Reclaim Me (The Jaded Series Book 2) by Alex Grayson, Karen McAndrews, Toj Publishing Read Free Book Online Page A

still in her voice.
    I can’t answer her. All I can do it stare at them. My gaze swings from one to the other. My mom, who is standing there with her hair a disheveled mess and her button up blouse buttoned up the wrong way, has a glow to her face. I also see some scruff marks on her cheeks, and her lips are red and plump. Just like someone who just got done making out.
    My gaze goes to Mr. Hatley, Levi , and I see he’s wearing a pleased expression. Not a smug one, just a happy one. His hair is also a mess, and his button up shirt is missing a couple of buttons. They are both barefoot.
    “Mia, honey, why don’t you sit down and I’ll explain,” she says gesturing to the couch. I nearly gag at the thought of sitting on the piece of furniture that my mom was just on with a man, half naked. I’m never sitting on that couch again.
    I look back at her, and she must see my disgust because she blushes and says, “Uh, maybe that’s not a good idea.”
    “How about we move it to the kitchen?” Mr. Hatley asks. I move my eyes to him and immediately look away. There is no way I’ll be able to look at him the same way. When I was in high school, I always found Mr. Hatley attractive. Not in a weird way, just in an appreciative way. A lot of the girls were infatuated with him. Back then, his hair was a rich brown color and always was a little longer than your average male school teacher. He’s tall and has a slim but muscular body. His deep brown eyes were always kind. All of us kids thought he was the coolest teacher in school. He brought hip to the school, and we always had a blast while in his class.
    Now, even though his hair still has plenty of brown, there is a lot of grey added to it on the sides. You can tell he’s aged some, but he still obviously works out, if you go by the back that I saw and the little bit of chest that I see through the buttons that are missing from his shirt. He’s older, but no less attractive. I can see why my mom would be into him, but it’s still weird and gross.
    “That’s a great idea, Levi. Come into the kitchen, Mia, and I’ll fix us a pot of coffee while we explain.”
    I follow them both into the kitchen and take a seat at the table. Mom immediately moves to the coffee pot and starts taking the fixings out of the cabinet above it. Mr. Hatley sits across from me and gives me a smile. I look back at my mom.
    “How long has this been going on, Mom?” I ask.
    She ignores my question until she’s done with the coffee pot, and then turns around to face me, leaning back on the counter.
    “About two and a half years,” she replies, shocking the hell out of me.
    “What?” I yell. “And I’m just now hearing about this? Does Jaxon know?”
    “No, Jaxon doesn’t know. No one knows,” she says quietly. I can see the worry in her eyes, but there’s also determination.
    “Why, Mom? Why would you hide this from us?” I ask. I’m hurt that my mom has kept this from me, from both me and Jaxon. This is huge and obviously a big part of her life.
    She walks over and sits in the chair beside me and grabs my hand. “Sweetie, how do you think Jaxon would take this? You know how protective he is. Do you honestly think he’s going to be okay with me seeing Levi? You know how he’s been with us women since your father left.”
    I get it, I really do. But to keep something this important from her children hurts.
    Mom continues, “At first it was just the two of us having fun.” My eyes bug out at that. She sees and scolds me, “Oh, come on, Mia. I’m a mom, but I’m also a woman. Moms can have fun, too. Anyway, after a few months, things started to get serious. I knew Jaxon wouldn’t take it well, so we wanted to keep it secret for a while. Then Bailey came and, well, you know what went down there. I didn’t want to add more stress to Jaxon’s plate. I knew I couldn’t tell you because I knew you would go straight to him and Anna. It was just never the right time to tell