Free Scared of Beautiful by Jacqueline Abrahams Page B

jaw, but I notice as he drives that his knuckles are already swollen and bruising, and I care about him far too much to have him break a hand over that fool.
    Megs is less than impressed when she sees Jackson’s hand and my mother’s head. After cleaning my mother up and applying some gauze, Megs gives her some tea and aspirin and tells her to lie down. She can barely look at me when she exits to the bedroom. Jackson and I are about to leave when Megs stops us. “Not so fast. You sit. I need to talk to you.” Megs sounds angry. She’s not a nice woman to piss off to, so I’m a little scared.
    “I’ll wait outside,” Jackson offers.
    “Stay,” I say, my eyes pleading with him not to leave. He’s been introduced to the very worst parts of my life, all at once. The fact that he’s still here at all says something.
    “I assume by the look on your face, Maia, that your mother told you some kind of truth, which was it?” she asks.
    What, the fact that my father is not my real father is only one of the lies? I explain the events at the apartment to Megs, and she’s quiet as she listens. When the story ends, she looks up and grabs my hands.
    “I’m sorry honey, sorry about all of that and all of it before. But I’m glad you know. Your real father was a waste of oxygen, true story. He was a fool, who ran around doing all kinds of wrong shit. Your mother worked as a secretary for your grandfather’s firm. The man who has been your father all these years took an interest in her on the first day she started there. He was doing an internship, learning the ropes. He treated her nice. She lived with us from the time she was fifteen, and she was determined not to stay here forever. Why she got the job in Manhattan to begin with.” Megs sips her tea and continues. “By the time she met him, she was already pregnant. She didn’t want to lie, wanted him to know the truth. I talked her out of it. Told her that it was too good a chance to pass up. He loved her. And he did, he wasn’t always an asshole. When he took over his father’s firm, the money and the power went to his head. By that time she was in too deep. You were five before he showed his true colors.”
    Megs looks up at me with a stern expression. “But she stayed for you. Took every single damned beating for your sake. And you act like you couldn’t give a damn whether she lives or dies. I see her dialing your number over and over. I know you see those calls. Like it or not, that woman is your mother, so you better start acting right or so help me. You’ll have to answer to me. She needs you to get through this. You think it’s easy to leave over 20 years behind?”
    Tears sting my eyes. I hate the fact that she’s right. I was behaving like the spoiled bitch I always refused to be. It was selfish of me to leave my mother behind, just because I needed to escape. Jackson puts his hand around my shoulder as if on cue. “I should talk to her,” I say, standing.
    Megs puts a hand on my shoulder. “No, not now, she needs rest. I need to talk to her and you need to sleep on it. When she calls you tomorrow, answer your phone.”
    I reach for my bag and open my wallet, handing Megs my spare bankcard. “Whatever you need, please,” I say handing it to her. She shakes her head and I look at her pleadingly. I lay the card onto the side table and scribble the access number on a piece of paper, before Jackson and I leave.
    “Dinner?” I ask Jackson as we leave the Bronx.
    “Sure,” he replies, “but can we stop for some Gatorade? Cold Gatorade, I need it for my hand.”
    He winces, and I notice that the bruising on his knuckles is darkening. After the day we’ve had, I plan on buying him several beers. I think a drink may be a great idea. I don’t drink often, but given that Jackson deserves some kind of an explanation, a few drinks to loosen up before I have to start talking may not be a bad thing.

Chapter 10

    Jackson
    Talk about a damn crazy day. I