Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 182255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 911(@200wpm)___ 729(@250wpm)___ 608(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 911(@200wpm)___ 729(@250wpm)___ 608(@300wpm)
“Of course you are.” Matt squeezed his shoulder. “But you’ve done this before.”
“Not in a long time.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re a great dad,” Matt pointed out.
Seth’s voice dropped. “Am I? The last time...”
“I know.” Matt’s expression sobered. “But you’re doing amazing with Hudson. And this time is different. You’ve got Beck. You’ve got Heavenly, who is definitely not Autumn, thank fuck. And you’re not doing this alone.”
Matt was right—all the way around. And those were precisely the points Heavenly and Beck had made last night.
Unfortunately, that still didn’t stop the fear.
“That’s what I keep telling myself. It’s just… I wasn’t sure I’d ever be in the position to be a father again. Hudson shocked the hell out of me, and I’m damn glad now for my teenage stupidity. He’s a good kid. But a baby?” He rubbed at the back of his suddenly stiff neck. “I didn’t think I’d ever go down that path again.”
“I get it. I’d be gun-shy, too. But you’re strong, bro. You got this.”
The confidence and empathy in Matt’s expression nearly undid him. “Thanks.”
“Do you know whose baby it is?” Matt asked.
“No, and we don’t care,” Seth said firmly. “So I’m hoping it doesn’t matter to anyone else.”
“It doesn’t to me.” Matt’s tone was absolute. “If you claim that kid as yours, as far as I’m concerned, he or she is family.”
Relief spread warmth through Seth’s chest. “I appreciate that. Just...keep the news on the down-low for now. Other than Beck and Heavenly, you’re the only one who knows.”
“You got it.” Matt studied him, his gaze shrewd. “Is the pregnancy news what’s got you so twisted up this morning?”
Seth hesitated. The key to the storage unit sat like a boulder in his pocket, pressing against his thigh. For a moment, he reconsidered telling Matt what their dad had left taped to the back of his dresser…then swallowed back the admission. No point messing with his brother’s head over what might be nothing. But if he found something, Matt would be the first to know.
“Yeah. Among other things,” Seth said carefully.
“Other things?” Matt’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, telling Mom about Beck?”
Seth forced himself to hold his brother’s gaze. “That’s hanging over my head. It’s not going to be easy. But I need to get through the next twenty-four hours without fucking everything up.”
“You will.” Matt watched him for another beat, clearly debating whether to push. Finally, he nodded. “But if something else is going on—“
“I know where to find you.”
“You do.” Matt nodded. “Good luck.”
Seth’s mouth twisted into something between a grimace and a smile. “Yeah. Gonna need it.”
Matt stepped back toward his car. “See you after you’ve talked to Mom?”
“Yeah. One way…or the other.”
With a wave, Matt climbed into his truck and pulled away from the curb. Seth stood there for a second, watching the taillights disappear, before he slid into his mother’s SUV. He slid the key into the ignition and started the engine.
His hands were shaking.
He gripped the steering wheel and forced himself to breathe. The mini-mart was three blocks away. Orange juice. Simple errand.
Except…what followed might answer over a decade’s worth of questions…or fuck up his life forever.
Seth shut down that seditious train of thought and pulled out of the driveway.
The mini-mart appeared almost too quickly. He parked, grabbed a carton of orange juice from the cooler, and paid without making eye contact with the cashier. Two minutes, tops.
Back in the car, he set the plastic bag on the passenger seat and stared at it. He could go home now, rejoin what was left of the brunch, look toward the future, and stop giving the black yawning chasm of the past his attention.
Except…he couldn’t—not yet.
Seth pulled back onto the road, his pulse picking up again. The storage facility was less than a mile away. He damn near had to pass the place on his way back to the house.
Part of him hoped he’d find nothing but an empty unit. A dead end. That whatever proof his father had hidden was long gone. Then Seth could let it rest, focus on Heavenly and Beck, and their baby. A new house. Hudson. A future that wasn’t full of ghosts.
But the other part—the part that still mourned his dad, his first wife, his trusting infant son—couldn’t let it go, not if he could finally, finally learn who had killed Michael Cooper. And why.
His heart hammered. His hands felt unsteady on the wheel, but he kept driving.
Just grab whatever’s there and read it later. No lingering. Get back to Mom’s before anyone notices.
The storage facility sign came into view, faded letters on a rusted metal gate. The place had been here forever. Seth had driven past it a thousand times and never given it a second thought.
Today, it might change his life.
At the thought, Seth’s stomach plunged, seeming to free fall to his toes.