Page 69 of Forever Always

For some reason, the question pissed me off. “You don’t get to ask that. At least, not yet. I need more information first.”

“You’re very protective of him.” I raised an eyebrow and waited.

Wesley sighed. “Listen, I’m not here to make things difficult for either of you. I’d love a chance to meet my son for real,but I get it if it never happens. I’m not here to hurt Riley. Or you for that matter.”

“Why now?”

“I didn’t know about Riley until about a year ago. I didn’t even know I had a kid.”

“Really? I know I was a kid, but Laurie wasn’t the type to keep that to herself unless she thought there was a good reason.” Like she was trying to protect Ri. Wesley was dangerous. It was clear in the way he held himself. He was making an effort to not seem intimidating, but it didn’t matter. You don’t grow up the way I did and not know how to sense danger, and Wesley screamed it.

“She didn’t. Listen. Laurie and I, we were best friends growing up, and as we got older, we were on again and off again all through high school. It continued even after I enlisted in the Navy. When I got recruited for the SEALs, I came home and we talked, and we agreed to break things off. We hooked up one last time, knowing it was goodbye. That was when she got pregnant.”

I didn’t speak and waited for him to keep going. He seemed to be honest.

“There was no way for her to reach me, so she went to my parents and told them. I guess Laurie was hoping they’d have a way to contact me. Instead, they shut her out. I still don’t know exactly what they said or did, but I guess they threatened her, accused her of trying to trap me. I don’t know. Either way, she left and honored their wishes. I only found out about Riley at all when my mom died and my sister and I went to the house to clean it out and get my dad moved to her home. I found a letter that they’d locked up in a drawer and never opened from Laurie.”

Wesley paused a moment and took a long sip of beer. I gave him a second to compose himself. I could see how emotional he was, even if he was trying hide it. Fuck. What were we gonna do?

“Anyway, Laurie wrote a letter to my parents’ house right after Riley was born. She put a baby picture in there, and she told me she’d honored their wishes and didn’t put me on the birth certificate and got the termination of rights paperwork, but if I ever changed my mind and wanted to be part of my son’s life, she’d welcome it. Laurie left her number on the bottom.”

Wesley cleared his throat. “When it was written, I was neck-deep in my SEALs training and was overseas on missions after that most of the time. I didn’t even know Laurie had died. Not till after I saw that letter.”

It made sense. I found myself believing him, which pissed me off. I wanted to hate the guy, have an excuse to beat the shit outta him for leaving Riley in such a shitty situation, but I couldn’t. Besides, if he was around, I probably wouldn’t have Riley in my life, and I was a selfish enough bastard to be grateful for that.

Wesley shifted and fished in his pocket until he pulled out a folded piece of paper and an old, faded photo.

“Is that them?”

“Yeah.” He pushed it toward me, but I pushed the letter back. “Show that to Riley if he wants to see it. It ain’t my business.” I couldn’t help but look at the picture of little baby Riley though. He was younger and smaller than I’d ever known him. But even as a newborn, his big blue eyes that took up most of his face stared intensely into the camera. Fuck. I swallowed down the emotion.

“He was so little.”

Wesley looked as emotional as I did. He took the photo and letter and folded them back into his pocket. “Yeah. So right after I found out about Riley, I had to leave the country for a job and that kept me occupied for a few months. But when I came back, I immediately started looking for him. Even with my connections, it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought. Y’all pretty much fell off the grid 15 years ago. There was a spotty education history I was able to track, and I just kind of lucked into finding the city. As soon as I did, I took time off and rented a small place here. I’ve been here for a few months.”

“Are you still in the Navy?”

“Nah. I work in the private sector now.” He didn’t elaborate, and I decided it was probably better that way. I didn’t really need to know anyway.

“So, today really wasn’t planned? It wasn’t some kinda trap?”

“No. I probably shouldn’t have approached you at all, but seeing him . . . I couldn’t stop myself.”

I understood that. Riley made me lose my mind too.

Just then, my phone buzzed. When I pulled it out, I saw I’d missed five texts. One from Dakota and four from Riley. Shit. I checked the ones from Ri first.

Butterfly: Hiii, Becks. I’m sorry I was an asshole to you. I don’t want you to go away ever. Don’t let me push you away.

Butterfly: I love you. Don’t hate me. You were the best dad, brother, boyfriend ever. I don’t need anyone else. I don’t need some dick nugget named Wesley. I just need you.

I snorted and glanced at Wesley, who was watching me with narrowed eyes, like he was trying to see through my body to read the messages.

Butterfly: Dakota got us cheesy bread. I’mma learn how to make this. I’mma make cheesy bread for you every night, just to show you how much I love you.

Butterfly: Beckettttt, I miss you. Plain vodka is gross. Why do we even have this shit? Come back, I wanna cuddle.

I resisted the urge to call him immediately and checked the message from Dakota. I figured I’d get some real information from him.

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