Chapter 19

(Aaron)

The tension is so thick between the three women in the room that I have the sudden urge to run for my life. I won’t, because that would make me a coward. Besides that, I want to be here for Rylan. She doesn’t seem to like her mother all that much.

From what she told my parents last night, the woman sounds like a hypocrite and a narcissist. Knowing some of her history, I am not all that surprised. It surprised me how she obediently sat down when Rosalie told her to.

When she points at me and asks who I am, I want to tell her to mind her own business, but keep my mouth shut instead. I doubt anything I have to say will be helpful at this point.

“So, here is what has happened and what will happen in the future.” Rosalie holds her hands up and then touches the tips of her index fingers together, like she is counting off a list of things.

She looks over at Rylan then goes back to staring at her mother with an angry glare on her face after Rylan nods at her.

“Firstly, this is the last time that I will be putting up with being cheated on and used as a punching bag for my worthless, soon-to-be ex-husband. I am also done listening to you on anything regarding marriage and a woman’s place in this world. Everything you say is a joke, anyway.”

She pauses to take a sip from the water bottle in her lap. Helena looks like she wants to say something, but one look from Rylan makes her close her mouth again. Rosalie holds up two fingers before she continues.

“Secondly, after I pack everything that I bought with my own money or brought into this house before I married Grant, I will be moving to California with Rylan. I will also be filing for divorce to go with the restraining order I filed against him. They gave me assurance that there would be no denial for one here or in California, since they had him caught on video this time.

Rosalie stands up, then starts pacing the room. She looks like she is trying to gather her thoughts or work up to saying something that is difficult for her. There are tears in her eyes when she spins around to face us all again. After what she has been through with her husband, that is understandable.

“What kind of mother convinces her child to stay in a marriage like mine? You saw the bruises and knew what he was doing. Why would you do that?” She spins around to scream at her mother. “Tell me why. I trusted you. I listened to you because you are my mother. Look at me, Helena. Look at what that advice got me!!”

The woman keeps her mouth shut in a tight-lipped grimace as she looks at Rosalie.

“ANSWER me, goddamn you!!”

Helena’s gaze turns from Rosalie to Rylan. Her eyes narrow to slits as she looks her oldest daughter in the eye. I have a feeling that I will not like whatever comes out of her mouth next, and I feel Rylan tense up next to me, so I know she won’t be happy about it, either.

“You did this. Are you happy now that you turned her against me? This is what you have always wanted, isn’t it? For me to be alone. Sometimes I wish you had never been born. This would never have happened…”

**SLAP**

For the second time today, Rosalie slapped someone. The sound echoes in the quiet room, followed by a shocked gasp from Helena as her hands fly up to cover her cheeks. I almost laugh when tears fill her eyes, but I know those are probably from being slapped so hard. Probably.

“You do not get to play victim here, mother. Today, you reap what you sow. This is on you and Grant. More him than you, but you get the point. Now answer the goddamn questions I asked you. Quit blaming other people for your actions and act like a fucking human being for once in my life.”

“I did what I thought was best. The vows you and Grant made to each other are important. Love, honor, and obey till death do you part. I take those vows seriously, and so should you.”

Rylan laughs as she claps her hands loudly. “Bravo, mother. Tell us, did you come to this renewed sense of self-righteousness after you slept with a married man and had a kid with him, or after the affair ended and you got remarried later? You do remember that you were married then too, right?”

“Shut your dirty mouth. I should have given you up to your father and his bitch of a wife when you were born and never taken you back. I atoned for that sin, but you never let me forget it happened. Your very existence is a constant reminder.”

“I bet it is, and sometimes I wish you would have just given me up for adoption. That would have been better than the verbal and sometimes physical abuse I got from you and Eva. You always wonder why I rarely come back here. YOU are that reason. I hate you just as much as you hate me.”

Rylan yanks her hand from mine, then stands up and rushes out of the room. My heart bleeds for the little girl she used to be. I want to leave this place as fast as we can.

“I think it is time you leave so we can get back to doing what we came here to do.” I tell Helena as I stand up off the couch. “Rosalie, go after your sister, and I will deal with this.

Rosalie nods her head, then rushes after Rylan.

“Just who the hell do you think you are? Why are you even here?” Helena asks me when they are both gone.

“I am Aaron Carter of G&C Enterprises; look that up later, not that it matters to me if you do or not. I came here for Rylan, my girlfriend, and her sister, who needed a helping hand when she couldn’t get it from her mother. You are no longer welcome here, so I suggest you leave now or I will escort you out.”

“You will NOT touch me!” She screams as she stands up, gathers her purse off the floor where it fell when Rosalie slapped her, then holds her head high and her back ramrod straight as she walks to the front door. “Tell my vile bitch of a daughter that she no longer has a mother as far as I am concerned.”

I follow her to the door so that I can close it behind her as she leaves. I wouldn’t wish that woman on my worst enemy. What a horrible mother! This makes me suddenly feel like I have been way too hard on my mother over the years.

This has been a very emotional day for Rylan and her sister. Before I seek them out, I step outside so I can make a call to the hotel we are staying at tonight. These two ladies deserve to be pampered after the emotional roller coaster they have had.

I set up two masseuses to be on call when we get to the hotel. They will deliver dinner and three bottles of wine after the massages. Then I will do whatever the two of them want for the rest of the night.

