81 81. Argument (Erik)

Leaving Liona's car, Erik headed for the area of the park that was closest to the crosswalk that lead across the street to the trailer park where his home was located. He still had a lot to think about, but with little time to do so with the short walk to his family's trailer house. Entering the trailer, it was mostly quiet, with all but his oldest two sisters and his mom asleep. His sisters and mom were in the living room talking.

"What are you doing home?" Nikki asked when she spotted him.

"What? Am I not allowed to come home?" Erik asked, joking.

"That's not what your sister meant, Erik. What are you doing to home so early? It's a two-hour walk from the grocery store." His mother demanded.

"Ooh! Did you get fired?!" Kylee exclaimed.

"No, I didn't get fired… At least I hope not…" Erik mumbled the last part. "I uh, accidentally fell asleep on the bus and ended up downtown. By the time I could catch a bus back to the grocery store, my shift would have been nearly over, so I hung around downtown for a bit…"

"And is that why you're covered head to toe in an omega's pheromones? You ditched work to spend time with that omega girl?! Erik, I expected better of you, young man. She may be your fated mate, but you're already being too much influenced by that hussy rich girl's flippant attitude to the working class. She's just going to hurt you in the end, with her tempting you to skip work. It starts off as once in a while, but then what? What happens when you're fired from all your jobs for being a no-show?"

"Mom…" Erik tried to get a word in.

"Is your rich girl going to support you for the rest of your life? Will she be happy with that commitment when she realizes there's no money for her to spend her days idling away, shopping? What about when she ends up with your child? What are you going to do when you can't support her spending habits as well as afford to raise a child? Are you going to give up everything for this girl? Your livelihood as well as your happiness when she sucks the life out of you, day after day, with her constant complaining about how poor life works?"

"Mother…" Erik tried again, with a hint of anger to his voice.

"What about what you want with your life? What happens when you give up everything for this girl, and you get trampled into the ground as she sucks up every penny you make. She'll spend it all on frivolous luxuries while she eats bonbons in front of an expensive TV doing nothing because she's never had to lift a finger in her entire life. So that you come home exhausted from working and end up caring for your child that she's neglected all day, as well as cooking and cleaning up after her. Or what if she decides that the poor life no longer suits her, and she runs off to be with an alpha that has the means to support her? Or what about her parents? Are they going to accept your poor status for their pampered little princess? What about her possibly already being betrothed to another rich alpha…"

"MOTHER! THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH! STOP BADMOUTHING MY MATE!" Erik was enraged. He let out a burst of angry pheromones, the red flecks in his vision nearly obscuring it as he seethed at his mother's awful and untrue words. Especially as her stupid hypotheticals that would never come true for his sweet caring, smart and funny, beautifully clever fated mate. He just knew that Liona wasn't that kind of person his mother was painting a picture of.

"Momma. You don't know Liona. She's nothing like you're saying. I don't blame Erik for being mad. Besides, it's his life. It's not like you have a say in who his fated mate is." Nikki was a little surprised to feel her newly presented older brother so mad. But in this case, she didn't blame him. Their mom went too far. She obviously didn't know Liona well, but what she had seen of her and the way that Erik had described their interactions before and after they found out they were fated; she knew that Liona was not the kind of person their mother was describing.

"Momma, you don't know what Liona is like…" Kylee also added.

Erik could see that his mother was a bit flabbergasted as well as shocked that he, the usually well-behaved one, had given such an outburst. She also seemed startled that his sisters were sticking up for his mate.

"That was uncalled-for, young man…" His mother started, but Erik interrupted.

"I think it was quite called for. You have absolutely no right to badmouth my girlfriend and fated mate. You don't know her or her circumstances and life. You don't know how hard she works to be the perfect image that people like you expect her to be, when she just wants to lead a quiet life away from the spotlight and spend time with her loved ones. She's also not one to sit around and twiddle her thumbs all day. Yes, she comes from a well-off family, but that doesn't mean that she's this stereotypical peg you've forced into the wrong hole! I made that mistake at first too, but then I got to know her and realized that I was so wrong! Even my sisters have put away their prejudices against her once they spent a little time in her company." Erik struggled to keep his voice calm and remain level-headed as he spoke to his mother.

"Fine. You bring her here. Tomorrow. Dinner. No exceptions. I will meet this little rich girl you've decided to ignore my warnings over. I'll show you her true colors when she's faced with poverty head on. She'll go running, screaming, for the hills as soon as she sees what, our home looks like. If that's not enough to frighten her off, then just wait until we try to feed her our best meal. I've got some canned meat I've been saving. It will go well cooked into a meatloaf if I can find some discount meat at one of the stores around town, since you somehow managed to play hooky today and didn't bring home anything to help us."

Erik clenched his fists. This was a side of his life he wanted to avoid showing Liona, but it seemed that the time had come because, like it or not, this was an order from his mother. He was not allowed to refuse this order because he was living under her roof and this was her home. He had no say when he was still a minor, and his life was ruled by his mother's iron will. 

He took a deep breath and tried to calm down before he responded. "Fine, if I see her tomorrow, then I'll inform her, but I can't guarantee that she can come tomorrow. Our spare time may not be the same for her."

"I see how it is, she's too busy gallivanting around town shopping to bother meeting her future mother-in-law. What did I say? Huh?!"

Erik worked in another deep breath before responding, "Mother, that isn't so. Stop with your biased view of her. She happens to have just turned 18 and her whole family is in town to celebrate her coming of age. She values family above all else, and there's some family that she doesn't get to see very regularly because they either live far away or overseas. She's entitled to be busy, no matter the reason. Just because YOU want to meet her, doesn't mean she has to drop everything to come running here."

"Besides, how would YOU feel if you got the chance to see your family again after a long time and then someone demanded that you appear in front of them for purely selfish reasons? You wouldn't like being summoned that way, so why should I tell her your unreasonable expectation that you are demanding of her? You're lucky that she's a level-headed and kind girl. I'll pass on your demand, but I won't blame her for not showing up tomorrow with such short notice. I suggest that you curb your vile bias of her before you meet her mother. There's only so much that I can take of someone badmouthing my mate…" Erik had it. He couldn't be level-headed like he intended, but his mother was no exception to saying hurtful things about his mate.

"Erik Theodor Norman. That is no way to speak to your mother!" His mother barely managed to get out.

"No, mother, it is. I will make you see that my mate is not some rich little hussy as you referred to her as. You don't get to speak about my mate that way. I don't care that you're my mother. If you continue to badmouth her, you can kiss me and any potential grandkids in the future goodbye. I will choose her over you…" With that, Erik turned and walked down the hall to his room. It wasn't much of a rebellion, but he managed to get out his fury in his words to his mother. Thankfully, his siblings were heavy sleepers. The little ones were still fast asleep and when he checked on Kirsten and Heather, they were asleep as well, before grabbing some clothes and heading for the bathroom to get a shower. He needed time to think, and a shower would help clear his head of his tumultuous insides that were all churned up with these negative feelings.