I shrugged and raised my eyebrows as I looked at Morgan. I had no idea where this was going. I didn’t know of anyone who would ever have any dirt on me. I kept to myself. I—
“I ran into your son. Brandon Cooper.”
What?
“He was one of my appointments today. I talked to him for close to twenty minutes before I realized who he was.”
Brandon was the son Haley and I had out of a disastrous situation. She was originally going to put him up for adoption but changed her mind when she saw him. She said he looked like me, so she couldn’t give him up. Then I was forbidden from seeing him and being part of his life like I had wanted. I was able to see him once at Christmas when he was a toddler. My mind drifted to the night I gave him goofy monster socks and played with him. I wanted so badly to be a father to him, but Haley’s mom ended up getting a restraining order against me.
I felt Hollis’ hand move up and down my arm, and I pulled myself back to the present.
“Um, sorry. I was just thinking.”
“It’s okay, Chase,” Hollis said as he pulled me to lean against him. I rested my head on his shoulder and then looked at Morgan.
“Are you sure, Morg?”
“Positive. He’s from Beverly Hills, and when we were discussing a photo shoot, he said he used to model and that his mom was a model. When he said that, a switch flipped in my head. I stared at his name on the consultation form as the dots slowly connected. Then I managed to ask him who his mom was. He said Haley Cooper, and I knew... I knew he was your son and our nephew.”
My brain seemed to be full of thoughts, but I wasn’t capable of focusing on any of them. Where had he been? What had he been doing? Was he modeling? How could Haley let him model after everything we’d gone through? What… How…
“Chase.” Hollis jostled me, and I realized tears were running down my face. I quickly raised my head off his shoulder and pulled the neck of my t-shirt up to dry my eyes and face. I took a deep breath and lowered my shirt. Morgan leaned forward on the edge of the chair and looked at me.
“Sorry. I can’t think.”
“It’s okay. I knew it would be a lot, that’s why we’re all here for you,” Morgan said.
“What, um… What does he look like?” I asked.
“He looks a lot like you. Especially the eyes, nose, and mouth. He’s a good-looking young man. He’s about your height but very lean.”
“Must be the Cheez-Its,” Patrick said. The four of us laughed.
I had a billion questions.
“Does he… um… does he look happy?” I realized how dumb it sounded. How the hell would Morgan be able to tell that after sitting with him for half an hour? Oh my God! “You’re not going to photograph him, are you? Like in the club doing… stuff?”
“Relax, Chase. He looks happy and healthy, and no, I’m not going to photograph him.”
“Okay, good.” I continued to ramble without any filter. Everything started to pour out in an unstoppable fashion. “It would be weird to take erotic pictures of your nephew. I can’t even imagine why Haley would have let him model in the first place. I mean, did she go with him and watch all those fucking assholes? Did she make sure they kept their hands off him? Did she care? Was she too wrapped up in herself to care? Anything could have happened to him on set. It only takes a few minutes. And no one watches!”
“Chase.”
I dropped my head so they wouldn’t see me cry. Morgan pulled me off the couch and wrapped his arms around me. I couldn’t control myself. The tears kept coming, and my chest ached as I thought about Brandon being a scared little kid at a photo shoot. I couldn’t feel my legs, but I felt so heavy at the same time. Morgan held me up and moved his hands up and down my back.
“No one watches at those things, Morg.”
“I know, bub.”
“They’re supposed to! Everyone gets busy and are bustling around, trying to get the next kid on set. Anyone can be bribed to not be where they’re supposed to be!”
“Chase—”
“I can’t believe she had him modeling!”
“Chase, look at me,” Morgan demanded. I pulled my head off his shoulder and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand before I looked in his eyes. “Now, listen to me. What happened to you didn’t happen to Brandon.”
“How do you know? You don’t know! I never would have let him model!”
