. hello Miss Screwing-someone-twice-your-age.
"Whatever. I wanted to let you know I was moving and I'm selling the house. Jefferson feels like it's best. Letting you have it is pointless. You don't live there. It's mine anyway.
Mom left it to me."
This information stung but I expected it. She'd never given me anything. Why start now?
"Where are you moving to?" It had better not be far. I couldn't care less about Tawny but Larissa was my niece. I wanted to be able to see her.
Tawny smirked and tilted her head so that her copper curls draped over her bare arm. "Jefferson is moving us to Mobile. He has a nice big house bought for us and he is moving in with us as soon as the ink is dry on his divorce papers."
An hour away. Not bad, but still further than I liked. At least Tawny would have no need to work. She would be home with Larissa and maybe this lifestyle would ignite the mother in her. Maybe she and Larissa could bond. I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth. Tawny was really breaking up a marriage. But Larissa would have a daddy. I was so torn. Knowing Larissa wouldn't have to live the life I had was such a relief. But knowing a marriage had been destroyed, another family was losing their father, it broke my heart. God, could this be any more screwed up.
"Here," Tawny handed me an envelope. I reached out to take it. It had my name written on the outside in Tawny's swirly handwriting and it was sealed.
"It's some money. For all the times you kept Larissa and so you can get a place of your own and move out of Cage York's bed. I also put our new address in there. Larissa will want to see you." I stared at my sister dumbfounded. Who was this and what had she done with Tawny?
"You're giving me money?" I asked incredulously.
She straightened her shoulders and I could see the mask of indifference take its place on her face. Tawny didn't do emotion.
"I always pay my debts, Low." She flashed me her beauty queen smile and flipped her hair over her shoulders. "Well, I have to go meet my fiance and pick Larissa up from the sitter." She turned to saunter off then stopped and glanced back over her shoulder.
"You're smart, Low. Do something with that." I just stood there as she climbed into her new fancy SUV
and drove off. What had just happened? Had that been her way of saying she was sorry? Looking down at the envelope in my hands I opened it carefully. Pulling out a check for ten thousand dollars I stared at it in shock. Then my eyes focused on the endorser:
Jefferson M Hardy I
Mercedes Benz of the Gulf Coast
Chapter Twenty
Marcus
I couldn't find Will ow anywhere. She wasn't answering her phone or responding to my texts. Her class was over hours ago. I searched through her things looking for her sister's phone number. Nothing.
My phone dinged and I scrambled to grab it. A text from Amanda. Not what I'd been hoping for.
"Mom needs you. Hurry please."
Shit.
I needed to find Will ow. I didn't have time for family drama.
Dad no doubt had done something new and sent mom into a spiraling mess.
"Where are you Low," I growled in frustration staring down at my phone trying to decide who to call. Who would know where she was?
"I'm here," her voice was so soft I almost didn't hear her over the chaos in my head. I spun around and found her standing in our bedroom doorway. She looked devastated.
"What's wrong?" I asked rushing to her and pulling her into my arms. Red swol en eyes and a tear streaked face were just the beginning of what was wrong with her. Her arms didn't embrace me in return. Instead she stood limp.
"Low, you're scaring me," I said into her hair needing some kind of reaction from her.
She didn't respond.
My phone went off again and I ignored it. Tightening my hold on her I waited hoping she'd say something. Anything.
My phone started ringing. Frustrated I grabbed it and started to decline it when I saw it was Amanda. Something had to really be wrong.
"What Manda, I'm busy at the moment."
"She's taken something Marcus! Help me!" Her screams came through the phone so loud Will ow jerked in my arms.
She'd heard her.
"Who? Mom took something?" My heart was pounding in my chest. Oh God no.
"YES! She won't wake up. I called 911 but I can't find a pulse! Help me!" she wailed.
"I'm coming. Keep her alive Manda. You hear me! Keep her breathing. Do mouth to mouth. Something!" Will ow had stood back from my embrace and her face was chalk white. I needed to deal with what was bothering her but my mother's life hung in the balance right now and I couldn't.
"Low, I gotta go."
She nodded, "Hurry," she said frantically. I could see the horror in her eyes. She'd heard every word Amanda had said. She understood. I wasn't leaving her. She knew that. I bolted for the door. Please God don't let my Mama die.
Five hours later, my mother's stomach had been pumped and she was being given fluids through an IV. My sister hadn't been able to find a pulse because in her panic she wasn't looking in the right place. But she had been right about one thing. Mom had taken a bottle of pain pills. The divorce papers had been signed by my dad and had been clutched against her chest when I'd got there.
Mom's eyes flickered open and she focused on me. I moved from my stance against the wall where I'd stood for over an hour watching her, willing her to open her eyes.
"Marcus," she whispered. I grabbed her hand and nodded.
Suddenly I wasn't a twenty-one year old man. I was a little boy. Scared and in need of his mama to hold him and tell him everything was going to be okay. Seeing them lift her lifeless body onto the gurney and take her from the house was a nightmare I never wanted to relive.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Shh Mama. Don't talk. It's okay just promise you'll never do that to me again. I can't handle that Mama. I can't." I squeezed her hand and she let out a small sob. I didn't want her to cry. Not now. She needed to recover.
