Page 45 of Villainous
Wyatt folds his arms across his chest, eyeing me up and down, then balls up his fist as if he’s going to strike me. “Kennedy.”
The name sounds familiar, but my mind draws a blank on who. I rub my temple.
“You don’t want me.” AJ’s voice breaks, and tears gloss his eyes. He bites his bottom lip to keep from crying.
“Don’t ever try to hold in your tears, AJ. It doesn’t make you any less of a boy,” I tell him. Even though these kids are scammers, it doesn’t mean they don’t need a life lesson on being boys. I feel sorry for whoever their parents are because they are going to hear an earful when I’m done with them. I’m going to threaten to kill them if they don’t back the fuck up.
He nods, and tears trail down his olive cheeks. “Can you at least tell me where my ma is? I heard her on the phone with my grandma, and she told my grandma she was with you,” AJ huffs out.
Wyatt leans down and wipes his tears. “It’s okay, little buddy. Everything is going to be okay. He’s going to tell you where she is, or I’ll kick his ass.”
This kid’s got some damn nerve. I’d never hurt a kid, but if he puts his hands on me, I’m going to have him escorted out of the building.
“I waited for this day to meet him.” AJ glares at me and turns his nose to the ceiling. “And he hurt my feelings. Why did my parents abandon me? Why don’t they want me?”
I feel bad for him, and I know the feeling all too well. Just because my parents raised me doesn’t mean they were there mentally. They were only around to abuse me when it was convenient for them, especially Polina. Draco told me several times he didn’t want me, and he wished I was never born.
“I don’t think your father knew about you. Your grandmother lies about stuff. We’re going to get through this. I promise.” Wyatt roughs up AJ’s hair and smiles sadly at him.
Anger brews inside of me like a hurricane. This is all a fucking act, and it pisses me off. I’m going to go along with this bullshit so I can get them the hell out of here. I grab my phone from my pocket, and then I dial security.
“Who is your mother?” I ask sarcastically.
“M-Maya Devoy.”
My heart freezes in place, and I swallow hard. I drop my phone onto the white tile, and the screen cracks. “Your mother is who?”
“Maya Devoy.” AJ pulls out a worn leather photo album, and I recognize it. I gave her that on our first anniversary. He turns the first page and shoves the album into my hand. Memories barge into my mind as I stare at a picture of Maya and me kissing at a football game. Frowning, I turn the page, and there is another one of us at our first dinner after I told her we were going to be together.
I scan through the photo album as my heart thumps in my chest and I get to the last page. I stroke my finger over a picture of her holding a baby with reddish hair and bright blue eyes. She has tears in her eyes as she is smiling at who I assume is AJ.
Fuck, she left because she was pregnant with…AJ. I place the album under my arm and peer at AJ. He has her reddish hair and my baby blue eyes and olive skin. He has her button nose and her high cheekbones. The way he slides his hands into his sweatpants pockets… He’s a fucking mixture of both of us. Why would she keep him from me? This doesn’t make any sense. We were going to be married anyway, so I wouldn’t have cared. She keeps breaking my heart no matter what she does. I might not want kids, but I wouldn’t have cared if she was pregnant. I would have been a man and taken care of my responsibilities. Her hiding her pregnancy is a low fucking blow and cruel. I want to punch the wall and turn the desk over, but I keep my anger at bay. Adrenaline buzzes through my blood like a jazz tune, my hand shakes rapidly, and all the air seizes in my lungs.
“You are my son,” I say out loud, more to myself than anything. I don’t know whether to hug him, but he beats me to it.
He wraps his arms around my waist, and he’s almost the same height as Maya. He might be as tall as me or taller when he becomes a teenager.
I don’t know how to be someone’s parent. I never had a good role model, which is why I didn’t want them.
“I brought you something,” he says, and he leans down to grab something from his backpack. “I love to read comic books, so I thought you would like to have one of my favorites.Invincible.”
I hug him back. “Thank you.” I look at Wyatt. “How do you know my son?”
“Sir. He’s my cousin on his mother’s side.”
He roughs up AJ’s hair, and AJ pushes his hand away and says, “Cut it out.”
I lean down and place one of my knees on the cold floor so we’re at eye level. “I’m sorry I wasn’t in your life. I didn’t know anything about you.”
“It’s okay, Da.” He smiles sadly at me.
“I’m going to make it up to you, I promise.” I stroke his cheek, and he flinches. His eyes then widen as if he’s worried I was about to strike him, but he nods, on the verge of tears, but they don’t fall. “But first, I’m going to take you to your mother.”
“I have something to tell you. My grandma doesn’t know I left, and she’s goi—”
“I’ll handle her when the time comes. The only things you need to worry about are being a kid and enjoying our first Christmas together.” I get up from the ground and dust off my knee. “Wyatt, thank you for looking after him.”
“Of course,” he says before we head out the door.
