Valentine (A Standalone Novel) (Bad Boy Romance Book) (11 page)

"Did she have that cough checked
on?" He sat up as a nurse walked toward us.

"No, but I'll make sure they do that
while we're here." I stood to face the woman.

"Are you Tate?" Her smile was
kind.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Your mom’s awake and wants to
see you. Your friend can come, too." She turned and we followed her down
the hall.

I almost thought I'd gotten away with my
comments on leaving college, but Sam started in on me just before we walked
into the room.

"You're not quitting, by the way.
You're almost there. I'll help out. I have some money saved up." The ass
made sure to say it as we walked into the room.

My mother sat up in her bed with a loud
grunt. "You're not talking about quitting school again, right?"

"No, Mom." I reached for her
hand, lifting it to my mouth and kissing her fingers. "Hush about that
right now. You okay?"

"You're not quitting. Promise me
now." Her eyes filled with tears. "Promise me."

"Fine, Mom. I'm not quitting." I
leaned down and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner
tonight."

"I'm not your responsibility. Besides,
I'm going to file charges this time like I should have before. You were
right." She moved back and gave me a tearful grin. "We'll put him
away forever."

"Or I'll kill him." I glanced up
at Sam. "Self-defense, right?"

"No, you won't." My mom touched
the side of my face. "You know why?"

"Why, Mom?"

"Because you're nothing like him.
Don't ever become that way, okay?"

I nodded and tried to let the torrent of
emotions plaguing me die down. I needed a drink, a hot shower, and a long night
with a good woman screaming my name. I knew two of those things were in the
cards, but funnily enough, it was the last one that I needed the most.

I couldn't help but wonder if Val might be
up for it. There was a high possibility that she needed it more than I did. I
just had to figure out if I had the nerve to find out.

Chapter 11

Val

It had been a long week at school, but a
busy one. I hadn't heard another word from Paul, which was good, but I hadn't
heard much from Tate, either. Outside of his quick text back with a short thank
you, there hadn't been anything. I was starting to wonder if I'd made up the
connection we had the day we went to lunch together. I'd finally resigned
myself to moving on. The ball was in his court on us seeing each other again,
and I wasn't one to push anything that I was lukewarm about anyway.

My dreams were filled with lusty moments
strapped to a bed with him hovering over me, but they were nothing more than
dreams. He was a good guy, and I had too much drama and baggage to mess up what
was probably a simple life for him.

Besides, if he wanted anything to do with
me, he would call.

My alarm went off on Saturday morning far
earlier than it normally would, which left me grouchy before my feet even hit
the floor. My mother wanted me to spend the day with her, working on the last
minute decorations for my sister’s upcoming wedding. While I love my sister
Allison, the last thing I wanted to do was spend time with my mother. She'd
focus on the wedding plans for ten percent of the time, and the rest of the day
would be spent with her ripping me apart for my innumerable inadequacies.

"Turn the alarm off. Jeez,"
Katelyn grumbled from her bed, and I realized that I was lying there letting
the alarm continue to scream at me.

"Sorry. Shit." I scrambled out
of bed and turned it off before letting out a long yawn. "Get up. You're
coming with me."

"I'd ask where, but I don't want to
know because my response will be the same. No. I'm tired, and I want to sleep
in." She pulled her covers over her head as I yanked the curtain back and
let the sunlight in. "Amy and Lucinda are coming, too. Let's go wake them
up and get this party started."

"Why are you in a good mood? You hate
getting up early." She sat up and gave me an exasperated look.

"We're going to my mother's to work
on wedding stuff for Allison. I'm not in a good mood, but I am looking forward
to having someone cook all three of my meals today." I smirked before
pulling my pajamas off and dressing in a knee-length skirt, a nice blouse, and
designer boots. A sweater and leggings sounded much better, but I didn't want
to give my mom too much ammo. She was already upset about the car situation and
me having broken up with Paul. There was a lot stacked against me, and I'd yet
to walk through her front door.

"I don't like your mother. She makes
me feel like a bug under a microscope." Katelyn got up and let out a
frustrated sigh. "But...I'd do anything for you, so I'll go. I'm wearing
what the fuck I want to, though."

"I'm good with that. She's not going
to say anything to you, Katelyn. She only berates me. I'm the punching
bag." I ran my brush through my hair and fixed my makeup perfectly. I
hated the fact that I had to get dolled up to the extent that I did, but I just
did. It was expected.

