Filthy Virgin

Chapter 24: Liam

"Are you even listening to me Liam?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry." I tried to focus on my mom, today's lunch appointment somehow harder than it'd ever been before.

Actually, I knew why. I'd been like this for the last two days, completely unable to concentrate on anything expect trying to figure out what the hell had gone wrong with Celeste and me, what had made her leave so abruptly.

I'd come up with less than nothing. She'd been perfectly content before I stepped into the shower, and I'd come out to find her packing her shit up and running out of there like hell hounds were after her.

"If you're not going to pay attention to me maybe we should just reschedule."

Janet's words brought me out of my musings once again, and I flushed guiltily.

"Sorry, just have a lot on my mind." I grabbed my water and gulped some down, hoping it would help clear my head.

"Hmph. What's that tart of a stepsister done now?"

I nearly choked on my drink. "What did you just say?"

"Oh please, no need to be coy. I walked in on her wearing nothing but your shirt, and it wasn't even decently buttoned. I think it's shameful that you've let her get under your skin. She's only getting close to you so she can manipulate you."

I stared at her, wondering if she was joking or not. The idea of Celeste manipulating me for her nefarious ways like my mother was implying was so ludicrous that I began laughing.

"Surely you don't find that harlot using you to be funny, Liam Alexander."

My laughter stopped cold, and I glared at my mother with my eyes slit. "First of all, if you ever call her a harlot, tart, or any other disparaging names, we are through. I don't care that you're my mother. I won't have you talking that way about a woman I love."

Janet's eyes had gone wide with surprise, and she blinked at me while processing my threat.

"You really do care about her."

"Of course. When have I ever let a woman move into my house, stepsister or not? Which, by the way, has no real bearing on our relationship because we barely even saw each other in the short time you and her dad were married. It sounds scandalous, but in reality it means nothing."

Expecting an immediate response since that was her usual m.o., I was slightly surprised to see her expression turn nervous, and noticed that she seemed to be chewing on the corner of her lip. A weird foreboding filled me, and suddenly her words from before made me realize that I was about to figure out the missing piece of information I'd been trying to see since Celeste left.

"Janet. When you said you walked in on her wearing nothing but my shirt, what did you mean?"

"Well, I stopped by a couple days ago. I knocked, but no one answered. I saw your car in the driveway, so I decided to let myself in just in case something bad had happened."

She trailed off, and I cleared my throat loudly to make her continue.

"When I walked in and saw Celeste sitting at your table bare except for your shirt, I was sure that she was using her...self... to convince you to help her out. Financially."

Shame colored her cheeks, as it well should. I was boiling with anger, realizing that my mother had made Celeste second guess everything we'd shared in a short few minutes with her clever barbs.

"Listen very closely. I love Celeste, and I'm pretty sure she loves me too. She's the most kind-hearted, selfless, humble women I've ever known. She would never do what you're suggesting, and the fact that you think I can't spot a goldigger of a woman from a mile away after being raised by one is embarrassing. So I suggest you think of a way to apologize for all this if you want to stay in my life, because Celeste is the center of that for me."