Page 139

“You don’t approve of my job, and I know, because you mention it all the time. You’re disappointed in me because I’m not working to get on the property ladder, and I know you are, because you mention it all the time. I could spend the next three hours listing all the times you made it very clear I was an extreme disappointment to you, and six more hours listing all the times you made it very clear Easton was your favorite.”
She cut in to scoff, “Hardly.”
“Shall we compare Easton’s and my birthday gifts last year?” I asked.
“Your father and I are not going to reward you for making irresponsible decisions in your life, not even on your birthday.”
And there it was.
How she couldn’t see it was beyond me.
“Do you hear yourself?” I asked.
“When you have a child and you want the absolute best for that child, and you work hard to give them every opportunity you can, opportunities the vast majority of other children are not offered, so they can be the absolute best they can be, and they decide to do the very least they can with what you offered, then you may speak to me this way, Harlow Nicole,” she snapped.
“Do I seem unhappy to you?” I retorted.
She said nothing.
“I don’t. Because I’m not,” I stated. “What’s most important in life? That you can brag to your friends that I graduated from Stanford, or you can rest in the knowledge I’m healthy, I’m happy, I have good friends, a job I love, an apartment I dig,”—I looked straight at Javi—“and I landed the man of my dreams?”
His chin jammed back in his neck, and he grunted.
“You’re seeing someone?” Mom asked.
No longer able to withstand staring into the light shining from his eyes, I looked away from Javi and said to Mom, “No, I’ve met the one. And he’s protective of me. So this conversation is partly about the fact I can’t put myself in the position of you harming me emotionally, because he won’t abide it. Mostly, it’s just high time you knew how much you hurt me every time you behave like such a bitch to me.”
“I don’t need this from my own daughter,” she bit out.
“Join the club, because for thirty years, I didn’t need my mother to act like I was at best, a nuisance, at worst, an utter failure, when in truth, I’m neither. I’m just me. And I prefer to spend my time with people who not only don’t treat me like that but think I’m pretty awesome.”
“I think you’re right,” she sniffed. “It’s best you don’t come to Easton’s dinner.”
That hurt too. It hurt a lot, but I powered through it.
“Agreed, Mom. Have a great Sunday.”
“Harlow—”
I disconnected. Then I silenced my phone.
After that, I reached out and put it on its charger.
That accomplished, I turned to Javi and ordered, “Take your pants off.”
“Mi pequeña, come here,” he said gently, trying to gather me closer.
“Javi, take your trousers off,” I commanded.
He studied me for long moments before, slowly, he got out of bed, and at the side of it, he took off his trousers.
I moved quickly, getting to my knees on the floor in front of him.
“Baby,” he whispered.
He was soft.
I took him in my hand, and then I took him in my mouth, and he got hard real fast.