Breaking Bedlam (Beautiful Bedlam Book 2) (2 page)

“Your fly is undone.” She told him grimly giving him her
the full extent of her medusa glare. If looks could kill, Mrs. Rivers had homicide down to a science.
When had that happened?
Sienna thought. Probably sometime when they were too busy pressing themselves against each other. Sienna was mortified. Logan however looked mildly amused. He zipped up his trousers and quietly thanked her.

“Oh and Logan, you left your souvenir behind.” She added now giving Sienna the full extent of the medusa glare. Logan and Sienna both frowned momentarily before realizing what she meant. He snatched the condom and put it back in his pocket and quickly left the house leaving Sienna to battle with the Gorgon.

2.

“Oh my God! On the kitchen table!” Candice squealed whilst covering her mouth with her hands unable to conceal her laughter and apparent delight in watching Sienna squirm and bury her head further in to her pillow out of sheer and utter mortification.

“Mmhmm.” she merely confirmed as she thought back to look of complete outrage and anger on her mother’s face. She sat up slowly to face a fully dressed Candice. It was probably eight o’clock in the morning and Candice had just snuck back in to the house through the window. She decided to avoid using the door thus avoiding a full-blown lecture from the entire Rivers clan.

“I still haven’t told you about the condom.” Sienna sighed as she relayed the previous night’s affairs.

Candice’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Whoa, were you guys really going to do it?”

“No!” she yelped back in response a little too quickly.

“’Cos I never thought you guys were that serious yet? Isn’t this going a little too fast?”

“Says the girl who just did the walk of shame. How was your mysterious night? Good by the looks of it.” Sienna quickly averted the direction of the conversation and arched an eyebrow at Candice’s glassy eyes and disheveled appearance.

“Oh don’t you start.” She rolled her eyes and slumped on to her bed and began taking her shoes off.

“Your mom must have been furious!” Candice giggled at the thought of stern proper bible bashing Aunt Maria catching her little angel with her legs wrapped around the local bad boy in her beloved kitchen of all places!

“You have no idea. I’m banned from everything, from the TV, the car, and the laptop. I’m not allowed to go out! Until indefinitely.”

“I don’t see what’s the problem? You’re barely allowed any of that anyway.”

“True.” She smiled wryly. But her smile immediately faltered as she recollected the venom in her mother’s voice. She had been mad at Sienna before but this was different. This time she was so furious she was eerily calm and cool at first. She did nothing but stand before her daughter without blinking. Her usual pensive hazel eyes penetrated in to Sienna’s emerald ones unflinchingly. The silence in the kitchen was almost deafening except for the sound of drops of water escaping the water tap.

“Mom, its not what it looks like! We were just-‘

“You were just what? Frolicking in sin? I raised you better. Your
father
raised you better than to be some cheapened no good
whore
. Honestly I can’t even leave the house for a single second without you screwing something up!” she hissed now only a few inches away from her face. Sienna felt hot salty tears slowly stream down her face. She didn’t bother wiping them and let them pour down her chin. They were falling far too fast and rapidly like a rainstorm enunciating her emotions.

“What? Suddenly you have nothing to say? No comeback line? No stupid remark?” she spat out, showing a crack in her falsely calm demeanor. Sienna didn’t reply to that. What could she say? Her apologies were never going to be good enough for her mother. Anything she had to say were surely to be either refuted ignored or mocked at. Besides, everything her mother was saying was correct. Her father would have been ashamed of her.

“Did you even clear out those boxes in the garage?” she asked and sighed frustrated as she saw the dawning realization and apprehension on her daughter’s face.

“Tell me is there anything you can do without being reminded a hundred times. What a
stupid
little girl you are. Of course that doesn’t matter, seeing as that idiot boy isn’t interested in your brain now is he?” she scoffed as the pain and hurt became evident on Sienna’s face and turned to leave.

“His
name
is Logan.”

“
Excuse me
?”

“That
boy
is Logan Jackson. That’s his name,” she stated slowly and clearly as if her mother were dumb. She wiped her tears with the back of her palm and squared her shoulders and stood a little taller as her mom turned to face her outraged. You could say whatever you wanted to Sienna, she had heard it all, the good, the bad and most definitely the ugly. But somehow hearing her mom talk about Logan that day as if he were dirt beneath her shoe, Sienna felt the prickling heat that was pure anger eradiate its way to her heart. Offending him seemed to ignite more hurt than it did when the insult was aimed at her.

“And he’s not an idiot. In fact its pretty much guaranteed a place in Harvard. He got an almost perfect SAT and GPA score.” Her mother didn’t look surprised or taken back in the slightest by this new tidbit of information. Instead she looked vaguely amused and looked at Sienna pityingly. “And he’s not using me. He’s not at all what he looks like. He’s smart and he’s funny and sweet. And I think he really likes me. He might even-“

“I’m going to stop you there you foolish girl! Get that silly little notion out of your head now!” she yelled and gripped Sienna’s arms tightly and shook her slightly.

