Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68735 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Gunner lost his son in a school shooting almost a decade ago now,” Webber murmured. “He’s sworn off all women. Didn’t even know that he’d been intimate with anyone, honestly. Broke up with girlfriends who wanted kids. He doesn’t want kids. Ever again.”
“Well,” Creole said as she stood up. “It’s not like he has a choice now, does he? He’s got one.”
I scrubbed at my face. “Did she take advantage of him is the real question.”
“Laney would never do that,” Creole said fiercely. “She wouldn’t have forced herself on him, and you know it.”
I let my head fall back, and my head hit the metal bars that lined the inside of Webber’s office.
“No,” I agreed while still staring at the ceiling. “But I also wouldn’t have thought that she would have put Gunner in that position, knowing how bad it would hurt him to know that he has a kid.”
“That’s why she lied,” Creole guessed. “Because once she realized what she’d done…who she’d done…that it was a mistake. She couldn’t get out of it after that. But she could throw someone else under the bus.”
“Fuck,” I grumbled, my gaze going to Webber’s, as if he could help me solve the world’s problems. “What do we do now?”
“The entire situation doesn’t change, Audi,” Creole said, drawing my attention from my club president. “She still needs surgery. She still needs her dad and his medical history. She needs Gunner, whether he’s ready to deal with this or not. We can keep her. You and me can raise her. But Gunner has to at least give us information.”
I liked the sound of ‘you and me.’
But there wasn’t a you and me to be had…was there?
“I agree with your little enemy here,” Webber said. “He needs to know. He may not like what he finds out, but he needs to know.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. “Fuck!”
“Incoming!” Silver called out loudly.
We all looked up to find Silver in the doorway with a grumpy Lottie.
She yawned in Silver’s arms, but didn’t make a move to go toward anyone else.
I smiled, though it didn’t reach my eyes. “When do we do this?”
“Now.”
Webber, Apollo and Creole all echoed the same word.
Exactly the opposite of what I wanted to hear.
“Fuck!” I got up.
“What’s going on?” Silver asked.
Webber gave her the rundown, causing Silver’s eyes to go wide. “Wow.”
“Wow doesn’t even begin to cover it,” I grumbled. “Let me give her the medication she needs first, then we’ll head to Gunner’s place.”
“He’s working,” Silver said. “At Dallas High today. He won’t be home until three. Maybe you should all go to your place, Audric, and then call Gunner to come over there.”
“Everyone won’t fit,” I admitted.
“My place, then,” Webber suggested. “After work.”
I nodded, and we all went back to our cars.
Webber went back to work.
I let Creole strap a grumpy Lottie in, and I stopped beside the back bumper where Apollo was standing.
“You know, for what it’s worth, I think that I would fuckin’ jump right in with both feet.” Apollo leveled me with a look. “I would find this as fate’s way of telling me I got a second chance. I wish with every fiber of my being that Tavi was back here, in my arms, laughing and carrying on. But if I somehow had a daughter drop in my lap, one of my own flesh and blood, I wouldn’t hesitate. He may freak out, but I think that he’ll be okay once he calms down.”
“I agree,” Creole said quietly. “I miss Damon with my whole heart and soul. Every day I wake up, and I feel like this huge piece of my heart is just gone. Missing to never be found. The idea of having another child scares the absolute crap out of me, because what if I lose that one, too? But if I found out that I had another piece of me running around out there that I had no clue about, you bet your every breath that I’d stop at nothing to have that piece of me in my life.”
I blew out a ragged breath.
Calmness started to settle in my bones.
“But neither one of you are vocal as fuck about how against having kids you are,” I admitted. “You don’t tell anyone that you’d rather die than be a father again.”
“He’s hurt and saying things he doesn’t mean,” Creole said quietly. “Once he has a chance to really comprehend…it’ll be okay.”
Despite their calming and assuring words, I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be okay.
Not even a little bit.
Ten
Remember to look both ways before you go fuck yourself.
—Creole to Audric
CREOLE
“Here goes nothing,” Audric said as he walked outside to greet the man named Gunner.
I’d met all of them at Webber’s wedding—though I’d been introduced to most of them through Laney at one point in time—except for Gunner.