Free Baby Bitch (Bitches and Queens) by Rachael James

is going to change anything,” Abby offered.
    “No, I guess not.”
    Sam had made himself abundantly clear on
that subject. He never wanted her for a daughter—not then, not now, now ever. It
was fine, really, fine. McKenna wasn’t the type of person who hung around in
places where she was not wanted. Nor would she settle for the few scrapes of
affection he tossed her way as brotherly advice . She didn’t need to
settle—not when she had someone who did truly want her. Trevor might be a lot
of things, he might have done a lot of bad things, but at least she would never
be his five-minute mistake.
    The thought of him was like a ray of
sunshine in the midst of gloom. It brought a smile to her lips. “So, how is
school going? Are you ready for high school next year?”
    “Yeah, I guess so,” Abby smiled, relieved
that the awkward part of the conversation was done. “I’m a little worried about
all the AP classes we have to take.”
    “Oh, they are nothing,” McKenna dismissed
with a wave of her hand. “Besides, you’re so smart that you have nothing to
fret over.”
    “So what have you up to lately?” Abby
asked casually.
    “Nothing much. I’ve been helping with the
prom-planning committee…”
    Before they left, Nana Hannah cornered
her. “Did she tell you anything new?”
    “Nope. She stuck to her story like glue.”
    “Damn,” Hannah muttered silently. “All right,
here is your first lesson—before you play the game…”
    “What game?” Abby questioned.
    “Any game, it doesn’t matter, but before
you begin to play, know your opponent so well that you can discern their every
move,” Hannah divulged confidently.
    “Who is my opponent?
    Hannah leaned down, kissed Abby’s cheek,
and then whispered, “Everyone, darling.”

Chapter 12
    “I want to know more about you,” Trevor
said quietly as he reached out and toyed with a loose strand of McKenna’s hair.
    “What do you want to know?”
    “Tell me about your family.”
    “Hmm,” McKenna murmured. What to say? Although
none of them were her favorite people at the moment, compared to Trevor’s
father, who had sold out his son to save his own sorry ass, they looked like a
dream… if not complicated. “Both of my parents are successful. One of them is
an author and the other is a fashion designer. My mommy…”
    “ Mommy ,” Trevor jeered. “I thought
you said you were eighteen?”
    McKenna’s face burned bright red with
embarrassment. “It’s just what I have always called her,” she flustered as she
looked at the ground. “Well—she is the author, but she used to be a famous
supermodel. You might remember her. Back then her name was Hannah Fairbanks.”
    “Maybe if I saw her face,” Trevor
shrugged. “I never kept up with the fashion magazines. So, your dad is
the fashion designer?”
    “I don’t have a father,” McKenna
declared.
    “But you said your parents?”
    “I have two moms,” McKenna admitted
softly.
    “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,”
Trevor laughed. “Your parents are a couple of carpet-munching dykes?”
    “I really don’t like that word.”
    “I don’t care if you don’t like. It’s the
truth.”
    McKenna was hurt. Among her circle of
friends, everyone was very open-minded, although she had encountered a bigot or
two. Over the years, she had grown thick-skinned about other people’s opinions
regarding her parent’s lifestyle, but had expected more from Trevor, considering
his less than ideal upbringing—not to mention his not-so-legal career path. If
anyone should be understanding and not so prejudiced, it was him.
    “All right, my parents are gay. It’s not
a big deal. You don’t need to call them nasty names,” McKenna hissed angrily.
    “Sorry,” Trevor chuckled. “The sluts in
my world aren’t all dying to get down each other’s pants.”
    “How would you know what they want?”
    “How do you think?” Trevor challenged
cockily. He moved swiftly and gently pushed her to the