Wrong Kind of Love

by Amanda Heath

  The door opens slowly and I wait without breathing for Daniel to come around the other side. My mouth falls open and my eyes bug out of my head when my tiny brunette mother walks into the room. Her expensive pantsuit is wrinkle free and fits her perfectly. Well I would hope so because she gets them custom made. “Mom?” I squeak out. She was the last person I expected to enter this room.

  I look around her out the door for Daniel but I don’t see anything. “He’s not here.” She states in her cold voice. The woman doesn’t even know what emotions are. She moves to the other side of the table and takes a seat in front of me.

  “Where is he?” I would really like to know. The bastard wouldn’t let us go this easily. We were his possessions. His playthings. Like all men and their toys, they get bitchy and angry when said toys disappear.

  “Daniel passed away from a heart attack three months ago.” She says in her dead voice.

  My eyes blink three times before it sinks in. “What the fuck?” I stammer out. No seriously what the fuck? How did I not know this?!

  “Apparently he wasn’t listening to his physical trainer. His cholesterol had been high for months but he was stubborn and wouldn’t eat right. It finally caught up to him. It was very sudden.” She says all this with no infliction of any emotion in her voice. I swear the woman could be that dude who does the eye drop commercials.

  “That’s really a shame.” I tell her back. I’m fucking free. Mom probably just wants to go back to her life in New York and forget that Aiden and I existed.

  “Well yes it was.” She stops and eyes me up and down. “Why are you blonde? You hate blondes. We will have to fix that as soon as we can.” She gets up from the chair and turns towards the door. “The cops still can’t find Aiden. I’m sure when they let you out in just a minute, you could get him on the phone?”

  “Ummm…yeah?” it comes out a question. If I’m not completely crazy I think she actually cares. Weird.

  “Good. This nice police officer is going to uncuff you and then we are going to leave together.” She smiles at me and it’s the first time I can remember in a while that it reaches her eyes.

  “Yes ma’am.” I say while a short round man in uniform comes in and uses his keys to uncuff me. I stand up and rub my wrist with my other hand. Damn those fucking things were too tight.

  My mom holds out her hand to me and I take it. She pulls me along until we are outside and she stops by a nice rental car. “You drive. We all need to talk.”

  I park the rental car outside of a Wal-Mart so mom and I can chat. I don’t really have much to say to her, other then the fact she’s a horrible mother and I wish she would leave me alone. “I thought you were taking me to see your brother?”

  I shrug. “We would have to drive to another state for that. Besides I don’t really think he wants to be found.” I mutter looking away from her.

  “Yes I could gather that since you both disappeared in the middle of the night.” She shifts around her seat, bringing my attention to her ring finger. The huge diamond ring Daniel got her is no longer there. I’m surprised she took it off.

  “What would you have done?” Wait that was a stupid question. “Never mind. You wouldn’t have had the balls the run.” I turn towards her and cross my arms over my chest. “Look Mom, I get that you’re pissed. Your children up and leave in the middle of the night without a trace. But I figure with Daniel dead, you could live your life the way that you want. You’re a wealthy widow. No kids to support.”

  “Yes I’m all of those things. Heaven forbid I should want to see my kids again.” She mimics my motions and crosses her arms over her chest.

  “Well since you didn’t want anything to do with us to being with, I don’t understand why you are here now.” And I really don’t. She could have ignored the fact that I popped back up on her radar. She didn’t have to come down here and rescue me. I certainly didn’t need it. I didn’t have that much pot on me. I would probably have gotten probation.

  “You came from my body, I have a right to wonder where you are and what you’re doing.” Why? She never cared before.

  “That is bullshit, Mom and you know it. You never cared what was going on before.” I tell her while she looks away from me and out the passenger side window.

  “It wasn’t that I didn’t care. I just didn’t have the time to care. Your father was the one who wanted the two of you. Daniel wanted a ready-made family so he made me bring you along. If I had known he was such a bastard, I wouldn’t have married him to begin with.” She turns back to look at me and I see a touch of regret in her eyes.

