“Moved on?” Is he serious? “If that’s what you’re calling this—”
“We had a son, you know.”
Lightning strikes my chest, rendering my jaw slack. “You, what?”
“Yeah,” he whispers. “Key word,had. Thanks to me.”
The room falls silent. I swallow, shifting my gaze toward the open door where Blue’s still standing, one hand covering her mouth. Before I can fully process what he just said or what to do next, Blue turns away and disappears.
“Spent most of my military career on deployment, and I’d already missed out on most of his life. So I promised my wife and our son, Jason, I’d retire before his twenty-first birthday.” Henry hangs his chin toward his chest. Defeated. Bearing no resemblance to the soldier he speaks of. “He wanted me to come home. That’s all he ever wanted, you know? For his dad to come home.”
A giant hole eats my insides as his words echo in my ears. I know what it’s like to want your dad back. To want him back so badly you’re willing to do anything to make it happen.
“The plan was to get home in time for his twenty-first. I was good at that, making promises.” He shakes his head, scrubs his face. “And my son, he made friends wherever he went. Always surrounded by people, the life of the party, you know? Wasn’t the lonely type. I figured he had Cheri and his friends to look after him, and my men ... they needed me more. They always needed me more.”
My voice is low, hesitant, when I prompt, “Did you go home?”
“Yep. Sure did. After I got the call from Cheri that Jason’s body was found in a shit motel with a needle up his thigh, I came right home. Father of the Year.”
Jesus. My eyes drop to the coarse carpet, a fucking bowling ball plummeting into my stomach.
I hate my dad—I really fucking do. For what he did to Mom more than what he did to me. Despite everything, he’s family. If he ever turned up dead, if I got a call like that ... shit, it would break me. And Henry, this was his son.
He’s adad.
I blink, and it all starts to click into place. The way he took me under his wing. The way he pushed me to go back to school, to get my shit together. How natural it felt at the Everest house when he talked to Tim, like I really was his son. If it wasn’t for him finding me in the alley that rainy night and giving me guidance, I don’t know where I’d be today. It sure wouldn’t be pretty.
Pulling in a breath, I turn back to the man beside me. He’s still slumped against the bed, but now his eyes are closed, the lines around his face tight.
“You look like hell,” I say.
“Thanks.”
I gnaw my lower lip. “Looked like your wife wasn’t done with you yet.”
“She’s just confused. I messed up, Hunt.”
I cock a brow.
“When I asked you for all that money, I lied to you. I wasn’t gonna use it on a motel. It wasn’t even for me.”
“Course it wasn’t.”
He opens one eye, looks at me, then shuts it again. “She needed it. I couldn’t live with myself if she missed saying goodbye to her dying mom—the last person she has left in this world, thanks to me—all because she couldn’t afford the flight to North Carolina. I thought I was being discreet when I left the cash under the mat on her porch, but somehow ... somehow, she knew it was from me.” He releases a long sigh. “Apparently, she’s been looking for me for a while.”
I’ve always known he had a whole life he kept to himself, but this? It’s like every time he gives me a bone, there’s a thousand more rattling underneath.
“Anyway, doesn’t matter now. She said what she needed to say—we both did—and that’s it.”
“That’s it? Really, man?”
“Yep. Now, can we eat? I’m starving.”
Raking a hand through my hair, I can’t stop the irritation from seeping into my voice. “Look, we both know I’m no expert on relationships. Sure didn’t have the best example growing up.” My gaze swings toward the empty doorway, picturing Blue standing there. Her flawless face, bright eyes, warm light. The sudden pull to go to her tightens my chest, and I rub the area over my T-shirt, fighting hard to stay by my friend’s side instead. “But I know what it’s like to need someone. To need them so badly you’ve sewn yourself to them before ever knowing it.” When I face Henry again, he’s watching me closely. “You can’t walk away from something like that without being split in two. And the woman I just saw leave your room? Your wife? She’s torn in half, man. I could see it in just those few seconds.”
He doesn’t speak for a long minute. Then he glances from me to the doorway and back again.
“Christ, you’re whipped, Hunt.”
