Ditched Cheating Alpha, I Led My Daughter to Life's Peak novel Chapter 279

If Onai or Ethel strolled up to the car, I could only imagine Mom's face. Still, they need to know where I am. I lower the passenger window.

"What are you doing?" Mom asks.

I stretch dramatically, sighing into the open air. "Nothing like an early trip to get some groceries to start off the day."

She rolls the window up as quickly as she can. "It's too cold for that, Mia." She turns the heat up, staring at me like a traitor. That should be enough for whoever's on guard duty. We're just going to Walmart anyway, so it's no big deal.

Mom pulls out of the driveway, sighing as she sits back in her seat. "Did he do something to you?" she asks suddenly.

I raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"Carson," she says. "Is that why you cheated on him?"

"No," I say.

She nods, watching the road. It's quiet for a while before she tries again. "Did you want to get even with him? Because he cheated first?" She's not being rude or sarcastic. She sounds genuinely concerned.

I shake my head. "It's not like that-"

Her breath catches in her throat.

I look into her eyes. "What?"

She covers her mouth. "Did..." Her voice drops. "Did his brother take advantage of you?"

"No." I wave my hands frantically.

Her eyes widen. "I knew it."

"Mom," I'm screaming now.

But she's already made up her mind. "Carson was drunk. His brother said he'd give you a ride. 'No problem.'" She imitates a masculine voice. "'Anything for my future sister-in-law.'"

I nearly gag. Aiden is not my brother. I wish she'd stop deciding things on her own.

She slaps the wheel. "Then he tried something! The scoundrel!"

"It wasn't like that," I yell over her.

"It wasn't?" she asks.

I shake my head.

She deadpans. "Then..."

I stay quiet.

"You cheated on Carson for no reason?" she asks.

There's no winning with her.

I try a different method. "Listen. Last night." I watch the road. "The person in the front seat was-"

"- not Carson," she says flatly. "Don't even try it."

"I wasn't going to," I say.

"Sure you weren't."

I don't even know what to say. I lean against the window, trying not to say something I regret.

She tightens her grip on the wheel. "Just help me understand, Mia. I thought you liked Carson?" she says it like a question. It's not one. "Now you're just throwing him away?"

"I'm not," I say. "We're happy." Why can't she see that? ... Oh yeah.

She looks at me incredulously. "Are you even considering how he'll feel when he finds out? Who are you right now?"

My insides collapse. That's exactly why I didn't call him last night. I know I won't lose him. I'm just afraid he'll be... sad. I feel like I've embarrassed him by betraying him in the eyes of my mother, when she thought we were exclusive. It's not even like that, but still. He'd have every right to feel that way.

I wish my family could just handle the truth!

It feels like I'm always lying to someone, and I don't want it to do that anymore. "His brothers and I... are close," I say.

She furrows her brow. "Close enough to kiss each other?" she asks.

"I didn't say that." I swallow the lump growing in my throat. "I'm just saying, he knows we hang out." Where was I going with this?

She sighs forcefully, making a left turn on a street I don't know. How long have we been driving? "You may not know this, but once upon a time..." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "I was in a similar situation myself."

That's not what I was expecting. I actually don't want to listen to my mom relive the glory days. "You don't have to-"

Her eyes sparkle wistfully. "I had to make the decision between the ravishing jock and the brooding, bad boy." She shimmies her shoulder.

"Mom, please-"

"Then a gentle upperclassman came and swept me away. But that's a different story." She bats her eyes.