"I'm going to trick punch her if she
makes you cry like she did last time." Katelyn yanked on my ponytail on
her way to the restroom, causing a huge lump of hair to lift in the middle of
it.

"I cry every time." I pulled my
hair back down and did it again. Anything out of place was going to get me an
ass chewing. I'd tried standing up to her several times, but that only made the
drama more intense and usually got my dad dragged into the center of the
explosion.

No
thanks.

"That's bullshit, but I know you know
that." Katelyn stopped beside me a few minutes later. "Jeans and a
sweater okay?"

"Yep. Whatever you want to wear.
Seriously." I got up and sprayed a little bit of perfume on my chest.
"I really wish Tate would call. I didn't get him the tryout with Martin so
that he would like me, but it kinda hurts that he hasn't so much as called or
texted anything but a quick thanks."

"Val." She worked her hair into
a bun before pulling her scarf around her neck and tying it in a way that I
could never get mine to work.

"What?" I got up and pulled my
jacket from the closet.

"I don't know the guy, but from what
Martin says, he's really, really poor. Not that him not having money should
matter at all, but I'm sure that causes him to reconsider calling you. You're
way out of his league. You're not just some pretty girl from a nice middle
class family. You're a Scott." She lifted her eyebrow at me. "That
means a lot around here."

"Yeah, well, I wish it didn't."
I let out a painful sigh and grabbed my purse. "Come on, let's go visit
the famous Scotts and try hard not to leave feeling like we're two inches tall.
My mom's good at shrinking people and their egos."

"Your mom is the wicked witch of the
west." Katelyn opened our door and followed me out into the hall.
"Tate is probably crazy about you, but you know as well as I do that he's
not going to call. If he's mature, then he'll leave you be."

"Shit. Thanks." I gave her a
pseudo-glare.

"Don't look at me like that. You're
going to have to date a richy-rich just so they can stand to be around your
family. Hell, you dragging the three of us there today should prove that.
You
can't even stand to be around
them." She laughed, and I tried to let her words slide off my back, namely
because she was right.

*

The look on my mother's face when she
opened the front door of our enormous, dark-brick mansion was almost comical.
Almost.

"Valentine. You brought
company." Her smile was tight and eyes piercing as she looked around the
group, but continued to block the doorway. She seemed to have forgotten than it
was twenty degrees outside where we were standing.

"Yep. You remember my friends."
I glanced back at them as they all gave shit-eating grins. I loved every one of
them. "Lucinda, Katelyn, and Amy."

"Right. Come on in, then. You'll
catch your death out there." She moved back and opened the door wider.

"Is that Val?" My sister's voice
caused my heart to squeeze tightly in my chest. I loved her tremendously, but
it was a hard relationship to reconcile within me. She was the reason I wasn't
good enough, but she couldn't help that. She was just perfect, and it had
little to do with anything vengeful toward me.

"Hey, Allison." I moved into her
warm hug and squeezed her tightly. "You remember my friends?"

"I do." She moved out of my hold
and gave all of my
friends
hugs as my mother tugged at
my arm.

"Valentine, a word." She pulled
me into the study just beside the entrance to the house and closed the door.
"Why didn't you ask if it was alright to bring a whole entourage to the
house? We have things to do, and the place is filthy."

"It's not filthy, Mom, and besides, they
came to help us. I know you wanted to make some of those little paper mache
flower things. All of my friends can work on those. Stop being dramatic."
I cringed as the words left my lips. Why I couldn't just shake my head and nod
was beyond me.

"I'm not being dramatic, but I'll
start if you'd like to see me act as such." She moved into my face as her
face contorted into the look I was used to seeing – disappointment. "Just
do as you’re told today and try to remember that this isn't about you. It's
about Allison."

I nodded, biting my tongue so hard it
hurt.
It was always about Allison. How
the hell could I forget that?
Neither my mother nor father ever let me.

"Yes, ma'am." I followed her
back out into the foyer to find my friends gone.

"Great. Where are they?" She
glanced back at me before walking toward the kitchen.

I kept my sarcastic remarks to myself and
followed after her quietly.

All of my friends were standing around the
kitchen counter, laughing with my older sister as we walked in. I moved up in
between Katelyn and Amy and pressed my elbows to the counter as Allison lifted
her eyebrow at me.

