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“But it was your secret to keep?”
“It was my choice to keep it, and it was Wyatt’s obligation to be the one to tell you. Not me. I did say if he didn’t, I would, and I’m proud of him for sucking it up and doing the hard thing.”
The pride was clear in Jackson’s voice, as was his lingering grief. Brand knew him too well not to notice. “But how Wyatt went about things still hurt you.” Brand didn’t know all the gritty details of Jackson’s past, but he knew enough to understand how much Jackson valued honesty.
“Yeah, I’m...workin’ through how I feel about all that. I think can forgive him, I just don’t know...”
“If you can trust him again?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you love him?”
“I’m not sure answering that question is appropriate right now, especially since I don’t know if you’re asking as my friend, his friend, or his father.”
“Might be asking as his boss, too.”
That got a brief snort of laughter from Jackson. “I think this is a conversation I need to have with Wyatt before I do with you in any capacity, Brand.”
“Point taken. I just needed to talk some of this out with you so I could parse it all myself. I’m not mad at you for keeping Wyatt’s confidence. The circumstances are all fucked up on both sides. But man, you’ve been boning my kid and you’re twice his age and I am not okay with that. Even if Wyatt wasn’t maybe my kid, I’d be weirded out by the age difference.”
“Why?”
Brand blinked at the wall in the same instant the shower shut off. Hugo was almost finished. “Twenty years, dude. I mean, Wyatt was born when we were still figuring out how to text by hitting the same button three times to get one letter. All he knows are touch screens and apps and probably can’t even read cursive.”
“When was the last time you wrote anything besides your signature in cursive?”
“Not the point.”
“Well, your point is made, taken, and considered. But my relationship with Wyatt is between me and him. If you are his biological father, Brand, I will respect that relationship. So long as you respect mine, whatever it ends up being. Whether Wyatt and I stay together, or we break up and go back to just work acquaintances, it’s for him and me to figure out. Not him, me, and you.”
Brand wanted to argue the point but didn’t. Jackson was one of the most stubborn people he’d ever met and Brand wasn’t going to change his mind. All Brand could do was move forward, trust Jackson, and hope they all made the best choices possible for their futures.
“I won’t interfere,” Brand said. “But if you hurt my kid, you’ll answer to me.”
He swore he heard Jackson smile when he replied, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, boss. I do have one request and you know it’s not something I ever ask for unless it’s important.”
“I’m already gonna reassign Wyatt’s final week of training to Rem.”
“Not the request, but that’s fine. Wyatt’s done real good so far and shouldn’t frustrate Rem too much.”
Brand resisted laughing. Everyone knew Rem wasn’t the most patient person. Rem had been a mess when Susie was a baby and he was still figuring out how to be a dad. “Name what you need.”
“The day off tomorrow. You can swap me a day with Michael if you have to, I just need the day to myself to think. I don’t think I can do my job right knowing I could run into Wyatt at any moment.”
“I get it and you’ve got the day. I don’t have much to do in the office tomorrow, so Hugo and I will be out and about, too. We’ll be fine.”
“Thanks. I mean it. See you Wednesday.”
“Yeah, see you.”
He ended the call just as Hugo left the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Hugo strode across the room, his lean torso still lightly glistening with moisture, and went into the bedroom. If they hadn’t committed to dinner with his family soon, Brand might have followed his boyfriend right in there, shut the door, and made good use of his nearly naked state.
Instead, he waited patiently for Hugo to dress and did his best not to think about that damned DNA test.
Chapter Twenty
Wyatt wasn’t surprised when he got to the ranch Tuesday and found out Jackson had taken a personal day. It didn’t surprise him, no, but it still felt like he’d been punched in the nuts. Jackson was so hurt by this that he couldn’t even see Wyatt today?
