16. Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Laiken
Dusting my hands off on my faded jeans, I smile at Ivy and Dakota.
Both are busy serving baked beans to the ranch hands, so I motion my head toward the house, then point to the phone in my hand that won’t quit buzzing.
It’s not the almost hourly updates my mother keeps sending me from their vacation escapades.
It’s the unknown number that won’t quit.
Usually, Rhodes gives up pretty easily, but today he’s resilient, and I’m sick of it.
“This needs to stop, Rhodes,” I say into the phone the second I answer it.
“Hello to you too, Laiken. How is the mother of my child?”
I roll my eyes at his playful tone. I’m shocked he’s not already drunk. Which is what usually spurs the outbursts. He appears sober, which is even more alarming.
“What do you want?” I sigh. “I told you to stop calling.”
“I can’t call to check on my own son?” he counters.
“You mean the son you wanted nothing to do with?” I mock.
“I had other obligations, Laiken,” he scoffs.
“Right, it was so inconvenient for you.” I keep walking, scaling the hill next to the farmhouse. The oak trees are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. “I understand neither of us planned for him, but I gave you the choice because it was the right thing to do.”
Which was against my better judgment. And the judgment of my brothers.
But if Trace grew up and found out that I had purposely kept him from his dad, he’d never forgive me.
I don’t think I’ve even forgiven myself yet for the colossal decision to leave the bar that night with Rhodes.
It was careless and stupid. I can’t for the life of me remember why I even did it.
But at the end of the day, my whole world changed after that night, and as ugly as it was, the most beautiful gift came out of it.
“Look. You didn’t want parental rights. You didn’t want to pay child support. We agreed I’d raise him. It’s been six years. Why do you continue to pop back up every couple of years and cause trouble?”
“Trouble? The only trouble is you constantly shoving me aside,” he gripes. “You know how many women wish they had my child? I offered you me. But you rejected me.”
I roll my eyes again. Here we go.
“Don’t make me get the law involved,” I warn.
That usually does the trick. When he can’t manipulate me to conform to whatever scheme he has up his sleeve, he backs off.
“Things are changing, Laiken.” His tone shifts and an uneasy shudder zips along my spine. “I have the means to get what I want now.” He lets the subtle threat hang before he speaks again. “I’ll be seeing you soon.”
When the line goes dead, I clench the phone, holding it up to my forehead with a deep breath. “It’s fine, Laiken. Everything is fine.”
Rhodes always had a tendency to be reckless, even when we were kids.
I can’t count the times he was in detention for fighting or breaking the rules.
He’s been to jail half a dozen times and his name is one people know and not for the right reasons.
I turn to head back to the group, shoving all things Rhodes aside.
It’s my burden to carry. My choice. I’ve never shared why or what happened that night.
Not to anymore. Because as much as I wish I could, not only would it bust open the wound Parker left, but I’d be attempting to dig for memories I don’t have. And that scares me the most.