Page 66 of Regrets

I turn back to her. “Hear what? That you’re fucking delusional? You think Colt was the father of your baby?”

She holds her head high, cradling the child to her chest. Her face, although made up to look old, reveals she is way too young to be a mother. “I know he was.”

“Bullshit.” I take one step toward her but make myself stop before I get too close.

“Look, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, and I get that. It’s terrible, but it’s true. Colt is Sebastian’s father.” She looks down at the dark-haired, baby boy. “Was.”

I fight the bile rising in my throat and the urge to scream up at the sky.This can’t be fucking happening.

“He would never do that. He had a girlfriend most of his fucking life.”

She nods, a couple of tears sliding down her cheeks. “I know.”

“You know?”

She nods and takes a seat on one of the outdoor chairs, rocking the baby gently in her arms. “It was no secret he was dating some foster girl. The whole school talked about it.”

Some foster girl.

Jesus Christ.

“Penelope. Her fucking name isPenelope,and there is no way he would ever cheat.”

“He was so good, like, all the time. Colt Sterling was the epitome of a good guy. Theperfectguy.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard that his entire life.I look away again, unable to look at her cradling the baby in her arms.

“I think it all finally got to him.”

My head snaps back in her direction, the last month of his life playing through my head. “What?”

“About a month before prom, he was at a party I was at with a couple of friends. I’d never seen him at a party before.”He never went to them. He spent all his time with P. “He was drinking, and so was I, and we ended up in a room, talking.”

I nod to the baby. “That’s not howhegot here.”

She shakes her head, not one bit of humor on her pretty face. “No. He was so . . .”she searches for the right word,smoothing a hand over her perfectly braided hair lying over her right shoulder, “tortured. He didn’t want to talk much. I think he wanted to forget.”

“Forget what?” I’m seeing red and feel like I’m going to vomit as I brace myself on the side of the house.

“He had some fight with your father. That’s all he said.”

My father.

Of course, that motherfucker had something to do with everything.

“He didn’t tell you what it was about when he fucked you bare?”

“That’s really nice.” She glares at me as her hand covers the back of her baby’s head.

“I’m not nice.”

“So I’ve heard.” She stands up, holding the baby in her arms on his back so I can see his sleeping face. “He’s Colt’s.”

“Didn’t you date that Williams fucker for a while, Casey Williams?”

She nods. “I did, but we broke up three months before that party. Colt is the only person I had sex with. This baby is a Sterling.”

I look at the baby, and although he can’t be more than a few months old, I swear he has Colt’s nose.

---