Despite the numbness he thought he'd drenched any feelings for his mother in, her wording—cut me loose—struck right through the cold walls and into his feelings of betrayal and abandonment. He whirled on her, fists clenched and the heat of his anger radiating out in uncomfortable waves.

"And something you force on others when it suits you!" he retorted with something between a hiss and a shout. "Don't pretend as if you're some innocent victim!"

This would probably lead to some need to actually explain himself, which was the opposite of what he wanted, but he'd never been terribly great at thinking of the consequences of his actions.