Page 42 of Mistaken Identity
“Wow doesn’t even begin to cover it,” I grumbled. “Let me give her the medication she needs first, then we’ll head to Gunner’s place.”
“He’s working,” Silver said. “At Dallas High today. He won’t be home until three. Maybe you should all go to your place, Audric, and then call Gunner to come over there.”
“Everyone won’t fit,” I admitted.
“My place, then,” Webber suggested. “After work.”
I nodded, and we all went back to our cars.
Webber went back to work.
I let Creole strap a grumpy Lottie in, and I stopped beside the back bumper where Apollo was standing.
“You know, for what it’s worth, I think that I would fuckin’ jump right in with both feet.” Apollo leveled me with a look. “I would find this as fate’s way of telling me I got a second chance. I wish with every fiber of my being that Tavi was back here, in my arms, laughing and carrying on. But if I somehow had a daughter drop in my lap, one of my own flesh and blood, I wouldn’t hesitate. He may freak out, but I think that he’ll be okay once he calms down.”
“I agree,” Creole said quietly. “I miss Damon with my whole heart and soul. Every day I wake up, and I feel like this huge piece of my heart is just gone. Missing to never be found. The idea of having another child scares the absolute crap out of me, because what if I lose that one, too? But if I found out that I had another piece of me running around out there that I had no clue about, you bet your every breath that I’d stop at nothing to have that piece of me in my life.”
I blew out a ragged breath.
Calmness started to settle in my bones.
“But neither one of you are vocal as fuck about how against having kids you are,” I admitted. “You don’t tell anyone that you’d rather die than be a father again.”
“He’s hurt and saying things he doesn’t mean,” Creole said quietly. “Once he has a chance to really comprehend…it’ll be okay.”
Despite their calming and assuring words, I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be okay.
Not even a little bit.
Ten
Remember to look both ways before you go fuck yourself.
—Creole to Audric
CREOLE
“Here goes nothing,” Audric said as he walked outside to greet the man named Gunner.
I’d met all of them at Webber’s wedding—though I’d been introduced to most of them through Laney at one point in time—except for Gunner.
He’d apparently had a very large project he’d been working on at his job and couldn’t get away.
According to the club brothers that’d talked about Gunner today while we waited for him to arrive at Webber’s house, Gunner owned a business called Angel Security. AS was founded by Gunner after Gunner’s son passed away in a school shooting. He’d made it his life’s mission after he retired from professional baseball to help secure schools and prevent school shootings from occurring all over the country.
He was very good at his job, and he was the one Truth Teller that I knew the most about, because he was semi-famous for both his role in his organization as well as his major league baseball career.
It’d been a few years since I’d seen him in person, though, and the mop of curly hair surprised me when he got out of his truck and came up the front walk to meet Webber and Audric in the front yard.
I looked down at Lottie’s curly hair and shook my head.
That should’ve been one of the first clues.
Their hair had the same texture and everything.
And damned if the cute little dimple that flashed on Gunner’s face when he offered his hand to both men upon arrival didn’t outdo the one on his daughter’s cheek.
Seeing them both like this…there was no way that I should’ve missed it.
