Chapter 10
It wasn’t until April was sitting in the patrol car that she realized she still had specks of blood on her shirt. Ethan’s blood. The thought made her sick to her stomach. She had to get out of her clothes as soon as possible.
The minute she stepped into her apartment, April sent Tanner a quick text letting him know she was home, then tossed her phone and purse aside, stripped out of her clothes, and jumped in the shower.
The hot water did wonders to relax her. Pushing aside thoughts of Ethan, her mind slowly drifted back to Tanner and that incredible kiss they’d shared in the garden.
After everything that happened, it was almost too easy to get her skin tingling with need, and her body craving sweet release.
It was either that or curl up in a ball, and bawl her eyes out.
Her hand slid between her legs and she strummed her clit, losing herself in the pleasure as she worked to alleviate the growing pressure building up inside her.
Just thinking about Tanner, that mouthwatering kiss, and those washboard abs he’d put on display for everyone to see when he’d taken his shirt off, was enough to bring her to orgasm.
Her breaths grew quick and shallow as her fingers moved faster.
She turned her face into the hot water, and let out a silent sigh as her body gently trembled with release.
After finishing her shower, April got dressed, choosing a pair of yoga pants and a cute graphic tee.
She needed to do laundry and get some groceries.
She’d meant to stop on her way back from the soup kitchen but had completely forgotten.
Just as she was about to put her shoes on to head out again, her phone buzzed, and April smiled seeing Zara’s face fill the screen.
“Hey,” she answered, accepting the FaceTime call.
Zara looked radiant with her black curls pulled up in a messy bun on top of her head and her almond toned skin glowing, probably due to a combination of good genes and her best friend treating her skin care regimen like a religious experience.
“You look beautiful,” April gushed. “Date night?”
Zara shrugged. “Nope. This is just for me. Alright, I’m dying to know what happened at the soup kitchen? Tell me everything. How did it go?”
April sighed and carried the phone into the bedroom where she sank onto the bed. “I don’t even know where to start.” She told her about Margot, and the kids, and the garden. “And then this other cop, who also volunteers there, got stabbed.”
“Wait, what?! What do you mean stabbed?” Zara sat up straighter, concern written all over her face.
“He was taking out the trash and someone attacked him from behind and stabbed him. There was so much blood.” April shuddered, remembering it all, and how there were still specks of blood she needed to wash out of her shirt.
“Oh my gosh, what did you do? Did he make it?”
“Honestly, I kind of froze at first.”
“Of course, you did. Anyone would. The guy was stabbed,” Zara emphasized, as if the reality of what April had witnessed hadn’t sunk in yet.
“Tanner was amazing,” April continued. “He pulled off his shirt to stop the bleeding, and when Ethan stopped breathing, he did CPR while I applied pressure to the wound.”
Zara’s mouth hung open. Her eyes wide in awe. “Dang, sounds like you two make an incredible team. But hold on a second, did you say Tanner took off his shirt?”
April felt her cheeks burning. “Yep.”
“And?! Don’t leave out the juicy details. Come on. Spill.”
April laughed. “He is a very well built, gorgeous specimen of a man. Not that I had much of a chance to look since there was a guy bleeding out in front of us.”
“Oh, of course not,” Zara mocked. “Priorities, and all that.”
“But we also kind of…” April hedged, not sure if she was ready to tell her best friend what else happened.
Zara moved in closer. “I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m literally sitting at the edge of my seat here.”
April smiled. “I kissed him.”
Zara’s jaw dropped. Literally dropped. “You. Kissed. Him?”
“Well, he kissed me back of course, but yeah. We were talking, and he said some things, and I don’t know what came over me. One second, we were sitting on this bench in the garden, and the next, I was kissing him, and then his tongue was in my mouth and-”
“Holy shit, April. You didn’t just kiss. You made out!” The squeal that came out of Zara was so unnatural that April actually winced.
“Yeah,” she admitted sheepishly. “It wasn’t planned. I mean, I was honestly thinking that we needed to cool things down. I have to focus on Violet, and I still haven’t figured out how to tell him about her, but that guy who was stabbed - he works for Ned.”
“What?! Does Tanner know that?”
April sighed. “He does now. I told him.”
“You did?” Zara asked excitedly.
“Just about the cop working for Ned. I didn’t tell him about Violet. Not yet.”
“Listen to me. Whatever happens between you and Tanner, it sounds to me like the man deserves to know about his daughter. And if Ned has cops working for him that know Tanner, he might be the only one who can protect that little girl, April. You have to tell him.”
April sighed. As much as she liked Tanner, and had even started to trust him, she couldn’t deny that she was still hung up on the fact that he’d actually rejected Violet before she was even born.
“That’s just it, Z. He knows there’s a kid out there somewhere that’s his.
Casey went to his house when she was seven months pregnant, and they told her to leave and never come back.
They rejected her and his kid. They practically threw her off their front stoop! ”
“That was a long time ago, April.”
April let out a puff of air. “Maybe. But I mean, how could anyone have a kid and not even care enough to know if they’re alive and safe?
I mean, sure, there are people like that, but he’ll take the shirt off his back to help a guy he works with, but he won’t lift a finger to find out how his own kid is doing? How does that even make any sense?”
There was a long pause, then Zara’s eyes got big again.
“What?” April asked.
“What if he doesn’t know he has a kid?”
April sighed. “I just told you that he does. Casey told him.”
Zara shook her head. “No. You said she told them. Was Tanner even there? Did he see Casey and her pregnant belly?”
April had no idea. When Casey told her the story, she’d used the pronoun “them,” which April always assumed included Tanner.
“April, if he doesn’t know - if his family never told him for whatever reason - then his behavior would make complete and total sense.”
April sat up straighter at Zara’s words. “I never even considered…”
“Based on everything you know, and everything you’ve told me about this man, do you really think he’d turn his back on Violet, even if she is different from all the other kids?”
April didn’t have to think very long or hard to know the answer to that question.
She’d watched him carefully break down her walls every morning on their runs.
She’d seen him literally take the shirt off his back to help someone, not to mention give the man CPR.
He even talked about his friends and coworkers with more compassion and loyalty than most people talked about their own flesh and blood.
He was the real deal. “No. I don’t think he would. ”
Zara nodded. “There you go. Tell him, April. Tell the man he’s got a daughter who needs him now more than ever.
Let him help you fight this battle. You can’t take on Ned by yourself.
But with Tanner’s help, I think both you and Violet could finally get the happily ever after you both deserve. When are you seeing him again?”
“Tomorrow, actually. He invited me to a barbeque one of his friends is hosting.”
“Perfect,” Zara said. “What better way is there to really get to know a guy than by the company he keeps. And then - then you’ll tell him?”
April swallowed hard, knowing she couldn’t keep putting it off.
Violet was counting on her, and no matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, Zara was right.
If Tanner didn’t know about Violet, then everything she’d assumed about him was wrong.
She already knew he wasn’t an uncaring, rich jerk who didn’t want to share his wealth.
His family made regular donations to the soup kitchen, and he even personally volunteered there.
No, Tanner just didn’t know Violet existed.
It was the only explanation that made sense. “Yes,” April conceded. “I’ll tell him.”