20. Weston

I’m still standing in the hallway, looking at the empty space where Renee just was, when the final buzzer sounds.

I hear the incoming stampede of my teammates, but I don’t want to talk to anyone, so I dip out down a side corridor and go find my mom at our usual secret exit.

She beats me to the spot. “Hey, Mom,” I say as I stoop down to press a kiss to her cheek.

“Good game, sweetheart.” She links her arm through mine. The place is mostly emptied out, and we have time, so we can walk leisurely to the elevator that will take us to the lot level. “Why did you leave the game?”

I gulp. There isn’t a point in lying to her. “Renee was here.”

Mom’s face lights up. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it twenty-five hundred times: she loves Renee.

Yeah, that makes two of us.

“How is she? You don’t bring her around anymore.”

I sigh. Whoever said the truth hurts didn’t lie. “That’s because we aren’t together anymore. Some stuff came up missing from my place and…” Just thinking the words makes my guts ache. “I blamed Renee. I got her thrown out of Sutton’s apartment, actually. Made sure she lost her job. I even had her arrested. It was… a mistake.”

And the bastard who said, The truth shall set you free is a fucking liar.

She stops walking, drops my arm, and turns to look at me. “Oh, West.” I earned every bit of the disappointment in her voice and it’s still nothing compared to how I feel about myself.

“Yeah.” I nod. “I don’t know what to do. She’s moved on.”

My mother is a force. Caroline Scott minces no words, believes no bullshit, calls me on all of my stupidity. Now isn’t different. She reaches up and for a second, I’m sure she’s going to cup my cheek and tell me it’ll all be okay.

Instead, she smacks me upside the head. Her ring catches a tender spot and I wince. “What the hell are you talking about, Weston? I saw that girl when you brought her home, and let me tell you something: only women who are hooked for life look at men the way she looked at you.”

I want to believe her. I wish it was true.

But it isn’t.

“Mom, she’s marrying someone else.”

She’s unfazed. “I did not raise you to be a quitter.” She’s gearing up for another smack to the back of my head. I see it coming, but she’s my mom, so I don’t have any choice but to take it. It hurts as bad as the first one. “You call that girl and you grovel if you have to. You throw yourself at her knees and beg for forgiveness.”

“Grovel?” I echo stupidly.

My mother shakes her head like she’s disgusted by how foolish I’m being. “Yes, grovel. You were looking for a reason to find fault with her. Because of that other one.” I start to say something, but she holds up a finger until I fall silent. “Eva betrayed you. Eva stole from you. Eva is the one who almost took your career away from you. Not Renee.”

“I know?—”

“Hush. I’m not finished. Sweetheart, you’re bound to have some remaining resentment. I don’t know of anyone who wouldn’t be in that same headspace. But you should not be pushing that business onto Renee. Eva was evil. Renee is not.”

“Mom, she went outside during the blackout and then lied about it. The evidence pointed at her. I was just being logical.”

Mom shrugs. “Only one person can tell you why she went out there.”

“I asked her and she lied.”

“Did you ask her with that mean tone of voice and that holier-than-thou attitude? If so, I’m not surprised if she told you to shove it.”

“Mom.”

“Grovel, Weston. You’ll hate yourself forever if you don’t fight for her.”

I grimace and close my eyes. “She has a fiancé.”

“And you have one ugly ear.” She gives it a playful flick, then sighs. “What I’m saying, young man, is that I don’t care if she’s halfway down the aisle with this… boyfriend or whoever he is. We are Scotts and we fight for what we want. Or did you forget who you are?”

“Of course I didn’t forget. But I’ve made such a mess of this shit, Ma.”

“Yes, you have. But Scotts clean up after themselves, too.”