  I’m starting to get tired of the game. Everything is a game to my mother regardless of who she hurts in the process. “Can we get to the point of why you are here?”

  She huffs and pulls out a piece of paper from her purse. “Daniel left you and your brother some money.” She practically throws the paper at me.

  I pick it up from where it landed by the drive shaft. I open it slowly and when I see the amount of money on the paper I think I might faint. Aiden gets just as much. It’s not like we really need it though. My grandparents on mom’s side set us up with trust funds before we were born. We took as much money as we could out of those trust funds and that’s what has been paying for our stay down in the south.

  “Why did he leave this to us?” I ask throwing her a puzzled look.

  “Because it would have looked bad if he didn’t. Not that it matters to me. You and your brother are taken care of now. I don’t have to worry where you’re at or what you’re doing.” I think her heart is in the right place. Or maybe not.

  I drive the rental car to the hotel I’m staying at. Mom refused to be in Arkansas for another minute and takes off the second I’m out of the car. Good riddance.

  I call Aiden before I even get inside the hotel. “Hey little sister. Fix your boy problems yet?” he asks.

  I laugh before shaking my head. “Yeah I have that straightened out. I also have some other stuff straightened out.”

  “Like what?” I can hear him moving around on his end and I assume he is going to a quiet place so he can talk.

  “Well for starters, Daniel is dead.” I tell him how Caden and I got into the car accident. I tell him they called mom when they figured out I wasn’t who I said I was. Then I tell him how she threw Daniel’s money at me and left.

  “That’s typical mom. As long as we have money, she thinks we are taken care of. She is the reason people need to have a license to have children.” We both laugh at that. We talk for a little longer but I soon realize that I have somewhere I need to be.

  In Caden Harpers arms.

  The doctors sent me home hours ago. I have a thing on my face keeping my nose straight. And an eggplant on the side of my head. I look fucking sexy. I also have a whole bottle of pain pills and they make me feel awesome.

  I’m lying on my bed at my parent’s house and all I can think about is Kayla. Mom refused to let me see her. You can guess where I told her to shove that. I can’t drive since I’m on the pain meds. Oh and I totaled my fucking mustang. Mom went on a tirade about that one. Whatever I can afford another one off my paintings.

  The chick that owns the gallery has been sending off my stuff to other places and I’ve been making a killing. I don’t know what it is about people and their need to have naked people on their walls. I don’t sell the ones I have of Kayla unless they feature her back or neck. As long as her tits or ass aren’t showing, I sell them. No one gets to see that anymore but me.

  I hear running up the stairs before Teagan burst into my room. “Oh my god! Grace is here! Sarah won’t let her in the house. Jaden is trying to get mom to move so he can open the door, but she is being stubborn. Dad is just sitting there with a smile on his face. You have to come!” she says all this in one breath, then she runs right back out the door.

  The meds are making my brain fuzzy, but I still get what she was telling me. I’m sluggish getting up off the bed. For some reason I don’t
feel the need to hurry. Kayla will be there when I get to the door.

  It takes me, like, ten whole minutes to make it down the stairs, but once I do Jaden spots me first. “Mom won’t budge.”

  I just shrug before crossing the living room to the front door. I bend down in front of mom and pick her up over my shoulder. She wasn’t expecting me to do that so it takes a second before she is pounding on my back to let her down.

  Jaden opens the door quickly and lets Kayla in. “Don’t let that hussy in my house!” Mom screams.

  I drop her off by dad and turn around to face Kayla. She runs into my arms before I even have a chance to open them. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She breathes against my neck.

  “I wasn’t until you showed up.” I tell her looking up at Jaden over her head. He looks pained, but I think he is going to make it. Well we can hope anyway.

  “I said don’t let her in here! Get her out of my house!” Mom screams yet again. That is really starting to get on my nerves.

  “Mom, take a chill pill. She isn’t hurting anybody.” Jaden says, even though we all know that’s a lie.

