I broke the kiss, looking into her hooded eyes. “I deserved the slap, but that’ll never happen again. Understood?”
“Mmhmm.” She nodded.
I released my grip on her hair and stepped back. “So long, Lillian. Take care of yourself.”
I turned and walked out her front door.
CHAPTER 8LILLIAN
When Wez walked out the door, I slapped a hand over my mouth, ran to the bathroom and threw up. My mother was having sex with Wez! Just the thought of it made me sick. I brushed my teeth, hurried back into my living room, pulled out my phone and called her.
“Where are you, Mother?” I asked the moment she answered my call.
“Hello, sweetheart. I’m at Pamela’s pool party enjoying my third mojito.” I heard music, laughter and splashing water in the background.
“You and I need to talk.”
“Yes, we do, young lady. Ray called me yesterday. He was very upset with you. And so am I.”
“You told him where I was today?”
“Yes, of course, I did!”
“I’ll be over at Pamela’s house in fifteen minutes.”
I hung up on her right as she was about to say something else. I drove my car, speeding through town, hoping I wouldn’t get pulled over and given a ticket. My mother’s friend Pamela Joyce lived in a wealthy neighborhood. I pulled up and parked on her street along with the Porsches, Navigators, and Mercedes. I got out of my car and climbed the steps then walked around to the backyard. Some 80s pop song was playing loudly, as the rich women in their fifties danced and laughed. Two young men who looked like high school boys were there too. They were shirtless, wearing only black bow ties and tight black slacks, walking around the pool serving drinks on trays to the women. I watched as Pamela Joyce walked by one of the boys and smacked him on the ass when he bent over to serve a woman her glass of wine.
My mother was sitting in a chair at the poolside along with a few other women in bathing suits. Karen Parker’s bikini top barely covered her nipples and the new breasts she just bought a few months ago.
My hands balled into fists as I marched right over to my mother. She looked up, pulling her sunglasses on her head and gasped. “Lillian Michelle! You look horrible!”
I looked down and remembered I was dressed down in the T-shirt, yoga pants, and flip-flops. I had no makeup on and my hair was up in a messy bun. Wez said I looked gorgeous and he kissed me.
“Shut up, Denise, and listen,” I said.
The women seated around her gasped.
Mother stood up. “Don’t you talk to me like that, young lady.”
“You bullied me into going out with Ray and he’s a piece of shit! He came to my house, drugged me and took photos of me naked in my own goddamn bed!”
“What?”
“Then you told him where I was today. He came to the open house and attacked me! But he got his ass handed to him! By none other than Wez—the man you used to fuck!”
“What the hell are you talking about, Lillian?”
“I know all about you and Wez. He told me that you vandalized his truck when he broke it off with you!”
My mother glared at me with the anger I’d seen in her eyes so many times before. “You stay away from that man, Lillian. He’s a bad man, a criminal, and he likes to beat on women!”
“He doesn’t beat on women! He drove me home one night when I was drunk, he took me for a ride on his motorcycle, and he just saved me from being assaulted again by Ray!”
“So, you’re his little slut, now? Is that it?”
“I’m done, Denise. You may be my mother, but I want nothing to do with you from now on. You never cared about me! You were never kind to me! It was always about you! You almost destroyed my father and I’m glad he found love with Kat’s mother!”
Everyone gasped when my mother slapped me across the face. It stung like a son of a bitch.
I used both my hands and shoved my mother hard. She cried out as she stumbled back in her high heels and fell into the pool with a big splash.
I heard my mother yell while one woman snickered as I walked away. I climbed back in my car and drove home.
My fingers were numb from gripping the steering wheel so hard when I pulled into my driveway. I broke down and began to cry. All those years of emotional pain that my mother caused when I was a little girl. The fond memories of my father and how good he was to me. He never left me. He left my bitch of a mother and I was glad he did. He died a happy man being married to Kat’s mother.
Kat. She was the only person I felt I could talk to. I pulled my phone from my purse and called her and within thirty minutes, she was at my house.
When I opened my door, I pulled her in and hugged her tight.
“What happened? Are you okay?” she asked.
I took her hand and we sat on my couch. “I’m okay, Kat. Ray tried to attack me today, but Wez saved me. Thank you for telling him about Ray. If Wez hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would have happened to me.”
“Oh, Lillian! Thank God! I don’t know Wez that well, but he’s a good
