BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (75 page)

My mother was quiet for a moment before
she answered, “Honestly, I was afraid that you would leave. I was terrified to
upset you.” She shrugged. “I’ve had a very long life. I have gotten into some
situations that I am not proud of and I have some habits that I wish I could
denounce, but right now, all I want you to do is to worry about your father and
what he is capable of. He is a master manipulator and I do not want you to get
caught up in it.” She shook her head. “It just isn’t worth it.”

Chapter
37

Valerie

I had watched the scene unfold before me
and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. I certainly didn’t want to say
anything, because I knew that it wasn’t my place.

In all of the time that I had known
Shawn’s family, I had never seen his mother act like this. While I couldn’t say
it was a welcomed change, since it muddled everything up and brought more
questions out of the situation than answers, it was something that I just
couldn’t shake. There seemed to be something going on that was too strange to
comprehend.

Much like I am sure Shawn was feeling, I
had the sense that my entire world was being turned upside down and I wasn’t
sure who I could or even really wanted to trust.

As Shawn’s mother walked into her room,
Shawn stared after her with an odd expression. I couldn’t help but wonder if
this was what was supposed to come to pass.

If what Shawn’s mother was saying was
true, then my mother needed to get as far away from Shawn’s father as possible.
Instead of taking care of her, he was tricking and manipulating her; to what
end, I had no idea, but I knew that it couldn’t be good.

After all, if the hurt I saw in Shawn’s
mother’s eyes was genuine, then his father had taken everything from her, every
single time she had ever tried to retrieve it; and now, it seemed like he was
trying to do the same to my mom.

Therefore, when Shawn decided to leave the
room without another word, after his mother did the same, I figured that I
should call my mother and see how quickly she could get over here.

I waited a few minutes until I was alone
and pulled out my cellphone. I called my mother to tell her to be right over
and she said that she would have no problem with that.

The few minutes it took for her to make it
to Shawn’s mother’s house was agonizing. With the new, increasingly plausible
idea that Paul was behind everything bad that was going on inside the family, I
could not help but think that there was something very strange going on. With
that thought came a whole slew of possibilities circulating around inside my
head that made me fearful about what exactly was taking my mother so long.

But I didn’t want to seem paranoid, so I
refrained from calling her phone.

However, finally, I heard a knock on the
door and I ran to answer it. My mother seemed slightly nervous and asked if I
was all right.

I hugged her and told her I was, but that
we really needed to talk.

Once we were settled in the living room, I
told her everything that I knew about Paul and what Shawn’s mom had told us.
Overhearing us, Shawn also came out of wherever he was and seconded my fears.
“I think that it was Paul who messed with your phone and wrote the note to
Valerie.”

My mother stared at him for a long moment
before she shook her head. “I don’t think so…Not Paul.” She breathed in deeply
and let a ragged breath loose before she added, “I just can’t imagine…I know
you’re angry with him, but I just can’t see why he would do that to me…and to
you both.”

I shrugged, trying to be diplomatic in the
idea that both of them were having a discussion that I still had not taken a
side of. True, the more I thought about it and the more that I thought about
the way that Shawn’s mother had acted, the more it seemed as though there could
be a sneaky side to Paul that none of us could have predicted. But then again,
that sounded so absurd.

Paul was such a nice, mild-mannered man,
except when it came to his son and the few times that his ex-wife was
mentioned.

That was when I had seen a whole new side
to him. I had always thought that he was just frustrated with Shawn and angry
with his ex-wife, but right now, I was contemplating the idea that there was
far more to my stepfather than ever met my eye.

My mother still looked skeptical, but in
the silence that ensued between the three of us, she seemed less sure of her
original conviction.

“Well, he was the only one who had access
to my phone…and none of the other contacts were tampered with…” She shrugged.
“I called a few of them, just to make sure and everyone answered.” After a few
more moments of quiet thought, she looked between Shawn. “But why would he do
that? What purpose would it hold?”

Shawn offered a consoling shrug. “If it’s
anything like the reason my mother gave, it’s so that he could take total
control. I don’t know what his end game is, but if any of this is true, and it
is looking like it is, then it can’t be good for any of us.”

My mother sighed and shook her head. “I
just don’t understand. Everything was going so well. We were finally a family
after all these years…why would he take it from me?” She passed her eyes
between Shawn and I before she amended, “From us?”

I didn’t want to believe it either and so,
I carefully placed my hand on my mother’s shoulder, unable to imagine what she
was going through. “Well, do you think that anyone else could have done it?”

At first, she shrugged before she answered
carefully, “I don’t know, but I do think that our next stop should be to ask
Paul a few questions.”

After a few seconds of thought, I nodded.
“I think that is a very good idea.”

Chapter
38

Shawn

“What are they doing here?” my father
asked as he eyed the two of us coming in behind Valerie’s mother. He was
watching the news, his nightly ritual.

“They have come home for a chat,”
Valerie’s mother answered, almost cautiously. Even though she had tried to make
it abundantly clear that this had nothing to do with Paul and that we must be
mistaken, regardless of the mounting evidence against him, there was still a sense
of distrust in her voice.

He spat out a bitter laugh. “Well, I think
that my son said quite enough when he moved out and apparently, Valerie decided
to follow.”

I watched as Valerie’s mother drew in a
long breath and then pulled the note that Valerie had given her for proof. She
brought it over toward him and pushed it into his hand. “Did you do this?” she
asked, obviously trying to keep her composure.

