My father nodded and called for the dogs. They were obedient enough that they all followed him.
I hurried to catch up to Reese.
“Reese, just talk to us.”
“No! I’ve called for a car. I’ll send someone for my shit later. Or you can fucking burn it. I don’t care.”
I stepped in front of him just as he reached the door. I slammed it closed and stood in front of it.
“Five minutes,” I demanded.
“No! Fuck you! Get out of my way!”
He tried to reach past me to open the door, but when I refused to budge, he lashed out at me. I grabbed his arm and got in his face. “I know you’re pissed, but you and I both know you’re not up for this fight. So back the hell off!”
Reese shoved away from me and then stepped back into the room a bit. Nash was blocking the exit to the kitchen where the back door was. Everett’s son looked between us both and then shook his head. “God, he must be one hell of a good fuck,” he muttered.
“Hey!” Nash snapped, but Everett stepped in front of him.
“Reese, please, just give me a minute to explain…”
“Explain what?” Reese said as he made his way into the living room, presumably so he wouldn’t feel as confined between me and Nash.
“That you can’t keep your dick in your pants long enough to just be my fucking father? Or why everything needs to be about you? Or that you wouldn’t know a lie from the truth even if it bit you in the ass? Why you couldn’t just let me have this one thing?” he asked bitterly.
“Reese—”
“Why don’t we start with something simple?” Reese asked. He pinned his father with his brittle gaze. “Like how you could stand there and look me in the eye today and let me actually thank you for being here for me all this time.”
Everett shook his head, probably because he didn’t have a good answer for that.
Reese swung his gaze to me. “So how long have you been fucking him?” he asked.
“Does it matter?” I asked.
“Yeah, it does. Because I want to know how many times you lied to my fucking face.”
“None of us expected this to happen, Reese,” Nash cut in. He and I had both moved farther into the living room, since there was little danger of Reese being able to get past us.
“So that makes it okay?” he asked. “I don’t know you,” he said to Nash before turning his attention on me. “But I thought you were smarter than this, Gage. I thought if there was anyone who wouldn’t fall for his act, it’d be you,” Reese said.
“There’s no act, Reese,” I responded.
“He tell you he was fucking around on my mom while they were still married?”
“Yes,” I said. “He also said the marriage was over at that point.”
“For him, maybe,” Reese responded. He turned to Everett, who’d sunk down on the couch. He looked small as he tried to hunch in on himself.
“You want a chance to tell the truth?” Reese asked.
Everett was quiet for a moment before saying, “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, Reese.” He sounded so broken that I just wanted to fold him in my arms and never let go.
“What did you mean when you said you couldn’t tell me about Ronan?” Reese asked. “Tell me what?”
Everett closed his eyes. It was pretty much one of the worst questions to ask, because it just made the case against Everett look even more damning.
“That Ronan and I knew each other before he and his men saved your life.”
