Page 60 of Chloé

“Are you okay?” She frowned, and then looked past his shoulder to Justin. “Did he say something to you?”

“Say something? What do you mean?”

“Did he say something to make you uncomfortable?”

“No,” Zayne rushed out. “No. Nothing like that, Red.”

“Good. That’s good. I’d hate to have to kick his ass.”

Ethan’s lips twitched. “Yet I might pay to see that.”

Chloé snorted and shook her head. “Only people with too much money spend it on ridiculous things.”

For a second there Zayne thought she’d forgotten what they’d been taking about, but no such luck.

“So what did you want to ask me?”

“I, uh… It’s nothing.”

“Oh, come on. What do you always tell me? You can ask us anything. Same thing goes.”

That was true, they did say that. He just wasn’t sure whether this was appropriate to ask.

“Zaaayne. It can’t be that bad.”

“Okay, but I want you to know I wasn’t trying to be rude or anything.”

Ethan chuckled. “Good luck,” he said as he picked up the cutting board and took it over to Justin.

“Okay.” Chloé sidled in closer to Zayne, her wide eyes begging him to continue. “Now I’m really curious.”

“I was just wondering about something, that’s all.”Shit. Now that he was asking, it seemed totally weirdandrude to even voice the question on his mind.

“What?”

He let out a sigh, then decided to just rip the Band-Aid off. “Okay, here goes. You look a lot like your papa, and, well, Justin doesn’t. Sooo…”

A smile slowly curved Chloé’s lips as she stepped in close and put a hand on his chest. Then she whispered in his ear, “Are you asking who’s my daddy?”

The comment was so unexpected but so spot-on that Zayne couldn’t help his burst of laughter. “I guess I am.”

Chloé was grinning from ear to ear as she pulled away from him, and Zayne was happy to note she didn’t look offended at all.

“You’re not the first, I promise, and you’re right. Papa is my biological father—”

“And Julien is Justin’s?”

“What?” Chloé looked over her shoulder to where her fathers sat, then back to Justin, who was smiling at something Ethan had said. “Oh, because of the dimples?”

Zayne shrugged. “Seemed logical.”

“You’re right, that does seem logical, but no. I thought I told you—Justin was adopted when I was four. He was a teenager.”

Oh shit. That makes total sense.“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude. And if you did tell us, I totally forgot. You’ve just got a really interesting family, Red.”

“I know, and it’s not a secret.”

Oh thank God.

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