“I’m sorry I laughed, but I couldn’t help it because she always shows up.”
“I’m so disgusted right now.”
Grey’s lips tilted up in a smile she couldn’t hold back, and she nodded. “I know you are. Let’s get ready for tonight and try not to think about Charlie’s uncanny sense of timing, and then tomorrow when we get home, I’ll work at de-scarring you. Sound good?”
I looked over and reluctantly agreed. “As long as she doesn’t show up again.”
“Deal.”
Chapter 19
Jagger
December 21, 2014
AS I SET out the food I’d picked up on the counter the next day, I cursed when it hit Grey’s purse, knocking it off the counter and spilling the contents on the floor. We’d only been home for a little over an hour, and I was ready to just eat and relax.
“Jag?” she called out from upstairs.
“Yeah. Sorry, I’m just knocking over shit. You ready to eat?”
“Yep! I just got out of the shower, let me throw something on.”
I smirked as I bent down to pick everything up. “Or you could leave the clothes off,” I suggested, and heard her soft laugh.
Shoving everything back in her purse, I paused when I glanced at what was in my hand. I blinked a few times and shook my head before looking back down, but nothing had changed.
Grey’s checkbook sat in my hand. All the duplicates were folded over and held in place by a rubber band, except for the most recent check Grey had written. Just a month ago.
“What’re you doing on the floor?” Grey asked on a laugh as she came down the stairs, but I didn’t say anything as she crossed the floor. “Babe?”
“What. Is. This.”
“What are you talking about, what is wh—” She cut off suddenly when she knelt down next to me and saw what I was holding. “Oh God.”
A harsh laugh burst from my chest. “Oh God? Really, Grey?” Standing up so I was looking down at her, her eyes glued to her knees, I took off the rubber band and flipped back through all of her checks before throwing it on the ground next to her. “Why the f**k have you given my mom five grand, Grey?”
She flinched but didn’t move.
“When were you going to tell me about this? That first one was months ago, were there any others?”
“No, just the three times.” Looking up at me, her face tightened in what looked like pain as tears filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t—I couldn’t tell you.”
“And why couldn’t you tell me?” I asked, my voice rising even more. “You should’ve told me my mom was coming after you for money. Shit, Grey, this is what she does; this is why I won’t let her in our lives. She’s constantly trying to get money from me.”
Grey jerked her head back. “W-what?”
“Ever since I got the inheritance money from my grandparents, she has been coming after me trying to get it because she blew through all of hers. This is what she does. Why did you give it to her, and why the f**k would you keep something like this from me? We’re getting married and you’re hiding the fact that you’ve given my mom five thousand dollars of what you’ve earned?”
“She’s been coming to you for money?”
“Yes, Grey, for years. Now tell me—”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Jagger?” she yelled. “That is something I should’ve known—something I should’ve been warned about!”
“You’re really going to start yelling at me when you’ve been hiding the fact that you gave my mom money, and all I did was not tell you that my mom did this kind of shit?”
“Yes! Yes, I am! If you would’ve just told me, none of this would’ve happened! I wouldn’t have gone through this for months—I wouldn’t have had this guilt eating at me!”
“That right there should’ve told you that I needed to know what she was doing!” I yelled back. “I was protecting you; you were keeping something from me that you knew you shouldn’t have kept! Why the f**k did you keep it from me?”
“I had to! You don’t understand, Jagger, she said I couldn’t tell you—I had no choice!”
“You always have a f**king choice, Grey!”
Her eyes looked around wildly as if she could find something to help her explain. “The first time she said she’d been laid off from her job, and that some guy named Mike had taken her car and all her money and left. She said you’d begged her not to date him and that you and Mike had exchanged threats every time you saw each other. Your mom was afraid you’d go after him and get arrested, or give her all your money to help her.”
“What? I don’t know who Mike is, and my mom has never worked a day in her life. She got her money from her parents, and then from all her husbands. But regardless of what she told you, if you thought my mom was in trouble, you should have mentioned it to me!”
Grey flinched back again from the force of my voice, and sat roughly on her ass, her body shaking. I was trying to calm down, but the more she said, the more pissed off I was getting. Only now my anger wasn’t only directed at her. Mom was manipulative, and Grey had never known anything bad about her because I’d kept her from this bullshit, just like I’d kept Charlie from it.
“You don’t get it,” Grey sobbed, her anger quickly fading as some other unreadable emotion covered her face. “It was killing me that I’d kept it from you, but I thought I was helping her and Keith when they needed it—and helping you by not letting you do something stupid when you found out.”