14. Gavin
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
gavin
Gavin
Idrive like a man possessed, tearing through the city streets, cutting through traffic until I pull up to Genevieve’s townhouse.
My SUV’s transmission is probably toast after slamming it in Park.
Fuck, a car is replaceable. What isn’t is Genevieve.
I climb out of my vehicle, sprint up the front steps, and my fingers punch at the keypad door code with an urgency before I barge right through her door.
“Genevieve!” She’s huddled on the couch, swallowed by a massive, knitted afghan-style blanket. Tears silently cascade down her pale, red-stained face. The sight breaks the last piece of will I have.
“Gavin, please. You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice is raw and broken. She shakes her head frantically, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
“Like hell I shouldn’t.” I kick the door shut behind me and stride through her place and into the living room, needing to be close to her.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobs, voice cracking as she pushes herself into the cushions, trying to make herself smaller.
“I’m so, so sorry I came between the two of you.
He’s your son, Gavin. I can’t do this. I just can’t.
I finally feel like I’m returning back to my normal self, and I can’t be the reason you lose your family.
I can’t…” She trails off, closing her eyes, head tipping back in an effort to contain her emotions.
“Stop it right there.” My voice is firm and uncompromising yet soft as I stop in front of her, dropping to my knees near the couch. I grab her trembling hands through the blanket. “Please stop talking like that. This is not over, Genevieve, and you and I are sure as hell not through.”
“Gavin, he’s your blood.”
“Listen to me.” I wait until her beautiful green eyes look at me.
“You need to understand what Byce actually is to me. I didn’t raise him.
I didn’t even know he existed until he was a teenager.
His mother and I had a single one-night stand years ago.
She tracked me down when Bryce was seventeen because he was getting in trouble and she needed money.
” Genevieve blinks, her breath catching as she listens, the shock temporarily stopping her tears.
“Ever since then, I’ve tried to be a father to him, tried to teach him right from wrong, how to be a man.
Only to become a revolving door for whenever he wants cash.
” Bitterness turns my stomach. “I felt guilty for not being there, so I made sure he had a place to live, a car to drive, and his living expenses, water, power, and insurance paid for. Do you know why he came to my house this morning? Because he stopped by my office earlier this week asking for another handout, and I turned him down. I’m not financing some cockamamie scheme. ”
“Gavin.” She swallows, looking away.
“None if it matters, though.” I press on, cupping her face in my hands, forcing her eyes back to mine.
“I would give up every single dollar, every piece of property, and all of the money in the world if it meant shielding you from him. I don’t give a damn about a relationship with him if he’s capable of hurting you.
But I need you to talk to me, baby girl.
I need to know what happened between you two. ”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s in the past.” She stiffens under my hands, her lips pressing into a tight, stubborn line as she shakes her head, attempting to pull away from me.
“It does matter,” I insist, frustration lacing in my tone. “He talked about you like he owned you, like he had the right to break you. What did he do to you, Genevieve?”
“I’m not going into the details, Gavin. It’s ugly, and it’s over.” She refuses to budge.
“It’s not over if it’s still making you run away from me, in the morning, in nothing but my shirt.
Any piece of shit could have harmed you.
” I’m struggling with the guilt of not going after her right then and there.
That’s on me, and I’ll apologize to her for my part in this fiasco.
I stand up, unable to stay still, and begin pacing back and forth in the living room.
My hands rake through my hair as I move to the window to look out at the street, my jaw clenches tightly enough to grind down my molars.
“How am I supposed to protect you if you won’t tell me? How am I supposed to fix this if you keep me locked out?” Her eyes track me, her hands coming out of the blanket, landing on her lap. She lets out a long, shuddering breath, and her shoulder sag.
“Alex told me to give you the benefit of the doubt.” Her voice is soft and quiet in the tension-heavy room.
“She told me on the drive over that you aren’t him and I should let you explain.
But, Gavin, I don’t want to drag your son through the dirt to you.
He’s still your blood, no matter how it started, and I won’t be the woman who spits hatred about a man’s child. ”
“She’s right, and I’m forever grateful you have her in your corner and that Dante let me know that you were safe.
” Alex picked up my slack, and Dante told me she was here, so I didn’t have to search the streets or stop at every bookstore in a ten-block radius.
Genevieve doesn’t have just one favorite store.
She has many and refuses to frequent the bigger well-known chain to find her next romance novel.
“I have really good friends.” I nod in agreement.
“I want everything, Genevieve.” I move to take a seat on the couch, my hand engulfing hers.
I bring it to my lips and hold it there for a moment.
“I want every dirty, ugly, rot-filled detail of what he did to you. I want to know every word he used to make you feel small, every lie he fed to you, and every mark her left on your confidence. I’m not protecting him.
I’m protecting you. And until you let it all out between us, I’m not leaving this room. ”