Let Me In by Callie Croix Read Free Book Online

me.”
Yes, there was. And he didn’t deserve to be saddled with all her baggage. Because once his white-knight complex got the better of him, knowing Liam he’d do everything in his power to rescue her. The thought made her bristle. She didn’t need to be saved, and it would seriously piss her off if he tried. A no-win situation, so she didn’t bother responding.
They drove the rest of the way in silence. Once they hit the dilapidated neighborhood, Talia steeled herself for the coming confrontation.
A few blocks later Liam pulled up at the curb in front of her mother’s place. It looked worse in the daylight than it had the previous night. This visit would be worse, too.
“You don’t have to wait,” she told him quietly. “I can catch a cab—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” Even through the shades she could feel his eyes shooting sparks at her.
Well. Looked like she was going to have to do this with somewhat of an audience. She hoped everything would go smoothly. “Okay. And…thanks.”
A startled smile curved his lips. “You’re welcome.” She started to get out, but he caught her wrist and waited until she met his gaze. “I’ll be right here if you change your mind, okay?”
Damn, he was going to reduce her to tears before she even faced the hard part. “Okay.” Climbing out before the temptation to reach for him became too much, she strode up the walkway and knocked on the door. No answer. She raised her hand to knock again when a suspicious voice called out from inside.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Tal, Mom.”
A few seconds later she heard the sound of locks turning and braced herself for the first look at her mother and the inside of her house.
The door opened a crack and her mother’s face appeared in the opening. Too thin, devoid of makeup. She wore a drab beige sweatshirt, something she’d only put on if she planned to hide inside all day. Talia’s heart sank.
Her mother met her gaze briefly before scanning outside warily. “Who’s that in the truck?”
She hid her disappointment at the terse demand. “A friend.” Hi, Mom. I missed you too, and I’m so glad to be here.
“I don’t want him inside.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll stay in the truck.” She pushed back the anxiety threatening to swamp her. This wasn’t going to have a happy ending, she knew it, even though she’d hoped it might. “Can I come in?”
Her mother’s eyes hardened. Deep brown, unlike hers, but with the same emphasized tilt from their shared Asian heritage. “Yeah, I guess, but if you’ve come to give me a lecture, I don’t want to hear it.”
Any traces of hope she’d held on to died in that moment. As she stood there, a rank odor seeped out of the house, smelling of rancid garbage. When her mother swung the door open just enough for her to squeeze through it sideways, Talia had to bite down hard to hold back the cry of denial that rose in her throat.
The entire house was choked with endless piles of junk, from the floor to halfway to the ceiling in places. She couldn’t even see the furniture anymore. Every surface was swallowed by mounds of clothes, papers, books, the never-ending garage sale items her mother obsessively brought home. The clutter was so bad it blocked out the light from the windows, piles of it extending into what used to be the family room and into the kitchen beyond.
Some people buried their pain and disappointment in life with alcohol, food or drugs. Her mother had chosen instead to bury hers in mountains of useless junk.
A strange roaring sound filled her ears. Her brain refused to process what she was witnessing. It was worse than she’d ever seen it. She couldn’t even pick out the chairs or tables she knew were hiding beneath it all. Furniture Talia had bought and paid for the last time she’d been home, when she’d moved her mother in here after completing the intensive therapy she’d finally agreed to. The betrayal bubbling up inside her hurt almost as much as