Page 78

KEENE

A fter the day I’d had, I slept hard as soon as I finally conked out, and I’m sure I would’ve stayed unconscious the rest of the night, cozy and comfortable against Waverly until?—

“Keene?” A hand gripped my shoulder and shook. “Hey, Keene. Waverly’s mom is here.”

“Huh?” I mumbled, trying to recapture my sleep as I spooned myself tighter against my woman, drawing all her warm softness right back into my lap. Only for Damien’s words to finally register.

“Oh shit.” I bolted upright. “Your curfew.”

Waverly murmured something unintelligible before stirring and beginning to sit up as well. “What time is it?”

Glancing at my watch, I hissed a curse. “Twelve-thirty. Dammit. Shit. Fuck.” I leaped out of bed, finding my jeans on the floor and yanking them on. “We gotta get you home.”

I’d been determined to make all her stupid, idiotic curfews because no matter how much I was coming to despise her mother—and after today, I pretty much fucking hated her guts—she was still Waverly’s mom, and I knew exactly how much not having a mom sucked.

My girl was not going to lose a single member of her family because of me.

I was just going to suck it up and figure out a way to win Ms. B over by being the perfect future son-in-law. Like following her stupid curfew.

But I was already botching my amazing plan.

“Where’s my damn shirt?” I muttered, dropping to my knees to scour the floor, only to find all of Waverly’s clothes and toss them onto the bed for her to get dressed too.

When she said, “ I’m wearing it,” I paused to look at her, only to suck in a breath because—dear Lord—she looked really good, all sleepy and rumpled with her hair a mess as she wore nothing but my shirt.

“And I drove here,” she added, not reaching for her clothes as if she had all the time in the world to dawdle. “You don’t even have to leave the house. Relax.”

I blinked, forced to calm myself under her Mistress order because she was Waverly—my anchor—she always had that easing effect on me. I turned to my dresser drawers for a fresh shirt. “I’ll follow you home, anyway, to make sure?—”

“Um, guys,” Damien broke in, still just loitering in the doorway.

“Dude!” I cried, shooing him along. “Get out. Waves has to change.”

“Yeah, about that,” he answered and stepped aside to reveal another person standing behind him.

My mouth dropped when I made out the silhouette of Ms. Breeker in my bedroom doorway, her outline backlit by the hallway light.

“Mom!” Waverly jumped to her feet beside me.

“I—” Ms. B sniffed, making it clear she was sobbing as she clutched what looked like a suitcase down at her side.

“I brought you a change of clothes,” she said, her tone devoid of all the hatred and disgust she usually had whenever she was in my presence.

Honestly, she sounded beaten and grief-stricken.

Oh, fuck. What if Thane had gotten her fired after all?

Next to me, Waverly shook her head in confusion. “What?”

Voice quivering, her mother stuttered, “I thought—I thought you had decided to stay here after he told you everything. It was after your curfew, and you weren’t home yet. So I—I assumed he’d turned you against me.”

Waverly glanced at me in question, and I swallowed thickly, hoping I hadn’t fucked up by not telling her about her mother’s involvement in my newfound knowledge of her past.

But her mother just kept talking. “It’s understandable if he has,” she wept. “After I broke down and confessed to your father what I did, I don’t think he’s ever going to speak to me again. He—he went to stay at a hotel tonight and took Gates with him.”

From there, tears overtook her, and she lost the ability to talk.

Waverly just gaped at her, at a complete loss for words until she blurted, “What in the world are you talking about?”

Ms. B shuddered and stopped crying to blink at her daughter in surprise before she turned to me. “You didn’t tell her?”

Waverly spun to me as well. “Tell me what?”

Oh Jesus. This was headed straight toward a shit show.

Glaring at Mama Breeker, I snapped, “Of course, I didn’t tell her. I’m in the business of making her happy, and telling her would not have made her happy.”

“Didn’t tell me what ?” Waverly demanded, whirling back to her mom.

“Oh God,” Ms. B whimpered. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

And taking the luggage with her, she turned away to hurry off.

“Mom!” Waverly yelled, darting forward. “What…?”

Damien stepped back to let Waverly by and then he patted my arm in support as I rushed after her.

Alec was opening his door and peering into the hall, rubbing his eyes as Waverly leaped toward her mom and caught her at the base of the stairs.

“Will you just?—”

Ms. Breeker dropped the suitcase at her side and whirled back to yank Waverly into a big, overwhelming hug. “You’re going to hate me,” she wept.

