Read Online The Last Thing by Briana Gaitan - Free Book Online Page A

pushed past her to grab my purse off
my bed. I proceeded to look for my keys. Having a car was convenient, but it
had taken all of my money. I still panicked each time I sat in one of those
metal death traps, but after a while, the anxiety had lessened to tolerable. I
would need to save for a deposit on an apartment.  Then I would need baby
things and a sitter. Ugh, the list was never ending.
    “Aha!” I pulled my keys out from under a pile of magazines.
    “I wish you wouldn’t work. Just stay at home, enjoy this
pregnancy. You can stay here for as long as you want.” Ginger followed me
around like a lost puppy trying to guilt me into quitting.
    I gave her a wistful smile. That kind of life would have been
nice, but I couldn’t let everyone treat me so delicately anymore.
    “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
    “No, we aren’t shooting today.”
    My cell phone vibrated against my hip causing me to look down
to see who it was. My heart stilled. It was my mom. I hadn’t heard from her
since I’d gotten here. Reaching out to press ignore, I hesitated. At the last second,
I decided against it.
    “It’s Mom,” I told Ginger, waving my cell phone in the air. She
gave me a thumbs up and walked away to give me a moment of privacy.
    “Hi, Mom,” I said. My mom’s shrilly southern voice came
through the speaker. We had a complicated relationship, one that involved me
being solely responsible for ruining her marriage.
    “Quinn, honey. How are ya’ll?”
    “Fine.” I didn’t know what else to say.
    “Are y’uns stayin’ out of trouble? Do ya lock the car doors?”
    I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me. It was so
typical of her to worry over everything. She believed I was incapable. That was
why she had been thrilled to see me go.
    “Yes, Mom.”
    “I’d hoped that you’d call when you were settled in, but
seeing as you forgot about your own mother…”
     I groaned in annoyance. She was trying to make me feel bad. Why?
She didn’t even want me back home.
    “Sorry, Mom,” I told her, but she didn’t answer. Some muffled
talking in the background preoccupied her.
    “Are you and Ginger coming home for the holidays?”
    That was months away, and I would be showing by then.  There
was no way.
    “No one wants me there.”
    “Don’t be so dramatic, Quinn.  I told ya this would all blow
over. By the time Christmas comes, you’ll  be old news.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “Good. I have to go. Talk to ya later, Quinn.”
    Typical. Just another half-hearted conversation with my
mother. “Bye, Mom.”
     I pressed end on my phone and leaned back against the wall.
I guess I’d been expecting it to go differently. She didn’t inquire about my
life or anything personal.
    Ginger popped out from behind the doorway.
    “Well? What’d she say?”
    “She wants us to visit.”
    She scrunched her nose. “Hell to the no. What’s wrong with
her?”
    “She thinks that everything will blow over.”
    “Doubtful.” I shuddered at the thought. Strangers staring at
me in the streets, friends turning their backs. They only reinforced my belief
that people always leave.
    I spotted a few magazines on the coffee table and leaned over
to pick one up. The tabloids that Ginger hadn’t yet learned to quit reading.
Chase was on the front of one. He was stumbling out of a club with a blonde on
his arm. The date on the magazine read last week. My body burned with jealousy.
I tore the cover off the magazine and ripped it up into tiny pieces. Screaming
in frustration, I threw all the pieces in the trash. No more. My attraction for
Chase wouldn’t control me anymore.

 
     
     
    Chase
    Stepping out of the limo with Chloe James on my arm was the
highlight of my night. Her hips swayed seductively in her white dress, as heads
turned her way. It was nice, even though she technically wasn’t my date. It was
just a business dinner with our new director. The paparazzi outside swarmed
with excitement as the