Page 113 of The Foul Out

He tipped his head, angling closer to his uncle. Their red hair was almost the same shade. I’d known they looked alike, the hair and the golden eyes, but I hadn’t realized just how many other features they shared until this moment.

I swallowed, determined to focus on the issue at hand for now. “Can you go play in your room for a bit?”

Nodding, he skipped across the room and darted past his mom, oblivious to the tension thickening the air.

“His room?” JJ asked through clenched teeth. “You don’t even let the women you fuck into your house, and yet you moved her and the kids in?”

I took a deep breath, garnering all the control I possessed. “JJ. Don’t say something you can’t take back,” I warned. “We are all aware of how easily that can ruin things.”

That might have been a cheap shot, but it hit the mark. His mouth snapped shut, and he simply grunted.

“Give Harper and me a few minutes, and I’ll meet you at the restaurant at noon like we planned.”

He scoffed, his face reddening. “Are you kidding me?”

I shook my head. Maybe fixing a decades-long friendship should have been my priority, but the only thing I cared about was the silent woman who’d gone ghostly white beside me.

“Fuck it,” JJ mumbled. “We don’t need to talk. The reason you invited me is pretty damn obvious.” Sneering, he spun on his heel and stormed to the elevator. “Thanks for your help, bro.”

Nausea rolled in my gut. That definitely could have gone better. But as I turned back to my girl, it was clear the bigger problem was in front of me. Because the shock was gone, and in its place was pure anger.

“Harper?” I grasped her upper arm gently.

“Don’t touch me.” Shaking free of my hold, she stepped back. “You knew. How long did you know that your family—” She swallowed, her bottom lip wobbling, but she held it together. “God, I can’t believe it.”

I wouldn’t lie to her. Especially not now.

“The whole time.”

“What?” she screeched.

I tried not to wince, though I knew how bad this sounded without context.

“I knew who you were to JJ, who you were to my family, the moment I met you at Lang Field.”

She blinked back a sheen of moisture and crossed her arms over her chest. “Vivianne,” she said, lifting her chin. “That’s your mom?”

Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I nodded.

“She was actually the nicest. All she did was ask me to please leave.”

With a scoff, she took another step back.

“Bill is your stepfather?”

I nodded again.

“He straight-up asked me if I was using my father’s apparent dementia, dementia I wasn’t even aware of, to steal his money. And Susan, your aunt?”

I nodded, despite how badly I hated admitting that I belonged to a family who’d treated her so poorly.

“She called me a money-grubbing slutjust like my mother.”

I balled my hands into fists in my pockets and gritted my teeth. I loved my aunt, but at the moment, I really wanted to have words with her.

Harper swallowed, and this time when she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper. “My kids were with me. They heard it.”

I flinched.

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