Page 56 of Slow Hands Cowboy

He knew who his father was.

Had known for a long time. It was one of those things he wished he could go back to not knowing. It didn’t do him any good to know anything about the man that had donated genetic material to making him. Didn’t do him any good to know about him or his rap sheet, the way that he treated women, the way that he took advantage of people.

He was a grifter. And the minute that Walker had seen a photo of him was the minute that he had understood exactly where he came from. Smiling, handsome, full of shit.

Yeah. Walker was cut from the cloth of a man that he hoped he never met.

He had done DNA testing on the off chance he might find the guy, and he was a little bit surprised that his father had submitted DNA to a genetics website, considering he did lead a life of crime. But then, Walker also figured the cops already had the man’s DNA.

So what difference did it make to put it out anywhere else? It didn’t really, he supposed.

He had lied to Cody. Recently. Had told him that he had no desire to get to know who his father was, acted like it was still an unknown. It wasn’t.

Timothy Coulter was Walker’s father, and the guy was just a bad person.

Walker didn’t think that the choices your parents made defined your whole life. He wasn’t really into that whole sins of the father thing. It was all a little bit too biblical for his taste.

But it was unnerving, to look at a mugshot and see his own eyes staring back at him. It was disturbing, to read the descriptions of the kinds of domestic violence situations that man with his eyes had been in. The way that he treated women. The way that he treated everybody.

And Walker knew for certain that he used his looks and his charm to get himself into those situations, and that was probably the most disturbing part of all.

Because Walker could be that guy. Walker was close enough to being that guy. It was just that he was entirely motivated by money, not getting another drug fix, or stealing somebody’s catalytic converter or copper wiring.

He had moved himself into a different position in life, which meant that he grifted on a different level. Did it professionally. Did it in a sanctioned way.

He found that ultimately disturbing.

Yeah. The whole thing was.

And not something he needed to be thinking about now.

“Walker is running a con,” Marlowe said, cheerfully.

He winced. Because that was exactly what he had just been thinking about. All the ways in which he was cut from the cloth of a man he would never call dad. A man that he would never meet.

But Walker chose not to show any of that discomfort. Instead, he smiled.

“Yeah. I am. A grift that is going to help the ranch, though.”

“He’s fake dating Addison Carey.”

Walker rolled his eyes. “Don’t go making it sound like a Hallmark movie. We’re just... having a little business deal. She needs a little bit of help, I need a little bit of help. And people love a love story. So if we can ignite the more romantic nature of the public, then why not? It’s good for the both of us.”

“That’s very cynical,” Marlowe said.

He grinned. “Newsflash. I’m very cynical.”

“You are your brother’s brother,” she muttered.

He looked over at Cody. He didn’t think so. Cody, for all that he had a gruff exterior, was an exceptionally good man.

He was difficult in ways that Walker wasn’t, sure. But the thing was, Walker just put on a better facade than Cody did. And that did not make Walker a better man. That made him a more dangerous one.

“Need help with anything?” he asked.

“Cheese,” Cody said. “I really want some cheese.”

“I’ll find your cheese,” Marlowe said. “And Walker will bring it out to you.”