Tristan: Mine, all Mine Book 2(Mature 18+)

Chapter 27

One day you're going to love someone. And it'll be more than anything you've ever experienced. There won't be a word in the dictionary to describe it. You will literally move heaven and earth to be near that person. To be with them. Even if it means you have to go through the fires of hell. Nothing will stop you to be in their presence. Nothing.

Those words, said so long ago, stayed with Serenity from the moment she boarded the plane from Charlotte to Boston. During a rare moment of sobriety, Serenity's mother had said those words. It was the few times in her life she could remember her mother giving her any advice that wasn't clouded with hatred, resentment or bitterness.

She'd been talking about Serenity's father. Although they were no longer together when he died, her mother never stopped loving him. Never stopped mourning him. Part of Serenity believed that was how and why her mother had grown addicted to drugs. The love she had for the man she'd loved and lost was so extreme that when she lost him for good, she couldn't bear it and she did the only thing she could to numb and squelch the pain: She went hard on drugs.

Serenity didn't have to imagine a love like that. She had it now. With Tristan. For Tristan. With each moment that passed, her love and obsession for him grew in leaps and bounds. She couldn't get to him fast enough. But other things stood in the way.

She ended up getting to Tristan later than she wanted. She had to make sure things were squared away with her mom first; that Henry and Kara would be able to look in on her.

It took them forever to find her. She wasn't in her usual rundown hood and she wasn't with her abusive beau Albert. Serenity had gone to his house asking about her mother and he'd all but thrown her off the front porch after telling her he hadn't seen her. He hated Serenity as much as Serenity hated him. He never forgave her for calling the cops on him the few times she'd seen him beating her mother. Serenity didn't give a fuck. The asshole was lucky she hadn't had him killed.

She looked for her mother in for hours, to no avail. She finally located her mother in the old neighborhood they had stayed in when Serenity was a child. The same neighborhood she used to sell her body for drugs in. Serenity didn't want to think about it; didn't want to focus on it. Didn't ask her mother who the man was she was standing on the corner with. She hoped she hadn't acquired another pimp. She knew her mother let Albert exchange her for drugs when his funds were too low to pay his suppliers. It made Serenity sick to her stomach but her mother was fighting a battle that no amount of love or prayer could fix.

She didn't even bother asking her mother what she was doing or why she was there. When she was going home. She didn't have time for the lies. Or the vacant looks. She told her mom she was leaving town for a few weeks with a friend and Kara and Henry would be available if she needed them. She told her mom she would call her if she had time. IF.

She'd had the driver Tristan had hired, Walter, take her over there and she immediately ran and got back in the limo after sharing the news with her mother. She could see the heightened interest in her mom's eyes through the tinted glass as Walter drove away and a part of her heart stung because she couldn't share the excitement of everything that was happening with her. They should be sharing this experience together, whispering and giggling about what first love was like.

Her mother broke her heart. Lucky for her, having Tristan in her life was mending it.

Before heading to the airport, Serenity had Walter take her to both Leon and Kara to clue them in to what was going on. She was leaving Kara as the main person in charge of making sure the fridge was stocked, the house was secure, and whatever bills were due were paid. Kara wasn't a security guard where her mother was concerned; that was a task that not even Serenity herself was successful at. But Serenity made her promise that if anything happened to her mother or things looked sketchy around the house (more than the usual drugging and drinking) Kara should call her immediately and she would be on the first plane back to Charlotte.