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“And now? You own a f**king bar!” I yelled.
“The bar is part of my sobriety. I haven’t had a drink in seventeen years. The piano and the music are what helped me through my rehab. I sent a letter to your mother about ten years ago, but it was returned. I figured she still wanted nothing to do with me. I didn’t know she had passed away,” he said as he looked down.
The tears wouldn’t stop falling and Ian got up and got me some tissues. I didn’t know what to think. I wanted my answers and now I had them and I still wasn’t sure about anything. “And you kept these pictures all these years?” I asked.
“Yes. Whether you want to believe it or not, I loved your mother very much and I left because she wanted me to. I loved her enough to let her go. I made a copy of the picture of you and Stephen and I have it hanging on my office wall at the bar. There hasn’t been a day that has gone by that I don’t think about my children.”
“Did you ever marry?” I asked.
“No. I never found anyone that measured up to your mom.”
I sat there and cried. Ian kept rubbing my back and holding my hand.
“You got the answers you wanted, and now it’s time for me to go. I want you to know that I’m happy you searched for me. Believe it or not, I would look at every guy and girl that came into the bar and I would wonder if they were my children. I want to get to know you, Rory. I hope someday you’ll give me that chance,” he said as he got up from the couch. “I’m sorry about Stephen. He was my son and even though I didn’t know him, there’s an empty place inside me where I kept him all these years. Maybe someday you can tell me all about him.”
Ian got up and walked him to the door. As soon as he shut it, he turned and looked at me. I got up and ran downstairs to the gym. I started punching the punching bag as hard as I could. My knuckles instantly bruised and they were still sore from when I punched Andrew. Ian came downstairs and grabbed me from behind.
“Stop, Rory. You’re going to break your hands.”
I tried to struggle, but his grip around me was tight. I stopped and lowered my head. Ian loosened his grip around me and I fell to my knees, sobbing as I placed my palms on the floor. Ian followed me down and wrapped his arms around me.
“Sweetheart, it’s okay. I know how hard this is for you. I’m here for you, baby. You’re safe.”
I cried in his arms until I had no more tears left. “Are you okay?” he asked calmly.
I nodded my head, turned, and looked at him. He carefully wiped the tears from my face with his thumbs and took my hands and softly kissed each bruised knuckle. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs and get some ice for these.”
He helped me up and we went into the kitchen. The staff was gone and it was only Ian and me in the house. He took out some ice cubes from the freezer, wrapped them in a towel, and sat down across from me at the table.
“Give me your hands, sweetheart.”
I laid my hands on the table and he placed the towel with ice cubes over my knuckles. I pulled my hands back slightly because it hurt.
“Rory,” Ian said.
“It hurts, Ian,” I whined.
“I know it does, but you need to keep the ice on them just for a little bit.” As he held the ice on my knuckles, his thumbs softly stroked mine as he soothed me.
We sat across from each other at the table and stared into each other’s eyes. “I love you,” I said.
“I love you more.” He smiled.
“What do I do about Jimmy?”
“You need to figure that one out on your own. I can’t make that decision for you, sweetheart.”
“A part of me feels bad for him, but the other part of me still hates him.”
“It’s going to take time. You can’t change the past, but you can change the future. Just remember that his blood runs through your veins and he is your father.”
“The same goes for you too, buddy,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“Your dad and your mom. You can’t change the past, Ian, but you can certainly change your future.”
“Don’t throw my words back at me, sweetheart.” He smiled.
He took the ice from my hands and got up and put it in the sink. I stood up from my chair and waited as he walked over and wrapped his arms around me.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Let’s order a pizza and go eat it on the beach.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yep. We’ll spread out a blanket, eat some pizza, drink some wine, talk, and then maybe we can make love once it gets dark.”
“I love your ideas.” I smiled.
Chapter 25
Ian
A couple of weeks had passed and Rory seemed to be doing better. She still hadn’t gone back to the Piano Bar to see Jimmy and, when I’d ask her about it, she would just say she didn’t know what she was going to do. I decided to leave her alone about it and, when she was ready, she’d let me know. Thursdays had now become our visitation day at the cemetery for Stephen. Adalynn’s wedding was next week and I knew Rory was getting excited for it. As for Richard, I needed to confront him about his illness. Too much time had passed and he still hadn’t told me. I was getting angrier by the day and Rory knew it. She was the one who talked me into talking to him. I sat at my desk in my study and opened the top drawer. I pulled out the white envelope and sat back in my chair, debating whether or not to open it. All these years of hiding it and never once gave it a second thought, until recently. Rory had opened my eyes about my own family.
“What’s that?” she asked as she walked into the study.
I looked up at her and then at the envelope. “It’s nothing,” I replied as I put it back in the drawer.
“It looked like you were deep in thought, the way you were staring at it.”
“It’s nothing, sweetheart.” I smiled.
“If you’re lying to me, Mr. Braxton, I can promise you there will be no more sex for at least a month.”
I knitted my eyebrows at her and I got up from my chair and shut the door. I looked at her as I put my arms around her and leaned her up against the desk. “Is that so? Well, I know for a fact you can’t resist me when I do this,” I said as my tongue traveled down her neck. My fingers took down the straps of her tank top, exposing her bare br**sts. “And I know you can’t resist me when I do this.” I smiled as I took her hard ni**les between my fingers and tugged on them. She let out a moan and threw her head back. My hands lifted up her skirt above her waist. As I undid my pants and pulled them down, I set her up on my desk and inserted two fingers into her, making sure she was ready for me to f**k her nice and hard for her little threat. She smiled at me as she bit down on her bottom lip, turning me on even more. I pushed the edge of her panties to the side and thrust myself into her. We gasped at the same time as she wrapped her legs around me, allowing me to thrust in and out of her faster. “I know you can’t resist my c**k in you. Tell me how much you love it.”