Waverly shook her head, blinking in surprise before slowly hugging her mom back. “Hate you for what?”

“Life has been so cruel and unfair to you,” Ms. B blubbered.

“You always seem to catch the worst of everything, and when I opened the door that night and saw Keene Dugger standing on our front porch, all I saw was another catastrophe about to befall you. I just wanted to stop it before it could, I swear. I love you so much. I wish I could just put you in a bubble so nothing could ever hurt you again.” Pulling back, she tried to apologize to Waverly with her tear-stained eyes.

“But I squeezed too tight, and I went too far. I didn’t realize my crazy, over-cautious behavior was what was hurting you the most. I never wanted to hurt you, baby girl. Just protect you. Please believe that.”

“I…” Waverly stepped slowly out of her mother’s arms and shook her head before saying, “Just what did you do?”

Still not answering, Ms. Breeker wiped at her damp cheeks.

“I think your dad opened my eyes more than anyone. After I tried to tell him about everything awful that boy had ever done in high school, he told me he didn’t care about Keene.

He cared about you , and you have changed in the last few weeks. For the better.”

Laughing softly, she brushed at the other side of her face.

“You hugged him for the first time in over a decade. And—and you back-talked me for the first time ever . At first, I thought that was a bad thing, but…” Shaking her head, she sent her daughter a tender smile.

“You were right. Being with him has made you care about your own life. You seem more comfortable in your own skin, more confident in yourself, and you finally—you’re just—you’re?—”

“Growing up?” Waverly said softly.

Her mother nodded, her smile trembling painfully as she said, “Yes. You’re an adult now, and I—I’m going to finally let you be one.”

“No more curfews,” Waverly told her without exception.

Ms. B nodded immediately. “Of course. And I’ll stop tracking your phone too.”

But her daughter only shrugged that one off. “I don’t actually mind that one in case I break down somewhere and need help.”

With a tiny-bit amused—but mostly relieved—smile, her mother nodded. “Alright then.”

“And… I’m going to start looking for somewhere else to live,” Waverly added, making me straighten in surprise. “I think—I think I need to be out on my own for a while.”

Ms. B glanced toward me only to turn back to Waverly and nod silently, reluctantly giving her agreement.

Nodding as well, Waverly went on, “I can call Dad in the morning and let him know you and I have cleared the air, but you’re going to have to tell me what you did today that caused you to have this severe change of heart.”

When her mom blanched, refusing to confess, Waverly glanced at me with arched eyebrows.

I lifted my hands, pleading the fifth and refusing to get in the middle of this ceasefire because she fucking needed a ceasefire with her mother.

“I’m already over it,” I promised. Because tears, man; her mom’s sobbing—plus the whole heart-felt apology—had gotten me to weaken and not hate her as much as I had five minutes earlier. “Hell, if it’s what prompted this peace talk between you two, I’m actually glad she did what she did.”

Waverly frowned. “So she did something against you ?”

Making a face, I waffled my hand. “I mean, not against me per se.”

Realizing she wasn’t going to get me to confess a damn thing, she spun back to her mom. “What did you do?”

This time, her mom managed to open her mouth, but she looked too guilty and ashamed for actual words to come. Waverly glanced toward Damien inquisitively.

Like a tomb, he lifted his hands the same way I had and shook his head as if he knew nothing.

She turned her attention to Younger next, and his eyes flared with panic. He started to reverse back into his room and disappear.

But Waverly growled, “Alec?” in a threatening tone, and the idiot folded like a cheap table.

“She’s the one who told Dugger.” Dropping his gaze from her face, he flushed and cleared his throat. “About…you. At campus this morning.”

Waverly’s lips parted, and her gaze snapped to me.

I stared back steadily, hoping she didn’t get pissed at me for letting Alec find out about her past too.

But all she murmured was, “The video.” Her brow furrowed as her thoughts raced while she pieced it all together.

“Mom went to Haverick today, guest speaking to classes about mental health.” Eyes lifting to me, she realized, “She spoke to your class?”

I nodded mutely, hoping this didn’t start another war.

“But I didn’t think you took any classes that?—”

“I don’t,” I whispered.

Her lips parted. “So…” Turning to her mother, she said, “You broke your work protocol and risked getting fired to intentionally go after Keene in the hopes of scaring him away from me for good?”

Ms. B wiped more tears off her cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”