Sugar Daddy (Lowcountry Heat Book 1) by Rie Warren

Author:Rie Warren [Warren, Rie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rie Warren
Published: 2014-01-23T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Due Diligence

Reardon stood, motioning me forward. No one said anything, yet their unvoiced pain screamed through me. Inside the house, we continued upstairs and he led me into his old bedroom. The whole time he was so close to me. But he didn’t dare touch me.

Anger and unbelievable sadness swept through me.

I wheeled on him the second the door closed. “Now? You decide to tell me this now? No, wait. You didn’t even have the balls to do it yourself! I fucking died over Delilah, and you, you knew exactly what I was feelin’, but you didn’t have the backbone to tell me the truth.”

I swung my arm between us. “Like this? You blindsided me again, you bastard!” I fell on him, beating his chest.

He captured my hands. “I’m—”

“Don’t you even say sorry,” I seethed.

“I only wanted you to meet my family first.”

“To see if I passed muster, if I was better than Leila?”

His fingers tightened on my wrists. “Don’t compare yourself to her.”

“Why not? She’s your kind, right? And you were happy, I saw the pictures.”

“We were happy when we had Will.” His voice broke apart over his son’s name.

“Were you gonna tell me?”

“Of course!”

“Of course? I don’t even know what I am to you.” I clawed at his hands that kept me from punching him again.

“My lover.”

“But. You. Pay. Me.”

He flinched, releasing me.

“All those photos down there. How could you think I wouldn’t figure it out? When are you gonna stop deceiving me like this?”

“It’s not about lying to you. It’s about looking out for you.”

“Bullshit!” I stabbed his chest. “It’s about protectin’ yourself.”

Of course he was in self-preservation mode. He had every right to be. I’d lived through it myself.

In the next instant, I wrapped my arms around him. “Oh my God, Reardon. Baby, I’m so sorry. I never could have, I never would’ve . . .” My tears blotted big wet spots on his shirt. “I’m so damn sorry.” The anger simmered underneath, it wouldn’t cut me loose. I pulled away before he could speak. “But I am so completely pissed at you right now.”

“It’s not even that it’s hard, Shay. It’s impossible to breathe when I think about him. About Will.” He rubbed his chest in tight circles. “He was only seven.”

When he sagged to the foot of the bed, I folded in front of him on the floor. He kept shaking his head like the motion would rid him of all the memories scoured from his soul, dragged from his mouth. “He had CML. Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. He died June 29th, 2005.”

“The boats,” I gasped. “He’s at sea.”

Hands hiding his face, he whispered, “We couldn’t cover him in earth, landlocked. Will would’ve hated it. He was wild as the water, born from the tides. When . . . fuck.” He wrestled to breathe. “When Will was born, Ransome was overseas. I wanted a piece of my brother with me always, so we named him William Ransome.” He inhaled sharply. “In case Ransome didn’t make it home.

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