You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 861

Grace shook all over, every word from Nick cutting straight through her.

She stepped up, desperate to stop him from saying anything else that would break her apart, and slapped him hard across the face.

Nick’s head snapped to the side.

For a long second, he just stood there. Then a sharp, bitter laugh broke from his lips. He lifted his hand, touched the corner of his mouth, and when his fingers came away, they were smeared with blood.

The sight stung, more than the pain itself.

“I’m your mother. Would I ever hurt you? Sure, maybe I’ve messed up, maybe I haven’t always been fair, but I’ve never wanted anything but the best for you. Nick, do you even realize how much it hurts to hear you say things like this to me?”

Hurt?

Nick let out a cold laugh.

So she could feel pain after all.

“What about you?” His voice was low, but it shook. “Did you ever think how much it would hurt me when you pushed Joy away?”

Grace’s whole body jerked. She stared at him, completely stunned. “So you really do blame me.”

“I did it for your own good. What’s so special about her anyway? She didn’t even finish college, doesn’t have a job, her family can’t give you any help, and she’s got a younger brother who just drags her down.”

“What could you possibly get by marrying a girl like that?”

Nick’s anger burst out. “Who said I needed to get something from her?”

“In your eyes, a mother’s love is pure, but love between a man and woman always has to be some kind of deal?”

“I can’t stand you. You act so proud, so righteous, like everything you do is for my sake, but all you ever do is hurt me. You try to control everything, it’s suffocating. Do you know why I’m always out? Because I can’t even breathe when I’m in the same house as you. I can’t stand it. I can’t stand you.”

His shouts filled the room, then faded into a silence so thick, it felt like the air had gone still.

Grace looked at him, her face twisted in shock and disbelief.

Nick’s words felt like knives, every one carving deep into her heart, slow and cruel.

Then all at once, the silence shattered.

A raw, broken sob ripped out of her.

She sank to the floor beside the bed, gripping the frame so hard her knuckles shook. She couldn’t stop trembling.

She pressed a hand to her stomach, using the other to pull a tissue under her sweater and wipe away the sticky gel from her ultrasound.

Her cold was getting worse, and every cough made her stomach tighten. She’d wanted to just stay home, but Oliver wouldn’t have it. He dragged her to the hospital, worried sick.

And just her luck, it turned out to be the same hospital where Nick was.

They’d only been by the door for a minute when someone came by and said Kolbey had arrived. They caught a bit of the drama before slipping away.

Patricia balled up the tissue in her palm.

Oliver opened his hand, and she dropped the tissue into it. “Is Kolbey really that good?”

“Better than Nick.”

“And who’s Joy? The girl he mentioned?”

“His girlfriend from high school.”

“She never went to college?”