Take It - Part Two Read Online Free

titillated to furious in an instant. There's no escaping the crushing weight of that, just as there's no escaping this hospital bed right now.
    Harrison fucked me over, and even in my dreams he’s taunting me, unable to live without the pleasure he’s exposed me to. How am I going to survive in a world where I can’t talk to Harrison? How will I breathe when he’s not evoking unimaginable sensations of erotic pleasure from me? How do I hate someone I just started to love, someone I can’t imagine never touching again?
    It's dark, and I’m as trapped in this bed as I was in the wreckage of my car. I'm starting to panic all over again. I stare at the nurses' call button and consider begging for a sedative. My physical pain is being managed, but do they have anything for a broken heart, bruised pride, and a shattered life?
    The door opens, letting the light and noise from the hallway pour in. A flutter in my heart prays it’s Harrison. I hate him, but, in the depth of my weakness, I crave his comfort. It makes no logical sense to desire a man who's betrayed and ruined me, but I’ve never claimed to be brilliant. I’m nothing more than a cautionary tale for other women. However, Harrison doesn’t step into my room; my mother does.
    “Oh baby, I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I got so lost.” Her familiar voice begs for forgiveness. It’s my mother’s most prominent characteristic: her desire to throw herself on every sword and beg for mercy. She’s apologized her way through life. She’s apologized for her very existence.
    “It’s fine, Mom.” I give her what she needs—absolution. “I’m going to be fine. You didn’t have to come all this way. You hate driving in the city.”
    “Don’t be crazy, Jenny. I’m your mother. Of course I’m going to come when I get a call that you nearly died in a fiery crash. What in the world were you doing on the Cape at that time of day? You should have been at work. I told them it wasn’t you, because you’d never take a day off.”
    I feel my heart crack open, spewing its guts everywhere. I'm so tempted to beg my mother to help me clean up the mess in my life. This is what she lives for, scooping people up and attempting to heal the world through rose-colored glasses. I desperately want my mother to fix this, but reality tells me that wouldn’t be the case. Mom will throw out some useless clichés about silver linings and everything happening for a reason. Utter nonsense. The only reason all of this happened is because I was foolish enough to fall in love with a man who betrayed me, for a reason I still don’t know.
    “I got fired, Mom, but I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to sleep and put all this behind me. I know you have a million questions, but I can’t answer them now.” The tears weren’t planned, but they are streaking down my face, joining those already ruining my mom's makeup. I can’t remember the last time I showed my mother even an ounce of vulnerability. Maybe a skinned knee twenty years ago?
    “I’ll do whatever you need, Jenny,” she sobs, coming to the side of my bed and resting her head next to mine, which is the only version of a hug my banged-up body can tolerate right now. “Come home with me, I’ll take care of you. I promise I won’t ask you a million questions. I just want you home with me, so I know you’ll be all right.”
    Her perfume envelops me in a cocoon of comforting familiarity, reminding me of everything she’s ever done for me, and how little I’ve done for her over the years. I’ve always said I’d never go home again. Being back under my mother’s roof is something I’ve worked hard to make sure I’d never have to do. But my career is as mangled as my car and my life. I have no income and not enough savings to last long enough to heal my body and salvage my career.
    “I can talk to your landlord and pack up your things for you. When you get out of here, we’ll go straight to my