Page 48 of Dark Tangled Truths
“But you didn’t say anything until Sunday?” Now Mom sounds hurt. Great. I’m a disappointment, and I hurt her feelings.
I don’t want to be having this conversation, so I take a sip of coffee. Unfortunately, they’re all still waiting for me to spill the truth. And this torture won’t end until I do. Fuck.
“Yes, I finally told you because Chase used the fact I hid our breakup and my relationship with Damon from you to make me pretend to still be his girlfriend. And since he didn’t want to lose his new reputation with his parents, he didn’t tell them we were broken up either.” I don’t want to spill the whole truth, but there is that. Apparently Damon has no issue with telling them everything about my relationship. But hopefully, he’ll keep his mouth shut.
Because if Mom finds out he watched me and blackmailed me, I don’t know that Adam will be able to convince her to stay.Don’t worry, Mom, he likes to watch me, and I get off on it, so it’s all good. Fuck my life.
“Is this why you got in a fight with Chase?” Adam asks Damon.
Mom covers her mouth like that thought is horrifying. I put my hand over my eyes.
“I punched Chase because he left Evan out in the middle of the woods. At night. Alone. Because she wouldn’t put out.” Damon squeezes my hand. “And then he came back to the party without her to get laid.”
My mouth opens and closes, and I narrow my eyes on him. They didn’t need to know that.
“That wasn’t the only reason you punched him,” I add snarkily. He doesn’t get to air all my dirty laundry and get away scot-free.
He glares at me, like he’s going to push me harder. “Evan hasn’t slept in her own bed since the first night she moved in.”
My heart pounds. What is he doing?
“What?” Mom squeaks out.
“She sleeps in my bed with me. What did you expect to happen?” Damon turns to my mother. “You left her alone. You always leave her alone. It’s no wonder monsters like Chase found her. Like I found her.”
I snatch my hand from Damon. I can’t believe he told my mom that. My heart is racing. There’s no way to undo what he just did. I want to put my hand over his mouth and make him be quiet, but this isn’t the time I get my way.
“Maybe if you paid more attention to your daughter than your boyfriend of the moment?—”
Fuck this. I stand up. “Chase is the one who hit Damon this summer. Chase was cheating on me at the time.”
Damon glares at me. But I’m done. If he wants it all out there, everything should be out there.
“Stop using me to try to punish my mother or your father or whatever warped thing you’re doing right now.” I throw my hands up. “Yes, Damon and I are together and have been for a while. We’re both eighteen, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Maybe we started at the wrong place, but we’re good now. Chase is a lying, manipulative bastard who used me and hurt Damon. He deserves any wrong coming his way. But neither of you gets a say in our relationship. That’s between me and Damon. If we even have a relationship after this.”
My heart squeezes and aches because his eyes have grown colder with each word out of my mouth.
“This would have all come out eventually.” I sink back onto the couch with a little space between us. “It has nothing to do with your relationship, Mom. This isn’t a way for the kids to get back at their parents. I’m never getting back with Chase. I don’teven think I really liked him. He’s just the only one who paid attention to me, and it was nice to have a boyfriend.”
It hurts to think about how it’s almost the same with Damon. He might never have paid attention to me if it hadn’t been for Chase. If we hadn’t moved in here.
I’m so tired. I just want to crawl back into bed and forget any of this ever happened. But I don’t really have my own bed here. Tears choke my throat, but I swallow them down.
“You might want to tell the whole truth, Evan.”
I lift my gaze to Damon’s. His eyes are still cold, but I can see the hurt in them. I touch the ring on my finger and wonder if he’ll want it back. If all this is out in the open for nothing. Because he won’t want me anymore after this.
Fine, he wants everything out there.
“No more secrets?” I take a deep breath and turn to Mom. “I’m also dating Hawk and Cam.”
“What?” Mom says. She looks like her head is spinning. Maybe I should have been honest from the beginning, but I was protecting her just as much as I was protecting myself.
I turn to meet her owl-like eyes. “I’m dating Damon, Cam, and Hawk. All of them. At the same time.”
“Damon,” Adam says, looking like he’s chewing on glass. “Is that true? About Chase? He was the driver of your hit and run?”
The muscle tenses in Damon’s jaw. “Yes.”
