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“Nah, I’m fine,” Wyatt replied. “Thanks for staying.”
“Of course. See you guys in a while.” Brand walked out.
Jackson shut the door and took a few steps closer to Wyatt’s bed. “I can’t believe what you went through tonight. Brand gave me the bare bones when he called. Do you even know what that guy was looking for?”
“No idea,” Wyatt replied with a grunt. The poor guy sounded like he had a head cold because of his busted nose. “Small enough to put in a roadside kit. I honestly don’t give a shit as long as he stays away from me and the people I care about. Tonight was fucking scary as hell.”
“I can’t imagine.” He kind of could, given his own history, but Wyatt wasn’t used to being around criminals who threatened bodily harm if you didn’t comply. And he never wanted Wyatt back in that position again. “I bet you’re relieved now.”
“To be here and away from him? Fuck yes, I am.”
“No, I mean about Brand.”
Wyatt frowned. “What? That he was nice to me tonight? Definitely.”
Crap, he’d stepped in it.
“You’re talking about something else, aren’t you?” Wyatt asked. “What?”
“I’m surprised he didn’t tell you.” Jackson sat on the edge of the bed and rested one hand on Wyatt’s blanket-covered thigh. “Brand got the DNA results back tonight. You’re a match. He’s your father.”
Wyatt did an impressive imitation of a goldfish with the way he opened and shut his mouth over and over. Jackson disliked breaking the news like this, but Wyatt deserved to know the truth. And if Jackson was the one to tell him? So be it. Wyatt’s bright green eyes filled with tears and they broke Jackson’s heart.
“He stayed with me,” Wyatt said, voice low and raspy. “Once he got here, he stayed. Like a dad would.”
“Yeah.” He squeezed Wyatt’s thigh, his own eyes burning with emotion. “He stayed. Do you want him to come back? I can go.”
“No, don’t go.” One of those tears spilled down Wyatt’s left cheek. “I know it’s only been a few days but I’ve missed you. I am so fucking sorry I lied. I can never apologize enough for how I handled everything since I came to town, and I will do anything I can to make it up to you.”
Jackson scooted closer and wrapped gentle arms around Wyatt, holding him as close as he dared after Wyatt’s accident, mindful of his damaged face. “Stop. We don’t have to talk about that right now. Yes, we need a long conversation at some point in the near future, but definitely not tonight. I can’t imagine how scared you were.”
Wyatt sobbed into his shoulder. “I was terrified, but I couldn’t let him hurt Ramie. Couldn’t let her suffer for my bad decisions.”
“You had no way of knowing your friend let a criminal stash something in your car. That’s not on you.” For the first time, Jackson wished he was taller than Wyatt so he could hug the younger man the way he needed to be hugged. To completely wrap him up in Jackson’s body. He did his best while his boyfriend trembled in his arms and hoped it was enough.
Jackson still hadn’t processed everything himself. Wyatt’s life had been in real danger tonight, and he could have easily killed himself by crashing the car on purpose. But Wyatt had done it to protect a friend. Wyatt was also Brand’s son, and that was still a little too big to truly wrap his brain around, so he pushed it aside for later. And Jackson did know one thing for certain—he loved Wyatt and couldn’t imagine his life without the accident-prone cowboy in it.
“We’ll get through this,” Jackson whispered, lips close to Wyatt’s ear. “We just need time. And patience.”
“Time I’ve got. Patience? Not so great at that.”
He ruffled the red curls he loved so much. “We’ll work on it. Together.”
“Yeah.” Wyatt sighed softly. “Together.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Wyatt had zero mental energy left after he finally got home to Ramie’s place a little before sunrise. The sky was just starting to lighten in the east. He didn’t care what time it was, that his car was police evidence, and he still didn’t know what Smith (whose real name was Antonio Walters) had hidden in the emergency kit. Whatever. It could wait until he’d slept for a few days.
Jackson had sat with him throughout the entire hospital ordeal, from having his nose set and rebandaged, to more interviews with cops, to the long, slow process of finally getting released from the damned ER. For all that Jackson was still angry with him, he also obviously cared, and that gave Wyatt hope that he hadn’t lost his cowboy for good.
He also managed to have one private conversation with Brand when Jackson tagged out for a bathroom and snack machine break. Brand had been so tentative as he stood at the foot of Wyatt’s bed, hands in his jeans pockets, unsure of himself for the first time since Wyatt had met the man.
“So you know about the results,” Brand had said.
“Yeah.” For the first time, Wyatt had found himself looking at Brand through the lens of a son’s eyes, rather than a potentially related employee’s. He admired Brand and his ambition for the ranch, his love for his family, and his loyalty to the people around him. People who’d earned it. “Are you mad?”
“That you’re my son? The child I gave up any thought of ever knowing, because I wanted it to be their choice? Never. You chose to find me. I might not agree with how you went about things, keeping who you thought I was a secret all this time, but I am starting to understand it better. And I would like to have a relationship with you outside of just boss and employee. For my family to know who you are to me. If you want that.”
