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He shrugs. “I was just making her feel better about ditching you here. Such a nice mom you got. She makes you move to a whole new state and just dumps you here. Then she just takes off with the new love of her life. A honeymoon and my father are more important than her own daughter.”
He puts his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels with a sneer.
“You don’t know my mother, so don’t try to make her out to be this horrible person. She’s always here for me.”
“Really? Well, she dragged you out here and just ditched you on the curb.Totallyhere for you. Sounds like a great mom. Gold stars for her!”
“At least I have a mother!” The second the words leave my mouth, I hate myself for it.
It’s just … how dare he try to say my mother is ditching me. But I still shouldn’t have said that. I can see the immediate rage and anger his eyes flame with.
A wall comes straight down, and his jaw ticks from him clenching it so hard.
“Xayden, I’m so?—”
“Shut the fuck up. Let me make one thing clear. You are nothing to me. As far as I am concerned, whatever this is, it will be over soon. I’m not sure what my dad sees in your mom, but whatever it is, I intend to make sure you two don’t get a thing from this marriage.
“And if you ever mention my mother again, I promise you, I will make you more than certain you wouldn’t want to step foot anywhere in this fucking state. You are going to wish you never came to Texas. And I’m going to see to that.”
He turns and stalks away from me, but not before getting in one parting shot.
“My mother may not be here, but at least my dad didn’t drive himself into a truck to get away from me.”
The breath rushes out of me in an instant. Pain twists in my stomach, and I try to keep bile from coming up. My father didn’t run himself into a truck. How dare he suggest that he tried to off himself to get away from us.
The tears flow freely down my face as I watch him continue to walk farther away from me.
Xayden fucking Brooks is an asshole.
“Hey there. Did you need this dolly? Oh, are you okay?” A girl comes up to me. Her auburn hair is tied up in a ponytail, and she’s sporting a Groveton College T-shirt and some khaki shorts.
“Um, yeah, I’m fine. Just saying goodbye to my family. So, yeah definitely need a hand cart.”
“Mm, move in days are always so emotional. What year are you? Oh, and my name is Amy by the way.” She locks the hand cart wheels and helps me load the luggage onto it.
Once we get everything loaded, we make our way into the building and over to the elevators.
“What room are you in?” Amy asks.
“Room two-twenty-five.”
“Oh! You’re on the same floor as me, and you’re Addison’s roommate!” She pulls the cart into the elevator and swings it around with a grin.
“You’ve done this before.” I laugh.
“Oh yeah. Since I was a freshman. Helped me get to know people.” When the elevator doors open, I hold my hand over the door so that she can pull the cart out.
We make our trek down the hall until we get to my dorm room. The door is open, so Amy goes ahead and wheels the cart right into my room.
The white walls and brown carpeting leave nothing to the imagination. The furniture has probably been here for decades. The wood is chipped, the horrible blue upholstered chair looks extremely uncomfortable, and the drawers to the dresser are all crooked from years of use. This is definitely a far cry from the guest house, but this is better than being anywhere near that place.
The place where my asshole stepbrother lives.
At least here, there is not a good chance I’ll run into him. Or his groupies. Or his hot-as-fuck friends.
Why are the assholes always so hot?
After unloading my stuff from the cart, Amy waves me goodbye and takes off in search of another move in to help with. I look around the room and see that my roommate has already gotten most of her side together. Her purple comforter is made neatly on her bed. Purple decorative pillows line the side of the wall that the bed sits against.