Tonight will be for them to relax. Tomorrow we will fly back to California, and hopefully neither of them will ever have to come back unless they choose to. Knowing Rylan, that is a snowball’s chance in hell.

After meeting her mother, I wouldn’t blame her at all.

Four hours later, after everything Rosalie wanted from the house was all boxed up and packed in the moving van, we pulled out of the driveway to head to the hotel. It took us thirty minutes to get to the more elite part of Charleton. The five-star hotel I chose came highly recommended.

I paid for both penthouse suites on the top floor. One for me and Rylan, and the other for Rosalie. I will be in our room while the ladies have their relaxing night in Rosalie’s suite. I just hope they both like what I have planned for them.

The entire car ride to the hotel was silent. Both women were looking out their windows the whole time. Each woman was lost in her own thoughts. I don’t blame them, so I didn’t try to engage either in conversation. I did give Rylan a tight hug before she got in the car, but she pulled away fairly quickly, so I let her go with the plan to talk to her later.

By the time we made it to the hotel, the sun was going down. After giving our bags to the bellhop, I led Rylan and her sister to the front desk so we could check in. The woman behind the counter looked at me with annoyance at first, at least until she really looked at me.

Her attitude changed instantly. She was too nice and way too flirty. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but things are different now, and my girlfriend is standing right next to me. Rylan clears her throat at the woman twice, but she is unfazed and continues the flirting. I ignore the slip of paper she slides across the counter as I take our keys, then walk away.

I can feel the anger coming off Rylan as we get on the elevator. What was she mad about? I didn’t flirt back, and I ignored the piece of paper that was not so discrete and slipped across the top of the counter under our keys. What else was I supposed to do?

Her sister and the bellhop are preventing me from saying anything, or I would ask her what I did wrong. With the way her mood has been since her mother said those nasty things to her, I feel like a fight is in the very near future.

Yay, our first fight as a couple.

This will be fun.

“Alright ladies, here we are,” I say as we step off the elevator.

The hallway is wide and lined with plush black carpet. The walls are black and gray, much like my bedroom at home. There are only two doors on this floor, one to the left and one to the right of the elevator. I hand Rosalie her key, then turn to the door of my suite.

I unlock the door, then grab mine and Rylan’s bags off the trolley. After sitting our bags on the floor just inside the room, I turn to tip the bellhop after he sits Rosalie’s bag in her room. I give him a nod, then watch as he turns around to head back to the elevator.

“I am going to talk to my sister for a while,” Rylan says in an irritated tone of voice.

“Then I will send dinner to her room.”

She shrugs her shoulders, then marches into Rosalie’s suite, slamming the door behind her after her sister follows her inside.

Fucking fantastic. I hate the sound of doors being slammed, and I hate drama even more. This day went from bad to worse pretty damn fast, and I have absolutely no fucking clue what the hell I did wrong.

Twenty minutes later, there is a knock on the door, so I get up off the bed where I have been lying since I flopped down twenty minutes ago to contemplate life. I walk into the living room area to answer the door. It is the room service I ordered for myself. I sidestep to let the man push the food trolley into the room, tip him generously after he places my dinner on the small dining table, and then I escort him to the door.

Just as he is leaving, Rylan comes out of Rosalie’s room. There is a sheepish look on her face as she looks at me. She is in a white, fluffy robe with her long hair bundled up on her head. I can only assume that the masseuse has arrived.

“I need to grab my pajamas,” she says quietly.

I motion for her to help herself, then walk to my dinner. I feel her eyes on me as I sit down at the small table, but I say nothing as I pick up my knife and fork to cut into my steak. An annoyed huff follows the sound of her ruffling through her bag as she drops her bag with a loud thud on the floor.

“Something wrong?” I ask as I cut another piece of steak.

“I forgot my phone charger at your place this morning.”

“Mine is in my bag in the bedroom. Feel free to grab it if you need it now.”

“Oh, no, I will just charge it later. Thank you.”

The way she shuffles her feet around, I can tell there is more she wants to say, so I put my silverware down and turn to face her.

“Say whatever it is that you need to say. Get it all out there so we can get this over with.”

She closes the distance between us quickly, then shocks the shit out of me by straddling my lap and fusing her mouth to mine. I thought she was pissed at me, but there is no way I am going to protest when she is all over me like this. When she pulls away, she leans her forehead against mine.

“Thank you for everything you have done for my sister today,” she says, kissing my cheek. “Thank you for thinking ahead and ordering wine, massages, and dinner for us.” She kisses my other cheek, then pulls back to look at me. “I am also sorry for overreacting to what happened earlier with little Miss. Too Flirty. I got jealous even though you ignored all her advances.’

She kisses me more passionately before she pulls away so she can stand back up. I try to pull her back down for more kisses, but she swats my hand away with a laugh. The sultry look in her eyes is a promise for later, and I shake my head.”

“I have wine and a massage to get back to. Later, when I come back all drunk and relaxed, you can have your way with me.”

“We shall see how the night goes; now head on back over there before I change my mind and ravish you right now.” I grab her hand and press it to my erection.

She pulls away after stroking me once, then laughs as she rushes to the door and flashes me a tantalizing view of her breasts before she leaves. Damn tease. Now my steak is cold, my cock is hard, and my woman is leaving me to my own devices.

I guess it is a cold shower and a movie kind of night.