Pushing Limits (Fighting Love #1) - kali cross Page 0,1
her stupid career, and how she needs to spin it. My mom…the original drama queen. She starts to pace as she rubs her forehead. Her high heeled pumps clicking on the hard wood floor as she passes back and forth, pacing in front of me.
Stopping abruptly, her face freezes in shock. She blusters, “Oh my God, did he have his cell out? Please tell me he didn’t film you. We don’t need a sex tape out there. My God, tell me he didn’t take a shot of you while…while you…were naked. All I need is some YouTube video of my daughter…” She sits down on the bed, her face turning a light green as she stares at me, her brown eyes burning in anticipation of my answer.
“No.” My voice filled with contempt. Dear God, how am I related to this woman?
I can practically see the wheels turning in my mother’s shrewd mind as she calculates her next move. A calm and resolute look passes over her. It still amazes me how she deals with a crisis, crazy lunatic one minute, calm and authoritative the next.
Her face hardens into cold stone as her voice takes on a chilling quality. "This kind of behavior…it’s simply not done. I know you are an adult, and I certainly didn’t think you would be a virgin on your wedding day….but what is with all this promiscuous behavior?” Her mouth curves into a frown. “I refuse to tolerate this behavior any longer. First it was that Angela situation, and now this. I don’t know wh-”
“-A-Angela situation? Now she’s a situation? She wasn’t a ‘situation,’ Mother, she was a person. A beautiful, talented, wonderful person and I loved her. She was my world.” I frown, shaking my head. I cross my arms over my chest as my eyes heat to a flame. “How dare you talk about her like she was a piece of gum stuck to your shoe. You don’t get to talk about her that way. My God! You are such a bitch!”
The sharp sound of my mother’s slap hangs in the air, leaving only a harsh sting and heated handprint in its wake.
As she straightens her back, she peers down her nose at me with a bitter glare. She presses her hands down her suit as her hands move smoothly down the tailored lines. “I have had it, Amber,” she says. No shouting. No anger. Only cold determination flashes across her face.
Going to my closet, she pulls out my suitcase, tossing it on the bed. “Your aunt has been looking into colleges for you, out of state of course. Thanks to your little performance tonight, I’m forced to move the timetable up. Start packing. You’re going to college in Texas.”
“Texas? What? I have friends here…I am not going to another school.” My eyes widen.
“Yes you are.” Her face fills with cold contempt, sending a quiet chill up my spine. “You’re leaving in the morning. Aunt Patty will be your custodian while you finish college. You can be her problem now...I am done.” She snaps, “DONE.”
I begin pulling my clothes off hangers, shoving them into the cases. “You want me to leave. Fine. I’ll leave….I can start taking money from my trust on my twenty-first birthday. I’ll find a way to make it until then.”
Her mouth curves into a cold smile as her sweet smelling perfume permeates my nostrils, turning my stomach. “On what? Your credit cards? I don’t think so.” She scoffs, “And, you can forget about your trust fund. Your grandmother set up that trust fund for you and named me as the sole trustee. You won’t get one red cent until I say so.”
“You can’t do that,” I whisper.
Pointing a long manicured finger at me, she says, “You are not staying in Chicago. You may be nineteen years-old, but you are still a member of this family. I have had it. If you walk out the door, you’ll get nothing from us. No trust fund, no credit cards, nothing. You’ll be penniless with a high school diploma. How far do you think you’ll get with that? Nowadays, you won’t even be able to get a job at McDonalds.” She stands straight, her long arms crossing over her chest, her mouth contorts into an ugly grimace.
My mouth slacks open. I can’t believe this. I raise my brows and sneer at her. “You wouldn’t do that. What would people say if you threw me out on the street?”