Page 11 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

“We what, Juliette? Knew each other a lifetime ago?” He scoffed. “I barely remember a second of it, and I have no interest in reliving it. Go back to your family. You have no business here.” He stalked toward his office.

Sasha hurried after him, speaking hushed and angry. “Doc! Why are you being such a dick?”

“Hey, Romeo!” Juliette shouted after him.

He stopped walking, the nickname cutting him to his core. Grinding his teeth and with his hands curled into fists, he fought the urge to turn around because seeing her was too painful.

“It must be nice having a selective memory for all these years,” she shouted over the sound of an approaching truck. “While I’ve been raising our son!”

The earth tilted beneath his feet. He was vaguely aware of Sasha saying, “Ohmygod, Doc. You have a son?” as he tried to process what Juliette had said. Was that kid at the hospital his son? He’d been so shocked to see Juliette, he’d barely noticed the kid.

He turned in disbelief, seeing everything through a haze as Juliette climbed into her vehicle and Cowboy’s truck pulled up beside him, towing the horse trailer.

“Let’s go, Doc! This horse is critical!” Cowboy shouted, but he sounded far away.

Juliette was leaving, and Doc’s mind was stuck in a loop. I have a son? Was that my kid? He ran after her truck, shouting, “Was that my son?” but she was already turning onto the main road that led off the ranch.

Chapter Five

DOC SAT BETWEEN Dare and Cowboy in the Dark Knights clubhouse feeling like he was going to climb out of his skin. His leg bounced under the table, his mind still spinning over the bomb Juliette had dropped. He’d had a hell of a time focusing on the horses they’d rescued, and now the one place that usually centered him made him feel like a caged animal.

His father and Manny Mancini, Billie’s father and the vice president of the club, sat at the head table going over club business. All eyes were on them, but they were a blur to Doc, his thoughts a painful tangled web of confusion.

Dare nudged him. “You okay?”

“No, he’s not okay,” Cowboy hissed. “How could he be?”

“We should talk about it before you go see her,” Dare whispered.

“No thanks.” There was only one person Doc wanted to talk to about this, and she’d have to wait until the fucking meeting was over.

His father shot them a serious stare, causing some of the other guys to look over, too.

Fuck. Doc had told his brothers what had gone down with Juliette, but his father had no clue Doc’s world was unraveling around him. Then again, a fly couldn’t take a piss on the ranch without his father knowing about it. Everyone who lived at the ranch had meals together at the main house. Doc had worked through dinner caring for the horses they’d rescued, but there was a good chance Sasha, or someone else who’d seen him running after Juliette’s fucking truck, would’ve said something to his father.

As Tiny went back to discussing their upcoming Ride Clean anti-drug campaign, which they were hosting at the ranch in a few weeks, it was taking everything Doc had to try to hold on to some semblance of control. But the air was too thick, the battlefield in his head too painful. Fuck it. He needed answers before he lost his mind.

He pushed to his feet, ignoring the cautionary looks from his brothers, and felt his father’s disapproving stare as he strode toward the door. Not only were club meetings mandatory, but it was the ultimate disrespect to leave while the president was speaking.

Doc filled his lungs as he stepped outside, heading for his bike.

The door flew open behind him, and his father strode out. “Son, you’d better stop right there.”

He stilled.

His father closed the distance between them. “What the hell is so important that you’d disrespect me like that?”

“Juliette came by the ranch today. Figured someone would’ve told you.”

His father’s expression gave away nothing. “I’m asking you.”

“She claims we have a son,” he bit out. “You know anything about that?”

He shook his head. “When we heard she’d had a baby, your mother and I wondered. It was awfully fast, but Juliette had been seeing the boy she married before she came to the ranch. Like everyone else, we assumed it was his.”

“Guess we’ll see.” He straddled his bike, the ache of Juliette’s original betrayal slaying him. But this? If it was true, how could she keep him from his own son for all these years? But none of that was his father’s fault. “I’m sorry for disrespecting you. I’ll take whatever repercussions you want to dole out, but I can’t sit in there not knowing if that kid is mine or not.”

“We both know family comes first. Just don’t make a habit of it.”