I glanced at her adoring fans. I had no allies here.
I folded and took the keys.
She made a show of digging around in her little purse and pulled out a couple of hundred-dollar bills. “Here you go, sweetie.” She tucked them into my hand. “I know I already sent you your check for this quarter, but here is a little something in case you want to go out later.” She leaned over and air-kissed my cheek in farewell. “You always did love spending in the downtown shops. Enjoy yourself.”
Without ever fully meeting my eyes, she gave the room at large a smile full of grace, took Dr. Abbott’s offered arm, and breezed right out of the lobby without a backward glance.
I watched the door for a long time, well after she disappeared from sight.
Yes, I spent her money as a preteen, always blowing it on dumb, useless things, hoping she’d notice and take an interest.
She hadn’t.
But she continued to send me checks, usually one at the beginning of each quarter. I’d never touched the money. I didn’t have a clue how much was in the account I deposited them into or what strings would be attached to it. Or why she even did it.
I considered just not depositing them, but the account was already there because Dad had set it up for me, and I liked having that safety net, desperate as I was not to use it.
None of this had been shocking. It really hadn’t. But the façade of her concern and the hollowness of her actual feeling still managed to leave me, well….
It leftme. By myself. Just… here.
I clutched the key to her apartment and seriously debated thrusting it at Dick and making a hasty exit, but I was jittery and morbidly curious, which was a horrible combination that equated toreckless.
Without a word of parting, I swanned to the elevator as if I belonged among such posh surroundings, took the next ride all the way to the top, and let myself into my mother’s apartment, guided by the number marked on the key.
And what a mistake that turned out to be.
17
Cody
By the timeI crossed back over the twin bridges and the flashing casino marquees came into view, I had shoved all thoughts of my mother’s apartment out of my mind and replaced them with a plan.
An insane one.
“Siri, call Ace.”
After a few rings, my former friend answered, sounding out of breath. “I thought you’d blocked my number.”
Just hearing his familiar voice gave me a moment of hesitation, making me wonder if I would live to regret this.
Actually, I was certain I would. So, with a steely breath and a fuck ton of festering resentment, I trooped on with my madness.
“AJ,” I responded, ignoring his statement and the casino sounds in the background. “I have a proposition.”
There was a pause and then abrupt, total silence. He must’ve gone into a soundproofed office. “Okaaaay. I’m listening.”
One day I’d tell Bree about this. In the meantime, I wouldn’t lie to her about it, but I would hold off on coming clean for a little while.
Two years ago, I would’ve known how this phone call would go. But that was back when I thought Alexander Juno—my friend, Ace—wasjustourjackass. Mine and Bree’s. Now he was justajackass. One without any loyalty.
I wasn’t sure what had made my mind wander to AJ during the two-hour drive back to the Coast, but as it had, an extremely troubling conclusion had formed alongside my plan.
He wasme.
If I’d allowed my mother to raise me in her image. If I hadn’t had just enough of a suspicious nature to see her bullshit at an early age. If I hadn’t removed myself from her nurture at just the right time in my life.
AJ’s emotional plate was buffed within an inch of its life, making it slippery as fuck while it carried all the wrong things.
