Page 37 of Secret Daddies

LEE

“Hey there, buddy!”

Devon’s voice was practically bursting with excitement when he laid eyes on Matty again. I wasn’t exactly sure why he had strong-armed us into meeting with this kid for a second time, but the way he described it, it sounded as though he would quit on the spot if we didn’t give him what he wanted.

Matty was a little less nervous this time, not hanging back behind his mom, but stepping out and waving at the three of us like we were his school buddies or something. Taylor grinned and waved back, and I did the same. I liked hanging around kids, especially when it came to work. There was something so fun about keeping up that fantasy of the superhero world for them, even for a little while. I was a good actor, and that extended to my time with the fans too.

“So, I thought we could do a tour of the set today,” Devon told Matty as he got down on his haunches in front of him. “How does that sound?”

Matty glanced up at Maya, who was still holding his hand. I couldn’t help but notice that she was trying to avoid the gaze of both Taylor and me, and I wondered if this had something to do with the reason she wasn’t returning my calls. Ever since our date night at my place, she seemed to be ducking me, and I’d eventually given up on trying to get in touch with her—I didn’t do the chase, not after we’d already been together once. If she wanted more, she would come to me to ask for it, and I wouldn’t beg.

“Really cool!” Matty replied, and Devon offered him a hand.

“Then let’s get started.”

Matty stared at Devon’s hand for a moment, and then he took it—and I saw the grin spread across Devon’s face in an instant, clearly enjoying the closeness with the kid he thought was his son. I still didn’t know what was going on with all of that, if he was any closer to catching on to whether he was really related to that little guy or not, but if this helped him figure it out, shit, I was glad to be able to help.

Not to mention the chance to see Maya again too, though she was totally focused on Matty right now. Devon was taking him down to one of the green-screen sets, which was out of use as they were getting everything set up for a few interior shots across the small campus that had been set up for shooting. It wouldn’t stay quiet for long, but for now there were barely more than the four of us out here.

“You think she’s told the kid?” I asked Taylor, lowering my voice, and Taylor shot me a look.

“Keep your voice down.”

“But do you think she has?” I pressed. Taylor paused for a moment, then shook his head.

“I’d be surprised,” he admitted. “I tried to talk to her the other day about it, but?—”

“Wait, you talked to her about it?”

“Lee, I’m a dad myself,” he reminded me. “When it comes to kids, I’m not just going to stand aside and let her do whatever she wants.”

“Shit, yeah, I forget you’re old as hell,” I gibed him, digging an elbow into his side. He managed a slight laugh, though I could tell he wasn’t entirely impressed.

“You’re really pissed at her for this?” I asked, watching as Devon, Maya, and Matty explored the set together, heading over to the monitors so Matty could see where it all came together.

“Of course I am,” he growled, shaking his head. “Keeping something like this from him, when he deserves to know? It’s bullshit. It’s not just some relationship drama, this is about a kid?—”

He stopped himself in his tracks and looked over at me, as though he had just remembered who he was talking to.

“Not that I’d know much about that, right?” I joked. I knew it was what he was thinking, he didn’t have to say it. Taylor and I might take the piss out of each other every now and then, but I knew he looked on me as something of a little brother—that annoying kind who you couldn’t get to shut up, but family nonetheless. Maybe it was because he was a dad himself, but he always looked out for Devon and me, even when we didn’t need it.

“Guess not,” he replied, and he headed over to join the others. No matter how annoyed he might be with Maya, it seemed as though he was willing to put that aside for Matty’s sake.

And for a moment, I just watched them. Devon, grinning down at the boy who was still holding his hand, like he could hardly believe he existed. Matty, staring up at him like he hung the damn moon. To my surprise, I felt a pang in my chest at the sight of them together, a pang that I had sincerely not been prepared for.

I had never wanted kids myself. Shit, I had never thought about kids. After how I’d grown up, with my parents the useless, drunken messes that they were, it wasn’t as though I’d ever seen parenthood as something particularly attractive.

They had always treated me like I was nothing more than a pain in their ass, a problem that stood in the way of them and their next drink, and that’s how I saw myself for a long time. I’d hated myself as the imposition that I put on them, until I shifted to hating them instead. It was easier that way, to see them as the problem and not myself, though I wasn’t sure how much I believed it.

And that had given me the drive to get the fuck out of there and never look back, forget about the past I was fleeing from and pretend like it had never existed in the first place. I had cut myself off from them completely, forced to survive on my own, and it had given me no choice but to work my ass off in order to survive.

Settling down with someone had always been the last thing in my mind as a result—because settling down meant giving in, turning into the same kind of people they were. It was easier to fuck around with multiple women, keep my focus on having funrather than building anything serious. It was safer that way. I didn’t have to worry about letting down children of my own, as long as I stayed light.

But seeing Matty and Devon together, seeing the ease with which Taylor interacted with him too…I couldn’t help but wonder if I could have something like that down the line, one day. If maybe there might be that urge in me to leave all this bachelor bullshit behind, and focus on something a little more grounded, a little more real. It could just be a fantasy, but right now, it seemed like a pretty damn appealing one.

It was the first time I’d ever really considered it. The first time I had allowed myself to think of myself in that role. As a dad, as a partner, as something…more than what I was now. But I wasn’t a kid anymore, I was twenty-six, and maybe…

Maybe it was time for me to open my mind up to things I would never have thought of before. This movie was going to be huge, the biggest thing I had ever done in my career. With that signed, sealed, and delivered, perhaps there was room for something in my personal life too.

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