Page 23 of Truths

“Then what the hell is this, Nelson? No, you don't want Daphne; you're just pissed she moved on with someone who fits her better. If you don't move on, you and I can't do this. This doesn't work if you act like that.”

He laughs. “That's real rich. You know, why don't you come and talk to me about moving on when you put on your big girl panties and find your real father. Or talk to your fake father. Either one.”

Her eyebrows lift, and she takes a step back. “What?”

“Rather than just fucking me as a distraction to stop yourself from thinking about finding Ryan and avoiding talking to Cannon, maybe deal with the situation. Then we can talk about moving on.”

“Get out.”

Sutton didn't scream it. She doesn't hit him. There's no shake in her voice. All he sees are tears in her eyes, and he knows he crossed a line. “Sutton-”

“Go back to the clubhouse and find a club bunny to spend your nights with. Or go back to the bar and find a blonde totake home. Either way, get the hell away from me. Don't call me. Don't text me. Don't look at me if we see each other.”

“Sutton, I'm sorry-”

“If you don't leave, I'm calling the cops.”

Cops? Nelson hands her the ice pack, and he steps outside of her apartment. Just as he turns to try and apologize again, she slams it shut, and he hears the chain lock followed by the bolt lock.

Well, shit. He just pissed off the only girl who has ever meant anything to him, someone he thinks he could easily fall in love with, and hurting her pains him more than anything else he's ever done in the past. He's a complete jackass because he's angry, and he took it out on Sutton. Maybe this is all for the best. If no one can quite understand why he's so angry, maybe it's better to be on his own.

Chapter Nine

Summerville

Sutton

After her fight with Nelson, Sutton decided it was time to look up her biological father. Ryan Hennessey.

Finding that letter her mother kept while she searched for Grace's end-of-life directive, which was nothing more than a post-it note telling Sutton she didn't want to live on a machine, was the worst thing to happen to Sutton in her life. To read a letter Grace wrote to a man named Ryan, telling him Sutton was his daughter. That he needs to clean up his act if he ever wants to know her.

The letter was never sent, and Sutton finds it more aggravating than not that her mother kept it. Her mother is bordering on being a hoarder, so it's not surprising, but it's annoying. She hadto know Sutton would find it one day. And if she found it twenty years down the road after her mother passed, she wouldn't have been able to confirm the contents were true because Grace would be dead.

Her mother has always been manipulative and terrible, but she never thought she'd be this terrible. Horrible. When Sutton confronted her about it, her mother simply asked what Sutton wanted from her. She acted as though this big revelation meant nothing in the world. That it hadn't just imploded everything Sutton knew and thought for the last twenty-three years. Worse than that, Cannon had no idea, either. In one ill-fated discovery, Sutton learned who her real father was, and Cannon learned he was childless.

It's been a really hard transition because Sutton loves Cannon. He was the best father she could have ever asked for, but it didn't feel fair to keep up the charade of being his daughter. He'd spent twenty-three years being a great father, but the truth is, he never had to. And now he definitely doesn't need to. No, Sutton has a different father, and as she's learned, he's not exactly a stellar man.

Ryan Hennessey has lived in a halfway house for the last month after being released from prison. Again. It was his sixth charge, and looking at his history, he's been in prison most of Sutton's life. Even if she had known about Ryan, she wouldn't have had a father around based on his track record. The only reprieve she had from her mother was when she stayed with Cannon. She would have lost her mind if she hadn't been able to escape Grace.

Further research showed Ryan currently works at a fast-food taco place in the middle of town. She's driven past it multiple times over the past few weeks, but not until today has she had the courage to actually park and get out of her car. Now, it's justa matter of whether or not she'll make it to the door. Maybe that will be a tomorrow task.

Part of her wishes Nelson were with her, but she hasn't talked to him since the night he showed up bloody and bruised. The way he snapped at her, telling her she was only sleeping with him as a distraction and avoidance tactic, pissed her off. But what hurt worse was how upset he was about Daphne and Max. Sure, finding out your ex-girlfriend is sleeping with your older brother probably doesn't feel good, but he acted like she had been the love of his life, contrary to everything else he'd said about her. That he was still pining for her, and that's what really hurt.

Taking a deep breath, Sutton opens the door of the restaurant and steps inside.

Maybe he won't be working. If he's not working, that's my sign that I don't need to do this. That we are not meant to meet.

The moment her eyes land on the annoyed middle-aged man wearing a stupid hat at the front till, Sutton knows. That's Ryan Hennessey. She doesn't have to read his name on his name tag because the resemblance is striking.

“Can I help you?” he calls out, his tone flat and bored.

Forcing a smile as her breakfast threatens to make a reappearance, she says, “Hi, yes.” It annoys her how breathy her voice sounds. “I'll take a number two combo. No tomatoes, please.”

“Tomatoes are fucking gross,” Ryan mutters under his breath as he punches the buttons on the screen with more force than is actually necessary.

He hates tomatoes, too. She may get her hatred of the fruit she still considers a vegetable from him. If he knew who she was, would he see similarities in them, too?

“That's fifteen twenty-three.”

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