He glared at it for a long time, before
his lips curved into a smile. “No. I didn’t write this. Why?”

“Because I couldn’t imagine who else
would. I didn’t…And no one else lives here.”

Casually, my father shrugged and ushered
toward me before he answered, “Maybe he did it. You never can tell. He’s
sneaky.”

I felt my blood pressure begin to rise as
my fist clenched. I have been taking this kind of abuse from my father for too
long. I certainly wasn’t about to take any more of it. He wasn’t going to make
me out to be the bad guy this time. I was trying to help. I narrowed my eyes at
him and stepped closer, but before I could say anything, Valerie’s mother
answered him.

“He didn’t do it,” she replied solidly.
This made me feel better about the situation. I figured that even if she was
upset with me, she was still willing to help me figure out what was going on and
that was important. She believed me and right now, she seemed to be the only
person on the planet, besides Valerie, who had any kind of faith in me.

I calmed, feeling that at least someone
had my back and sunk back a little to watch the scene unfold.

At this, my father turned off the
television and stood up, now facing the three of us. Valerie had just come
along to bear witness, because she really didn’t want to get involved, but she
did want confirmation that what my mother said was correct.

I wanted the same validation, but I was a
little more willing to participate, if I needed to, in order to have the truth
come out.

However, I did realize that since my
father had cut literally everyone else off, it was ultimately between him and
Valerie’s mother. She needed him to tell her what happened. We tried to
convince her already, but she wanted to hear it for herself.

Therefore, for as much as I could stand, I
wanted to remain in the background. There was no reason for me to butt in when
I didn’t have to. I remained quiet.

“How can you be so sure?” he demanded,
after a condescending laugh.

“Because I know him. And right now, I’m
thinking that I might know him even better than you do,” Valerie’s mother
replied. “But this isn’t about him. This isn’t really even about Valerie.”

“Of course it is!” he hissed bitterly.
“Everything is always about her.”

“No, Paul. You’re wrong. If this is about
Valerie in the way that I fear, then the only problem here is between you and
me.”

“You know, Diana, she could have written
this,” he answered, thrusting it with his hand.

“I did not!” Valerie hissed. “If I wanted
to leave, I would have just left!”

Her mother put her hand up to silence the
outburst before she looked back at her husband. “No, Paul. Again, she didn’t
write it either.”

“Oh and what are you? Some kind of teenage
whisperer? You’re pretty naive to think that they wouldn’t pull something like
that to tear us apart, just so they could be together…as gross as it is…” With
that, my father’s lips curled upward in disgust as he looked between me and
Valerie.

“No. I’m not naïve. I’m very observant and
just like I know your son, I also know my daughter. I’ve spent far more time
with them and don’t you dare say that their love is anything but beautiful!”

At this, everyone in the room gaped at my
stepmother. I certainly didn’t expect that.

“They are just doing it to spite us!” my
father insisted angrily.

“No. They’re not,” she answered. “I have
watched the two of them try to navigate their feelings for one another since
before we were even dating. While I hoped, for the sake of our marriage, that
things would go differently, I can’t say that I’m surprised. The only thing
that I could think of that did make me curious was the fact that they didn’t do
something like this sooner.” She shook her head. “Seriously, think about it.
You have been completely unfair to Shawn for years and he has tried to be good
until now. Doesn’t that say something for the kind of man that he is?”

“Yeah,” my father spat back, “He’s weak.
He couldn’t just pick any woman in the world. He had to go after your
daughter.”

I felt my teeth clench as I growled at
him. “I am not weak, Dad!”

At this, all eyes were on me. I hadn’t
meant to speak, but his comment
 
made me
so angry that I couldn’t help but try to prove him wrong.

“Oh, really? Then why are you always the
one to mess everything up for everyone. All you do is leave a cloud of
destruction in your path. You’re just like your mother! All she ever did was
build her life up, just so she could tear it apart. She had you and took off
and you brought Diana and me together, probably just so you could watch us fall
apart.” He narrowed his eyes at me and stared me down. “You’re not stupid, but
you are pretty conniving…” He smiled in a wicked way and took a few steps
toward me, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you.”

“Just tell us the truth!” I answered,
trying not to say anything that I was going to regret. Even though my blood was
boiling and my level of aggravation was skyrocketing, having all of those
things said about me that wasn’t true, I refused to stoop to his level. Now
that all eyes were on me the only thing I wanted to do was ensure that the
truth was spoken. That was it. “Did you write the letter?”

My father ignored me, continuing to taunt
me with his words. “You probably don’t even like Valerie. You are probably just
doing all of this so that you can make the world fall apart. You strive in
destruction and chaos. While the rest of the world burns, you think you are
going to rise from the ashes. Your mother thought the same thing, but look
where she ended up…”

I asked him again, “Did you mess with
Diana’s phone?”

“You’re pathetic!” he yelled.

“Answer my question,” I replied, trying to
stay level-headed as my father moved swiftly into my personal space. He was
crowding me profusely, and it was all I could do to keep from hitting him.

“Even if you did like her, she would
eventually figure out what a loser you are and she would leave you, just like
your mother left me!”

“Answer me!” I screamed, but just as I was
about to lose all control, I felt an arm push me back, while Diana ended up
between us.

“That’s enough!” she exclaimed, glaring
between me and my father, until finally, she stopped to focus on my father.
“You know what? I’ve had enough. Even if you don’t want to admit what you did,
I have had enough of this! I’m leaving!”