Or a boy, actually. He looked early twenties and he could’ve been a personal trainer from the sheer white shirt that clung to him. Tight trendy jeans rested over a pair of beaded flip-flops. His hair looked almost wet from the overload of hair gel, which said a lot when I saw it from a distance.

And my mom.

The knot of dread and nervousness exploded inside of me.

My mom looked good, but she always looked good. Corrigan had tried his hand

multiple times with my mom. She flirted, loved the attention, but—thank god—she’d never accepted his offers.

Her blonde hair was swept in a diamond-studded hair clip. Her long curls cascaded to frame her heart-shaped face. She matched her boy toy with a long white sweater wrapped around her that was tied with a sash. Her tailored jeans peeked underneath and instead of beaded flip flops, she wore diamond-studded high heels. The diamonds matched the ones that circled her neck and hung from her ears.

I didn’t feel the hand that Bryce placed in the small of my back as he guided me to the front porch.

Sheila skimmed over my pale features and glanced at Bryce behind me as my mother squealed, “Sheldon!”

She swept me against her chest and patted my hair delicately. “I’ve missed you so much, honey!”

“Really,” I said dryly.

“Oh my gosh, honey. I had no idea. Are you okay? Our house was broken into, can you believe it? Officer Padley told me that this was the second time and you were here during the first. I can’t believe it. My room was destroyed. All my valuables and jewels are all gone. I can’t believe it.”

I pulled away and saw the wry look in Sheila’s eyes before I said firmly, “The men who broke in didn’t do that to your stuff, mom. I did.”

My mom had been standing in front of me for five minutes now, but at my words—I finally saw my mom.

A flicker of rage flashed in her eyes, but it was gone instantly.

“You did what?” Her comforting hand turned into a cold grasp.

“You heard me,” I clipped out.

I felt Bryce shift closer, just one step, behind me.

Sheila coughed and asked, “Could I have a word in private with your daughter, Ms. Jeneve?”

“It’s Carlton now,” Sharon Jeneve said coldly as her eyes swept over Sheila, to Bryce, and settled on me.

I bit back a grimace.

“Of course, Ms. Carlton.”

My mother’s back straightened and she faced Sheila squarely. “I’d like a full list of everything my daughter damaged and everything the burglars damaged. I have a right to my own property.”

“Well, with all due respect, Ms. Carlton,” Sheila said softly. “You have a right to parent your daughter, but I’ve yet to see any of that happen.”

My mother didn’t gasp. She didn’t curse. She just heard it, understood it, and stored the snub away until it would come back out to bite Sheila in the behind.

Sheila saw that too, but she finished, “We’ll get the list to you in due time. Until then, my officers and colleagues have done all the police business that’s to be done here.”

She signaled the deputies to leave and quickly both police cruisers had left.

“Sheldon,” Sheila murmured with a gesture of her head. “Can I have a word?”

Sharon Jeneve-Carlton reached for her boy toy’s hand and they both moved inside without another word.

When the door clicked shut, Sheila exhaled a deep breath, “That’s some mother for you. I’ll give you that.”

I waited.

Bryce leaned on the porch’s banister behind me.

“I don’t have jurisdiction to inform your mother of everything that’s gone on with my investigation. However, I strongly encourage you to be completely upfront with your mother.”

“Why?” I bit out. “She’ll just leave. She’ll do that anyway.”

“Maybe your mother would take you with her.”

“I’m not going,” I said firmly. I would not leave Bryce or Corrigan. Fat chance.

She shook her head and glanced to Bryce. She spoke clearly, “I didn’t like you at first look and I don’t like you now, but this girl cares about you so do right by her. Make her tell her mother what’s going on.”

Bryce didn’t react or comment.

Sheila didn’t expect it. She shook her head and left the porch to where her partner waited in their own car.

As they left, Corrigan’s car screeched to a halt in the driveway.

He wasn’t alone.

Bryce snorted in laughter as we saw Corrigan leap out of the car and jog over to us. Logan followed at a more sedate pace, opening and closing her own door without assistance.

“Hey, man. Wasn’t that…what’s her face?”

“Yeah,” I said dully and skimmed over Logan’s tight features. She looked like she’d been thoroughly screwed over.

“So…,” Corrigan murmured as he leaned beside Bryce against the banister, “What’s going on?”

I sighed and leaned on his other side. I surrendered my defeat, “My mother’s home.”

Corrigan choked in surprise, “What?”

Logan’s eyes went wide.

Bryce remained unmoving.

“Mama Jeneve is home!?” Corrigan jumped back up. “Sweet!”

“And she’s brought her boy toy with her.”

Corrigan barked out a laugh. “That’s awesome. I’m gonna go say hi.”

Logan stayed behind and leaned, awkwardly, against the house.

I told her, a dull anger, “He doesn’t love you. I don’t get why you jump in his bed when he whistles. It’s pathetic.”

Logan gulped, but murmured, hesitatingly, “I thought you were going to be nice.

Corrigan said you’d be nice.”

Bryce watched.

“He lied,” I laughed. “Corrigan is just another guy. They always lie to get what they want. Guess what? You were dropped before and he’s going to drop you again. I don’t understand why you guys keep signing up for the same humiliation.” And then I delivered the most embarrassing, “He’s inside hitting on my mother.”

Logan glanced at me, but quickly looked away when she whispered, “I think that says more about you than me.”

Bryce coughed to cover a laugh.

I seethed, “He picked you up at a fast food joint. We’d just bailed him out of jail and he got to order his food and sex for home. You let him do that. You guys always let him do that.”