Page 15 of Stick Play

He straightens to his full height, his eyes dark and murderous as they search my body for any kind of evidence. “Where does he live?”

I put my hand on his arm, and his thick muscles tighten beneath my palm. “He didn’t physically hurt me. He just tried to pay me off when I got pregnant, and that really hurt.”

Shock moves over his face, and his jaw clenches. “What the fuck, Gina?”

“I wasn’t a very good judge of character, just like dear old Mom,” I admit, a little ashamed of that. I glance down as my hand falls from his arm. “I don’t want to get serious, only to get hurt again.”

“Gina, I know we’re not going to get serious, but if we were, I would never hurt you. I know they call me Ash-hole, but?—”

“Would an Ash-hole help me out the way you did today, and the way you’re going to help with the kids tomorrow?” Honestly, it was easier when I thought he was an Ash-hole. I thought I knew what I was getting into, yet I didn’t know anything at all. “Would an Ash-hole take his time to pleasure my body the way you did, and give me the most incredible orgasms?”

“That’s what friends do.” The softness in his voice wraps around me, and when he steps into me, pulling me against his body, I hold him tight and the sudden need to share more overcomes me.

“It’s crazy, Mom wasn’t really in my life, and yet I went on to make the same bad choices.”

“I grew up without a mom too,” he says quietly. “I mean, she wasn’t in my life much. She’s not dead. I just have no idea where she is.”

I don’t miss the ache of loss in his voice. I work to swallow the lump punching in my throat, hating that he’s been so deeply hurt. “My grandparents raised me,” I whisper. “They were good people and they did right by me and by Mom, but, just like Zoe, I never even knew who my father was, and I’m not sure my mom knew either. My grandparents are both gone now.” My voice cracks, the pain of their loss still hurts my heart.

“I’m sorry, Gina. They sound like great people and I know it’s not easy growing up without a mom. Mine left when I was quite young, and I don’t know if she’s dead or alive. I was lucky to have a great dad who worked hard to fill all the roles. I try to take care of him now, but he’s a stubborn bastard who’s too proud to let me, and I swear to God if he asks me about grandkids one more time, I’m shipping him back to Colorado.”

There’s so much love and respect in his voice as he talks about his father, it curls around my heart and squeezes tight. To know my daughter will never have that kind of bond with a male figure guts me. I don’t want to do wrong by her, but I’m just scared. “He taught you a lot of things, I hear.”

A warm smile moves over his face. “Yeah, he’s all I have. He lives here in Boston now. I finally got him to leave Colorado. I wanted him to move in with me, but no, he insisted I needed my own space, because you know…girls.” He does air quotes around the word girls.

“He’s probably not wrong.”

He grumbles something. “My house over on Beacon Hill is far too big for one person. I bought it as an investment. Dad and I could live there and never run into each other for a week.” A beat of silence as he grins about something. “You’d like him.”

“I’m sure I would.” Not that I think I’ll ever meet him. This is a friends with benefits for a weekend kind of relationship and getting to know family is out of the question. After a long stretch of silence, I continue, “I didn’t mean to get pregnant. I wasn’t trying to trap him. It was an accident. I was on the pill, but it’s not always one hundred percent.”

“He wanted to pay you off to keep you quiet? He didn’t want the child, or for anyone to know?”

As he stares at me with a mixture of anger and disbelief, I nod, open the water and take a drink. “I’m such a fool.”

“I don’t think you’re a fool.” Once again his eyes turn murderous. “He didn’t deserve you. The man doesn’t deserve anyone and as much as it hurts I’m glad you found out who he really was. You should be with a guy who knows how special you really are.”

“I don’t think I’m anything special, but Lucian sure made me feel like I was.” I give a fast shake of my head. “I’m not going down that road again.”

He nods. “Right. Well anyway, that guy is an asshole.”

“Actually, he’s a lot of things.” He arches a questioning brow, and I go back and forth on whether to tell him everything. As he waits for an explanation, I blurt out, “The biggest thing he was, or rather is…is married. His family was in Texas. His wife stayed with his kids, who I believe were around six and seven at the time, to finish the school year. I knew his house was pretty empty. I just thought, bachelor life, you know. It turns out the furniture, and the family, were coming later.”

He gives a low slow whistle. “Jesus.”

“He was also a narcissist and a player. He had lots of women that I knew nothing about. I thought I was special. I thought he was the one. I thought wrong. About so many things. I honestly feel sorry for his wife, but one of these days she’s going to find out. I just couldn’t be the one to get in between them. I had a baby to protect from the whole situation.”

“Are you sure I can’t pay this asshole a visit?”

I shake my head no, wanting to leave that part of my life behind. “He is an admired psychiatrist. He moved to California, and I met him at the hospital.”

“You were a patient.”

“No, actually, a nurse.”

His head rears back. “You’re a nurse, and you used to live in California?”

I nod. “After I got pregnant and found out who Lucian really was, and that my uncle left me this café, I ran away with Zoe.”

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