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“We’re just friends.” That had been clear to him tonight, as Remi confessed to being in love with another man. But that was beside the point. He held out his hand again. “Give me your copy of my room key. You don’t get to barge in here anytime you want.”
His father ground his teeth but pulled out the keycard. “I’m your manager. I should have access to—”
“No. Absolutely not.” Colton grabbed the key and shoved it into his pocket. “Just because you’re my manager doesn’t mean you can invade my privacy. You wouldn’t expect me to give my room key to anyone else, no matter what they were hired to do.”
His father narrowed his eyes at him. “It’s a good thing I had a key, or I wouldn’t have seen you with Remi. You do realize if you’re caught on camera with her, your career could be dead?”
Even though he hated his father telling him what he could and couldn’t do, he also knew there was some truth to what he was saying. The public wouldn’t like seeing him with Remi. Still, he didn’t want to admit that, so Colton changed the subject. “Why did you come in here? What was so important that you had to break into my room?”
His father took a step back, and a look of uncertainty on his face. He gazed at the floor. “I need to talk to you.”
Colton stared at his father. His demeanor completely changed. What in the world? It made Colton wary. “About what?”
“I spoke with your mother.” His father swallowed and tapped his leg with his middle finger. “She said you upset her.”
Oh. That. He hadn’t meant to upset his mother. And he didn’t want to confront his father about his suspicions. What was he going to say to him? His father stared at him, and he knew he had to say something.
Colton took in a breath. “I just wanted to know the truth.”
Wrinkles creased his father’s forehead. “What made you ask your mother that?”
Colton crossed the room and grabbed the note from the desk and thrust it at him. “This.”
His father took the note and his face paled. “This is nothing. A practical joke. You don’t have to worry about this.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing. And Mom acted weird when I asked her. Tell me the truth.” He paused, the words getting stuck in his throat, but he forced them out. “Are you my father?”
“Of course I’m your father.” The words came out clipped as he continued to tap his leg.
Colton stared at the man who had raised him. The man who looked nothing like him. The man who stood before him, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He’d never seen his father sweat before. Not like this. “You’re lying.”
Tap. Tap. Tap. “Drop this, Colton. Right now.”
His tongue felt like sandpaper across his lips. “Why? Why should I drop this when you and Mom are obviously covering something up? Don’t I have the right to know? This involves me, too.”
His father’s face turned red. “You don’t want to push this. Trust me.”
“Why won’t you just admit it? You do realize I can go get a paternity test, right? Why are you lying to my face about this? I have the right to know who my real father is.”
“Iamyour real father,” he said, raising his voice, his hands shaking. He stalked across the room. “This is the end of this discussion. I don’t want you upsetting your mother anymore with this kind of talk. We are done.”
“But—”
His father pointed at him. “And I don’t want to see you with that woman again.” He slammed the door as he left, and a cold silence filled the room.
Frustration sparked, and he grabbed a throw pillow and chucked it at the door. It bounced off the wood and fell to the floor. What had that been about? It was obvious something was going on. And telling him not to push it? Did he think that would make Colton back down? He wanted to know more now than ever.
He ran a hand through his hair, and sand fell to the carpet. He’d forgotten he was covered in it. He grabbed his night clothes and stepped into the bathroom, where the shower water felt good pelting his back and he washed all the sand off his body, but the tension wouldn’t sluff off so easily. Even after he was out of the shower and dressed, his muscles wouldn’t loosen.
He picked up his phone and plopped down onto the bed. He needed to talk. Maybe Remi was still awake. He sent her a quick text.
Hey, you still up?
Yes. Your father done yelling at you?
Instead of texting back, he pressed to call her. She picked up immediately. “You okay?” she asked. He could hear the concern in her voice. It made his skin feel tingly.
“Yeah. I’m all right. I’m so sorry about that.” He cringed just thinking about how his father had acted in front of Remi.
