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Andi at least waited until we were out of view from the crowded lobby to start punching my chest. When I ignored the first few comically soft punches, she dipped her index finger in her mouth and then stuck it in my ear. I nearly dropped her with surprise.
“What the hell?” I said, setting her down, but being careful not to let her try to rush past me toward the lobby.
She stuck a finger in my chest. “In a second, I’m going to give you a piece of my mind for embarrassing me like that. But first. Wow. You made picking me up look so easy. For somebody who was feeling self-conscious about a few chocolate-induced pounds I’ve gained over the past couple weeks, that was great for my self-esteem. No. Don’t smile,” she snapped, jabbing her finger into my chest again. “Because that was also a total dick move. That Sydney woman is going to think she can walk all over me now. You know, I was bullied in high school, and one thing I learned was that it’s just like prison. The first day you get bullied, you’ve got to punch somebody so hard in the face that everybody else gets the message. But instead of punching her in the face, I got carried out of there like a baby.”
“You’re right, and you’re wrong.”
She frowned. “Pretty sure you have to pick one of those.”
“I shouldn’t have picked you up. But I needed to get you out of there because I wanted you to hear the truth from me. Not Sydney.”
“What truth?” she asked.
“I should’ve told you right away, but I—” I closed my eyes. Don’t make excuses for yourself. Just lay it out there and let her decide if she ever wants to speak to you again. “William was my biological father. When he and my mother divorced, I took her last name.”
Andi stared, then smiled. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“When he took you and your sisters in, he and my mom had been divorced about three years. Running the clubs for him was the only reason James and I saw him anymore. My mom cheated on him, and when James and I weren’t willing to cut mom out of our lives, he saw it as a betrayal. He started drinking more. I think he only kept us in his lives with the club as a way to punish us.”
Andi was shaking her head now, her smile all but faded. “How does giving you a cushy job count as punishment?” she laughed suddenly. “No. I really can’t believe any of this.”
“He just paid us enough to get by but strung us along on the idea that we’d inherit the club one day. I guess we thought he’d get over his anger about mom eventually, and things would get better. But then he adopted you guys and it was like a switch flipped. You three were—”
Andi shook her head more fiercely, pursing her lips. “No. You know what? Either you’re telling the truth and you’re an asshole for hiding this, or you’re lying and you’re an asshole for making up such a shitty story. All I know is I’m tired of looking at your face, and I hope I never have to see it again.”
I wanted to reach for her and stop her from going, but I knew I deserved every bit of her anger. I’d been an idiot to wait so long to tell her the truth. If I’d gotten it in the open sooner, it would have been uncomfortable, but nothing we couldn’t overcome.
I needed to let her go. I knew one thing. I could still give her the hotel. I didn’t expect to earn her forgiveness, but I wanted to at least do one thing right in this mess. I owed her that much.19AndiI wanted to cry and yell at the same time. In a few seconds, Landon had upended my reality on two fronts. I wanted to think he was lying, but something in my gut told me it was all true.
Grandpa was Landon’s father.
I felt an uncomfortable chill run through me. It was weird enough when grandpa had compelled me into a sexual to-do list with a stranger. Knowing that stranger was his son made it about a thousand times creepier.
Even though I fully planned to cut Landon out of my life entirely, I tried to smooth over the emotional scarring. For starters, grandpa wasn’t really my grandpa. He had also never fully taken on a father-like role for us. Instead, he was like a mentor and an adult figure who kept a roof over our heads. And Landon was more like his ex-son, somehow.
I got back to my room and flopped down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was still weird. If I wasn’t so pissed and confused, I’d probably waste more time trying to decide if a hypothetical relationship between an estranged son and his dad’s adopted daughter was taboo. Instead, I just wanted to punch Landon in his stupid face.
