Read Online Resisting Fate (Predetermined) by Heather Van Fleet - Free Book Online Page B

everything John had done, to both of us, she was still going to stick by his side. Holy. Shit .
    I turned away; I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing my tears. Her words were not quite enough to break me completely, but they were close…very, very close. Jesus, when had she fallen so far over the psychotic edge? Too bad for her, I was never going to help her climb back over again.
    “Get out… now! I reached for the red call button on the hospital remote thingy. I needed the nurse to get her out of here before I took matters into my own hands. Say…like plastering said remote into her face maybe? Yeah, that sounded like a good enough option to me!
    She beat me to the punch, like she had this internal radar strapped to her head. One where she apparently monitored my every movement I made before I made it. Because the next thing I knew, she was reaching for the call thingy-ma-jig herself.
    She tossed it over the edge of my rolling table. I tensed, as she moved to stand over me. Who in the hell was this lady standing in front of me? This wasn’t the loving mother who used to play tickle-bug with me when I was sad, or the mother who used to haul me around to swimming lessons and softball practices every night of the week when I was twelve. No, this was a woman made from evilness–demonic evilness, and I had absolutely no idea what she had done with my real mother.
    Brushing her chin length golden hair out of her eyes, she moved to place her mouth next to my ear. Her breath smelled of cigarette smoke, mint, and if the word disgust were to have a smell, it’d be on that list as well. I sucked in a breath, holding it there so I didn’t have to keep inhaling her scent.
    “You are an ungrateful bitch, like John said. After everything we’ve done for you too,” she pulled back, shaking her head as if she was disgusted. With me! “I should have kicked you out ages ago.” Her nostrils flared. She straightened her back into a standing position. The only emotion that stood with her was hatred. It was nowhere near as heavy as my own hatred for her though…
    I shook my head as she turned to walk away. I pounded my fists into the railings of the bed frame as she shut the door behind her. And I bit my lower lips as two tears fell down my cheek. God, how could she blame this on me? I’m the one who did all the housework. I’m the one that cleaned up her husband’s puke pile from his all night bingers. And I’m the one that tucked her four-year-old son into bed every night.
    In that moment, as far as I was concerned, any relationship I once had with the woman was over.
    I tried to lie back against the flat pillows stacked under my head, but the strain in my throat was burning so badly that I couldn’t get comfortable. Was I being punished for something? Did I not go to church enough as a kid? Did I cuss too much? Shit, self-doubt really sucked.
    I was officially homeless, money less, and now on the fast track to being hopeless and motherless, too. On the positive side, if there actually was a positive side to all of this, I was planning on moving out of the house as soon as I saved enough cash anyway. It looked as though I’d be getting my wish a little bit sooner than I originally thought.
     I only wish that I was better prepared…
    I picked up the phone to call Kelsey, needing her wise ears and all-knowing words of wisdom, but am stopped short, as it jingled in my hands. The ringtone was unfamiliar, but I answered it anyways. Any kind of distraction was good, even if it was the wrong number.
    My voice was strained, achy, and barely a whisper after all the crying I’d done today, but hey, I guess I should’ve been thankful that my esophagus wasn’t completely crushed, right? My glass was always half full, and I planned on keeping it that way.
    “Hello?” Dead silence greeted me, and I pulled the phone down in my lap to stare at it. I wasn’t about to waste what little voice I had left on a prank