  “Bullshit! She is hurting you! I won’t let her in here if she won’t be with you!” And this is why my mother is unique. She has six kids yet she is only invested in one of their love lives.

  “So what, mom? It’s called life. She doesn’t want me. She loves your other son. Whether you want to hear it or not. Like the forever kind of love. Yeah it was wrong once upon a time, but right now? No it’s not. Yeah she hurt me, but I hurt Caden more by being with her. So what would you rather have? Me hurting a little bit or Caden hurting for the rest of his life?” Jaden’s face is flushed and his breathing is labored. I don’t even think about it as I stumble over and hug him.

  “Is he drunk?” Kayla asks someone behind me. I assume it was Teagan.

  “No. Pain meds for his nose and head.” Teagan replies.

  “What was that for?” Jaden asks me after I’ve pulled away.

  “At one point you were a horrible brother, but right now you are the best brother I ever had.” Yeah I’m not taking any more pain meds.

  “Well I’m not going to support your relationship with her, Caden. She is a drug using whore and a hussy. She just wants your money. Probably why she went after Jaden to begin with.” Mom crosses her arms over her chest and glares at Kayla.

  “It’s freaking pot mom. Everyone smokes pot. And let me tell you, no one has killed anyone while they were stoned. It actually makes people happy. So yeah if she was on meth or something we would have a problem, but she isn’t. So shut up.” Jaden sighs when he’s done talking and rubs a hand over his face.

  “Besides, I have two different trust funds. I can take care of myself. I grew up on the upper east side of New York City.” Kayla throws in.

  Mom’s eyes widen for a second before she storms out of the room. “Welcome to the family Grace, or Kayla. I’m not quite sure what your real name is. And don’t worry about her, she will come around.” My dad winks before following mom out of the room.

  I turn to scoop Kayla in my arms but she is hugging Teagan. “I wanted to tell you. I just didn’t know how and you were going through so much before I left. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She pulls away and looks into Teagan’s eyes. “Best friends?”

  Teagan laughs before hugging her some more. “I’m still pissed, but Jaden explained everything to me. I’ll get over it.”

  Kayla moves on to Jaden next. “You didn’t have to stick up for me you know.” She tells him looking down at her feet.

  “Yeah well, Caden’s too fucked up to do it right now. Besides I have a feeling you might be my sister one day, and I stick up for my sisters.” And when they hug, I don’t get jealous. I just stand there with a stupid grin on my face.

  Then my angel walks over to me. “Come on lover boy.” And we head up to my room.

  Sadly nothing happens. The monster in my pants isn’t happy about it either. The pain meds are just too much and my eyes are closed before my head even hits the pillow.

  It was all worth it though, because when I wake up the next morning, she’s there. Curled around my chest, her arm thrown over my stomach. One of her legs sits in-between mine and my arms are curled protectively around her.

  “Good morning.” She says on a yawn.

  “Good morning, Angel.” I reply nuzzling my nose into her neck.

  “You slept like the dead.” She tells me sitting up and rubbing the leftover sleep out of her eyes.

  “Pills will do that to you. I have to say though, waking up with you in my arms is amazing. We should do this every day.” My arms reluctantly let her go.

  “We can…when I get back from Arizona.” She mumbles out looking down at her hands.

  I blink several times hoping I didn’t hear her right. “What do you mean when you get back from Arizona?”

  She sighs and stands up from the bed. “I have to go see Aiden. He wanted me to come back. I have to explain to him that I want to stay here. With you.” She pauses staring deeply into my eyes. “I’ll only be gone for a little while.”

  I huff and snuggle back under the covers. I close my eyes and try my hardest to go back to sleep. “What are you doing?” She asks with a laugh.

  “Umm.” I’m going back to sleep, so when I wake up, I’ll pretend she never said she had to leave. I want to remember the part about being with me.

  I feel the bed dip down as she climbs back into it with me. “I’m sorry. This is something I have to do. He’s my brother, I thought you would understand. He’s the whole reason I met you in the first place.”