"The girls tell me that you finally
dumped that jerk, Paul. I never did like him. He looked too much like a Ken
doll." She winked at me.

"He did, didn't he?" I picked up
a chip from the bowl in front of me and nibbled on it. "He cheated on
me."

"He did not." My mother stepped
up beside Allison. "Your father spoke to him earlier this week. He said
that the two of you grew apart. Things happen, dear. Don't spread rumors."

"He was having sex with Carolyn
Jacobs, Mom. I walked in on it. I'm not spreading rumors." My temper went
from zero to burning hot.

"Okay. So first things first."
My sister reached out and grabbed my hand. "We've got three types of cakes
to taste. These are the final ones that I liked. Grab a fork and let’s have
some fun."

I picked up a fork and let out a slow
breath as Allison moved us into the dinner room and escorted my mother
somewhere else.

"God, your mother is a bitch."
Amy moved up beside me and pretended to stab the air in front of her with her
fork. "I think we should egg Paul's car tonight. He's a lying bastard to tell
your family that you guys grew apart."

"Yeah, and who calls someone’s
parents after cheating on them?" Lucinda gave me a look. "We need to
wait for him in a dark alley."

"Word." Katelyn shook her head
and moved ahead of us. "Someone needs to teach them all a lesson."

"We're not teaching lessons, beating
anyone, or egging anything. My mother has always been like this, and I'm not at
all surprised that Paul called. He's just like them. He didn't care about me.
He wanted in with them, and now that he's figure out how to do that, good for
him." I shrugged and moved up to the three large chunks of cake sitting on
the table before us. "Let's wait for my sister or I'm liable to eat the
cakes in the wrong order and the room will blow up around us."

My friends chuckled as we gathered around
the table.

Lucinda poked at me with her fork.
"Tell us more about Tate. That's his name, right? The biker mechanic
guy."

"Oh yeah, that's his name."
Katelyn wagged her eyebrows. "Tell them all about him so I'm not jealous
all by myself."

"Why are you jealous? Martin is a
great guy." Amy gave Katelyn a look. "You don't get to be jealous.
Us
single girls get that right."

"Oh Lord, come on already. I want to
know more about him." Lucinda grumbled as my sister walked back in.

Allison stopped across the table from me.
"More about who?"

"This guy I met." I shrugged.
"We'll talk about it later. This day is about you, so tell us what we're
doing and what you want from us." I gave my sister a genuine smile.

"This day isn't about me, silly. Tell
me about the guy while we try the cakes. Just see which you like best, and
we'll vote. It's the bride’s cake we're trying to decide on. I'm not going to
spoil it by telling you the flavors beforehand. Just try them." She picked
up her fork. "And it's just us, so pig out."

I laughed and took a big bite of the first
one, groaning in delight as the sugary goodness rushed over my tongue. I rarely
ate treats, but when I did, I realized what I was missing and would usually
overdo it for a few days.

"Tell us about Tate." Amy took a
big bite of the last one and grimace. "No. That one is gross."

"Really?" Lucinda moved down to
the last cake and tried a bite after Amy. "What? This is delicious. I love
it."

I rolled my eyes and continued to try the
cakes until they badgered me into talking about Tate. There wasn't much to
tell, but I figured I'd share what I could.

"He seems like a nice guy. He's a
little taller than me, broad shoulders,
sandy
brown
hair. He's got a great smile, beautiful lips, and warm brown eyes." I took
a bite of the middle cake and gagged. "Nasty."

"Nasty in bed or like he has a nasty
attitude?" My sister glanced up at me.

I laughed. "The middle cake is nasty.
I don't know Tate that well. We just went to lunch the day he fixed my
tire."

"Oh, a man who's good with his hands.
Fun." Amy wagged her eyebrows. "Didn't you say he was a
mechanic?"

"Yep, and he has tats all over his
neck and arms, too."

Lucinda wagged her eyebrows. "He
sounds delicious. Did you get to see him the other day when you took her over
there, Katelyn?"

"Unfortunately, no, but Tate is
trying out of the swim team. Val got the opportunity for him with Martin by
winning a bet." Katelyn smirked at me.

"A bet? Sounds interesting."
Lucinda stiffened, and I turned to see why. My mother had walked back into the
room.

"It's nothing. I scored the first
three points of the intramural games the other night on the boys’ league. Just
a quick fake and shot, and I got the tryout opened back up for him." I
smiled and mimicked the move that sunk my three-pointer.