My stomach caved, and I didn’t think.

I slammed my cards down on the table and launched out of my chair, popping my father right across the jaw. The ache in my fist spread up my arm, and I watched as he fell out of his chair, onto the floor, still laughing his ass off.

My chest heaved as I breathed through my nose.

“Next week is my last visit,” I told him. “I won’t miss you, but I know you’ll miss me.”

“That’s enough of that.” I heard a voice say before I was grabbed by the arm.

Looking up, I saw a guard, a little taller than me with dark hair and light eyes, scowling.

I yanked my arm away from him. “No worries. I’m gone.” And I turned around, my jaw hard as cement as I walked out.

“Don’t worry, Jared,” my father yelled behind me. “We won’t stray far from each other. I’ll always be in your head.”

As soon as I got home from the visit, I found my mom in the kitchen with a cake.

“No way. I’m not in the mood.” My tone was hard, and I didn’t mean to cut her, but I backed out of the kitchen and walked towards the stairs.

“Jared, please,” she shouted after me.

I stopped, every muscle in my chest so stretched that I was ready to scream, and I spun around and charged back into the kitchen.

My mother stood on the other side of the kitchen table, brown hair in a high bun and arms at her sides. She was dressed nicely in jeans, heels, and a short jacket.

Gripping the back of the chair until the wood creaked beneath my fingers, I stared at her, trying to swallow down the fight I wanted.

“I appreciate the effort,” I told her. “I really do. But we’ve gotten along just fine without having to pretend that we’re an actual family. You do your thing. I do mine.”

My stomach was in knots, and my words spilled out like mud.

Her eyes dropped, but she recovered and lifted her chin.

“I want Jax to come and live with us,” she said matter-of-factly and out of nowhere.

I stopped breathing and narrowed my eyes on her, too shocked to even respond.

Excuse me?

Jax live with us?

She smiled a little and circled the table towards me before I even had a chance to process if she was kidding.

“Jared, I’ve already spoken to a lawyer. Nothing is for sure, but….” she paused, eyeing me carefully, “but he might be able to help. Do you want your brother with us?”

I wanted my brother safe.

I tightened my grip on the chair’s back. “Do you want him here?” I asked her.

Her eyes dropped, and her lips turned up with a thoughtful smile. “Yes. I like Jaxon.” And then she looked up at me again. “He brings out the best in you. Just like Tate used to.”

I couldn’t eat cake.

I didn’t like attention, and the idea of my mother making me blow out candles had me gagging.

I went to my room and close the door, enjoying the dark and quiet for however long I could have it.

Jax with us? I thought as I laid on my bed.

I still couldn’t believe she’d thought of it. That she wanted to take him in.

It was expensive, but she didn’t seem to care.

That was one issue I never pushed, even though it confused me. She worked in an accounting firm, earning enough to support us but not enough for what we had. Our house was paid for, I always had the best cell phones, and she had a nice car. Paid for.

To be honest, I was just afraid to ask. I didn’t want to know how we lived so well.

I got a text from K.C. saying she hoped we were friends, and she offered a thank-you for the help with her dipshit boyfriend.

He’ll be cheating again in a month. They always do. But I didn’t tell her that.

She also let it slip in a not-so-subtle way that Tate was on her own now. Her visiting grandmother had left town.

My lips turned up, and I was about to stalk over there and pick another fight with Tate when I got a text.

Everything good?

Tate’s dad.

Fine, I typed back.

You got the house key back to Tate, right?

Yes, I lied. I wasn’t ready to give that up yet.

Thanks. Happy 18. Present should be arriving soon.

Thanks, I typed back, not good at being gracious.

Tate’s birthday is in a week. Find out what she wants, he ordered.

I let out a sigh.

That might be difficult, I texted.

He shot back not thirty seconds later. A man…?

And I punched the bed with my fist.

…takes care of business. I reluctantly finished.

Make it happen, and thank you, he shot back.

I threw off my shirt and jumped in the hot shower, lulling me into some f**king peace and quiet for once in the last twenty-four hours.

I still couldn’t believe I’d hit my father. I’d never done that before, even to defend myself that summer.

I didn’t know why that comment about Tate having another man’s babies had gotten me so angry. My father had accomplished what he’d set out to do, and I’d fallen for it again.

I couldn’t think of myself as a father, now or any time in the future.

But one thing was for certain. Whether it was now or ten years from now, I didn’t want Tate having anyone else’s kids.

But someday she’d want them. Most people did.

And I swallowed the baseball-size lump that it wasn’t going to be me in her future.

Chapter 24

It was Monday morning, and I was breaking and entering for the first time in my life. Of my own free will, anyway.