Her eyes lock on his. “I think you know why, Colt.”
A low throb begins in my head, the pressure building behind my eyes.
Just one day.
Onefuckingday was all I wanted.
To grieve. To breathe.
Is thatreallytoo much to ask?
“I think you’d better make yourselfvery clear,” Colt warns, voice low and gravelly.
Macy lifts her chin. “We broke up almost eight years ago. Caleb’s seven. I wanted a family, you didn’t.”
I stumble out of Colt’s grip, grabbing the doorframe for balance as the world shifts under my feet.
Colt’s breath hitches. “I don’t understand.”
“Colt… Caleb is ours.”
The word detonates.
Ours.
As intheirs.
The world seems to tilt. Colt reaches for me, but I pull away, heat flushing through me so violently I can barely breathe. My skin prickles like I’m burning alive.
Sweater off.
Need air.
Need space.
I stagger inside.
“Dee, baby—”
I hold up my hand behind me. I can’t. I won’t break down in front of them. Not again.
“Colt,” Macy says, trying to drag him back into her orbit as if it’s only her that matters.
I make it to the stairs, turn, and collapse onto the bottom step. My head falls into my hands as my breath comes in short, broken bursts.
Behind me, Colt explodes.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were pregnant, Macy?” His voice booms, and I flinch.
“Becauseyoudidn’t want a family,” she yells. “You said it yourself. I didn’t want you to stay out of guilt. I didn’t want to ruin your future.”
“And you thought taking my son away was a better choice?”
I squeeze my eyes shut as the tears come hard and fast.
My body trembles with the weight of it all.
Colt has a child.
