Page 61 of Deserter

He had a point.

Celia cleared her throat and checked to make sure her ma was out of earshot. “It wasn’t—I mean, I know what it looks like, Daddy, but it wasn’t.” Her cheeks reddened, and she looked down at her skirt. “I wanted him to do… that. Not at first, no, but he didn’t take anything from me that night. I gave it to him.”

Holy shit.

I cocked my head to the side and stared down at her. “Are you serious?”

She nodded, still refusing to meet either mine or Richard’s eyes. Her palm had gone sweaty against mine. “And that wasn’t the night I got pregnant.”

Richard slumped back in the chair while I quickly did the math in my head. “You mean you’ve slept with him more than once?”

I ignored the disgust in his voice and tilted her chin up. “When?”

It shouldn’t have mattered.I’d made one kid in a seedy motel room, what was creating one in a bar bathroom?That afternoon in the tattoo parlor though had meant something. The sex had been better than ever before; different, but better.

Celia bit down on her lip and admitted, “The last time.”

I nodded and squeezed her hand tighter before addressing Richard. “I claimed her—”

“Oh, no!” Norma appeared in the doorway, holding a platter of sandwiches. “This is not happening. You—you are a grown man and she is a child. I won’t allow it!”

I shifted my arm until the back of Celia’s hand rested against the upper part of my thigh before smirking. “You won’t allow it? Your daughter’s a woman. And the way I see it, she’s carrying my baby, so you aren’t in charge of shit.”

Red splotches darkened her face. “She has her whole life ahead of her. Celia, tell him! You have your scholarship! You aren’t going to throw away your future for—for—for this!”

I winced as her voice rose to a scream while Celia calmly sat and observed, as if this sort of thing was normal.

Hell, maybe it was.

“Mama, I’m pregnant. I can’t go off to school like this—”

Norma began pacing, still holding onto the tray of sandwiches. I considered getting up to snag one but thought better of it when I saw the look on her face. “We’ll take you for an abortion. You can move on like it never happened.”

I clenched my free hand into a fist. She wasn’t going back there.

“Norma!” Richard looked up in surprise.

She shook her head from side to side, nostrils flaring. “I don’t care what the church says. I cannot have my daughter’s future ruined because you—” She dumped the tray unceremoniously on the coffee table before stabbing a finger into his chest. “You got involved with trash! I kept my mouth shut, even when they took her, but I will not stand by and let her ruin her entire life!”

“Don’t fuckin’ call me that!” I growled in response.

“I love him!” Celia announced over the both of us. Her hand came up over her mouth seconds too late. “I’m sorry, I do. I love you, Jamie.”

I didn’t deserve it; especially when I couldn’t give it in return. As fucked up as it was, Norma was right. Celia was throwing her entire life away for me. She was sacrificing everything—school. A career. A proper family. All I’d given up was the illusion that she meant nothing.

I’d keep her safe, I knew that much, but I was no better than Hades; dragging her into a world so far removed from the country club that it may as well have been on a separate planet. Instead of greeting people on the street, she’d have to first consider if they were friends or foes of the club.

She would forever be looking over her shoulder because she’d been foolish enough to fall in love with me.

Instead of giving her the freedom she was owed, I looked up at her parents with a smirk. “It seems like the decision’s been made. We’ll have someone stop by to get her things later. Let’s go, Celia.”

Norma stepped in between us and the door. “You’re not thinking straight, Celia. You’re young and confused. If you would just consider—”

Richard sat alone in the den, staring down at his hands. Celia broke away and ran over to wrap her arms around his shoulders. “I love you, Daddy.”

That was the trouble with Celia. She wasted her love on men who would never be worthy of it.

Chapter Fourteen

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