Page 28 of Winter's End

Marcie had just proven that deception and duplicity were everywhere in this town, and I needed all the help I could get to shut down my triggers. Even if it came from a begrudgingly sexy twat-wad in a business suit.

I wouldn’t survive this double-life as a half-assed clueless spy, otherwise.

As we walked around the corner, I squared my shoulders, filled my lungs with the fry-scented air, and pasted an enthusiastic grin on my face.

I slid back into the booth and eyed Marcie meaningfully as she sipped the Mai Tai that had been delivered in our wake. I got the message. Fake Winter was about to win an Oscar.

I pushed as much upbeat excitability into my tone as I could muster.

“Dad, you’llneverguess what Marcietold me …”

Cringe.

CHAPTER 8

CAMERON

Ipunched the heavy bag with every ounce of strength behind my fist, taking the impact with my legs firmly planted in place as I jabbed the bag again and again.

My demons were out in full force tonight.

After Kellan had stunned me to silence, I had called Darlene. That’s what she insisted she be called, so I didn’t call her Daisy anymore. I didn’t want her calling me Teddy neither. That little boy was not the man I’d become.

Not the monster I’d become.

She’d met me at the twenty-four-hour Denny’s at the edge of Carlisle. I hadn’t given her much choice, insisting we talked now if she wanted any presence of mine in her life. I didn’t like having to give the woman an ultimatum, but the casual delivery of a life-altering truth had been about to shatter me.

She’d texted me daily since our first coffee date. A meme here or there, or a simple “how’s your day?” let me know this woman was trying to warm up to me. She’d been attempting contact, at least, which is more than she’d done my entire existence.

I had longed for that contact and the little boy in me needing love didn’t take it for granted. I needed answers more than her acceptance in this moment.

Travis patiently waited in the car while she and I spoke, trading his precious time and friendship with me for a simple order of waffles to go when we were done.

Darlene confirmed she’d had an affair with Antonio, so there was a possibility I was his child. She couldn’t look me in the eye when she’d made the admission, leading me to believe that there was far more than apossibilityKellan’s claim was true.

The irony I, the only adopted child to two deceased parents, was about to potentially inherit an entire family of criminals was not lost on me.

I pressed her further, so much so she was in tears for most of the story, but I couldn’t relent. If I was Antonio’s son, I needed to know why she’d left the way she did; what had he done to make her fear for her life? For my life?

Did her claim she abandoned me to protect me actually hold true?

My Rising Tide of Rage had an origin story. At least, that is what Darlene made me believe after revealing why she fled.

Three strippers at the club where she’d worked had been caught stealing money. Antonio had called a staff meeting with the dancers and escorts one night after hours. The three women were paraded on stage, naked and blindfolded, and shot to death in front of her very eyes. She’d been pregnant with me; about four months, she reckoned, and knew she had to leave.

I’d once read that energies in pregnancy could affect the fetus. Can’t remember where a young me would have read such a thing, probably in a doctor’s office magazine while waiting for a check-up. Going by that logic, I figured that one act of violence had imprinted on my growing soul, forcing me to become the man I was today.

That or, if I truly was Antonio’s seed, I came by my lust for blood honestly. Given the man’s capacity for evil, that thought scared the shit out of me far more than most.

I delivered Travis his waffles, and we drove home in a car quieter than a tomb while I considered Darlene’s words.

If this was all true, and it was becoming harder to hold on to the hope that it wasn’t, that made Travis my … nephew. Half-nephew.

I eyed my best friend in the darkness as he ate a waffle one-handed, looking lost in his own runaway thoughts. I’d always considered him to be family, a man I’d die for, but this revelation was … unexpected.

I didn’t fare any better at home, losing an entire night’s sleep; visions of violence and death clouded my brain until there was nothing but a dense fog of darkness.

I’d rolled out of bed needing to fight today, but I needed to fight with a purpose. I couldn’t erase the demons in my head, but decided I could channel them for an act of good, if that was even possible.

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