Page 35 of Unconditional

“Kenna isn’t my girlfriend.”Talon’s voice was still rough when it jerked me out of my thoughts.“She’s Leo’s mother.”

I was so surprised, my mouth gaped open for a moment before I remembered how to speak.“And Leo is…?”

I hadn’t been prepared for him to bring it up on his own and hadn’t planned on pressing him again until later.As in, not until we’d reached our next stop and he’d had the chance to take a hot shower and decompress, later.

Talon paused and I could hear his jaw tighten and his heart rate pick up again.This was a big moment for him, even if I didn’t understand why.“Leo is my son.”

I jerked up, the breath stolen from my lungs all over again.Of all the things he could say, that had been the last thing I’d expected.“Your…son.”

I wasn’t facing him, didn’t know if I could.I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly so upset all over again, but I was and didn’t want him to see it.His muscles tightened where his body was still pressed to mine, as if he could sense the shift in my demeanor.

“Yes.”

Why couldn’t I think of anything to say?Why was I so bothered?I forced myself to calm down, to slow my breathing, and to lay back down.He was vulnerable now, sharing something that was clearly difficult for him to share.Tentatively, Talon’s arm came back around me, his palm resting on my bare hip.The feel of it was comforting and warm and I let the sensation blanket me.

“Tell me about him.”

Talon’s grip tightened slightly, giving away his nerves.After a long and tense silence, he let out a soft sigh.“He doesn’t—we don’t know each other.Eight years ago, I was young and dumb and wasn’t really thinking past a one time hook up.Couple months later his mom comes into my shop and tells me she’s knocked up.”

“You didn’t want to be involved?”

“I…No.I didn’t.I told her I’d make sure they got some money from me every month but that was it.”

He said it so quickly and coldly that it was hard to believe him.I opened my mouth to say as much but he sighed, running a palm over his face.I couldn’t see his expression, but it was easy to tell by the tone in his voice that it was strained.

“I don’t want kids.I can’t.Not with this life.It’s not fair to put anyone else in this shit.”

Something told me that this was the most honest Talon had been with me in the entirety of our acquaintance.He didn’t sound like the mean, intrusive asshole who’d barged into my apartment.He sounded like a man who’d been through enough battles, seen enough shit, that he was just trying to get through to the next day.

“Doesn’t sound like it’s fair to you either,” I said softly, running my fingers over the plane of his stomach.

He grunted as if it didn’t matter but I didn’t buy it.

“You’re not a kid anymore, Talon.You shouldn’t be stuck under the thumb of someone who isn’t any good for you.Who has made your life so chaotic that you have to sacrifice a relationship with your child—”

He cut me off, his body turned to stone beneath me.“I made my choices.I don’t need you to psychoanalyze me with your social worker mumbo jumbo bullshit.”

The change in his demeanor was so abrupt it knocked the breath out of me.I’d known when I started pressing him about Leo before that this was a sore subject, but it was obviously worse when his uncle was brought up.

“I’m not psychoanalyzing anything,” I said carefully, not raising my voice to match his.“I’m just wondering why you give Kyle so much control.You’re what?In your thirties?”

“It doesn’t matter.Drop it.”He was shutting down.I’d seen it so many times with the kids I worked with—okay maybe I was leaning into my social worker profession alittle—and I desperately wanted to keep him talking.For what reason?I had no idea.

“No,” I said firmly.“I’m not going to drop it.This man, if you can even call him that, has caused so many problems for so many people and you still fall under his thumb.Don’t you deserve better?Doesn’t your brother?Or your sister?Why haven’t you ever tried to get out?”

Talon’s laugh was cold, a complete contrast from the heat we’d created with our bodies.“What makes you think I haven’t?Answer me this, since you’re so great at your job.What good is a social worker if they would let kids go to a man they don’t even know, rather than let their older sister raise them?

“And if social workers are so great, why wouldn’t they do something when a seventeen-year-old tells them that he and his brother are being forced to sell drugs?That his uncle has him beating the shit out of people who don’t pay their dues?And that something is going on with your sister, too, but she won’t tell you what and you’re a little too scared to find out?”

I was gaping, sitting up on my elbow now to face him.His eyes were alight with something I couldn’t recognize, daring me to make an excuse.

“I did try to get out.I tried to get us all out and was reminded over and over again that Kyle was right.We MacArthursareall we’ve got in this world.No use pretending otherwise.Your job?This grand mission you think you’re on to save all the broken kids?Is a joke.”

Without another word, he twisted on his side with his back to me, taking his blanket of warmth with him.But I was wired now, my body quivering with a combination of adrenaline and devastation.He’d reported it.He’d gone to someone about Kyle and nothing had been done.I knew how this story played out, I’d seen it a million times over and I was doing my damnedest to keep it from happening to any other children.

“The system failed you when you needed them, Talon.”I struggled to keep my words even.“They failed you and I refuse to make excuses for it.But you’re grown now, and you’ve done your part to add to the population.Whether you like it or not, youdohave a kid involved in whatever the fuck this is with your uncle.You think that your shitty family is all you have?You’re wrong.

“You have the opportunity to make something for yourself.To make the choices that change things for you and break the chains.You want Kyle to pay for what he put you through?Then do somethingnow.Otherwise you’re no better than he is.”

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