Page 73 of Deception
Her stomach drops. “I never thought about that.”
“It’s noble and everything to want to avoid hurting your friend, but you may have enabled him to hurt her with others she’ll never know about. At least he’s gone, though.”
She laughs. “I don’t want him to be Nolan’s father any more than he wants to be.”
“Don’t think he’ll fight you on that.”
“I can’t believe Kent told Gavin.”
“Are you kidding me? That guy is head over heels for you. Did you miss how the guy who never shows any type of emotion lost his shit in there? He just wanted to help you.”
It’s true. She knows how much Kent hated the guy who did this to her before he ever knew his identity. Kent is a good guy, and he was trying to help her. But he broke his promise.
Can she overlook the betrayal because of his good intentions? What other promises will he break for similar reasons?
“This was not the night I expected, Hailey.”
“But I think it was the one you needed. He didn’t deserve to sit at the table with our fathers or boyfriends.”
“Can’t argue that.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Griffin’s Beach
Kent
“Hey, let’s show you to your apartment,” Jace says, taking his son under his arm.
“But—”
“I think she needs the time. This will also give you a quiet place to talk to her when she’s ready.”
Nodding, Kent follows his father upstairs. The sense of pride he feels as he takes an apartment in the clubhouse, just like every other member, dulls in comparison to knowing how betrayed his girl feels. He’s wanted this since he was six years old, but he can’t quite enjoy it.
They walk in, and he has a bed, dresser, and an attached bathroom. Most rooms come with a desk, but not his.
“Figured we’d move some things around,” Jace says as he pulls bedding from the dresser to help him make the bed. “There may be times where Gracie needs to stay here, and this way, you can have room for a travel crib for Nolan.”
“Thanks, Dad,” he says and puts the fitted sheet on the mattress.
“What happened, Kent? She looked pretty upset.”
He can’t meet his father’s gaze, and he focuses on putting a pillow into a case. Growing up, Jace made it a point to teach Kent the importance of being a man. How to treat women, but more importantly, he was taught to always keep his word.
“She didn’t know Cole was here until last night, and she finally admitted he was the father. She asked him to leave, and he told her she couldn’t stop him. If she couldn’t, I was sure as hell going to try, but I needed help.”
“You could have come to me.”
“Yeah, but you’d need to know a reason why, and it would have spiraled even faster. I honestly thought Gavin and I could scare him away, and then she’d never need to know I said anything.”
Jace leans against the dresser and studies him. “A normal man would have been scared.”
“That motherfucker is anything but a man,” he snaps. “What he did… How he treated her… I could have killed him tonight. I would have if you hadn’t pulled me off of him.”
“You kind of scared me tonight. I’ve never seen you look like that before. Or react like that. You really care about her.”
Looking at the door, Kent sighs. “I love her.”
