Abbi Glines - Rush Too Far

I stared at him in horror. Did he think that was it? Did he really believe that? I wasn’t in love with fucking charisma. She was so much more. Didn’t he see that? Blind bastard.

“Argh! Will that woman never leave me alone? Will she always ruin my life? She’s gone, for crying out loud. I have the man I love back, and our daughter finally has her father, and now this. Rush goes and sleeps with this, this girl !” My mother was getting worked up, and I didn’t have time for her temper tantrum. I had to worry about Blaire.

“One more word against her, and I will have you leave,” I warned my mother for the last time. She was not going to disrespect Blaire in any way.

“Georgie, honey, please calm down. Blaire is a good girl. Her being here isn’t the end of the world. She needs somewhere to stay. I explained this to you already. I know you hate Rebecca now, but she was your best friend. The two of you had been friends since you were kids. Until I came along and ruined everything, the two of you were like sisters. This is her daughter. Have some compassion.” The reasoning he was throwing out there wasn’t going to work on my mom. She was as insanely self-centered as my sister.

“No! Shut up, all of you!” Blaire’s voice sent a blade straight through my heart.

No. God no, not yet. She wasn’t supposed to hear it this way. “Blaire.” I moved toward her, but she threw up her hands to hold me back. The wild look in her eyes as she looked right past me stopped me cold.

“You,” she said, pointing her finger at Abe. “You are just letting them lie about my mother!” she yelled. I had been terrified that she would be hurt, but the complete, out-of-reach coldness in her eyes was terrifying.

“Blaire, let me explain—” Abe started to say.

“Shut up!” Blaire roared, interrupting him. “My sister, my other half, died. She died, Dad. In a car on her way to the store with you . It was like my soul had been taken from me and torn in two. Losing her was unbearable. I watched my mother wail and cry and mourn, and then I watched my father walk away, never to return, while his daughter and wife were trying to pick up the pieces of their world without Valerie in it. Then my mother got sick. I called you, but you didn’t answer. So I got an extra job after school, and I started making payments for Mom’s medical care. I did nothing but care for my mother and go to school. Except that in my senior year, she got so sick that I had to drop out. Took my GED and was done with it. Because the only person on the planet who loved me was dying as I sat and watched helplessly. I held her hand while she took her last breath. I arranged her funeral. I watched them lower her into the ground. You never once called. Not once. Then I had to sell the house Gran left us and everything of value in it just to pay off medical bills.” She stopped talking, and a sob escaped her. Tears were streaming down her face, and my heart exploded.

I hadn’t known all of that. She had only told me a little. I wrapped my arms around her, needing to hold her, but she began swinging and fighting against me like someone who had lost her mind.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, and I had to let her go or risk her hurting herself. “Now I’m being forced to hear you talk about my mother, who was a saint. Do you hear me? She was a saint! You are all liars . If anyone is guilty of this bullshit I hear pouring out of your mouth, it is that man.” She pointed at her father.

I had kidded myself to think she would listen and let me explain. Her world was being turned upside down with this news. I hadn’t told her. I hadn’t wanted to see the look of pain in her eyes, which I didn’t know how to ease. But I had let this happen instead, and it was so much worse.

“He is the liar. He isn’t worth the dirt beneath my feet. If Nan is his daughter, if you were pregnant . . .” Blaire had been pointing at Abe as she spoke, but she stopped and moved her attention to my mother.

For the first time, she actually looked at my mother. And she remembered. She staggered back, and I wanted to reach out and hold her again, but I didn’t. She needed to get control on her own first. She didn’t want my help.

“Who are you?” she asked, as my mother stared at her with a haunted look in her eyes.

“Careful how you answer that,” I warned my mother, after I stepped up behind Blaire, just in case she needed me.

My mother looked at Abe and then back to Blaire. “You know who I am, Blaire. We’ve met before.”

“You came to my house. You . . . you made my mother cry.”

My mother rolled her eyes, and I tensed.

“Last warning, Mother,” I growled.

“Nan wanted to meet her father. So I brought her to him. She got to see his nice little family, with the pretty blond twin daughters he loved and an equally perfect wife. I was tired of having to tell my daughter she didn’t have a father. She knew she did. So I showed her just what he had chosen instead of her. She didn’t ask about him again until much later in life.”

Blaire’s knees went weak, and she gasped for air. Shit, she was going to have a panic attack.

“Blaire, please, look at me,” I begged her, but she didn’t respond. She kept her gaze on the ground as everything slowly sank in for her. I hated watching this. I wanted to order them all out of here so I could hold Blaire until everything was right again. But she needed this. It was out there. She wanted her answers.

Abe spoke. “I was engaged to Georgianna. She was pregnant with Nan. Your mother came to visit her. She was like no one I’d ever met. She was addictive. I couldn’t seem to stay away from her. Georgianna was still pining over Dean, and Rush was still visiting his dad every other weekend. I expected Georgie to go to Dean the minute he decided he wanted a family. I wasn’t even sure Nan was mine. Your mother was innocent and fun. She wasn’t into rockers, and she made me laugh. I pursued her, and she ignored me. Then I lied to her. I told her Georgie was pregnant with another of Dean’s kids. She felt sorry for me. I somehow persuaded her to run away with me. To throw away a friendship she’d had all her life.” When Abe finished his explanation, I realized that was the most I had ever heard him say at one time.

Blaire covered her ears and closed her eyes tightly. “Stop. I don’t want to hear it. I just want my things. I just want to leave.” Blaire sobbed, ripping me in two.

“Baby, please talk to me. Please.” I pleaded with her and touched her arms, needing some form of connection to her.

She moved away from me, but she didn’t look at me. “I can’t look at you. I don’t want to talk to you. I just want my things. I want to go home.”

No. No. No. I couldn’t lose her. No. She wasn’t leaving me. I loved her. She owned me. She had to fight for us. I needed her to fight.

“Blaire, honey, there is no home,” Abe said. I knew he meant to remind her that she had nowhere to go, but I wanted to bury my fist in his face. She didn’t need to hear that from him right now.

Blaire glared at her father. “My mother’s and my sister’s graves are home. I want to be near them. I’ve stood here and listened to y’all tell me my mother was someone I know she wasn’t. She would have never done what you’re accusing her of. Stay here with your family, Abe. I’m sure they will love you as much as your last one did. Try not to kill any of them,” she said in words laced with hatred.

Then she turned and fled up the stairs. I stared at her and considered locking her in my room and forcing her to stay with me. To listen to me. Would she forgive me then? Could I do that to her?

“She’s unstable and dangerous,” my mother hissed.