Page 50 of Under My Skin

“How could you call yourself my friend and not tell me I had a fuckingson?” I growled. “How could you let Amara and Dani suffer and not do a damn thing about it? How could you not sayone fucking wordto me about any of this for a whole goddamn year?”

Realization washed over his face. “Isaac… He’s yours?”

“Don’t fucking act like you didn’t know!” I roared. “You and Morgan were Dani’sonlysupport system after Amara died! That’s why you told me about her, isn’t it? So you could try to make me do what any man with a shred of fucking decency would have done from the beginning?”

Malachi gently shoved me backward, keeping his hands on my biceps. I tore myself out of his grasp, spun around, and let my fist fly into the opposite wall so hard that a crack appeared in the drywall. He tried to grab me again, but once again, I jerked away, cocking my arm back for another swing.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I snarled. “Lying son of a bitch!”

“I didn’t know, Braden!” he yelled. “I didn’t know!”

Fist still hanging in the air, I froze and turned to look at him.

“Did you hear me, man?” he said, much calmer this time. “I. Didn’t. Know.”

Dropping to my knees, I let out a gut-wrenching scream as a sob started to creep its way up my throat. “FUUUUUCK!!!”

I heard the sound of the front door shutting and locking before Malachi was kneeling next to me and ducking his head down to catch my gaze. There was hesitation in his eyes, like I was a feral animal he was afraid would attack.

“Braden, take a deep breath. We’regoingto talk about this, but I need you to calm the fuck down first. You hear me?”

Blowing out a long breath, I nodded. As livid and confused and betrayed as I felt right now, yelling and blind rage wouldn’t solve anything or get me the answers I needed, and I knew it.

“You straight now?” he asked after a few seconds, raising his eyebrows at me.

I nodded.

“Okay,” he said, taking a slow, controlled inhale. “First, I’m going to let this one slide because I know you’re upset, but if youeverinsult my mother again, Iwillkick your ass. Got it?”

I let out a humorless snort. “Got it.”

“Good. Now, let’s get one thing clear. I hadnoclue who Isaac’s father was. Neither did Morgan. All Dani and Amara said was that he was a pro football player. Weneverwould have kept something like that from you.”

Just as quickly as my ire toward him had consumed me, it flooded out of me, leaving only confusion and anguish in its wake.

And fear.Somuch fear. Fear that I’d never see Dani or my son again. Fear that if I did end up seeing them again, I wouldn’t be able to be the kind of father that little boy deserved. Fear that my stalker would learn the truth about Isaac’s parentage and do something to hurt one – orboth– of them.

“She…she really never told you?” I choked out.

Malachi shook his head. “Nope.” Getting to his feet, he held his hand out to help me up. “Come sit down. I’ll get you a beer.”

I took a deep breath as I followed him into the living room and sat on the couch. “I don’t need to be drinking right now.”

As much as I wanted to just get shitfaced and forget all about this clusterfuck, I couldn’t do that. Dani and Isaac both deserved better. They deserved a grown-ass adult, not a man-child who thought taking a tire iron to a twenty-year-old computer was a healthy outlet for stress relief. Someone who was capable of being a loving, caring partner to her and a role model to that little boy.

“Well, I’m definitely not giving you coffee. You’re already about to climb the fucking walls. Um…I think Morgan has some kind of froufrou herbal tea somewhere.”

I chuckled weakly. “I don’t need anything, man. I’m good. And I’m sorry about your wall. I’ll pay for the damage.”

“Shit, man. If I thought you’d kept something like this from me, I wouldn’t have stopped at punching a wall. That pretty-boy face of yours would be black and blue right now,” he said as he took a seat next to me. “Speaking of which…that goddamn publicist, who I assume was Vicki, had those girls terrified of getting arrested for stalking and harassment and getting slapped with a hundred-thousand-dollar defamation lawsuit. I tried to get them to tell me who that boy’s father was so many times,told them I’d hire the best lawyer money could buy, and they still wouldn’t say.”

A growl rumbled in my chest as I rested my elbows on my knees, burying my face in my palms. “I’m going to fuckingkillthat bitch.”

“You want some help hiding the body?” he said with a weak chuckle.

“Don’t tempt me,” I muttered. “I’m bringing Glenn with me to that goddamn office first thing Monday morning. I’m not just ending my contract with her. I want her out of that company. Blackballed from the entire damn industry.”

“I’ll come with you,” he said immediately. “The bigger show of force you have, the better.”

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