Free Rebel With A Cause by Ashleigh Neame Page B

get out. You can keep the house, if you want it. I’ll carry on with the lease on this place. Keep the car, too. It was a gift to you. Take everything I ever gave you, you deserve all of that and so much more.
    I’m sorry, but we can’t be together.
    “That bastard!” she fumed. “He couldn’t even stick around to dump me! He had to write a letter!”
    She angrily threw the glass into the sink where it shattered, just like her heart. She felt a tear slide down her cheek and dashed it away, furious with herself . She would not shed a tear for that bastard. Not ever. If he couldn’t even dump her face to face, then he wasn’t worth it.
    She walked into the bathroom, shedding the bed sheet and turning on the shower. She allowed herself the luxury of one last hot shower at Carter’s expense, because there was no way in hell that she was taking the house. She didn’t want anything from him, and she was dithering over whether to even take the car.
    She was also wondering where she would stay from now on. She couldn’t go back home, not after her dramatic exit . Her dad would be all smug and arrogant, and her mother would be sympathetic. She didn’t want any sympathy, and especially no pity. She was seventeen years old. She could handle this herself.
    She turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around her. She kicked the sheet into a corner of the bathroom and went back to the bedroom. She opened up the wardrobe, pulled out her favourite red skinny jeans and a camel coloured, oversized cable-knit jumper. She quickly dressed then pulled out her old duffel bag from under the bed.
    She pulled out all her clothes from the wardrobe and folded them all neatly, before placing them in the bag. She pulled on some black casual sneaker type shoes and laced them up. She buried the other fourteen pairs of shoes she had in her duffel bag.
    She considered trashing Carter’s things and defacing his place, but she was starting to feel sick just being in his house.
    She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and left, leaving his house unlocked. She stared at the car that Carter had bought for her – should she take it or not? She couldn’t decide.
    The weight of the bag on her shoulder decided for her. She walked back inside and grabbed the keys, as well as thirty thousand dollars from Carter’s racing stash.
    That should teach him , she thought bitterly.
    She walked out again, popped the boot of the car, dumped her bag in it then got in the driver’s seat. She locked the doors and pulled out her cell phone.
    She briefly wondered about her grandmother, her mum’s mother. She’d never met her, and she wondered why. Surely she couldn’t be that bad?
    She decided to pay her a visit, before deciding whether to stay at T-Man’s or not.
     
    “Can I help you?” Kaitlyn was greeted by a woman in her late forties, or perhaps her early fifties.
    “Uh, I’m looking for Anna Baxter?” she asked hesitantly. “The last address I have for her is this one, seven, Magic Way.”
    The woman eyed her suspiciously. “I am Anna Baxter, who are you?”
    Kaitlyn breathed a sigh of relief. She had the right address after all.
    “My name’s Kaitlyn Johnson, and Layla Baxter is my mother.”
    The woman’s shock was apparent on her face. “You’re my granddaughter?”
    Kaitlyn nodded. “I have a little brother too, his name’s Jordan Johnson, but we all call him Jordy.”
    “Good lord, I think I need to sit down.” The woman walked away inside, leaving the door wide open. Kaitlyn assumed this meant that she could go in, and hesitantly closed the door behind her.
    “Are you ok?” she asked. Her grandmother had just collapsed on her couch. “Do you need a glass of water?”
    Anna eyed her suspiciously. “No, I don’t. What are you doing here anyway? Did your mother kick you out?”
    Kaitlyn hated the way she sneered when she said your mother .
    “No,” Kaitlyn replied. “I moved out to live with my boyfriend, only he dumped me and now I