Page 22 of Sexy Dare (The Sexy 1)

“I’m sorry … what?” Faith asked, stunned as any rational person would be.

“My father had another family with a woman he was legally married to, and five kids, including me, while he had an affair with my mother and raised me and my siblings with her. She knew, or found out, and stayed with him anyway.” A pain throbbed in his temple as it always did when this subject came up. But it was nothing compared to the pain of losing his best friend, so as much as it hurt, he would stick with this part of his past for now.

“Wow. That’s … awful. I’m sorry,” Faith murmured.

He nodded. “It’s complicated. He married Emma St. Claire as part of a merger of two families. It wasn’t a love match, and instead of trying to create one, my father, Robert, met my mom and fell in love. I think that’s how he justified what he did.” Jason shook his head. “Although we didn’t know it at the time, he told his other family that he was traveling on business for his hotels when he was really with us.” He swallowed hard. “He missed major events in their lives like graduations and birthdays but came to ours. Again, justifying it because he was in love with my mother and not theirs.”

“What a pig,” Faith muttered honestly and Jason managed a laugh.

“Truer words were never spoken,” he said.

“How did you find out?”

He took a long sip of wine and she did the same. “Well, that’s where Sienna’s illness comes in. She had been diagnosed with leukemia. Chemo and treatments didn’t work, so they wanted to do a bone marrow transplant. None of us were matches, so Robert decided to go to his other family and ask them to be tested.”

Faith had leaned in, utterly engrossed in the story, and he didn’t blame her.

“He dropped the bomb on his legitimate family, destroyed them, and yet his wife … Emma … was gracious enough to test her kids. Avery, the youngest, was a match, and she donated her bone marrow to my sister.”

Jason recalled those difficult days and sighed. “I guess you could say I was left with a bad taste in my mouth for relationships and issues with trust.” He also had a problem fearing that the people he loved would leave him, which stemmed from his father’s behavior as well.

“All the siblings have made their peace with each other. The girls are the closest but we’re all a family.”

“And your parents? What’s their story now?” Faith asked.

Jason scowled. “My father is currently in love with another woman and in the process of divorcing my mother. It’s been difficult,” he said, swirling the wine around in the glass. “My mother knew about his first wife. She got my father by cheating, not that she knew it when the relationship began. But now she’s losing him the same way.”

Faith glanced at him. “You really haven’t had the best example of a stable marriage or family, have you?” she murmured.

He shook his head. Although if he had to dig deep, he’d say that Levi’s death had impacted him far more as an adult than his father’s betrayal. “There’s so much more,” he admitted. “But I’m not really up to talking about it now,” he said, bracing himself for her to push harder for more information.

“I respect that,” she said gently. “Everything in its time.”

He blinked, shocked that she didn’t ask for more answers when he knew how curious she must be. Yet she respected his barriers, and for that he was grateful.

“Dinner!” Gino said, showing up just in time as far as Jason was concerned.

The enjoyed a delicious gnocchi along with their fried zucchini and homemade cannoli for dessert. By the time they’d finished eating, Faith finally looked like she was drooping where she sat, exhaustion beginning to catch up with her.

“Are you ready to go home and get some sleep?” he asked.

She nodded. “But I was wondering if we could stop by my apartment? I forgot to pick up some extra work shirts, and I’m too tired to wash and dry this one tonight.”

“Of course.” He’d get her in and out of there quickly, so she could go back to his place and get some sleep.

But when they arrived at her building and walked up the darkened stairway, they discovered her door had been taped up because someone had clearly kicked it open. The wood had splintered and there was yellow tape across the door.

“Oh my God!” Faith reached for one of the strips, obviously determined to get inside, but Jason grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back.

“Hang on. We have no idea what happened. Do you have a landlord?”

Before she could answer, a bald man with a large beer belly came striding toward them from the other side of the hall. “It’s about time you came back,” he said, scowling and clearly pissed off.

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