Grant felt a red haze of fury surround him like a cloud. His son had been raised in miserable circumstances for the last six years – because of his brother and his father. Those manipulative bastards.
It’s not like it was a secret that Cliff was a conniving son of a bitch who would do whatever he thought was best for the pack, and the hell with how it affect anybody else. But keeping Grant from his own son? Cliff and Grant were going to have some words about that in the near future, when nobody else was around, and Cliff would need to grow back a new set of fangs when Grant was done with him.
“She never contacted me,” Grant gritted out. “Ever. I did not hear word one about her being pregnant. Even if she had wanted nothing to do with me, I would have stepped up to the plate for my son.”
She looked at him. “I believe you. Partly because you’re so mad right now that your ears are pointy, your face is furry, and I can see claws coming out of your fingertips.” She bravely stood her ground, but her voice shook.
He was scaring her.
Grant groaned with effort and forced his beast back down.
“And you never told me I had a son either. You should have.” It came out as a growl.
“I’d never even met you.” Celeste looked at him in exasperation. “I knew nothing of you. She told me that you beat and terrorized her. And then threatened her into getting rid of Jeffrey. I thought she’d done it; I didn’t know Jeffrey existed. Then she suddenly went underground. There was something weird going on with her and the other guy she’d been dating, Boone. He called me up a few times looking for her, until I changed my number. She’d told me not to tell him that I’d heard from her. A few times she contacted me and asked me to send money to different P.O. boxes. That’s all the contact I’ve had with her for years.”
“So she’s really…gone?”
“I told you, fur-face, My sister is dead. She died in a car accident. The police contacted my employer and told them.”
Grant raised an eyebrow. “Fur-face? That’s really the best you can come up with?”
She sighed. “I’m not feeling inspired to hate you. You did come back here for Jeffrey.”
Awkward silence.
He cleared his throat, trying to come up with something witty to say. “So. Tell me about yourself.”Brilliant, Grant, just brilliant.
“Well, up until a couple of weeks ago I worked for a security company, as a freelancer. I’m good at breaking in to places. Lived on the street for a couple of years after we ran away from our last group home.” She gave him a rueful smile. “I had to back out of a job at the last minute when I got the call about Jennifer, and so they fired me. It’s fine. I can always find another company.”
“Where do you live?”
“Here and there. Motels. I travel a lot.”
More awkward silence. Grant the suave lady-killer was suddenly tongue-tied.
She looked at him. “You will take good care of Jeffrey. I’ll stay until he learns to trust you, and until we can get him to believe me that I’m his aunt, not his mother. I could… I could come visit. I mean, I’ve never kept in touch with anybody before, but for him, I would. You’d let me visit him.” That last statement was tentative, half a question.
Grant felt a rush of emotion. “Of course. You’re his family. And you love him.”
Tears flooded her eyes. “With all my heart. I wish I could be there for him. We just… I don’t do well with family, or friends, or… I just move on. All the time. It’s what I do.”
“It’s what youdid.” He looked down at her. “Out of necessity. And habit. Maybe it’s not necessary any more. You might do better than you thought at family. You’ve done great by my son.”
My son.The words felt strange and wonderful in his mouth. All those years he’d run from commitment…and now, in an instant, he was ready to change his life for this little boy. To live his life for him.
“That’s… I mean, yeah, anybody would love Jeffrey. He’s great.”
She took a deep breath. “Okay. CPS wants to take him. We cannot let that happen. So what do we do next?”
“Well, it depends. We need to work together. I know you’re not a grifter. And you understand that I would never have turned my back on my son if I’d known he existed?”
It was somehow incredibly important to him that she didn’t think that about him.
She nodded. “Yes. Although you’re weird as hell, Grant.” Then she gave him a wry, crooked smile that melted his heart. “But look who’s talking.”
He grinned fiercely. “We’re in agreement. We call a truce. I throw an army of lawyers at CPS. We get married. And we play happy families until they go away.”
“Married.” She stared at him in shock.
