“But anyone can walk through.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, drawing his attention to that mouth. The one that used to be his. The one he wrecked many times with his dick.
“They do, we’ll go out to the courtyard.”
She finally released her bottom lip. “Fine. What I have to say won’t take long, anyway.”
“Last I checked,fuck off’s just two words.”
“Two words you’d ignore, regardless.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“I talked to Vi.”
No surprise since they used to be tight. “You give her shit for givin’ me your info?”
“That was the plan.”
“Sounds like your plan didn’t go the way you fuckin’ wanted.”
“It didn’t.”
Her carefully blank expression was not helping the acid bubbling up from deep down in his gut. “And?” Neither was the deep breath she took.
“And she convinced me to do the right thing.”
He grabbed his whiskey and stepped closer, searching her face. “What right thing?” He held out the glass to her.
Was she going to admit the truth?
While he wanted to hear it, his brain started to spin. His life might fucking change in the next pounding heartbeat.
Though, he wasn’t expecting her to grab the glass and knock it back as fast as he had.
She hissed out a breath, set the empty glass on the bar, and swiped the back of her wrist over her mouth.
She opened her mouth, but shut it just as quickly.
She did it again.
And again.
Holy fuck!He was about to have a goddamn heart attack if she didn’t just spit it the fuck out!
No reason to extend the torture. “Ledger’s mine, ain’t he?”
She closed her eyes and whispered, “Yes.”
Zeke grabbed the edge of the bar so his knees wouldn’t give out. He had already known, but hearing it confirmed… “That why you left?”
“The truth is, I didn’t know I was pregnant when I left. I only planned to be gone for a short while because I needed to get over you and I figured staying in Shadow Valley surrounded by the DAMC, as well as everyone else who knew us both, would make that more difficult. I needed a clean break to eradicate you from my system.”
“But you didn’t say shit after findin’ out.”
“No. I considered it, but I also thought carefully about how you lived your life, Zeke. How reckless you could be.Your lifestyle is not a way to raise a well-adjusted child. Ledger was my priority, then, and still is.”
He wasn’t sure if he was pissed off, disappointed, or both.
He lost years with his own fucking kid.
