Page 30 of Falling for You

I turn to my sister and raise a brow while she burrows into our father, something she does when we’re around her husband because she can’t do it to Tony, and bites her fist to stop her laughter.

Taylor sighs, and I see him looking down at our son with nothing but love. The guilt of not even contacting his sister or brother hits hard.

I know it shouldn’t because Elena blacklisted me and most likely would have gotten my ass fired if I had gone into Kaylah’s medical records but still, I could have tried.

“One minute,” I say, answering Dylan, who fist bumps and carefully takes Hudson from his reluctant father. He looks my way for a moment, but I look away from him, not able to face him right now.

I need a minute or twenty. I need to leave. My emotions are all over the place, and this isn’t how I thought he’d find out about his son.

I turn my head and make eye contact with my father. He nods, and I know he’s going to speak to Taylor for me to give me a break. A little part of me is grateful, and yes, it does put him a little higher on my respect list.

One day, I hope to forgive him for his treatment of me growing up, the pushing me to do everything they wanted for my future to make them look good, and I think I will because I’m strong and independent. I worked my ass off to get my career and to get to where I am today and because of them I became who I wanted to be. I’m proud of who I am, it’ll just take time.

I give him a nod back and walk over to Dylan, who sees me coming and pouts but hands my son over. I give him a smile and side-eye Taylor, then state, “Until the restraining order is gone, we can’t be near each other.” He tenses, so I look at him, “I have a child to think of.”

That said, I walk away, trying my hardest to keep my head held high and stay strong. Everything in me tells me to go back to him, but I ignore it and leave the house, walking to my car.

This is for the best, and I know it. He has a life, and while yes, he’s no longer with that girl, he’s still not ready for a baby and a baby momma. It’s best he focuses on his family, his career, and his son, not adding a one-night stand into the mix, a one-night stand he probably barely remembered—heck, seeing me today, he probably thought he could act like it didn’t happen until he saw Hudson in my arms.

We’re better off being friends.

Right?

Chapter 12

Taylor

Penelope walks past me with our son in her arms, my fucking son who I’ve only held for a few minutes, and I have to fist my hands and grit my teeth to stop myself from grabbing holding of them.

The sound of the front door opening and shutting pulls me, my breathing gets heavy as the situation finally fucking hits home.

Someone fucking filed a restraining order, and now she’s keeping to it. She’s fucking keeping to it, meaning I can’t go near them without the chance of her getting arrested.

Shaking my head, I turn to follow them, not wanting them out of my sight again, even if I have to sit outside her place all fucking night. I think of a plan to remove the notion, but I halt when someone says, “Son, she just needs time.” And Dylan grips my arm, stopping me.

“And I’ve spent nearly a year trying to find her,” I snap back, Dylan's grip tightens, knowing full well I want to hit the man behind me, a man who disowned her while she was fucking pregnant.

“Yet a restraining order was made against my daughter,” he replies calmly, and I turn towards the guy I’m guessing is Carl Vine.

Black hair, blue eyes like Avery’s, and wearing a suit. Penelope looks nothing like him, and yet there’s a familiarity with his oldest daughter.

He continues, “I went to see my daughter to hand her the season passes. My old secretary tried to hide them for seven months but just before I could hand them to my daughter a delivery guy showed up and told her she’d been served. Minutes later, she went into labor.”

My nostrils flare, and anger spears through me.

“Carl, there is no way Taylor would have sent Penelope a restraining order. Every team out there knows about the hockey captain looking for the girl he fell for after one night,” Tony speaks up in my defense as he stands beside me and pats my back. “I have known him since he was a teenager, and not once has he fallen for a girl the way he’s fallen for your daughter, and if I had known Pen was the girl he was looking for, I would have ensured they came together.”

Carl nods and then asks, “If that was the case, then why didn’t I hear back when I sent a formal letter to your lawyer at the request of my daughter about her being pregnant with your child.”

What the fuck? My mouth parts in shock, and even Dylan lets go of my arm in shock. Fury obliviates me as I grab my phone from my pocket.

“Tay….” Dylan murmurs, but I ignore him and bring up my lawyer’s number before pressing his name and putting the phone on loudspeaker because I have nothing to hide.

I swear to fuck, if a formal letter was sent from a lawyer’s office at that, claiming I knocked someone up and hadn’t been told, heads are going to fucking roll.

“Taylor, thanks for getting back to me,” Billy answers, and I cut him off and snap, “Please fucking tell me you did not receive a letter claiming I knocked someone up and didn’t tell me?!”

He clears his throat and admits, “Yes, I received a letter from Vine’s criminal law around six or seven months ago, and I spoke to Elena, who claimed a girl was harassing her to try and get a hold of you, claiming you had a one-night stand and that she was pregnant.” My breathing picks up as everyone stays quiet around me. He continues, “She said she looked into it, and the information was false, but I, uh, look, I received a subpoena today.”

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