Page 116 of Wyatt

“So, why are you here?”

Wyatt frowned.

“Your son is in the hospital. You could have told me that.”

Wyatt’s throat thickened.

“Oh. Wait. This is about Kalen.”

“No, it’s not.”

“It’s about your future with the Blue Ox.”

Wyatt lifted a shoulder. “Not really that either.”

Jace was quiet. Then, “Is this about being a father?”

Wyatt looked away.

“Sirens. I scored a goal, didn’t I?”

His mouth tightened.

“Wyatt—”

“He might have leukemia. Maybe. Oh, please, God, I hope not. He’s so little, and just…this amazingly cute kid and…” He stared at the ceiling. “I…I saw him lying there in that bed and I just freaked out. Ilefthim there. Just…left him, and his mother like…” He thumbed away the grit in his eyes. “I mean, Iwantto be there for them, but I stood there, and all I could think was,what if I fail? What if this kid dies on me? And worse…what if I do something really stupid and I don’t know, screw up his life? But the worst part is I…I already blew it. Honestly, I never saw myself as a father. I mean, I love Coco, and I guess a family was out there, but it’s always been about hockey, and for a second, I was watching it die. My entire life just…blew up in front of my eyes, and I panicked. Sheesh, I practically broke a land speed record getting out of there.” He pushed himself up, sighing. “I’m such a jerk. Mikka deserves a better dad than me, trust me.”

A chuckle made Wyatt look up.

Jace was grinning at him.

Wyatt frowned.

“Of course he does.”

Huh?

“Nothing like becoming a father to scare a man right onto his knees.” Jace grabbed a high top chair and scooted it over, climbing on to rest his arms on the back. “I remember when Addy was born. I could hardly breathe around her. She was so small, so…perfect. I so didn’t deserve her. I had no idea how to be a father either. Mostly, because I didn’t really have one.”

Oh great. Now Wyatt was going to get a sermon.

“I mean, Ihada biological father, but he wasn’t around. But that didn’t stop me from wishing that…well, in my mind, I dreamed he’d show up, see me play, and realize how wrong he’d been leaving my mom and me.” He paused, was looking at his hands. “It wasn’t until I held Addy that I realized how terrifying being a father is. I looked at Addy in my big hands and all I could think was that I’d used these hands to hurt people.”

Wyatt frowned at him.

“We were pretty poor—me and Mom. Hockey was a way to freedom. But if you remember, I was pretty good with my fists.”

“You were an enforcer—it was your job.”

“Yep. But what you might not know is that I ended someone’s career. Boo Tanner. I hit him so hard his helmet came off when he hit the ice. Brain damage. Lived the rest of his life in a wheelchair.”

Wyatt had heard he’d killed him, but looking at Jace’s expression, this was just as terrible.

“After a while, I got it in my head that I was some kind of monster, and I was pretty jaded. Nobody wants to make a living hurting other people.”

Change your name or change your ways.His father’s words huddled in his head, and for a second, he saw his father’s face, ashamed as he hauled his son up from the core of a brawl.

Ashamed—or horrified?

---