When Monday rolled around, Brenden gave a sigh of relief that none of his family members knocked on his door. He did not understand what or when he would tell his family. They were bound to find out. He had a large family, and everyone knew someone or something about everyone. Nothing stayed a secret in his family. Brenden walked into his office and stopped when he saw Stephen talking to another agent. He was not expecting to see the bane of his thoughts first thing in the morning.
Yup, I should have taken the day off, fuck maybe the year. What the hell is he doing here? I thought he said he wasn’t starting for a couple more days.
“I don’t need this shit,” he whispered. He had to remind himself to be professional.
“So, what’s he doing here?” Jaxson asked, coming to stand beside him, patting him hard on the back.
He looked at his best friend. “He works here now.”
“When the hell did that happen?”
“Why don’t you ask the big boss.” Brenden shrugged off his friend's hand and walked into his office and closed the door, purposely ignoring Jaxson’s confused expression. He realized that he shouldn’t take out his frustration on his friend, but he couldn’t hide the animosity he felt toward Stephen. Jaxson, not one to be brushed to the side, opened the door to his office just as Brenden sat down at his desk.
“Fuck, man, what’s the deal between you and…” he asked pointing in Stephen’s direction.
He should have known his friend wouldn’t drop the subject. He needed Jaxson to take the hint and not ask him questions dealing with why he was avoiding Stephen. Brenden didn’t want to talk about his problems with Jaxson during office time. “Look, when I’m ready to tell you, I will. But for right now just give me some space, all right?”
Jaxson stared at him for a few seconds before nodding his head and just like that, they changed the subject. The entire day Brenden and Jaxson worked their cases like any other day. He made it a point to stay far away from headquarters in case Stephen was still there. When he returned to his office, he was relieved to not see Stephen hanging around. He was acting like a fucking coward, and he knew it, but he didn’t care.
Boisterous laughter from the bullpen reached his ears and he looked out his window seeing his boss, Tucker, talking with a few of the junior agents. Tucker was a good man with an easy-going air about him, and he had no problem backing his agents when needed. He wondered if Tucker knew he was Nicholas’ father and if he did, why didn’t he say anything?
There were so many emotions warring inside of Brenden he didn’t know if he should scream, or punch the lights out of Stephen for keeping something so important from him.
My son. I have a son. I’m a father. What has Stephen told him about me? Has he even asked about me? Shit, maybe he thinks he has a mother.Brenden needed to know. He wanted to know his son. The big question was if he was ready to deal with Stephen?
** ** ** ** **
It was the end of the day, and Brenden was more than happy to be going home. He sighed heavily as he shut down his computer, then grabbed his jacket from the back of his office chair. He sent Paige a text inviting her out to dinner to make up for the weekend. It was less than fifteen minutes later when he got her reply text back to pick her up at seven. He headed to the locker room to change out of his suit. Thinking about Paige made Brenden realize that he was not as invested in the relationship as he should be. Paige was a sweet woman with a great personality, and they seemed to have a lot in common. But even he had to admit that something was missing.
Brenden walked into the parking lot and sat astride his motorcycle, just as he put on his helmet he saw Tucker and Stephen walk into the garage heading to their vehicles. He was wrong in his assumption that Stephen had left for the day. He was grateful that he was hidden from their view but he could watch their interaction. Stephen had a smile on his face, and it got brighter when an excited voice yelled,“Daddy.” Brenden almost fell off his bike as he watched the blond-haired little boy run to meet his father.
Stephen kneeled and caught Nicholas in his arms, peppering his face with kisses, before saying something to the child to make him laugh loudly. The man from the photos leisurely walked over to Stephen, Tucker, and Nicholas. Brenden’s heart melted for a short second. He was not expecting that, to see his son in the flesh, so soon after finding out about him. And it pissed him off even more. Out of anger Brenden turned on his motorcycle and revved up his bike and peeled out of the parking lot, not caring if he was seen. He needed to get the fuck away from Stephen before he did something he might later regret.
Like going over there and punching Stephen in the face for keeping his kid away from him. Anger boiled inside of him as he merged into traffic. What he needed right then was to forget everything and act as if everything in his life was perfect.
** ** ** ** **
