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She ran fingers through her hair. “I need to use the bathroom.” Daisy walked away. Simon stared at the spot where she’d stood.
Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes, rubbing at his temples.
“Sorry,” Miles said. “I shouldn’t have said the shit I did.”
“You’re right. I left and now look at me. I sleep on the sofa. I’ve got a kid that I don’t know. All of this is messed up. What’s more, my friend made patched member before me. How is that crap even right?”
They all chuckled.
“I never thought it would go this way, I didn’t.” He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry for putting you through all this shit.”
“I care about Tabs,” Miles said. “She hasn’t been the same since you’ve been gone. It’s like she was a shell of who she was. Her backbone bent. She was sad. Broken even. I don’t think it was all because of what happened.”
“We all know she was mourning his loss,” Anthony said. “None of us could do anything to help her.”
“I can’t believe you never told me about her having a kid.”
“It’s not something you needed to hear and I’m not going over this ground with you again. You know what happened. I don’t want to argue with you anymore,” Anthony said.
They were all silent.
“Do you know?” Simon asked. Anthony had leaned back and closed his eyes. He reached out and kicked him, making him look at him.
“Do I know what?”
“Whose Nathan is?”
Miles sat up.
Anthony nodded.
“Whose is he?”
Anthony frowned at him. “Does it matter? You’ve claimed him as yours.”
“I know but … I…”
“He’s yours,” Anthony said. “Don’t worry about it.”
Simon took a deep breath. “It wouldn’t matter. I mean, of course, it wouldn’t. He’s innocent.”
“And Tabby loves him,” Miles said. “It’s all that counts.”
Simon agreed and leaned back. It had been a long night and there was no sign of Tabby returning soon. He wasn’t going to go to bed though.
He was way too wired for that.
****
The following morning, Daisy was the first one to wake up. They’d all camped out in the sitting room. She checked her phone to see if there was any news from Tabitha. No messages or missed calls. Nathan got out of bed and she got him to get dressed and to play in his room while she set up breakfast.
Opening the cupboards, she smiled when she saw Tabitha’s writing on a jug marking pancake batter.
She’d slept over a couple of times when Nathan was first born, and Tabitha had a craving for pancakes. Daisy had been doing all the cooking so she hadn’t labeled anything.
Tabitha had thought the mixture in the jug at the time had been custard. She’d already taken a mouthful before she could warn her. She’d been violently sick, and since that day, Tabitha labeled everything.
Turning a couple of plain jars, she saw leftover tomatoes and even some tofu. All neatly packaged and labeled. Tabitha had changed a great deal over the years. The disorganized girl she remembered from high school was no longer there. Tabitha was a mom.
“You’ve been staring into that fridge for a long time.” Anthony put his hands on her hips and she stood up.
He pressed his lips against her neck and she couldn’t help but sink against him. His arms went around her, holding her close. She’d gladly stay in his embrace for the rest of her life.
“I’m just remembering the good old days.”
“Lash called. They’re on their way back.”
“Do you know how it went?” she asked, grabbing some butter to help make pancakes. She went hunting in cupboards for more flour to make more batter. What was leftover wouldn’t feed all of them.
“They’re alive. That’s all I know.”
“Do you think they could start a war?”
“It’s club, Daisy. Anything could happen.”
“Chaos Bleeds are far away. It would draw us into it.”
“There’s nothing we can’t handle. I hope you know that.”
“I do.” She put the ingredients on the board and moved toward the entrance to the kitchen, looking into the sitting room. Simon was still fast asleep. “You lied to him last night.”
“So.”
“We know whose Nathan is.”
Anthony rubbed the back of his head.
“Don’t you think he has a right to know?” Daisy asked.
“Why?” Anthony asked. “To know that his kid is a rapist’s? That Tabitha carried him to term on the fifty-fifty chance he could be Simon’s? Does it matter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Lexie took care of him, and he wasn’t hers.”
“That’s different. Lexie is an aunt.”
“And Nathan is an innocent kid who has a chance to have a good life.” Anthony frowned at her. “This world is fucking shit, Daisy. We know what it’s like. It’s filled with guys like Ryan who turn into men. They hurt people and they continue to do so. No one stops them. Women are sold and pawned like cattle. Kids are hurt. So are animals. Nothing good would come out of telling him the truth. Not now. Not when he can walk away.”
