I swear her eyes get sharper as she speaks. “Oh, Jackson, my baby boy. I thought you would know this by now, but I guess this is what happens when you ignore your mother for years.” She pauses for dramatic effect, an evil grin on her lips and eyes twinkling as she drops the bomb, “But your dad isn’t dead.”
My body tenses at her words, and I hear Soph gasp beside me. My cousins look our way curiously, but I shake my head in their direction, telling them not to bother with Trisha. But Angel isn’t listening. He walks towards us, and my nails dig into my palms, the pain grounding me. I lick my lips, trying to say anything to ease the situation; but no words come out.
“Aunt Trisha, it’s good to see you, but now isn’t time for your dramatics. Can I order you a car to take you home?” Angel asks more calmly than I ever could.
“No, thank you, Gabriel. Or are you Ethan? I never could tell you apart. I just know that you aren’t Orlando, he’s the one who got his eyes from my brother, and you have your mother’s beautiful brown eyes.”
My cousin lets out a laugh laced with sarcasm. “I go by Angel now.”
My mother snorts. “There’s nothing angelic about any of you boys if you’re like your father.”
“That’s enough,” I raise my voice and grab her arm. Her body feels fragile underneath my touch. “Let’s finish this conversation, and then we never have to see each other again, okay?”
The cold fall air hits my face when I open the door. I step aside to make room for my mother as I process what she said.
It’s like she can read my mind. “I’ll make this quick and simple. Your father is living his best life in New York. He has everything you missed growing up. You could look him up, you know? You got your middle name from him.”
For the second time in a week, I’m lost for words. First, I lost my uncle, my only father figure. Then I find out that my biological father is alive. Not dead like I was told my wholechildhood. “But you said he died in a car accident before I was born!”
Trisha shrugs like she doesn’t care about my feelings. “It was wishful thinking on my part. I wanted him to be dead, but the truth is that he doesn’t even know about you.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” I shout angrily before lowering my voice while tugging on my hair. “Please fucking tell me why you would do something like that and then randomly tell me about him all these years later,” I almost beg my mother, who doesn’t seem too worried about my feelings.
“He never loved me. I was just a rebound after his high school sweetheart broke it off with him before college. He headed off to some fancy-ass Ivy League school on the East Coast and never looked back. Not hearing back from him after those two weeks we spent together, I wanted him to be dead. So, that’s what I told you when you were old enough to ask where your daddy is.”
“That’s so fucked up, Trisha.”
She acts like the conversation is boring her by rolling her eyes. “Well, I don’t have any regrets. What would his family think about you? Look at you, all tattooed up with a broken past and fucked up life.”
I stand there in shock. I can’t believe her.Fuck. I have a father somewhere in New York.
It all seems like a bad nightmare when I hear her speak. “Bye, Jackson. I would say that I hope you’ll be happy, but after you ruined my life and made sure no man would ever love me, I don’t hope that.”
“Bye, Trisha. I won’t miss you.”
After having a final look at me, she walks away with a one-finger salute. It’s the last time I’ll ever see her if I have anything to do with it. Finding my phone in my suit jacket pocket, I open the group conversation with Eli and Ollie, and start my voice message.
Voice message from Jax:I don’t even know how to begin…but here I go, I guess.
Um, I saw Trisha. And guess fucking what? My dad, well, maybe I should call him my father as he hasn’t been around much. But anyway, he’s alive…somewhere in New York.
That bitch hid that all these years.
Fuck.
Anyway, that’s it. Time to drink and forget my life for one night. Finding the hotel bar now.
Bye.
19
SOPH
Currently playing: Lost Boy by Ruth B.
After Jax left, we were afraid that he would get in trouble since he wasn’t answering our calls and texts. King texted Eli and Ollie, asking if they’d heard from him, and they confirmed Jax was at our hotel bar. We decided to give him the space he seemed to want to process the latest news on his family.
Having dinner with his cousins and their friends is something different. I knew it would be a fun time, but I had no idea how much we would laugh after the day we all had. Even though the Kingston boys said their final goodbyes to their pops only hours earlier, they have lots of tales to tell—some are more heartwarming than others.
