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I shake my head as I watch her walk out of the room. Christ, she's so fucking sassy. The kid is without a doubt one of the funniest kids I've met.
I hear commotion downstairs—raised voices, angry fucking voices. As much as I want to go down and see what the fuck is going on, I'm not going to leave Esme. She can't leave this room. She can't even use the bathroom unaided.
Footsteps pound up the stairs and I turn to see Preach prowling toward me. "You good?" I ask, watching him carefully. His eyes are wild, his face red. I don't think I've ever seen him look so fucking angry before. "Brother?"
He shakes his head. "Fuck," he snarls, lifting his hand and driving his fist into the wall. "Fuck."
I move toward him. This isn't Preach. My brother never loses his shit. Not fucking ever. "Tell me what's happened."
"Tyson," he says through gritted teeth, and my heart fucking stops. "He's not mine."
"What?" I hiss, pulling in a deep breath. Fuck. Fuck. I thought something had happened to the boy. I thought he was hurt or worse. Christ… I run a hand through my hair. "How did you find out?"
His eyes narrow. "Effie realized that my blood type couldn't be a parent of Tyson. Mayhem just told us all."
I stare at him, confused. How the fuck does someone uncover that shit? "Preacher," I say low, unsure what the fuck I'm supposed to say.
"My fuckin' son," he says, his eyes filling with tears. "How am I supposed to give him up?"
"Who said you have to?" I ask. "Look, Preach, you're Tyson's dad, man. No one can fuckin' deny that."
He shakes his head. "I'll talk to you later," he says, choking on his words. He's close to crying and I can't blame him. This is completely fucked up.
I glance back at my room and see that Esme is fast asleep. I move quickly, pushing hard as I run down the stairs. I see Mayhem talking with Ace and Stag, but I'm fucking pissed. Beyond that. "You just had to open your fuckin' mouth," I hiss as I glare at Mayhem.
"Brother, what?" he says, his brows raised in surprise.
"Shit," Ace says. "Reap, brother, I get that you’re pissed, but you need to calm down."
"What the fuck is goin' on?" Mayhem asks, his gaze moving between Ace and me.
I notice the women aren't down here. No doubt finding out that Tyson isn't Preacher's has made them upset. I can't fucking believe this.
"A while ago, it became clear that Tyson wasn't Preacher's," Ace says, and everyone's silent. "All you had to do was look at the kid and you could tell who his father is. Fuck, man, have you not seen the boy?"
"What are you sayin'?" Mayhem asks. "It sounds like you knew that Preacher was raisin' someone else's kid."
Ace nods. "We didn't know for definite, but we were ninety percent sure that Reaper's the father. Fuck, Tyson's the spittin' image of him."
"Why?" Stag asks. "Why the fuck didn't you say it to him?"
"You saw him, brother. You saw the fuckin' guilt that ate away at him. You saw how he was when I went to prison for takin' the fall for him. What do you think he's goin' to be like when he finds out his son is mine?" I shake my head. "Fuck, Mayhem. Why the fuck would you even fuckin' tell him that shit?"
He bows his head. "If it were me, I'd want to know. I don't get it. Do you not want your kid?"
Pain slices through my chest. "Of fuckin' course I do. But Preach is my brother. The fuck am I goin' to do—take the boy off him?"
"Look," Ace says, raising his hand. "The situation is fucked up. But right now, Preach's world has been fuckin' blasted open and we need to make sure he's doin' okay. 'Cause if it were me, I'd be gone, brother. There's no comin' back from findin' out that the kid you loved and have raised for the past few months isn't yours."
May runs his hands over his face. "Fuck," he growls. "What's goin' to happen now?"
Ace sighs. "He's goin' to have a paternity test done, somethin' that should have been done from the start, and we'll go from there."
I don't have anything to say. What can I? I mean, it's fucked up. I never intended for Preacher to find out. My brother should have kept his fucking nose out of other people's business. I get that he was trying to help, but he's opened a fucking can of worms and there's no way to escape the heartache that's about to be exposed from this.
I turn on my heel and make my way upstairs. It's fucking shit. The one person I want to talk to, I can't. I can't put this on Esme. She's dealing with enough trying to recover from the injuries those animals inflicted on her. She's just home from the hospital and there's a long road to recovery in front of her.
I get to the top of the stairs and see my bedroom door is open. I have no doubt that Sera's back, and if Esme's awake, she's talking her ear off.
