Page 78 of Start With A Slap

“That footage?—”

“Is ancient history,” he said over her.

Then why take it wherever you go?“Also, none of my business.”

“Bloody right it’s not.”

“Believe me, I know! It’s just..., this family is secret central and Ihatesecrets for what they did to mine, I have this compulsion to air them out. I know it’s not my place, they’re your secrets to protect and I’m sorry, but I see a locked box and I get all Pandora…”

When she looked up again, Sever was eye-smiling at her.

Warily, she asked, “What?”

He moved toward her to peel her towels away, one by one. While peeling off the last one, he said, “I never wanted kids.”

Wait. Whoa. What? Sever Mark was sharing? Ivy held her breath so as not to ruin it.

He covered her with a warm, dry towel, then the bedsheet. “Didn’t know I had one ‘til she dropped him on my doorstep. Mind if I smoke?”

“N-no, go ahead.” Sever didn’t know about Jason untilthe day they met?

“I thought she was playing me at first.” He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag and sat on the bed, back resting on the headboard. “I’d tried to break it off with her again, had a new wife, business was great... Twelve bloody years and she hasn’t uttered a word. But,” he sighed, “six paternity tests don’t lie. The boy is mine.”

Treading carefully, Ivy turned onto her side to face him. “You hadn’t seen her in all that time?”

“Her?” He chuckled mirthlessly. “I’d seenherall along. She kept Jason tucked away in Texas with her mum, I don’t expectshe saw him often. When she wasn’t off partying or flitting after some trackmarked busker or bloody Basquiat wannabe, she was with me.”

“...but she also dated Aidan?”

He watched his cigarette burn. “Like I said.”

Bloody Basquiat wannabe. Got it.

“Aidan had a unique gift for turning sweet girls sour. I’d always blamed him...”

She waited for him to go on. He didn’t. “Jason thought you knew about him all along.”

“Not a clue. She shows up with a kid one day, says her mum died and by the way we have a son. ‘Watch him ‘til I get back,’ she says. Then she disappears for six months. Imagine my surprise. Never even knew she was pregnant.”

“I don’t understand. If she worked so hard to keep him secret, why leave him with you when her mother died? Why couldn’t she just raise Jason herself?”

“Because she was unfit, that’s why,” he said. “She was a drug addict, Ivy.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “Jason never mentioned...”

“Jason never knew. And I’d appreciate you never telling him.”

“Of course.” Jason had said that his mother’s infrequent appearances were the highlights of his childhood. She’d take him on wild adventures, teach him new songs, tell him vivid stories and play outside with him for hours.Magicalwas the word he’d used to describe her visits. Ivy had suspected she may have been bipolar—but maybe she was just high. “I won’t.”

“She hid it well. From all of us.”

Ivy found her pillow. “She looked pretty hammered on that tape.”

“Yeah. That was the first—” He breathed in. “What you saw was...” Another breath and, “It wasn’t always like that, yeah? Wehad some good...” After a moment, he exhaled and stubbed the cigarette in the ashtray. “Anyway. It’s impolite to talk about exes in bed, isn’t it?”

“Only if your bedmate actually cares.”

He smirked. “Best not go on then.”

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