Page 185 of Embracing the Change

“She actually isn’t,” Jamie returned.

Chet blinked in confusion. “What?”

“She isn’t yours, Chet,” Jamie said with studied patience. “She hasn’t been yours since she was five.”

“She’s my blood,” Chet ground out.

“You donated sperm,” Jamie replied. “Congratulations. Other than that, you made her mother’s life hell, as well as hers, every time you reared your head. That’s what she’s got from you. That’s all she’s got from you because that’s all you gave her.”

“I loved Rosie,” Chet said softly, and if Jamie could credit it, there was regret in his eyes.

“That isn’t close to true, considering how you treated her.”

“We were young,” Chet defended.

Fuck this asshole.

Jamie was done.

He stood, and he enjoyed watching Chet’s eyes tip up as he did so.

Jamie’s tone was cold and lethal when he declared, “I don’t give that first fuck how young you were. That’s no excuse. If you, a grown man, don’t know that by now, there’s no hope for you. You don’t treat the ones you love with violence and intimidation.”

“You don’t know my life before Rosie came in it. She caught the brunt of me sorting shit out.”

“I don’t have that first fuck to give about your life either, Lynch,” Jamie fired back. “That’s an excuse too. And like all excuses, it’s spineless and full of shit. And advice, if Dru does decide to seek you out, which is something that will be her choice and at her instigation, I’m not going to tell her about this conversation. She has to want to find you and it has to be her idea. But if that happens, don’t land this bullshit on her. She won’t respond to it very well because she’s highly intelligent and she’ll read it for exactly what it is.”

“It’s all been so fuckin’ easy for you,” Chet scorned and threw his hand again toward Jamie. “Good-lookin’, made a’ money, probably took your first steps on a red fuckin’ carpet.”

“This is part of growing up, something it’s clear you haven’t done. But when you do, you realize, no matter what you think someone else has, they’re living life just like you, and sometimes that life kicks them in the balls. The measure of a man is how he recovers from that.”

“Yeah, and you recovered from Rosie real quick by nailin’ that new, haughty piece of ass of yours,” Chet shot back.

Jamie’s voice was now low and deadly when he warned, “I’m keeping myself in check, Lynch. You’d do well not to remind me you put hands on my woman.”

Chet visibly swallowed.

“Or, another of my women,” Jamie corrected.

Chet said nothing.

“Are we done?” Jamie asked.

“I wouldn’t a’ hurt her,” Chet said quietly. “I took that bitch’s money, but I wasn’t gonna say shit to hurt her.”

“You’re lying. I know you were talking to a news program.”

Another visible swallow.

Oh yes.

Fuck this asshole.

Jamie continued. “Now, I can share with you that I will make it hurt if you try to approach Dru without her initiating it, but I’m assuming, since you’re here, rather than bothering her, you already know that. However, if you’ve heard nothing I’ve said during this conversation, make certain to process that. She’s lost her mother. She’s lost the only blood who mattered to her.

She might be living her life, but she will never stop being devastated by that loss. If you cause her even a second more pain, by God, Lynch, I promise you’ll regret it until your dying breath.”

Chet stared at him but remained silent.

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