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I pried Ben’s fingers from my arm and hurried over to kneel in front of Forrest. I just needed him to go back upstairs. Some idiotic part of my brain was convinced that if I put him away fast enough, it would be like the guys never saw him. “You’re six, baby. You’ve got a little while before you have to worry about protecting me. How about you go back upstairs and you can meet the puppies tomorrow? I’ll read you Harry Potter again if you’re in bed and tucked in when I get up there.”
“But, Mom!” He giggled as the big dog licked his hand. “Please, let me play with them!”
I swallowed down as much panic as I could and tried to speak to him as calmly as possible. “Forrest, you have school in the morning. Go inside right now.”
Hearing I was serious, he pouted but slowly turned and walked towards the gate. He kept looking back at the guys, like they would save him from having to listen to me. He was a curious kid and I knew he wanted to ask questions, but eventually he sighed and let himself out of the gate. “Can I play with your dogs tomorrow?”
Brat. He’d gone around me.
Ben had to clear his throat before his voice came out strong enough to be heard by Forrest. “Sure. The big one is Captain As... You can call him Captain. And the little one is General.”
“Awesome! Thank you!” He took off towards the stairs and left me standing amidst three silent men who were each staring at me.
I backed towards the gate, terrified of what was happening. “Well, I’d better go.”
“He’s ours, isn’t he?” Justin stepped towards me. “The way you’re acting and the timeline… Tell me the truth, Violet.”
My stomach dropped. “I think I should go…”
Ben marched over to me and cupped the back of my head in one large hand. Forcing my gaze up to his, his teeth were all but bared. “Tell us the truth.”
I blinked away the sudden moisture in my eyes and bit my lip hard enough I tasted blood. When Forrest was just a baby, I’d played out scenarios in my head of running into the guys and showing them our son. It’d all been happy and ended in love. Those fantasies had ended years ago, though, and I had no idea what to say or do now the moment arrived.
“He’s ours.” Mason let out a humorless laugh. “He’s six. Unless you went out and had unprotected sex with other men after that night with us, the timing makes sense. We have a son. Is that why you’re here? Child support?”
I shook my head hard enough that strands of it got stuck in my face mask. “No! I came here to be close to Margaret and I just love this town. I didn’t know you guys would be here!”
“So, you weren’t going to tell us that we have a son?” Ben growled out the words as he glared at me.
“I tried!” I pushed away from him and stalked towards the gate. “I tried, dammit. You guys weren’t here. I can’t do this right now. I need to go up and make sure he goes to sleep.”
“You need to go up and read our son to sleep…” Justin ran his hands down his face. “You need to come back down when you’re done. You have a lot of explaining to do. You can’t just leave us with this.”
“I can’t. I have Forrest and I need to—”
“You need to come down here and tell us what the fuck is happening. We just found out we have a kid, Violet. The least you can do is talk to us.” Mason grimaced. “This is messed up. Does he know about us?”
I closed myself on the other side of the gate and paused for a moment. I met their gazes and shook my head before rushing towards the apartment. Forrest didn’t know about them. How would I have explained that to him? When Mommy was in college, she decided to sow her wild oats with three of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen and that one occasion left her knocked up? It wasn’t exactly a sweet bedtime story.
When I got to the top of the stairs, I stopped and forced myself to take a few deep breaths before facing Forrest. He was perceptive. If I was upset, he’d want to know why. It wasn’t just the guys downstairs I didn’t have answers for.
Forrest was sitting up in bed, waiting on me with wide eyes. “Who were those men, Mommy?”
I sat next to him and brushed his hair back from his forehead. “They own the house.”
“Do you know them?”
“Do you want me to read to you, baby? I need to start now if we’re going to do it. It’s late and I don’t want you acting cranky at school with Ms. Jenny.” I grabbed our worn copy of Harry Potter and smiled. “Ms. Jenny loves to call me and tell me all about your day, so you’d be smart to always be on your best behavior.”
He sighed. “I’m always good, Mom.”
I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “You are. No matter what, you’re always good, Forrest. You’re the best thing in my world, you know that?”
He tapped the book. “I love you, Mommy. Can you read now, though?”
CHAPTER 4
Violet
