Page 61 of Save Me
“Mother!” I gasp, utterly shocked to hear such a thing slip from her mouth. She doesn’t even like the word ‘bitch’, let alone the f-word.
“I’m sorry, but it needs to be said!” She pouts with her hands on her hips and a no-nonsense look on her face. “I am meeting the bastard in two hours time so be prepared for me to be working myself up over it.”
“Hey, Mrs T,” Bodhi smiles when she finally acknowledges his presence, “how was the flight?”
“Don’t you Mrs T me!” she snaps. “You, buster, should have come to me as soon as all of this happened. You both should have!”
Oh great, now I’m getting the pissed-off Mum treatment too. Where do they teach women like her how to instill the fear of God into someone just with a hook of an eyebrow and a narrowing of the eye? Wherever it is, it did an excellent job because she now has both of us sheepishly facing the floor, desperately trying to avoid looking at the ball of fury who is my mother right now.
“Oh, come here both of you idiots!” she finally huffs in defeat, throwing her arms around the sorry-looking pair in front of her. I rarely join in with such cheesy acts of affection, but after the last few days, I’ll take whatever I can from these two. If things continue along the path they are currently on, I might not have many of these opportunities left.
“Right, first things first, I need a cup of tea, then we need to strategize.”
Moving into the kitchen, where all great conversations come to pass in this house, I walk over to switch the kettle on, ready to discuss tactics over how to get me the hell out of all this.
“Beth is not marrying that bastard, end of!” Mum announces with determination. “I don’t care who he is, who he knows, it’s not happening!”
“I agree,” Bodhi says with a bob of his head, “but this guy is scary dangerous, Mrs T. He knows people and has a reputation for making obstacles disappear without question. It’s going to take more than you marching in and trying to lay down the law. Then there’s your husband’s biological father to worry about, Carl Steele.”
Mum frowns at me for further explanation, however, I have little information to give her. I only know that he married my grandmother and wasn’t very nice to her. After I tell her this, Bodhi emits a long sigh, so, in slow motion, we turn to face him, knowing by the look on his face that he knows more, and it can’t be good.
“Xander’s uncle is a bit of a media mogul. He started in journalism and knows how to dig for dirt,” he begins, surprising me because Xander has never even mentioned his uncle before. “Xander has worked with him for the past two summers to learn the ropes, as it were. He’s seen and heard some pretty seedy stuff, and for a kid his age, it’s kind of played on his mind. He doesn’t tend to talk about it much and I’m not sure it’s where he wants to go in life but it’s kind of a given that he’ll take over. His uncle has no children of his own. Casey is little Miss Princess, so she doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to.”
“Wow,” I murmur, feeling guilty for not knowing any of this about him. “He’s never said anything about this to me.”
“Honey,” Bodhi says softly and with a gentle smile, “I think you have enough to contend with right now.”
“Who exactly is Xander?” Mum asks, sounding more confused than ever.
“Beth’s boyfriend,” Bodhi cuts in with a smirk before I can even attempt to answer.
Mum’s mouth drops open in shock before beaming at me. Sighing, I brace myself for the oncoming Mum embarrassment treatment that’s about to befall me.
“You have a boyfriend?!” she gushes. “Is he dreamy?” I roll my eyes and playfully swat her away when she begins pawing at me.
“Mum! Focus, please!” I chastise her, all the while she smiles at me like a complete goof.
“Yes, sorry,” she mumbles sheepishly, “just needed a reason to smile, baby girl.”
“I know,” I say sadly, leaning against her for comfort.
“Anyway, Xander has done some digging to find out more about Mayfield. He told you a little bit,” Bodhi says while pointing at me, almost in question, so I give him a quick nod. “But he’s been looking into Carl Steele, your grandfather. This guy has been under investigation for countless seedy crimes, including human trafficking, rape, murder, and extortion. Every time a case is opened, it magically gets dropped, usually for a lack of evidence. Xander’s informant has also told him that Carl is dead keen on you marrying Oliver Lawrence so he can put an end to gossip amongst the Mayfield. The fact that your grandmother managed to get away with his unborn heir has always cast shade over him. You’re the one person who can give him back his credibility, while also making Oliver Lawrence a top candidate for the most sought-after position in their council.”
“Shit!” both Mum and I say in shocked unison.
Bodhi remains tight-lipped, letting that piece of information sink in for a moment or two. Feeling desperately hopeless, I drop my head to the table with a small thud, lost in the knowledge that I’m stuck being Mrs Lawrence as of August next year. We’ve lost; Oliver’s won!
“Come on, Beth,” Mum says as she begins rubbing my back in soothing circles, even though they are having no effect on me whatsoever. “We are not giving up on this. We can beat it!”
I eventually look at her with a less than convinced face, but she simply glares back, as if daring me to argue with her.
“Right then,” she says with renewed vigor, “let’s go and see what this shithead has to say for himself. Bodhi, let’s move it!”
She jumps up and begins marching toward the door with determined strides and that mean Mum stare back in her eye. Bodhi gives me a small reassuring hug before he goes after her. I remain rooted to my chair, letting out a long sigh over my situation; it only appears to be getting more and more hopeless.
Jen
Bodhi and I stand before the pretentious wooden door that is far too big for any normal human being, waiting with bated breath for it to be opened. Of course, Mr Lawrence, a man with an unwarrantedself-inflated ego, doesn’t open the door himself, he has a maid do it. She is polite, reserved, and efficient in carrying out her duties unnoticed, like a secondary character from a Victorian period drama. A cold shiver runs down my spine, knowing that Beth has willingly signed up to this life. Worse than that is the fact that she is now destined for it because these Mayfield lunatics believe she is rightfully theirs to claim.