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But now, he knew he had to address the matter head-on. Right away. He had no idea what to do with the knowledge or what Angel expected…if anything. They hadn’t made it that far.
Damn, he wished he could talk to Whitney about this, but he suspected this new information would only solidify her feelings about ending their relationship. She’d see it as just another reason their lives didn’t line up for a future together. He had no idea how she would react to this. He’d have to tell her eventually, but right now, he had to come to terms with it himself and sort out what it meant.
For his life. For Angel’s. And for Eddie’s.
He cradled a coffee cup in his shaky hands as he waited for Angel the next day at the bar. He hadn’t slept a wink after locking up and crashing on the cot in the back. He’d laid there, staring at the ceiling, a new, different numbness enveloping him as self-preservation.
There was so much he wanted to say, to ask, to clarify… But he wasn’t even sure where to begin. All these years, she’d never reached out.
How was she even sure Eddie was his? It had been a one-night stand so long ago. One he didn’t even remember. That made him feel guilty as shit. He hadn’t recognized her at all when she’d walked into the bar months ago. He hadn’t been a saint in his younger, body-building days, but he was disappointed in himself for never knowing this had been the outcome of one of his more impulsive decisions. Poor Eddie deserved more than that.
And despite only learning about it less than twenty-four hours ago, he felt sad that he’d missed an opportunity. It may have been complicated and messy, but he still wished he’d known. How would his life have been different?
The bar door opened, and he swallowed hard, seeing her enter. Then relief flowed through him when he saw that Max was with her.
“Hope it’s okay that I brought Max,” she said carefully as they approached.
He nodded, sending a grateful look at Max. “Of course.” It was actually better to have the other guy there. A buffer of sorts. “You know?” he asked his friend as they sat across from him.
“She told me last night,” Max said.
Trent nodded slowly.
“I was trying to get the courage to tell you for a while…” Angel said nervously. “I was going to the first day I walked in here, then I chickened out and asked for a job instead. I hadn’t even really had a plan to stay here in town. It just went that way. Then the timing was never right, and then when you started helping out the boys—helping out Eddie—I thought maybe I shouldn’t tell you. Leave things as they were. Let you two be friends.” She took a breath. “But then after everything you were going through…” She shrugged. “I couldn’t not tell you the truth you deserved to know.”
Trent nodded again. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. Where to start…
“Should I not have told you?” she asked, and he saw her squeeze Max’s hand tight.
“No. I’m glad you told me.” The timing was terrible and maybe fifteen years too late, but he was happy he knew. He cleared his throat. “What do we do now?” He had no idea where they went from here.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not sure we have to do anything drastic or quickly. Just maybe figure it out as we go along?”
He sighed. What else could they do? He knew he wanted to be in Eddie’s life—that had been crystal clear since the moment she’d dropped the bomb on him. And he was already there in some capacity, as a friend and someone Eddie could count on and trust. Maybe that was enough for now. Maybe it was all he’d ever really be.
“With the boys in L.A. there’s no rush, but eventually…”
“We’ll tell him?” The boy deserved to know. His reaction may not be the most positive at first, but he deserved to know the truth, and it would be up to him if he wanted to have a relationship with Trent.
Whatever that looked like.
Angel nodded, a look of remorse in her expression as she said, “I really am sorry, Trent. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
And who was he to say she hadn’t? He offered the best version of a reassuring smile he could muster given the circumstances of the last few hellish days. “You did the best you could. We’ll figure this out.”
Ten minutes later, after a slightly awkward parting, Trent locked the door to the bar and headed down the street. There was only one person he could talk to about this right now. Only one person he could go to for advice.
The bell chimed as he entered Frankie’s Fabrics, and one look at his mom’s smiling, welcoming face had his guard crumbling and the emotions falling down his face.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Now…
“Wow. He looks like shit,” Mitch whispered as he picked up a bowl of seasoned ground beef from Jess’s kitchen counter the following evening.
With a tray of cheese, salsa, and fixings, Jess followed him. “Two bottles of whiskey will do that to a person.”
“I can hear you two,” Trent said from where he slumped on the sofa in Jess’s living room. His head ached from too much alcohol, lack of sleep, and an unrelenting sense of doom. He hadn’t told anyone other than his mother about Eddie, and she was in enough pain over the breakup with Whitney and shock over his fatherhood for the entire family. He wasn’t ready to tell anyone else yet. In time, he would. Baby steps.
