“Of course not.”
“What do you meanof course not? I’m her father! She should knowsomethingabout me. I wasn’t just some random guy, Olivia. You knew things about me that I’d never told anyone else. That night meant something to me.”
I took a breath. “It meant something to me too, Kayden, but she’s never asked about her dad. I wouldn’t lie to her if she did, but you just heard her invite Jace to the father-daughter dance. He’s the closet thing she’s ever had to a dad and she’s doing fine.”
“Olivia,I’mher dad. You just said so.”
I tossed my hands in the air, frustrated at how this conversation had gotten away from me. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you yet. I have no idea what it looks like to have you in her life and I need to figure that out. Jace has been begging me fordaysto tell you and I couldn’t resist him anymore. He kept looking at me with those sad fucking green eyes like he could see into my soul, telling me that I had to be honest with you now. But I barely know you. I don’t know how to trust you with her.”
“Jesus Christ,” he groaned, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. “How can you not be willing to try and trust me after what we shared that night? Or get to know me at least? You can’t just keep my daughter from me. We’ll have to figure something out. I want to know her!”
“Wedon’t have to figure anything out.I’mher parent.I’mthe one who has raised her since she was born.”
“That’s not my fault!” he yelled, his eyes glassy and wide. “Olivia, I would have moved back here the second I found out. Ineverwould have left you on your own to raise our child. I thought about you so often and if I had known—” he cut himself off, seemingly at a loss for words.
If I could have slowed the panic rising in my chest, I might have been able to say something to calm his fear. It was a huge bomb to drop,and anyone would be reacting like he was. I was too afraid of how we were going to navigate this, how I was going to tell Kaylee. I had needed a calm conversation about this and the unexpected-ambush approach clearly wasn’t going to work for either of us.
“Look, can we please just calm down and talk about this? I wasn’t planning for her to be here and I know this is a shock.”
Jace popped his head out of his office and we both turned to look at him. “Kaylee is watchingPaw Patrolwith headphones but you’re not exactly being quiet out here, so if you don’t want her to know the sordid details yet, you need to lower your voices.”
“How could you not tell me?” Kayden asked in a shaky voice. He shook his head, and I felt the dam breaking in my resolve. Kayden looked heartbroken as he locked eyes with Jace who looked like he was physically ill over this. “I’m falling—”
Oh my God. They mean something to each other.
“Please, don’t blame Jace,” I said in a rush. The last thing I wanted was for Jace to be hurt by this, even if the look passing between the two of them was splintering my heart. “I told him he couldn’t say anything. He’s been advocating for you all week. Really, this is my fault.”
Kayden tipped his head back. “I need to get out of here. I can’t breathe.” He took off for the elevator.
“Kayd, wait,” Jace yelled, giving me one last devastated look as he took off after Kayden.
Chapter Twenty
Jace
Fucking hell. Panic surged through me as I ran after Kayden. I stopped in front of Olivia and gently grabbed her shoulders, making eye contact. “I’ll be right back, Liv, I promise. Please wait for me. I don’t want him to leave like this.”
She nodded slowly as she searched my face.
As much as I wanted to be there for Liv, she wasn’t the one who needed me the most right now, and she wouldn’t run. I got to the elevator just as the doors were closing and I stuck my arm between them, causing them to stop and pop open again.
I shoved my way into the elevator car where Kayden stood in tears.
“Is this why you avoided me all week? You figured it out right away, didn’t you?” he said, shaking his head.
I gripped his shoulders and pulled him against my chest, wrapping him tightly in my arms as his body shook.
“I figured it out when you said you’d hooked up with her,” I said before kissing his temple and rubbing my hand up and down on his back. “I’m so sorry. I swear, I’ve been working on getting her to tell you all week, but she had to make that decision herself and she had to be the one to say it.”
He fisted my shirt in his hands as his body silently shook against mine and I sighed in relief that he wasn’t pulling away from me. I kissed the side of his head again. “I understand if you’re mad at me, I won’t ask you not to be. Just please let me be here for you,” I said.
He wrapped his arms around my waist as the elevator settled into the lobby. I pulled the emergency break, keeping us contained until he was ready. I rubbed his back for several minutes as he slowly calmed his breathing. He pulled away and stepped backward until his back hit the elevator wall and he sank to the ground, wrapping his arms around his knees.
He sat there for a minute, staring at the ground before he finally looked up at me.
“How long have you known my daughter?” he asked, lifting his glasses and wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
I sat down on the floor in front of him and crossed my legs, leaving him space while also being close enough in case he decided he wanted to reach me.