“That boy is a Jackson; his family is made of money. Old money. His father is a US senator. His grandfather is so wealthy he could probably buy this town if he wanted. Their entire family is full of successful lawyers and businessmen. This time next year, he’ll be off to Harvard whilst you’re still here nothing more than a glorified high school graduate. As you said he’s smart. He’ll be off doing great things in the world. And you? You’ll be nothing more than a notch in a long list of notches on his belt. He’ll barely even remember your name.”

“You’re wrong. He’s not like that. He’s…different.” Sienna meekly whispered back wishing she could put more conviction in to her timid voice. She didn’t even believe herself.

“And I’m not just going to stay at home.
I’ll study harder and win a scholarship.” She gulped trying not to feel so overwhelmed by the vile picture her mother’s words were creating. The thought of spending even a moment past high school at home felt unbearable to her. “Oh? And what if you don’t? Who will pay for all of these college fees, especially, if you want to go to an Ivy League college? Your father’s not here anymore. When he died, our main source of income died along with him. Its time to grow up Sienna and stop daydreaming! Sometimes you have to sacrifice your dreams for your family. Stop being so selfish for goodness sake!” Mrs. Rivers screeched desperate to get through to her stubborn naïve daughter.
Why wouldn’t she just understand and listen? Was it honestly that hard? Instead all she wants to do is go gallivanting around the world and fool around with her dumb pretty boy boyfriend
, she thought wretchedly.

“I’ll get a job. I’ll babysit, I’ll waitress, I’ll tutor, I’ll get a loan or something! I‘ll figure it out.” Sienna shouted back angry with her mom for backing her in to a corner like this.

“You still don’t understand. After high school, I need you here at home with me. We can’t just live off whatever your father left us, that will soon run out. And we can’t just live off of Meredith’s income.” Her mom replied sharply and looked at her expectantly with her eyebrows raised.

“Oh and I’m the selfish one? Why can’t you go back to work?” Sienna asked shocked at her mother’s hypocrisy. It wasn’t as if Annie was an infant that needed constant care and besides she did her own homework and her sisters were the ones that practically raised her.

“As what? I have no college degree. I didn’t even finish high school. You want me to become a maid? You want me to go out everyday cleaning houses? Is that what you want?” she cried with fresh tears flooding down her face. Sienna instantly felt a pang of guilt. Her mom was born in Colombia and came to America when she was only sixteen years old. Sienna’s Nana raised her mother alone and worked hard every day as a maid until she eventually passed away. Her mother rarely cried especially in front of the girls. So whenever she did, Sienna never knew what to do or say.

“Mom, I’m so-“

“I mean, what will people think? What would I say to them? How will I even show my face around town? Its bad enough that I have to live with the shame that your father put a gun in his mouth!” she sniveled and wiped her nose with a tissue she fished out from her purse. Suddenly Sienna lost all sympathy for her mother and shook her head sullenly.

“Oh calm down mother, enough of the drama! Nobody is going to suddenly become a maid or become a housecleaner! Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” She snapped back angrily. Her mom was clearly set on a mission to drive her insane with her with theatrical hypotheticals.

“Listen to me,” her mother bellowed as she grabbed Sienna’s shoulders tightly as if she wished she were strangling her neck. “You will not see that boy again. Do you hear me? Never again! This little infatuation with him-it’s done. It’s
over
.” She hissed and shook her shoulders.

“I don’t understand. Why? You love Logan! You’re not making any sense.” Sienna cried back in frustration.

“Because I am your mother and for once in your life you will do what you’re told. Is that understood?” she screamed back.

“Yes.” she replied sullenly which translated as ‘
No
’ in her mind instantly.

“Good.” Maria sighed and wiped her tears then wandered off to the kitchen for her hourly fix. Wasn’t it bad enough that she had lost her father during Christmas of all times? She wasn’t going to suddenly let go of the one person in this world who filled her with euphoria and made her forget for just
one
single moment in her life that her father had killed himself knowing full well that one of his family members would find him. It turned out to be Annie who discovered his body first. Personally Sienna wondered if Phil Rivers hoped it was his wife who found him. It was no coincidence that his death had occurred just moments after his big fight with her mother. Sienna watched in cold teary silence as her mother began rifling through the cupboards in search for the pills the doctor had prescribed for her. The truth was she blamed her, as awful as the thought was sometimes Sienna wished her mother had been the one who killed herself and not her father. And as she saw Maria Rivers glaring back at her from the kitchen, she knew her mother wished for the same thing. Sienna only wondered why?

3.

“Seriously, you’d rather study
Biology
than sneak out and have fun with me? C’mon Rivers, seize the day; you’re young, you’re beautiful and not to mention already crazy smart! You’ve got to give yourself a break and live a little.” He persuaded her so ardently she couldn’t help but laugh at his feeble attempts to rendezvous with him. He really would make a great lawyer one day.

“And maybe…just maybe…I miss you a little too much.” Logan’s thick deep velvety voice sent waves of electricity all of her. Even the sound of his voice sent her heart rate skyrocketing. And just like that somehow he’d won the case and her heart once again.