Page 247 of A Song for You

Shaking my head, I let out a loud sigh. “He didn’t do those things. Carter, Mia had your baby. Her child is your mystery child.”

My brother’s mouth drops open, and his eyes go wide. “I—fuck—seriously? You’ve known?”

Biting my cheek, I rack my brain for a way to explain who Mia was to me. And why it’s taken me so long to come to terms with the knowledge that my brother had sex with her. Even if he didn’t know who she was to me.

There’s no delicate way to word the truth, so I jump in with both feet. “Mia…well, she was my Mia before she was yours.”

Carter scowls. “She was never my Mia. We hooked up once.” He drops his chin and shakes his head. “And we have a kid,” he whispers. “Fuck. Do you know where my child is?”

“I’m sure Jay can find out.” I shrug. “That’s not really the point.”

Carter glares at me. “I’ve got a kid out there⁠—”

I hold up my hand. “I get it. You want to know your child. And learning about him or her years later has been painful. Jay and I went through the same thing. So I’m not discounting that. But can you let me get through this?”

Carter huffs, but he sits back quietly, signaling for me to continue.

“Mia was my best friend in high school⁠—”

“She was that Mia?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck,” he mutters, running his hand through his hair again. “Cat, I never would have⁠—”

“I know. I just…it took me a minute to wrap my brain around what she did. Back then, she was a user. She was great at manipulating people. And I have no idea what went down between you two. But I’m sorry I didn’t tell you as soon as I found out. I was just⁠—”

“Pissed,” my brother answers for me.

I let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, pissed.”

“I was an asshole. I’m really sorry, Cat. I just—fuck, I fucked up.”

“Yeah, you did,” I admit, my voice cracking as a tear slips down my face. I swipe at it, but my brother doesn’t miss the movement.

“Shit, Cat, I’m so sorry. I—this isn’t me. I hate who I’ve become.”

I shrug. “I haven’t been so fond of that person either.”

Sitting up straight, he clutches my hand. “I’ll do better. Swear it.”

All I can do is nod in response. For his sake, as well as mine, I hope he does.

“That’s not actually why I came, though. I got distracted when I walked by Hanson’s office and heard him talking about his wife.”

I huff a laugh. Jay does love talking about me. And that word. He’s obsessed. All day long, he murmurs that one syllable. His emails are filled with the term. He whispers it to me when we’re in a crowd and shouts it when we’re alone. I swear if he could legally change my name to wife, he would.

I temper my smile. “Okay, then why did you come?”

“Grace is pregnant.”

The information knocks me back a bit, and I suck in a sharp breath. I didn’t expect him to talk about her, period. Honestly, since the night at the club when we tried to get her and Cash back together—which ended abysmally; he was an ass, and she stormed out, then refused to speak to me—I’ve tried not to think too hard about how her life was destroyed to save mine.

I’ve been selfish and so self-absorbed that I pushed her pain to the back of my mind. And now history is repeating itself. Except this time, it’s not my child who is suffering from the lies, it’s Cash’s.

I rub at my forehead, willing the headache that’s building to abate. “Does he know?”

Carter nods. “He overheard her talking to Hayden.”