Rebel Roused (Untamed #5) by Jinsey Reese, Victoria Green Page B
Authors: Jinsey Reese, Victoria Green
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decided to support me, but after tonight, after everything you’ve done…” She held out a finger to Quinn’s kid and he grabbed hold of it. Then she looked at her parents again. “I can’t believe in you—either one of you—and I certainly can’t trust you.”
“Oh, honestly, Reagan! The dramatics are at an all-time high with you. Perhaps you should be an actress rather than an art dealer.” Her father threw up his hands, trying to laugh off the situation, but no one in the crowd laughed with him.
Ree’s head snapped up and her eyes turned to steel. “Fuck. You. I’m done with you. Forever. I’ll never, ever let you come near my future children. Not after everything you’ve done. And the saddest, most disturbing part of this all is the fact that you clearly don’t think you were ever in the wrong.”
“You will stop this now, Reagan,” her mother said, her words flung at Ree like slaps. “This is all in the past, and the only one holding onto it is you —clinging to it in a last desperate attempt for attention.” Her voice echoed around the marble-covered room. “And your threat is laughably empty, my darling. Because it’s not like you can actually have children, anyway.”
Her mother’s cold laugh was the only sound in the deafening silence.
seventeen
T ime stopped, my mother’s words rang in my mind as the echo of her laugh died away.
There was only shocked silence in the aftermath. It vibrated in my ears, seeped into my body, tunneled deep into my heart.
The hair stood up on my arms as her words hit me.
“What did you just say?” My breaths were coming faster and faster, as I desperately tried not to hyperventilate. “What do you mean…I can’t have children?”
My mother’s eyes widened as if she hadn’t realized what she’d just let slip. She took hold of her pearls, clutching onto them for dear life. As if that was fucking going to save her now.
In a low voice she said, “Perhaps it would be best if we all went upstairs and discussed this matter in the privacy of our home.”
“Why? Are you embarrassed, Mother? You just announced to half your guests that I can’t have children and YOU’RE suddenly embarrassed?” I shook my head, begging it to stop spinning, pleading with my heart to slow down and my voice to quit shaking. “No, we’ll finish this discussion here because I will not be setting foot in your house ever again.” I took a deep breath. “Why, exactly, can I not have children?”
“There was an infection after the… procedure …and the doctor told us it rendered you sterile.” At least she had the sense to look slightly abashed as she spoke, even if it was too little, too late.
Waking up in that hospital bed, my mother by my side, I remembered being confused. I’d asked her groggily if my appendix had burst.
She’d laughed in response. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Reagan. It was nothing like that. We simply took care of that little problem of yours.”
I hadn’t understood what she meant, fevers and pain driving me to the brink of madness. But she made it perfectly clear later on—I was stunned, and felt violated to the depth of my soul. And even though I’d been on heavy antibiotics for a month, it never occurred to me that something had gone wrong. I had thought it was just part of the pain that came with recovery.
That was when my love affair with pills had started. I’d craved the numbness like a fucking junky.
If I didn’t have Dare grounding me with his hands on my shoulders right now, an unconscious reminder of all the reasons not to succumb, I’d be aching for a bottle of pills again. I couldn’t even form words to respond to my mother’s revelation.
Eyeing me, she added, “Which didn’t seem like a big deal because you’ve never wanted children anyway.”
My eyes blinked furiously as my mind fought to keep up with the implications of everything she was saying. My whole future suddenly felt like it was on shaky
“Oh, honestly, Reagan! The dramatics are at an all-time high with you. Perhaps you should be an actress rather than an art dealer.” Her father threw up his hands, trying to laugh off the situation, but no one in the crowd laughed with him.
Ree’s head snapped up and her eyes turned to steel. “Fuck. You. I’m done with you. Forever. I’ll never, ever let you come near my future children. Not after everything you’ve done. And the saddest, most disturbing part of this all is the fact that you clearly don’t think you were ever in the wrong.”
“You will stop this now, Reagan,” her mother said, her words flung at Ree like slaps. “This is all in the past, and the only one holding onto it is you —clinging to it in a last desperate attempt for attention.” Her voice echoed around the marble-covered room. “And your threat is laughably empty, my darling. Because it’s not like you can actually have children, anyway.”
Her mother’s cold laugh was the only sound in the deafening silence.
seventeen
T ime stopped, my mother’s words rang in my mind as the echo of her laugh died away.
There was only shocked silence in the aftermath. It vibrated in my ears, seeped into my body, tunneled deep into my heart.
The hair stood up on my arms as her words hit me.
“What did you just say?” My breaths were coming faster and faster, as I desperately tried not to hyperventilate. “What do you mean…I can’t have children?”
My mother’s eyes widened as if she hadn’t realized what she’d just let slip. She took hold of her pearls, clutching onto them for dear life. As if that was fucking going to save her now.
In a low voice she said, “Perhaps it would be best if we all went upstairs and discussed this matter in the privacy of our home.”
“Why? Are you embarrassed, Mother? You just announced to half your guests that I can’t have children and YOU’RE suddenly embarrassed?” I shook my head, begging it to stop spinning, pleading with my heart to slow down and my voice to quit shaking. “No, we’ll finish this discussion here because I will not be setting foot in your house ever again.” I took a deep breath. “Why, exactly, can I not have children?”
“There was an infection after the… procedure …and the doctor told us it rendered you sterile.” At least she had the sense to look slightly abashed as she spoke, even if it was too little, too late.
Waking up in that hospital bed, my mother by my side, I remembered being confused. I’d asked her groggily if my appendix had burst.
She’d laughed in response. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Reagan. It was nothing like that. We simply took care of that little problem of yours.”
I hadn’t understood what she meant, fevers and pain driving me to the brink of madness. But she made it perfectly clear later on—I was stunned, and felt violated to the depth of my soul. And even though I’d been on heavy antibiotics for a month, it never occurred to me that something had gone wrong. I had thought it was just part of the pain that came with recovery.
That was when my love affair with pills had started. I’d craved the numbness like a fucking junky.
If I didn’t have Dare grounding me with his hands on my shoulders right now, an unconscious reminder of all the reasons not to succumb, I’d be aching for a bottle of pills again. I couldn’t even form words to respond to my mother’s revelation.
Eyeing me, she added, “Which didn’t seem like a big deal because you’ve never wanted children anyway.”
My eyes blinked furiously as my mind fought to keep up with the implications of everything she was saying. My whole future suddenly felt like it was on shaky
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