Chapter Thirteen – Laina
I was quite disappointed when Jason got up and mumbled something about being hungry instead of answering my second question.
You know, the one about his blackout tattoo.
It was an intriguing thought, a big, black tattoo taking up most of the space on his chest and connecting his neck to his left arm.
The man was forty-seven years old. Way too old for me, but the man had the kind of rough, chiseled face and a thick head of hair I could get behind.
Plus, the tattoos—and that wasn’t to mention how well he took care of himself.
The man was muscled, that much I knew. No flab on that gut or on those tatted arms.
Oh, yeah. He was definitely daddy material. Never before had I wanted to call someone daddy so badly.
Jason was Kieran and Tessa’s father. It still blew my mind, but when he’d told me that, it all snapped into place. How familiar he’d looked to me in that club, like I’d met him before. I hadn’t, but that was because I’d met his offspring.
What a crazy, crazy world.
Did I have a crush on the man? Uh, as much as I’d like to say that was a negative, I didn’t think I could. I couldn’t say it because it wouldn’t be true. I definitely had a crush on him. I mean, who the hell in their right mind wouldn’t?
I debated on following Jason into the kitchen to see what he was doing, if he really was making himself something to eat or if it was just an excuse to get away from me—maybe I made the man uncomfortable.
Calling him daddy definitely irked him, so I’d have to file that away for later.
I had the feeling this wasn’t going to be the last time we’d see each other.
Or, at least, I hoped not.
Right when I was going to get up, though, a knock echoed on the front door.
Kieran, if I had to guess. I leaned back and got comfy on the couch as Jason strolled out of the kitchen to answer it.
The heavily tatted man threw open the door and said a single word: “Kieran.” Then he stepped aside and wordlessly invited his son to the party.
Kieran stormed in, a deep frown on his face, and he only made it a few feet before he spotted me on the couch, and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. “Laina? What—what the hell are you doing here?”
As Jason shut the door, I could only grin at Kieran. “Hey. I bet I know why you stormed out of Fang’s. Why didn’t you tell me Jason was dear old daddy?” As I said it, Jason prickled visibly, which only made me grin harder.
He was too easy to tease, but that didn’t make it any less fun.
I know, I know. I was a bad girl. Maybe the father-son duo could team up and punish me.
He couldn’t say anything right away. It took him a good long minute to shake his head and rush toward me.
“Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” He stood next to me, studying me to make sure I had no injuries, and when Jason approached us, he whipped out a pistol he had hidden beneath his shirt and pointed it right at dear daddy. “Don’t you fucking come close to her.”
Jason only rolled his eyes and scoffed, while I said, “It’s okay, Kieran. Don’t shoot him. I came here of my own free will so he could listen to the video I have of Tessa’s confession.”
That mustn’t have been what he was anticipating, because he was slow in lowering his gun. Brows furrowed, he glanced at Jason. “You heard the truth?”
“Laina told me all about what happened, from the beginning. I want to hear it from you now.”
Kieran practically collapsed on the couch beside me, sitting so close his entire leg leaned against mine. I didn’t know if he sat so close because he was relieved I was okay or if it was some kind of display of dominance, of possession, over me in the face of his ridiculously sexy father.
I mean, there was no way he thought Jason was sexy. I added that bit myself.
He did not, I noticed, put away his gun. That gun rested on his leg, with his hand on it—though his finger was no longer on the trigger.
Jason leaned on the opposite wall as he folded his arms over his chest. His black eyes surveyed us, and I couldn’t tell who he looked at more: me or Kieran. The more I stared at the man, the hotter he got. How was that even possible? It should be illegal.
“Start from the beginning,” Jason instructed. “Don’t leave anything out.”
Heaving in a hard breath, Kieran did exactly that. He started from the beginning, telling him every single detail. Not going to lie, I tuned out a bit, mostly because I just went through all this myself and I did not need to stand at metaphorical attention all over again.
Let’s just say it took a while. It took a long while, and when Kieran was finally finished with the whole sordid tale, Jason was caught in a frown, and I regretted to inform you his frown was just as sexy as the rest of him.
