Page 118 of Beautiful Defiance

“Leigh, it was stupid of me to let Ginger corner me and catch me off guard with that damn kiss. She threatened to get up onstage and broadcast the truth of why you’re in Cambridge living in Thomas’s guesthouse. She hired a P.I. He found a paternity suit drawn up by a lawyer you hired with the little money your parents left you. Except the suit didn’t go through. Thomas moved you here in exchange for you dropping the suit. Leigh, Thomas isn’t your father.”

“That’s right. I’m not, Leigh.”

I turn toward the door. On the other side of the partially opened curtain is Thomas, along with his wife, Eleanor, and Hannah and Henry. Leigh’s friends are behind them, as well as Malice and Trace.

They crowd into the room. Leigh’s eyes water. She shoves her fist against her mouth. My girl is hurting, and done with seeing her hurting, I climb into bed with her and set her on my lap. I wrap my arms around her and tell her what she means to me.

“I love you, Leigh. I don’t give a shit that Thomas isn’t your dad. That your dad is a criminal and your mother was ready to leave him for my uncle, Tony. You’re my Beautiful Defiance, and that’s enough for me.”

The guys, her friends, and her “family” hear me loud and clear. They chime in with their words of love and encouragement.

“Family isn’t all about blood, Leigh,” Thomas says with a big smile on his face. “Your parents taught me that. Yes, your mother worked for me when she was young, only seventeen, her first job at a factory I owned in Oakland. Eleanor and I were married and going through some rough times.”

He sits on the chair I vacated. Eleanor follows and sets her hand on his shoulder as though saying, “Go on. Tell her the truth.”

After making sure Leigh was taken care of by the hospital staff, I confronted Thomas about what Ginger said. That bitch is vindictive. I thought I had learned my lesson from a different girl who accused my father of being an arrogant ass who only wanted to see me with a girl whose family has money, but I hadn’t.

Never again will I make the mistake of dropping my guard, not when it comes to Leigh and the ones who want to cause a rift between us. I also won’t be misleading a different girl in, oh, never. Leigh is it for me.

When Ginger told me of her plan to get me to break things off with Leigh or she’ll get up onstage and expose Leigh’s life back in Cali, I was on the verge of telling her to fuck off. I opened my mouth. She grabbed me by the back of my head and slammed her mouth on mine. Stuck her tongue down my throat.

Then I felt before I saw my girl. The look on her face. She hurt, and I wanted to shake Ginger and yell at her for fucking up Leigh’s night, but I had already done that when I basically called Leigh a disloyal girlfriend. Then I fucked up more when I didn’t thank her for helping me pass my classes.

Shit, I’m a clueless, ungrateful bastard, unworthy of being Beautiful Defiance’s guy. Blowing out a breath, I drop kisses on the back of Leigh’s hand. I’ll make it up to her. Apologize until I’m out of breath. Stargaze with her every chance I get. Continue to teach her how to drive. Let her have a go at me with rounds of PIG or HORSE or whatever damn animal she chooses to play hoops to.

As though she understands what all I’ll be doing for and with her, Leigh relaxes into me, and we listen to Thomas’s side of the story of why he withheld the truth from Leigh.

“Your mother started dating Alistair while working for me. She didn’t approve of your father’sextracurricularactivities.”

I smirk. It was Leigh’s father’s extracurricular activities that brought in extra money for the family until Alistair straightened his life for love.

“We can’t help who we fall in love with. Your mom fell in love and had you with Alistair. Then she fell out of love and into love with Tony.”

The other news Ginger dropped on me. My uncle, Tony, had an affair with Leigh’s mother and was planning on marrying her as soon as her divorce went through.

Except Alistair found out about the affair, hauled his wife and daughter to the police station, and in confronting my uncle, got himself and his wife killed in front of Leigh. My uncle died three years later in the line of duty, answering a domestic violence call.

“You knew all along I wasn’t your daughter.”

“Yes, Leigh.”

Thomas runs his palm over his face, looking like he’s aged a decade in the span of a minute.

“I would’ve told you the truth from the get-go, but I knew what you went through in those foster homes. I read the files. You needed to trust me first. To learn to open yourself to new people and experiences. To learn to let down your guard and let good people in while telling the bad ones to shove off. Had you come to me soon after your parents died, I would have given you the truth. But the girl you were at thirteen was different from the woman you are now.”

Dismay. Disloyal. Destruction. Disillusioned. The backward Ds tatted at the base of her neck. She’d been and seen all of that and more.

“The dress, I bought it with the monthly allowance you put in my account. I’ll pay you back. Can pack up my bags and leave as soon as I get—” She smooths the hand I’m not holding over her hospital gown. “I’ll leave as soon as I get to your guesthouse.”

Thomas, thank fuck, corrects and reassures her. “The place is yours, Leigh. And no need to leave. Stay. You’re family.”

She shakes her head. “The money—”

“Repay me if it makes you feel better. I hear the shop will need someone on a permanent basis. Mason stopped by the hospital. You were still out of it. He says the gal isn’t coming back from maternity leave.”

She smiles. “That was nice of him to come by.”

“He cares, Leigh. We all do. We’re your family now. Will you stay?”

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