“I’d be dead if she would’ve gotten what she wanted.” Only when she said that did she appear to be a bit sullen, like the weight of it was almost too much for her. “She might be your daughter, but I hate her for everything she did and everything she tried to do. And now, with this pregnancy thing… something here is fishy.”
I couldn’t argue with her about any of that, so I didn’t. I did, however, say, “I don’t blame you for your hatred toward her.”
“Does she take after her mom, then? Always wanting more? I admit, I have wondered where Tessa and Kieran got their… unique personalities from. Would have never guessed someone like you would be half of it.”
“Their mother did always want better for herself, and she had no qualms about leaving her entire family behind to chase whatever life she thought she deserved. Me, the kids, we were just placeholders for her. It took me years to realize it.”
She was quiet for a few moments, and then she whispered, “That must’ve really sucked. I’m sorry.”
“It was another lifetime ago.”
“Maybe, but it’s still a part of you. Things like that don’t just leave you. They tend to stick.” Laina spoke with a wisdom she had no right to possess, but that didn’t stop her from sounding like she knew exactly what she was talking about. “I imagine, if I ever leave this city behind, everything that happened in it will always be a part of me. I don’t think the darker side of things will ever let me go.”
I stared squarely at her. “Do you want it to, or do you like where you’re at right now?”
When she smiled then, it wasn’t a flirty grin. It was wistful. “Of course I like where I’m at right now. I’m comfortable with who I am for the first time ever. I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not just to make other people happy, but… I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a teeny, tiny part of me that wonders what life outside of this city would be like.”
“For what it’s worth, I think you’d do well beyond city limits. You don’t strike me as someone who fails.”
She turned that wistful smile to me. “Think so?” I gave her a nod, which made her chuckle. “I’d say you hardly know me, but since you’ve been watching me like a creepy stalker the past five months, that wouldn’t be strictly true, would it?”
“No,” I admitted, “it wouldn’t be.” I knew this girl more than I cared to admit, and for whatever reason, when I said that, my eyes moved on their own, my gaze dropping as I took in the way she sat, how close she’d gotten to me. This girl, she was more than just trouble. Trouble was something I was more than experienced in handling.
She was worse than trouble. She was tempting, captivating in an undeniable way, irresistible.
Just like that, after speaking with her a few times, I understood where Kieran was coming from, how he’d decided to keep her alive. Sometimes, even though someone wasn’t blood,they became family. Bonds like that were not so simple to explain, and even more difficult to break. Kieran had chosen his family, and he’d picked Laina.
I could accept that, but it seemed Tessa could not.
Laina leaned her head back on the cushion of the couch as she lazily gazed up at me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“How long did all those tattoos take? And does the all-black one connect?”
“A long time” was what I told her as I answered her first question. The next… the easiest thing to do would be to say yes, but I’d walk a dangerous line if I gave into her at all. She shouldn’t care, shouldn’t be looking up at me like that while she waited for me to speak.
But she was, and for the first time, I had thoughts that were definitely not appropriate for a man to have about his son’s girlfriend.
Chapter Thirteen – Laina
I was quite disappointed when Jason got up and mumbled something about being hungry instead of answering my second question. You know, the one about his blackout tattoo. It was an intriguing thought, a big, black tattoo taking up most of the space on his chest and connecting his neck to his left arm.
The man was forty-seven years old. Way too old for me, but the man had the kind of rough, chiseled face and a thick head of hair I could get behind. Plus, the tattoos—and that wasn’t to mention how well he took care of himself. The man was muscled, that much I knew. No flab on that gut or on those tatted arms.
Oh, yeah. He was definitely daddy material. Never before had I wanted to call someone daddy so badly.
Jason was Kieran and Tessa’s father. It still blew my mind, but when he’d told me that, it all snapped into place. How familiar he’d looked to me in that club, like I’d met him before. I hadn’t, but that was because I’d met his offspring.
What a crazy, crazy world.
Did I have a crush on the man? Uh, as much as I’d like to say that was a negative, I didn’t think I could. I couldn’t say it because it wouldn’t be true. I definitely had a crush on him. I mean, who the hell in their right mind wouldn’t?
I debated on following Jason into the kitchen to see what he was doing, if he really was making himself something to eat or if it was just an excuse to get away from me—maybe I made the man uncomfortable. Calling himdaddydefinitely irked him, so I’d have to file that away for later. I had the feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time we’d see each other.
Or, at least, I hoped not.
Right when I was going to get up, though, a knock echoed on the front door. Kieran, if I had to guess. I leaned back and gotcomfy on the couch as Jason strolled out of the kitchen to answer it. The heavily tatted man threw open the door and said a single word: “Kieran.” Then he stepped aside and wordlessly invited his son to the party.
