“Everyone thinks this is about me not stepping up and taking care of my shit,” he says.
“It’s not?” I ask with less sarcasm or amusement in my tone.
“Her mom… She looks just like her mom.”
That is not something I’ve thought about a lot. The kid’s mom died, which was why she showed up here and Beast never knew she was pregnant when he left. That’s got to mess with his head. The way he is looking off into the distance is about more than the shock of it. It’s grief.
“She meant a lot to you?”
He sniffs and turns to face me. “No bullshit?”
“No,” I straighten up.
“She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved.”
There is no point asking why he left, that will just open up more wounds. “Then do right by her kid. By your kid. Do you think she would want you to run away and bury your head in the sand? Or be the only person Tink can turn to. She has nowhere else to go, Derek.”
“Isabella.”
“What?”
“That’s her real name. Found out when I did the paternity test. Not sure why she goes by Tink.”
“Well, we know more than most about nicknames,” I point out.
“I don’t… I just… How do I do it?”
“Start by introducing yourself, maybe?”
He rolls his eyes.
“It’s gonna take a while for both of you to get your heads around this. Sometimes baby steps is the only way to go. Raven will help. She’s allsalty asking me to get you to get your head out of your ass but she would never toss the kid out. She likes her.”
“She does?” he looks up.
“Not sure that’s a good thing, man. I think she might be on Raven’s wavelength and that means trouble.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re shit at it.”
“Making you feel better isn’t what is important. Tink is.”
He heaves out a heavy breath and nods. “She showed up at the wrong time.”
“There is never a right time for shit like this.”
“I mean with the whole shit show with Storm. Look what happened to Sheridan.”
“That won’t happen to Tink.”
“How do you know? He went after her to get to Nero’s kid.”
“We protect our own. We didn’t let him get to Oscar. Taylor and Jesse were okay. Sheridan,” I heave out my own heavy sigh. “We missed that but we have her now.”
All the council know what state she was found in and where she was being held. The thought of Charley ending up somewhere like that raises an instant red hot rage in my veins. I’d tear through the whole fucking place if anyone laid a hand on her like that.
I’m not going to talk about my problems and how I’m dealing with the fall out of all that, this is about getting Beast around to the idea of having a kid who needs him.
The door opens and a blast of AC/DC follows Fury out of the bar. He holds up his phone.
