Page 88 of Faded Gray Lines

“I finally decrypted a couple other things on that flash drive,” he said, ignoring me.

“It can wait.”

“I don’t think it can.” A hint of pity crept into his voice. “Mateo, you really need to hear this.” That got my attention. In all the years I’d known him, Professor Bright had never called me by my first name.

“Give me half an hour.” Immediately disconnecting the call, I turned toward Leighton, her face already shutting down. “Leighton, I’m sorry, I—”

“Go.” Standing, she picked up her coffee mug and turned toward the kitchen. “It’s waited this long. A few more hours won’t matter.”

* * *

“You have five minutes,” I said as he slid into the passenger’s seat.

“Trust me, that’s all I need.” Powering up his laptop, Bright punched in keys until a small black box appeared. His fingers stalled on the keyboard. “Before I play this, I want my door unlocked.”

I didn’t give a shit. Unlocking the door, I pointed toward the computer. “Play the tape.”

Nodding slowly, he swept his fingers across a few more keys and my heart stopped as Leighton’s voice filled the Tahoe.

“Matty, it’s Star. Where are you? You didn’t show up, and...God, Matty, please call me when you get this.”

“Matty, it’s me again. It’s been two weeks. Whatever I’ve done, I’m sorry. Please call me. I went to our place again tonight. Stupid, huh? Just call me and let me know you’re okay.”

“It’s me again. I don’t know if you care, but I’ve left town. I’m in San Marcos with my grandparents. I really need to talk to you, Matty. It’s important.”

“Matty, I get it, you don’t want to be with me, but you have to call me back. This doesn’t have anything to do with you and me anymore.”

“Fine, I wanted to do this in person, but you’ve given me no choice. Matty, you have to call me back. I’m pregnant. I just thought you deserved to know.”

“I just wanted to say congratulations, Matty. You have a daughter. If you care to be a father, you know where we are.”

No. This couldn’t be true. As intimate as we’d been over the past week, Leighton wouldn’t have hidden something like that. It wasn’t in her nature. She was too honest. Too uncorrupted. Too protective.

Shit.

Pieces of conversations flew through my head, finally making sense.

“There’s no threat because I can’t get pregnant. I had some complications a few years ago and lost my ovaries.”

“I didn’t say anything before because you have to understand, Mateo, I’ll do anything to protect my family.”

“You ask me to make a choice to blindly follow you, but you won’t even own up to your own choices.”

“If you want to be with me, you’re going to have to learn to accept all of me. You can’t ignore it anymore.”

“Things could’ve been so different for all of us.”

I was wrong. Her anger had been completely justified. She thought I knew and didn’t care. She thought I’d turned my back on my own child.

My child.

My hands clenched into fists. “Where did these originate?”

“That’s the thing. I can’t trace the original file.”

It didn’t matter. The truth had been lying to my face for years. Only one person had my phone. If these messages existed, only one person could’ve kept them from me this whole time. The same person who’d already lied to me about talking with the DEA.

I took a breath, trying to control the vicious anger roiling inside me. “Get out.”