Chapter 12
Patrick
He’s manipulating me. I know he is, and yet, that slight show of remorse for letting me leave without a goodbye makes me cave, just like he knew it would.
In my defense, I wasn’t ready. I had no idea he was going to show up tonight, and my defenses are already down from spending the last hour in the company of Damon, Taylor’s twin bro—oh, fuck.
What if Cain recognizes Damon’s face from the pictures of Tay he found in my nightstand?
The masochist in me is jumping for joy that Cain is staying, that there’s a chance I’ll get to experience him one more time…
but the sadist in him is already cocking a grin I’m all too familiar with as he turns to follow my son into my house, and I wonder what kind of clusterfuck I’m about to witness.
Turning to enter the dining room, Cain comes to an abrupt halt, causing me to slam into his back.
Guess I have my answer as to whether or not he’ll recognize Damon.
“Uh, Cain, this is Damon, my son’s husband.”
Cain turns slowly to look at me over his shoulder, while Damon stands and reaches across the table politely.
“Damon?” he says, phrasing my son-in-law’s name as a question.
“Yep, that’s me.”
“Damon, this is Cain, uh, Dr. Rosemont. He did my heart surgery.”
“Nice to meet you,” Damon says, looking at his hand, clearly wondering why Cain is still holding it.
Cain finally lets go and drapes his suit coat over the back of his chair before turning to me.
“Patrick, could you show me where I might wash my hands, please?”
Not tell him. Show him.
I guess it’s best to get this over with.
“Sure. Follow me.”
I lead him away from the dining room, down the hall, and stop outside the guest bathroom, waving with my hand to indicate we’ve arrived.
He boxes me in against the wall.
“Your son married your ex? And I thought you said his name was Taylor.”
Hearing Tay’s name roll off Cain’s tongue is all wrong. Taylor is the human embodiment of glitter. He’s all light, whereas Cain is all-consuming darkness.
He catches my wince.
“You’re still in love with him.”
“No. And that’s not Taylor. It’s his twin brother.”
Cain’s eyes widen in disbelief before giving me an evil smile.
“My, oh my. What could you have done that was so bad, Karma saw that as a fitting punishment?”
Looking him dead in the eye, I offer the truth.
“I once fell in love with a monster, and it made me one, too.”
I turn to go back to the dining room when his hand catches my wrist and he pulls me back to him.
“After dinner, get rid of them, and I’ll give you what you need.”
I pull my arm from his grasp and make my way back to the table.
“Everything okay? You look a little pale,” Liam says, spooning roasted potatoes onto everyone’s plates.
“Yes. Um, Damon, how’s work?” I ask.
I rarely make eye contact with my son-in-law. I still carry a lot of guilt, and I suspect I always will. He and I tolerate each other for Liam’s sake, but it takes effort.
“Good. Busy. We’ve acquired several new accounts, so I’ve been working long days.”
“It’s the worst,” my son whines, taking his seat. “He gets home so late some days we don’t even have time to—”
“Liam,” I say, cutting him off, knowing he’s not great with boundaries and tends to divulge far more than a father needs to know.
“Geez, Dad. I was going to say hang out, but it’s nice to know you think we’re fucking all the time,” he says with a shameless grin.
“He shouldn’t be so quick to judge, considering that’s what your dad was doing at your age,” Cain says, reentering the dining room. He laughs at Liam’s confused expression. “Your dad and I went to college together,” he says nonchalantly.
The words just get tossed out there as though he didn’t rip my chest open back then, too. Except that time, he left me bleeding out with no plan to stop the hemorrhaging.
“Oh, no way! He didn’t mention that,” Liam says excitedly. “Did y’all know each other back then?”
Cain cuts his eyes to me, but I refuse to meet them.
“We did,” he says.
“So, you knew my mom, too, then?”
My eyes sink closed as Liam brings up his mother. She was my one saving grace. The only reason I survived life after Cain. She knitted me back together without even knowing she was doing it. She never knew about Cain and me. No one did.
“Emilia?” Cain whispers.
I nod once, feeling sick to my stomach.
This dinner table is filled with my losses. People who are so close to those I’ve loved, yet not them.
Except for the man seated next to me.
He could fix every splinter in my heart.
If only Cain were able.