Page 16 of Back To You

I realize that I am lucky to have the means to become a lawyer, both the time and money, and I recognize that having a father with a law firm waiting for me is something I should be grateful for.

But it was never meant for me.

My father never gave me the same attention he gave to Bennett and Caleb because he never saw me ashis. And technically, I’m not.

My last name is Owens, and we’re still related, but it’s only because my mother had an affair with Eric Owens, Daniel’s brother.

The secret came out when I was nine, but, at that point, Eric died of a heart attack, and the man who I thought was my father told me and my brothers the truth: how he and my mom agreed to never tell Eric the truth about me.

Looking back, it makes sense why my mom took Eric’s death so hard, but she couldn’t do much about it after letting Daniel claim me as his own before I was even born. But just like my dad, my mom never treated me the same way as my brothers.

How could she when I was the reminder of what she couldn’t have? A reminder of her mistake or her lost chance or whatever she tells herself so she can sleep at night.

“I need you to start September 1st,” my dad replies, never wanting to hear about how one of his sons is abartenderof all things. In his mind, someone with theOwens last name is too good to work in the service industry, let aloneknowsomeone who does.

He wants to say he raised me better than that, but that would be a lie.

He didn’t raise me at all.

My brothers—technically half-brothers, but we’ve never differentiated—were my parental figures. They were the ones who raised me, and they did a much better job than the man who claimed me as his just to avoid having to admit to anyone his wife slept with his brother.

Along with Annie, my brothers were the ones who were there for me.

They were my family.

The ones who drove me to hockey practice and cheered me on at my games. The ones who always reminded me that I was so much more than my dad’s bastard son.

And it allpaid off. I landed a full ride on a hockey scholarship all on my own. There was a real possibility I could play as a career one day. I never thought I’d become a big shot in the NHL, but it was at least apossibility, no matter how small.

But then Bennett told my dad he was dropping out of law school, and my dad was forced to look at me for the first time. Even if it was because the son he had grand plans for was letting him down, it felt like the man I saw as my father finally sawme.

I know now that he just saw me as an opportunity to still get what he wanted.

Caleb, the oldest out of the three of us, has always been fine, even happy, with following my dad’s footsteps, but Bennett wasn’t. And now that he was off doing what he wanted, it left me to fill in the gaps.

And I did it.

I turned down my scholarship, said goodbye to my dreams of playing hockey in college, and prepared for the path of becoming a partner at Owens & Son’s Law Firm because it was what Daniel wanted for Bennett but would tolerate for me.

I have filled the shoes Bennett left behind foryearsbecause the feeling of my dad’s approval grew addicting in a way that I didn’t even realize it was happening. Not until I walked across that stage in May and was handed a diploma I never wanted in the first place.

“I’ll let my boss know,” I answer, not having the energy to argue that a month and a half isn’t enough time to prepare myself for a life of hating my job.

“Okay,” is all he says before I hear the beep of the call ending, and I want to throw my phone across the room.

He’s calling to know when he can finally make use of all the money and time he threw at me, rather than the love and affection I would have given it all up for, and I knew that answering the call.

I knew I would feel like this after talking to him.

But I always do this to myself.

Chapter 7

Luke

“Who pissed in your campfire?”

I look up from the glasses I’m drying off to find Annie with her arms crossed over her chest across the bar. She’s wearing cut-off denim shorts and a red halter top that compliments the color of her lips.

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