Savior Complex: A Small Town Love Triangle Romance

I grab a napkin and wet it in my glass, then work at finding anything else that has made a home on my face.

“Is it gone?” I whisper to Jordy. She shrugs, barely looking at me as she pretends to be more interested in the table linen. My eyes find Brayden’s, and he gives a slight nod, followed by an uptick of the corner of his mouth.

Is he laughing at me? Does he think I’m as big of a joke as the rest of this family. I honestly can’t get out of here fast enough.

“So, who will be your plus one?” my aunt asks.

I realize she’s talking to me, and once again I find myself at the center of attention. “My what?”

“Your date, sweetie.” She glances at my mom and then back to me, as if I can’t see their secret messages to each other. Look at Nina, being stupid once again. “To the wedding?” she prompts. “Are you taking Sebastian?”

“Who?” I’m seriously not winning any genius points here. I realize she’s talking about my made-up boyfriend. “Oh, him. No, he was just a fun thing to do for the weekend.”

Jordy chokes on some water, and I sip mine to hide my smile.

My aunt, however, ignores what I said. “You know we’d love to meet anyone you’re seeing. Maybe one day you’ll be planning your own wedding, just like Jordy and Brayden.”

I mean, it sounded like they were doing everything but planning their wedding, but all right. When I look in their direction again, their faces aren’t giving anything away.

“Well, the poly throuple I recently joined frowns on institutionalized unions,” I say. “Wait, what does that make us now? A quadruouple?”

“Nina, come on.”

I ignore my mom and continue. “I mean, Jeff and Sandy might be into it, but David seems to believe it might wreck the balance.”

“What’s a throuple?” Aunt Lil whispers to Uncle Dan.

“Mom, she’s fucking with you.” Jordy shoots her mom a look, then glares at me. “She’s fucking with all of us. This has been one big giant waste of time, and you all are just playing into her games. Can we either get on with it, or just end the night?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about that huge ass house you live in all by yourself. Nanna Dot left you everything and not one cent for the rest of the family, and you sit there on your throne acting like you’re better than all of us.”

I laugh, tossing my napkin on the table. “That’s why I was invited? Just one more night to rub it in my face that Nanna Dot couldn’t stand any of you, so she left it to the only person who actually spent time with her?”

“Leeched off her, you mean.”

“Jordy.” Brayden covers her hand with his, but she yanks it away.

“It’s true,” Jordy continues. “She saw an opportunity and went for it.” She huffs a laugh, shaking her head. “I got to hand it to you, Nina, you have the patience of a saint. You’re definitely smarter than we all gave you credit for. We all thought you moved in with Nanna Dot because you couldn’t stand living under your parents’ rules. But really you were just worming your way into being Nanna’s favorite and turning her against all of us.”

I can feel the white-hot rage coursing through my veins as I listen to the horrible words coming out of my cousin’s mouth. It doesn’t matter what I do, they will always believe I swindled Nanna Dot out of her money, as if her life wasn’t as important as the inheritance.

I look at my mom, enraged by the stoic expression on her face. As if she doesn’t disagree. As if she thinks I had ulterior motives for moving there.

“You know why I moved in with Nanna Dot,” I spit at her, standing and scooting my chair back. “You know.”

At least she has the decency to lose her indignant expression. My mom’s face falls, and for a moment I see regret. I see the mom I confided in, who held me as I fell apart. Before she forced me to keep this quiet so no one else knew, my mom was who I needed her to be.

And it had been her idea for me to live with Nanna Dot. Not mine.

“Jordy, you’re out of line,” my mother says, turning her gaze to my cousin.

“Don’t talk to my daughter that way.” Aunt Lil starts to push her chair back, but my mom stops her with a look. Something in it makes her simmer back down.

“This whole conversation has gotten away from us.”

“What conversation?” My jaw can’t drop any lower. “This has been a pick on Nina night right from the start. If you all are so mad at me for what Nanna Dot chose to do, why did you even invite me here? Why do you talk to me at all? I don’t need any of you, and you obviously don’t need me. So if we’re done here, I have a long drive to get home.”