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1
Sugar
No man ever wanted to hear, “You need to take a paternity test.”
But a man knocking on fifty’s door might go into cardiac arrest. Or nothing as severe. Maybe he would only vomit on the floor, judging by the ill expression on Justin’s face.
I wasn’t sure how this meeting would go when Storm called. If I’d have to tell Justin what I knew or if Storm would take the lead. To my relief, my nephew hadn’t wasted a second once the three of us were in his office before he’d blurted the most feared words to his gender.
“Excuse me?” Justin muttered, wholly taken aback.
“You heard me.” Storm flicked his gaze at me. “Tell him why Sugar.”
Justin nearly broke his neck, turning toward me. “Why?”
I swallowed the lump of dread in my throat as both men stared at me. It was so unfair to treat me like the bad guy. I wasn’t to blame for any of this. I’d been on edge waiting for Storm to decide when we’d tell Justin, literally making myself sick because I hated everything about this situation. God knew I was incredibly uncomfortable having any part of it.
But the TC Vipers had monopolized Storm’s attention the past week after he’d met with Deek. Storm had a lot on his mind and a difficult decision to make.
I shook the Vipers out of my head. Now wasn’t the time to worry about the craziness that was about to hit the club. Justin’s life could unravel because I’d gone to Arizona. All it had taken was a little booze for Mickey to sing like a canary and confess her sins. I never regretted getting sloshed more than I did now.
But the fact of the matter was, I hadn’t done anything wrong. The bomb I was forced to drop on poor, unsuspecting Justin was my high school bestie’s fault.
“Mickey.” Hearing her name should be all Justin needed. His mind probably roared back in time like a freight train to when he first met Mickey, to a time of betrayal and regret.
Justin’s eyes widened. After everything he’d been through last year, losing his hand and almost his daughter, he’d flipped a one-eighty. He was in the best shape of his life. He didn’t drink much and had purged the drugs he’d been taking out of his system. He worked out at Boxer’s gym, and he was absolutely devoted to Emilee, little Dante, and even to Dodge. His family was his whole universe, and the foundation was about to get rocked.
“Mickey?” he choked out her name. “I haven’t seen her since your wedding to Matt.”
“Yes.” I fought to hold myself together and not tear up at the mention of my late husband.
Over the last couple of weeks, beautiful, wonderful, and sad memories of Matt had occupied my thoughts after what had happened with Art. But the paternity test and what it would do to Justin and his family had also tormented me. I’d hardly slept or eaten as guilt ravaged my soul. I was running on fumes, unsure of how long I could maintain the tiniest bit of normal before I crashed and burned.
“So… So what’s all this about a paternity test?” He stood from his chair, breathing rapidly. Like me, he appeared on the verge of losing it but for an entirely different reason than me.
I lowered my gaze to the stump at the end of his left hand. He hadn’t let the loss of it keep him down. Could he overcome another blow? Some men might not care about the child they never knew, but Justin would.
“Tell him,” Storm told me.
“Mickey has a son. He’s a few months older than my boys.” I blurted the words as my anxiety increased.
“He’s not mine!” Justin shouted.
I pressed my hand over my racing heart. “We just need to confirm that he’s not yours.” Jesus, the dam would break any second. This conversation was destroying me, but I couldn’t show it. I had to be the strong motorcycle club queen.
“Sit down, Justin.” Storm folded his hands on the table. “There’s more.”
“What more can there be? I’m not the kid’s father. And if I was, why didn’t Mickey tell me years ago? Why isn’t she telling me this herself?”
Storm nodded to me to continue.
“She should be the one telling you.” I sure as hell didn’t want to have to do it. “But she wasn’t able to come. She and Markey are searching for Jax.”
“What do you mean, searching?”
“Since Jax turned eighteen, he’s been trying to find his biological father. After several disappointments, he got into drugs, suffers from depression, and has tried to commit suicide twice.”
“Jesus Christ.” Justin rubbed the side of his face.