"He left me. Took her with him. Moved to Mobile," she said in a hoarse whisper.
I reached and got the glass of water and straw the nurse had left a few minutes ago. She'd said Mom would need it when she woke up.
"Here Mama take a small sip. I don't want to talk about him.
He's gone. We're all still here and we aren't going anywhere."
She obediently took a small sip of water and laid her head back against the pillow.
"I love you," she said staring up at me with sad eyes.
"I love you too. Manda and I need you Mama. You can't try to leave us again. We need you." I spoke gently but forcefully. I needed her to understand that just because our father had cast her off we never would. She was important to us.
"I need you too."
I nodded, "Good. Now take another drink."
"You're awake."
I glanced back as Amanda ran toward the bed and hovered over our broken mother. "Oh Mama, you're okay. You're awake," she gushed.
Mom reached for Amanda's hand with her other hand and grasp hers.
"I'm sorry. I won't do this ever again. I had a weak moment." She explained slowly looking up at my sister. Amanda sniffed back tears before crawling up on the bed and curling up beside mom.
"My baby girl," Mom cooed and kissed Amanda's forehead.
They were here and they were safe. It was going to be okay. I could do this. I could hold this family together. I'd do whatever I had to do. Low would help me. Mom loved her.
We'd make it through this.
Willow
Cage saw me the minute he exited the dugout. Frowning, he made his way over to me. I'd never come to his practice before. I could see the question and concern on his face.
"Low, what's wrong?" He asked when he reached me. I felt the sob inside me well up and I covered my mouth to silence it. His eyes widened and he reached for my hand.
"Come on," he said pulling me with him. Away from the curious eyes of his teammates. He led us straight to his car and opened the passenger side door.
"Get in."
I didn't argue. I climbed in. the familiar smell of safety surrounded me and my eyes filled with tears. Cage would always be my safe place. Because once Marcus knew the truth, I was going to lose him. He was going to leave me too. And I didn't blame him.
Cage climbed into the driver's seat then turned to look at me.
"What happened and whose ass do I need to beat?" I shook my head, "No ones. Oh Cage it's awful. It's worse than I could've ever even imagined."
"Nothing's that bad baby. Ever. And if it is I'll fix it."
"You can't fix this Cage. This is unfixable."
"Nothing's unfixable"
"Larissa and Marcus have the same father," I yelled fisting my hands over my eyes as another sob rattled my chest.
Silence.
I'd rendered him speechless.
"The married man Tawny's been screwing is Marcus's father. Jefferson HARDY just left his wife for my sister."
"Fuck."
I dropped my hands in my lap and looked at Cage's horrified expression. "How do you know? I mean how did you find out? Does Marcus know?"
"She met me outside my class today. Driving a brand new Mercedes SUV. Told me that Larissa's daddy had left his wife and they were moving to Mobile. He'd bought them a fancy new house and he was moving in with them. Then she handed me a check for what she called debt she owed me and left." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the check and handed it to Cage.
"Holy Mother."
"Look who wrote me the check Cage. Not the amount." He lifted his blue eyes to me, "Low, baby, I'm so sorry. She just keeps f**king your life up."
"I knew he had family problems and I knew he hated his dad and he was worried about his mother. But God, Cage I'd have never in a million years have guessed this." Cage reached over and grasped my hand in his, "I'm here.
You got me. You know that."
I knew that. But it wasn't my losing Cage I was worried about.
"I need to talk to her, him, both of them. I need to go see Tawny and Jefferson, Marcus's dad. I have to find a way to tell Marcus and not lose him. I can't lose him Cage." Cage cranked up the car, "Buckle up and type their address into my GPS." I quickly did as I was told then lay my head back on the seat, closed my eyes and prayed I'd find a way to make this okay.
It was dark when we pulled up to the large two story brick home inside the gated golf course community that my sister and niece now lived. Cage pulled into their driveway and I sat staring up at the home in front of me. Lights were on in almost every room in the house. They were here. It was time to find some answers. To understand what had happened. I just needed some way to keep Marcus. I glanced down at my phone again. Marcus hadn't texted me since his last text two hours ago telling me his mother was doing fine. He hadn't explained what happened. I thought I'd heard his sister say something about calling 911 but apparently that hadn't happened. Amanda must've overreacted. If his mother had gone to the hospital he'd have told me. He'd have wanted me there.
"Come on. Let's go do this," Cage said opening my car door. I'd been so lost in thought I hadn't even noticed he'd gotten out of the car. I stood up and we walked to the front double doors together. Seeing those two large double doors reminded me of the other house this man owned.
The one where he'd raised Amanda and Marcus. The one he'd abandoned.
I reached out and pressed the doorbel then waited.
Jefferson Hardy opened the door. A surprised expression lit his eyes as he stood back .
"Will ow, please come in. Larissa was just talking about you."
He remembered my name.
I stepped inside and Cage was right behind me.
"Who is it?" Tawny asked as she appeared at the top of the large elegant wooden staircase. She froze and her gaze shifted from me to Cage and back.