Page 2 of Coyote

“It wasn’t a problem at all, honey. Since my mother disowned me because of what she called my lifestyle choice, I’m never going to need it for her.”

“I’m sorry she rejected you over something as run of the mill as your sexual orientation.”

He smirked at me. “In her own defense, she did try to pray the gay away. How do you think I ended up with Thomas?”

“What? I don’t get it.”

“Thomas was the youth leader who was supposed to get me on the straight and narrow all those years ago. Imagine her surprise when we hit it off.”

I laughed before could stop myself. “You’re lucky you didn’t give the poor woman a heart attack.”

“I was known as the devil in a three-piece suit in my local community for a long time. Then I decided to move here, to be closer to Thomas.”

“That was clearly a good decision. You two have been dating for what, twenty years?”

“Twenty-three to be exact. He’s taking me to Vegas next week. That’s why there’s nothing on our schedule for that time.”

“Twenty-three years and no ring?”

Reggie looked from left to right as if checking that there was no one listening in, which as we were the only two in the office was unnecessary, and leaned close conspiratorially, “I’m thinking he might have something planned for next week.”

“Wow!” I exclaimed, “Well, you two make a wonderful couple. And if I haven’t said so before, you’ve both made a huge difference in mine and Nessa’s life.”

He smiled, “You did say so before.”

“And I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”

Taking another sip of his latte, he paused as if trying to decide what he wanted to say. “I don’t mean to pry, but what about Nessa’s father? Why isn’t he paying his share? You wouldn’t have to struggle so hard if he was paying child support. You’ve never said much about him, or why he’s not in the picture.”

Maybe someone else would have been offended that he was talking about my personal life, but Reggie and I talked about my life choices a lot over the last couple of years because he’s more than just my boss. We’d gotten really close and he’d kind of adopted me into his chosen family.

“You know I’ve been through a trauma.” Glancing away, I admitted the truth I’d never had the courage to tell him, “I was attacked by a man who turned out to be a wanted murderer. It was awful. I barely escaped with my life. A man by the name of Lucas Reyes stepped in to protect me.”

After taking a gigantic gulp of his coffee, he asked, “The man who attacked you wasn’t the man who fathered your child, right?”

“Oh God no.”

“Then Nessa’s father must have been the other man, Lucas Reyes.”

“I don’t know how to explain my situation,” I said. Even thinking about that night terrified me, much less talking about it with anyone.

“Was there another man?” he asked.

Staring into his confused face, I just blurted out the rest like tearing off a band-aid. “Yes. After we’d been dating for almost a year, a biker from rival club attacked me and it was traumatizing.”

My boss’ expression darkened. “How serious was the attack? I hope you weren’t hospitalized.”

I paused, trying to put the words together, “Let’s just say, I wasn’t strong enough to fight him off.”

Reggie immediately leaned forward and put his hand on my shoulder. “Oh God, Bethany, I’m really sorry that happened to you. I hope the bastard ended up in prison or worse.”

I glanced away, “No. Instead of going to the police, I ran like the coward I am.”

“You weren’t a coward. You put yourself first and did what was right for you.”

“I just couldn’t face everyone knowing what happened. I didn’t want to become known as little Bethany Marks, the girl raped by an outlaw biker. That would have been a hard reputation to live down in my small hometown.”

“That’s your decision to make. Don’t ever feel bad about doing what you have to do to survive.”

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