  I groan and pull my head from under the covers. I just got her back; I don’t want to lose her all over again. “I’m only going to be gone for a few days. I swear.”

  I sigh and toss the pillow to the floor. “You promise?” and then an idea forms in my head. “Can I come with you?” I spit out before she can say anything.

  She smiles and shakes her head. “Yeah you can come with me.”

  I sit up in the bed and pull her into my lap. I toss my arms around her waist and place my forehead on hers. “Good, because I want to be where you are. Always.

  Caden and I only stayed in Arizona for two days. Aiden decided he wanted to stay there. I wanted to be with Caden, so we came back to Arkansas. It was really hard to leave my brother, but I think after everything, maybe it was time to be ourselves. No more hiding. No more running.

  Besides I never really had a life in Arizona. I never made any friends and I never even thought about dating. There was a man somewhere in Arkansas who held my heart. It took me so long to realize that, but I finally did. I’m just glad it wasn’t too late.

  So what’s going on now? A lot actually. I refused to be a college dropout, so I went back. This time I did something simple and something I loved. I graduate next fall and I’ll get to work with game designers. I get to be one of those people who try the game out, report bugs, and help make the game really good. It is my dream job and I couldn’t be happier.

  A few weeks after we came home from Arizona, Caden and I got our own apartment. One bedroom, so no roommates. I think we are both very tired of roommates. We still live there, but I think soon we might move into something bigger. After all you can’t raise a family in an apartment.

  Don’t get your hopes up, yet anyway. I’m not pregnant and I don’t plan on being for a long time yet. Though with the huge ass rock Caden put on my finger months ago, it might be sooner rather then later.

  Yes the big idiot asked me to marry him. I don’t know what possessed him to do that. He said he was lucky to have me in his life and he wanted to hold on to me forever. I think he’s wrong, mainly for the fact that I’m lucky to have him in my life. I’m lucky to have met him.

  Through all of it though, I came out a better person. I learned to stop running away from my problems. The big things I was running from, also made me want to run from my little problems. I can’t erase the hurt I caused the Harper t
wins, but maybe I can make up for it.

  Caden says I’ve made up for it with him a thousand times over, simply for the fact that I love him and that I’m with him. Jaden on the other hand, I feel the most regret over. I caused Caden a world of pain, but Jaden got a lot himself. I never intended to make him fall for me. And truth be told I think he fell for the Grace in me. Not the Kayla. I know if Grace were a real person, she would be perfect for Jaden. He needs someone good inside to rub off on his evil ass.

  That’s why I invited a certain Ava to the wedding. No one knows but me. She thinks she got invited because she went to high school with the twins but nope. She got invited so I can play matchmaker. If she really is the love of Jaden’s life, then they deserve to be together. He can only try. That’s all I ask.

  Caden’s mom isn’t too happy about us getting hitched, but Caden says it doesn’t matter what she thinks. He’s spent so much time worrying about having to make his family happy, when they never bothered to spend the time to make him happy. He says they can all kiss his ass.

  Teagan and Declan make me sick. They have that love that remains puppy love. She always has stars in her eyes and he always looks at her like she hung the stars. It is sickening really. I’m happy for them though. I figure they might tie the knot soon. Marcus is moving out in a couple of weeks to head off to college. They will finally have the house to themselves.

  “You ready, girl?” Aiden asks from his position by the church doors.

  “Yeah.” I whisper nervous as hell.

  This is that day. The day I have been waiting for, for so long. I’m going to marry Caden Gabriel Harper. He said he is refusing to call me his wife. The wedding is just for me and from then on I will be known as his muse. I see a lot of naked paintings of us, paying our bills in the future.

  “Really, this song?” Aiden scowls as “Everytime We Touch” by Casacada plays through the sound system.

  “Hey it could have been worse. Caden wanted “Crazy Bitch”. I told him he wouldn’t be marrying me if that was our song.” I place my hand on the inside of his arm as we get ready to walk out.