Page 5 of Challenging Jayce

Jayce waited until Michael was out of sight before he let his anger fly. "Are you fuckingkidding me? He's my fucking twin. You expect me to believe you never noticed that before?"

Shaun released a long exhale and leaned against the wall. "I did notice about two years ago, but I convinced myself it couldn't be true. I always wondered why his hair was so light when both Jasmine and I had dark hair, but I thought it would change over time. At thirteen there was no denying it anymore. Michael was a spitting image of you when we first met."

"No shit," he spat out. "Why didn't you reach out to me then?"

"Because I was scared," Shaun argued back. "Sure, I was the name listed on the birth certificate, but if I went behind Jasmine's back, she would take him away from me. Michael might not be mine biologically, but he's my son."

"No, he'smyson," Jayce growled.

"Biologically, yes . . ."

He cut Shaun off before he could add a “but” to the end of that sentence. "It should've been me but you and Jasmine took that away from me." He spat her name out. He hated allowing it to cross his lips but the alternative wasn't kind at all.

"Jasminetook that away from you. I wasn't sure until the DNA test came back."

"Semantics." Shaun didn't deserve the full force of his ire. The problem was there was no one else to take it out on. Kennedy never came back after stepping away with Shaun, and Michael was sent upstairs. Not that he wanted his son to see how angry he was.

"Look, Jayce, I get it." Shaun rubbed his hand up and down his cheek. "I would be pissed if I was in your shoes. What Jasmine did was wrong, but you have to believe me that I never set out to fuck you over. Not with Jasmine getting pregnant and certainly not by keeping Michael from you. I reached out as soon as I could to try and make things right."

"I want that DNA test done and then I want Michael to know who his real father is." Jayce turned around and yanked the front door open. He hadn’t gotten further than the entryway, but that was okay. He hadn't wanted to see the life his ex had created without him. He could hate her all he wanted, but it would never stop the hurt from festering.

He stomped all the way out to his rust bucket of a truck but stopped before wrenching the door open. Someone was watching him. Jayce turned around expecting to find Shaun or his sister staring him down but all the windows on the first floor were empty. The same couldn't be said for the second floor.

A quick glance to the window on the right side of the front of the house showed Michael staring back at him. Jayce made eye contact for a brief moment before his son walked away.

With a huff, he climbed into the truck.

One day. He would give Shaun one day and then he was going to talk to Michael about who he was and how he planned to be in his life.

CHAPTER4

It washer turn to pace back and forth. Unlike Shaun, she was wearing a hole in the kitchen where her brother chastised her like a child.

She let him have it though as soon as she heard the front door slam shut. Kennedy marched right back out to the entryway.

"Are you seriously going to let him get away with talking to you like that?"

Shaun looked like he aged ten years in the mere minutes they were separated. For his sake, she wanted to let it go but this was her nephew they were talking about. Shaun could scrub his face with his hands and huff all he wanted. She was looking out for her nephew and his best interests.

"What choice do I have? You saw Jayce. Can you deny Michael is his?"

"Is that why I needed to have blood drawn?"

Neither of them had heard Michael come down the stairs. They turned around to find him sitting on one of the steps about halfway up the staircase.

"Uh . . ." Shaun completely froze.

"It's complicated." She did her best to come up with an explanation on the fly but she was drawing a blank as much as Shaun was. Quick thinking was never one of her strong suits.

"It's really not." Hurt was carved into every feature on Michael's face. "Dad just admitted there's no denying I'm that guy's son. Even I can see how much I look like him."

Shit, fuck, and damn. This would've been a bajillion times easier if Michael wasn't a carbon copy of the bastard.

"Your mother left me a note, and in it, she claimed Jayce was your father."

"How did she know him?"

She could only imagine what was going through her nephew's mind. To him, Jasmine was the best person. He was never forced to see what a shitty human she could really be. Whether she was a great mother or just that good of an actress was still to be determined.

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