Page 33 of Break Out

Not ever did I think I’d be a woman who slept with her boyfriend’s… no, ex-boyfriend’s father. Seemed life had a lesson to teach me about embarrassment, because whatever had embarrassed me before was nothing compared to right now. The idea that I had to confront Jordan and his dad made my stomach lurch. Or was that morning sickness in the afternoon? Pregnancy was fun… Not.

“Who is he?” Abby asked.

“That’s Jordan with him.”

Aunt Abby’s jaw dropped. Very few things rendered her speechless. Looked like I was overachieving all around. “You sure know how to weave a tangled web, Mony.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She nodded. “You’re welcome, but we still gotta get closer.”

“I don’t want to run into both of them!”

Her patience slipped a touch. “Trust me. We’re gonna lurk, eavesdrop, that kind of thing. Now stay close.”

Traipsing through the crowds on this campground brought out a whole new side to Aunt Abby. It surprised me how flirty she could be with total strangers, and yet, after the stories I’d heard about her when she was younger… it made sense.

We slipped between the truck attached to the fifth wheel and another RV. She put her hand at the small of my back and pushed me alongside the truck. I stopped when we reached the truck tailgate, and we could hear Steel and Jordan’s conversation.

“Please hear me out, Jordan,” Steel said.

“I’m only here because you won’t send me the check,” Jordan said in a petulant tone.

My lip curled up. He only wanted money from Steel. In the years we lived together, he’d made it clear how much he despised his dad. If he hated his dad so much why would he want money from him? I hadn’t realized Jordan could be so petty.

Steel sighed. “And I need you to know your real dad is serving fifteen years behind bars.”

“Like I should believe you.”

“You talk to your mom lately?”

Aunt Abby pulled me backward as a lumberjack of a man stalked in our direction. She scurried around the truck and I followed. We wove our way through the crowd and we lost him. Or he didn’t care that we were lurking.

“That sucks,” she muttered when we left the Devil Lancer’s portion of the campgrounds.

“What sucks?”

She laughed. “You have to ask? Your dad is gonna freak. Your baby daddy’s gonna freak twice.”

I shook my head. “Why twice?”

Her chin lowered. “You’re his boy’s ex-girlfriend.”

I twisted a hand up. “Sounded like he isn’t Jordan’s dad after all.”

Aunt Abby scoffed. “Like that matters. For twenty years he’s had a son. It doesn’t just switch off because DNA results change.”

The mention of DNA gave me an idea. Recalling how Jordan complained about his dad, did I even want to tell Steel? Find myself forced to share my child with him?

Ugh. How would that work? The Devil Lancers had always been a thorn in the side of the Jacksonville Riot MC.

His words from December replayed in my mind. “Hard to say which ‘-ville’ I hate more, Gainesville or Jacksonville.” Now it made perfect sense.

“What are you thinking?” Abby asked.

I grimaced. “That… maybe he doesn’t have to know.”

“Your dad wants you—”

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