Aftermath Book Two Crash Series

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Mason

            The moment the door clicks shut and I twist the lock my mother spins around as fast as she did when I was a toddler and needed a good scolding. Her glare is similar, finally, her mask slips away and I see the woman she really is. With her, it’s always been easier to accept her and her faults. She was so obviously herself.

            Sure she’s always been f*****g manipulative but her motivation was always the same. I guess in a way my father was too, but where he’s willing to sink deeper than I ever expected my mother has always had her limits, her boundaries. She wouldn’t hit us or throw cruel words our way, she would just use her underhanded intelligence and a thorough scolding to push us in the direction she demanded.

            But the mask she wore around others was just a more polished version of herself. When she got home she allowed herself to relax enough to see the vulnerability that lay underneath the tough armor. She acted out of self-preservation, her motivation was to live up to the standards my father set out for all of us. She was the first one that had to learn to fall in line and what happened when she didn’t… I’m not even sure. I was never around for any arguments between the two of them.

            Bickering and scoffed, under their breath comments sure. The two of them would talk s**t about the other to our faces, there was no love lost there. But there was no punishment either. But I sure knew what punishment’s he had for us.

            My father has always been the true puppet master. His punishments were often cruel and sneaky. Sometimes we didn’t even realize we were being tricked into something sadistic until it was happening before us, watching as our hopes burned in disappointment and naivety. His best intentions were never good and or truly done for us, or our lives even if they were disguised to look as much.

            I wonder now how much of my mother and her personality comes from the person she’s needed to become to stand next to Edward for so long. I’m surprised to feel some sympathy and compassion towards her but there it is heavy in the pit of my stomach swirling with the disappointment and distrust I’ve always had around her.

            I’ll never be able to relate to her choices. No matter what she chose to stay beside him and she chose to become who she is as she abandoned her motherly duties to both Jaxson and me and took up her calling as a corporate philanthropist and society's biggest gossip girl. There were many choices she could have and should have made differently and the little boy that always wanted a loving and caring mother can’t forgive her that.

            “You didn’t think it important to call me? Your brother calls her but not me?” She shoots Aria a heated glare that Aria shrugs off as she cuddles into my side. I grip her waist, seems I can’t get enough of it today, or any day really.  

        “I swear I don’t know where I went wrong with you boys.” Throwing her hands in the air she shakes her head before twirling her wrist in a let’s get on with it movement.

        “Sorry mother, you weren’t a high priority at the time.” Interlocking my fingers through Aria’s I walk us past my mother and sit us behind her re-organized desk.

        “Cut the s**t, Mason! You had plenty of time to call since then. You were wasting plenty of it just minutes ago. What happened?” Her foot stomps on the ground in a steady rhythm hopefully releasing some of her frustration I can see building on her thin face. Plastic surgery has done her well keeping her cheeks taught with high-defined cheekbones that are now highlighted in a rosy red while pulling her thin lips tight as she watches and waits for her demands to be answered.

        Sighing I tuck Aria farther onto my lap and wrap my arm around her middle. She wraps an arm around my shoulders. She plays with the ends of my hair next to my ear as she takes an observer seat, which is finding it’s my mess to clean up and explain, but I’m glad to have her here for support.

        “I had an altercation with Edward.” Short and to the point with the added benefit of knowing it’ll piss her off.

            “And…” She waves me on impatiently while stomping over to the edge of the desk like that’ll give her a better view or more power.

            “He broke his wrist. It’s nothing really.” From the pain on his face, it wasn’t anything at all, I’d royally pissed him off. What a f*****g delight, I’ll cherish the moment for life. Anyone else the thoughts would come with regret and doubt, not with Edward.

            “You broke his wrist?” She sags forward, her jaw-dropping as she leans on the desk, her purse sliding down her arm hitting the back of the desk loudly before it settles around her wrist.

Aria shifts in my lap uncomfortably. Dropping her hand from my hair she tightly squeezes my shoulder. Finding the edge of her shirt I tuck my fingers underneath, sliding them across the skin of her back.

            “I did.” My mother glares while Aria swings her face towards mine and squeezes her hand a little tighter on my shoulder.

            “Why Mason. Why did you break your father's wrist?”

            “He deserved it.”

            “MAS-” Her whole face is flaming red as her voice rises, luckily Aria cuts in.

            “Edward assaulted me on Friday night so I’d say it was well deserved.” She sits up taller in my lap locking gazes with my mother in a challenge. She didn’t need to give up those details but hearing her come to my defense, knowing she disagrees with my actions but still defending me from my mother…

            She twists me up constantly making me fall more and more in love with the beautiful woman she is. I’ve had a lot of luck in life but she’s the greatest of it all. Leaning forward I kiss her shoulder and squeeze her side before continuing my soothing back and forth movements on her back.

            “He went too far Mother.” Lifting my head from Aria’s shoulder I press in before my mother has time to hurt Aria with a degrading comment or a dismissal altogether.

            Surprisingly she drops her tens of thousands of dollar purse to the ground at her feet before turning and plopping down in one of the chairs against the wall. She looks softer than I’ve ever seen her, resolute and human.

            “He’s had it coming for a long while. I won’t deny it but you shouldn’t have. You have no idea how powerful he is or what lengths he’ll go to get his revenge.” She actually looks scared as she looks at us, her eyes downcast her smile nervous. Her knuckles are turning white with her tight grip on the arm of the chairs.

            “I know perfectly well how powerful he thinks he is. He brought it on himself and if he tries anything again we’ll be ready and willing to press charges. Get ready for it mother because it’s coming.”

            She bounces to her feet pacing the room while breathing heavily. Aria scoots off my lap much to my disappointment. She stops in front of my mother grabbing her hands she makes her pause as they look at each other awkwardly.

            “He’s a terrible man.”

            “I’m well acquainted with terrible men Cynthia. In the end, they always get what they deserve. There isn’t any room to defend him any longer or put yourself at risk to please him. It’s not easy but you can’t let him control you or live in fear of him  forever.”

            “He’ll kill us all.” My mother mutters before pulling her shoulders up straight and tugging her hands from Aria’s, clearly uncomfortable. Shaking her head she continues her pacing. “We need a plan.”

            “We have one. You just need to get ready for the inevitable fallout. And if I find anything tying you up in the mess he’s in I don’t know that’ll be able to protect you.” I’m not gaolable enough to give her any details. I don’t trust her but she deserves a warning and perhaps a little reassurance.  

            Soon enough we’ll be standing in the aftermath of the storm only then will we know the true consequences of our actions.