I answered.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, kid.” His voice came through warm and familiar, a little tired. “You got a minute?”
I looked at Declan. He didn’t move closer. He didn’t move away.
Tiny waddled into the kitchen and dropped heavily beside my foot, like he had also decided to stay.
My throat went tight.
“Yeah,” I said, holding Declan’s gaze. “I’ve got a minute. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Chapter 35
Chapter 35
DECLAN
Jace held the phone like it had turned into something dangerous.
His sweats sat crooked on his hips. His hair was wrecked from my hands. His mouth was still a little swollen from mine. Ten minutes ago, he had been warm and loose against me, breathing slow for once, his brain quiet enough that I could feel him sink into the stillness.
Now Cal Holloway was on the other end of the line, and the quiet had teeth.
I stayed near the counter.
Not crowding him. Not leaving him alone.
Tiny ignored all unspoken boundaries and wedged himself against Jace’s legs, enormous head tipped up, drool threatening the kitchen floor.
Jace swallowed. “No, Dad, I’m okay. I’m not hurt. It’s not that.”
Cal’s voice came through as a low murmur. I couldn’t make out the words, only the shape of them. Steady. Rough. Familiar in the way Jace talked about him, like a man who had spent years holding the world together with duct tape, overtime shifts, and stubborn love.
Jace’s free hand drifted down. His fingers found the hem of my T-shirt where it hung near his knee. He pinched the fabric between two fingers and held on.
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s serious.”
I braced my palm against the edge of the counter and made myself stay put.
This was Jace’s call. Jace’s father. Jace’s truth to tell.
He dragged in a breath, then said, “I broke up with Vanessa.”
A longer pause.
His fingers tightened on my shirt.
“Yeah. A little while ago. I should’ve told you sooner, I know. I just didn’t know how to explain it without making it sound like some bullshit excuse.”
Cal said something.
Jace nodded, even though his father couldn’t see him. “She’s angry. She has a right to be. I hurt her. I wasn’t honest with her, not all the way.”
The words cost him. I saw it in the hard blink, the way his shoulders lifted like he expected a hit and intended to take it.
Then his eyes came to mine.