Turning toward me, Kieran said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I thought… I was worried. I haven’t seen him in years. We haven’t exactly kept in contact.”
“You left with your sister,” Jason pointed out. “You were adults. I could not have stopped you even if I wanted to.”
“Sure, we all had a hand in this, but you know, we could’ve still exchanged Christmas cards or something,” the man beside me deadpanned. “You acted like we were dead to you.”
“I kept my eyes on you from afar, when I could. And you both acted like you wanted nothing to do with me, just like your mother did, so who was I to try to stop you? Tessa wanted bigger and better things, and you went along with her… until recently.”
So there was a rift between father and son. Not surprising, but it sounded as if that same rift existed between him and Tessa too, and yet he still came running to help when she’d called him. He had some devotion to family, that’s for sure. Admirable, I supposed.
“I don’t know what your endgame here is,” Kieran told him, “but Tessa and I are never going to mend bridges. She made sure to burn them down when she went after me and Laina. Something like that I can’t ever forgive.”
Jason rubbed the side of his face, the conflict in him evident. “I know. She stepped over the line. I need to talk to her about it—” As if talking to her would help any. It wouldn’t. The past was the past; there was no changing it, no such thing as a time machine.
“Wait,” I said, breaking my silence for the first time in a while and causing both men in the room to look at me.
“Don’t talk to her yet. She and my dad are supposed to meet with her doctor this week and get a paternity test done to make sure that baby is his.
I don’t trust her not to be faking this whole thing still. ”
With a nod, Kieran said to his father, “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“No. She asked for my help, so I came and told her I’d do what I could, but it would take time. Believe it or not, we don’t spend all our free time together. I know as much about this pregnancy as you do.”
Hmm. That was a red flag to me. If this pregnancy was real, wouldn’t she have spoken more about it to her own father? I didn’t know. I knew nothing about pregnancies.
Don’t get me wrong—kids were fine. Babies were fine. I had nothing against them. I just… I didn’t know that I’d ever feel that call to have a kid of my own. I was almost twenty, so I was still young, still had many years left, so I didn’t know if that was common or not.
“I would like to get to the bottom of this pregnancy thing before you tell her you know the full story,” I said. “Because if it’s real… well, if it’s fake, then that’ll make things easier.” If it was real, however, easy would be a word none of us would know for a long time.
Jason was not a part of my group. He wasn’t even a friend. He was—I didn’t know what to call him. The man owed me nothing, so I half-expected him to tell me to screw off, but after a short while, he said, “Fine. I’ll wait, but I want you to contact me as soon as you get word, one way or another.”
“As long as you answer the phone when I call,” Kieran chimed in.
Those black eyes across the room were on me when he said, “No. You. I want to hear it from you. You have my number, the one I called you from earlier.”
Kieran clearly could not believe he was being passed up in favor of me, but I would not complain. Why would I? I’d gladly talk to this man again. I was officially a girl with a crush, as much as it’d pain the man beside me—and Mike—to know that. Fang? He’d be fine with it.
“Okay,” I said, unable to look away from the man across the room.
Beside me, Kieran slapped his knees and got to his feet, then offered me his hand after putting away his gun. “Well, if we’re done here, I’d like to take my girlfriend home.” There was an edge to his voice, one that reminded me of the masked man he used to be.
My Devil. The one who owned my soul first.
It took Jason a bit, but eventually the man said, “Sure. Take her home. It’s probably best she doesn’t spend too much time here.” When he said that last part, he shot me a look I couldn’t read, but I swore the corners of his mouth quirked upward in a slight smirk.
He had the same smirk as Kieran, dimples and all.
I took Kieran’s hand the same moment he muttered, “Whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean.”
As he pulled me through the house, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. Such a possessive display on Kieran’s part, and it was met with an unimpressed attitude from Jason. Life had turned more complicated, yes, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I waved goodbye to Jason before I was pulled through the front door, and Kieran didn’t let go of my hand until he was opening his passenger side door and helping me in. He probably wanted to get me into his car himself, otherwise he was worried I’d run right back in there to his daddy.
Oh, yeah. Jason was daddy, definitely.