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Chapter Fifty-one
Mike
It broke Mike’s heart when Bishop yanked his hand away from her, frowning as if he thought someone was playing a cruel joke on him. He scowled in Mike’s direction, and for the first time, he was helpless to defend his son. “Mike, what’s going on?”
Edison came outside with a huge grin and clapped his hands. “I need to get my burgers on the grill—” His sentence cut off quickly when he saw the myriad of emotions on his fiancé’s face. “Bishop, what’s the matter?”
Ivy spun around and glared at Mike. “Why does he call you by your first name?”
“None of your damn business.” Mike took an angry step forward, but Manny’s hand landed on his shoulder and Rayne’s in the center of his chest.
Bishop stared at Ivy for a long time, not saying anything, and Mike could only imagine what his boy was thinking. No doubt Bishop was trying to get a read on her, and Mike hoped he’d be able to see through her bullshit. But his son was a grown, accomplished man, and he could make his own decisions about who he allowed in his life.
“I call him Mike and Dad,” Bishop answered her after a tense silence. His face was unreadable, his tone low and cautious. “Because he’s my best friend first, and he’s my father.”
Ivy gave Bishop a soft smile, one Mike didn’t know she was capable of making, and inched a little closer. With every move Ivy made, no matter how minute, Mike’s heart jackhammered behind his rib cage. His son was over thirty, and Mike was actually terrified someone was trying to take him away from him. It’d been his greatest fear from the time he was fifteen until now. Bishop’s eyes were on him, assessing and judging as unease stirred in Mike’s belly. He and his son had always had their own language, and he relayed back that it was never his intention for Bishop to be ambushed.
“Bishop, who is this?” Edison asked, clutching Bishop’s upper bicep.
Trent and Wood came from out the back gate. Trent, being his usual unaware self, hollered at them to bring the party in the back where the beer was. He and Wood laughed, but it died away fast when they noticed no one else joined in.
“This woman says she’s my mother.”
Another long, quiet pause and stares around the yard before all gazes returned to Bishop.
“Oh.” Edison looked as if he didn’t know what on earth to say.
“Why are you here?” Bishop asked with little feeling in his voice as if he didn’t care but was curious nonetheless.
Ivy blinked and pointed at the Jaguar, stuttering when she attempted to answer. “I, um. I live in Atlanta, and I’m— I changed after I left here, after I left my violent husband.”
“Again. Why are you here?” Bishop’s voice was stern.
“Gosh, you sound so much like your dad.” She gave him a watery smile. “You seem like a good man, Bishop.”
“I am. Because I was raised by him.” Bishop pointed at Mike before he folded his big arms over his chest, and Mike felt a surge of pride blossom in his chest. “And I’m still busting my ass every day to be half the man he is.”
Shit. Mike had to glance away before he embarrassed himself by letting his emotions show. Rayne touched Mike’s cheek in reassurance, and one glance in those light eyes eliminated the last bitter traces of dread Mike felt as peace settled into his spirit.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” Bishop pressed. “Why are you here? I’m about to turn thirty-three. Did you come to take me for cake and ice cream?”
That’s my boy. Give her hell, B.
Ivy’s boss-bitch façade was deteriorating in the company she was in as she wrung her hands together. Her gaze darted around to the men watching her and hanging on her every word. It was no fun standing amongst critics, people who knew your fuckups and were ready to be judge and executioner of them. Mike got it. He’d been there enough times himself. But he had zero empathy for the woman who’d turned his life upside down.
“I, um. I came back to the old neighborhood to show my husband where I was born and raised and how far I’ve come. The conditions I had to survive in.” Ivy gestured at the nice suburban subdivision. “I wanted this kind of life for you, but I knew I was in no position to provide it.”
“So you thought a fifteen-year-old would do better?” Trent jumped in.
Mike didn’t realize how close he and Wood were standing beside him.
Ivy frowned. “No. I just knew that…” She pfft’d, sounding frustrated. “Who are you, and why are you questioning me?”
“I’m Trent. Mike’s other son… Bishop’s brother. His very defensive brother.”
Ivy gaped at Mike. “You had another kid?”
“I already said that’s none of your fuckin’ business. You don’t need to know my story or my boys’ either. Especially not thirty damn years later.” Mike took a deep breath like Rayne whispered for him to do in his ear, but it wasn’t helping.
