Page 140 of Perfect Pitch

When he descends the stairs, he jerks his chin at me. “We’ll talk outside.”

“Fine.” I follow him through Paige and Austyn’s home, noticing the abundance of photos of the two women adorning the walls along with umpteen ones with Austyn and her uncles, her and her grandfather. To myself, I curse.

“Bug up your ass, Clifton?” Beckett asks.

Knowing Beckett cares or he wouldn’t still be here, I keep my voice low but still lay out what I’m thinking. “They just learned so much about this douchebag and here they are, hurting for him. He doesn’t deserve it.”

The fury in my voice is unconcealed. Beckett seems taken aback by it. “I have plenty of reasons to hate Tyson Kensington, Clifton. You’ve... been... with my daughter a short time. Can I ask why—‍”

I steamroll right over Beckett. “He called her an abomination to her mother before she was born. She’s a damn miracle, and he...” My fists clench as I storm past Beckett to the edge of the lanai. I stare up at the stars that seem to have multiplied by hundreds since we arrived last night.

I’m unsure how long I stand there, but Beckett eventually joins me. “I hope you’re ready to pick up the pieces when she eventually shatters.”

“My goal is that she never does,” I inform him haughtily.

He shakes his head before imparting wisdom on me that sends chills through me despite the warm Texas night air. “We all break. We all crash, Mitch. The question is when and what kind of damage it leaves in its wake.”

He reaches up to grip my shoulder before turning and heading back inside.

* * *

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Caleb Lockwood, Keene Marshall, and Colby Hunt walked out of their building. Each was on a cell phone. One was smiling, one was snarling, and one was laughing. Match the man with the call.

—Sexy&Social, All the Scandal You Can Handle

“You’re tense,” Mitch comes up behind me and massages my neck.

My head falls forward under the ministrations of his fingers. “I’m not sleeping well.”

“Too much stress between finding out who your father is and your grandfather...”

I rip away from his fingers. My chest heaves as I pull away from Mitch’s soothing touch. “Is he really? Is he really my grandfather? Should I consider him that after what he said about me before he ever knew who I was?”

Undaunted, Mitch steps forward and gentles his hand down the side of my face. “You just said it, Beats. You were placed in his arms and there you were—a person who made him question what love was. Someone who he knew would complicate his emotions.”

My lips tremble before I firm them. “Was any of it true?”

“Do you want to find out?”

I turn away and look with different eyes over the house my mother bought for us. “I remember the first time my mother brought me here.”

“Did you love it?”

I shake my head. “Not at first.”

He stands next to me, tangling our fingers together. “Why not?”

Why didn’t I?

“Our own slice of heaven,” she exclaims. It was the day we left Gramps’s house and moved in. “A place just to call our own, Austyn.”

“But won’t Gramps miss us?” I ask plaintively.

She pats my hand and whispers conspiratorially. “He’ll come to visit.”

My lip trembles.

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