Page 72 of Like An Animal

I turn my gaze back to Bronwyn, who’s watching our daughter play with the creature they brought with them. I clear my throat and she looks up at me, her eyes narrowing.

Yeah, that anger is mutual.

“Get up. We need to talk.”

She stands and I grab her arm, pulling her toward the hall to get enough distance from Xavi and Charlotte for privacy. I would take her back to the office, but I don’t want to leave Charlotte yet and that’s a strange thought to have.

I want to stay with her.

“Let go of me,” she hisses as we stand at the start of the hall.

“Why the fuck did you hide this from me?”

Her eyes widen. “Hide it? Do you seriously think I knew I was pregnant when you were arrested?”

“Well, did you?” I know my tone is accusatory, but what the fuck else am I supposed to think? She ran off while pregnant with my kid.

Her hand comes out and swings before slapping me across the face, her nails digging into my cheek.

“Fuck you! You can say all the horrible things about me you want, but that is a line you do not cross. If I knew you hadknocked me up and put your baby inside me, I would’ve told you thesecondI knew. You should know that and if you don’t, you never fucking knew me, Jeremy. If anyone should be throwing accusations around, it should be me asking if you knocked me up on purpose, if you messed with my birth control. Out of either of us, only one of us had expressed an interest in me getting pregnant and spoiler alert: itwasn’tme.”

I mean, she has a point.

However, I don’t tell her that. I don’t say anything as I turn my head and see Charlotte and Xavi staring at us as if they heard every last word that was spoken.

Shit.

“What?” I feel my little ghost’s eyes burning through the side of my face, but I don’t take my eyes away from our daughter who looks confused and upset. Bronwyn looks at what has grabbed my attention away from her and she gasps.

Then, Xavi explodes. “I fucking knew it! I called it. You two were screwing around back then. And Lottie’s your kid, Jer?”

“Shut. Up.” I grit the words through my teeth as my gaze darts down to Charlotte.

“Cut it out, Xavi. Innocent ears,” Bronwyn practically snarls at him, nearly matching my tone.

“Oh, right. Right. Sorry. My bad. I’ll shut up now.”

Charlotte walks toward us, her tiny fingers digging into the fabric doll as she clutches it tighter than she was before.

“Mommy…” she starts before looking at Bronwyn.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Is Jeremy my daddy?” she asks and looks so conflicted, like she doesn’t know what to think or feel about this. She wasn’t supposed to hear any of that. It was too much for a kid her age to process. I know she probably didn’t understand a lot of it, but what she did understand wasn’t given to her gently or at the right time.

Bronwyn thins her lips, not speaking, being as silent as I usually am.

“Yes,” I answer for her and Bronwyn immediately pinches my arm.

“What the heck are you doing?”

I narrow my gaze at her. “Telling her the truth.”

“She’s just a child. She won’t understand.”

Then, while distracted by Bronwyn’s hardheadedness, tiny arms wrap around my legs and I look down to see Charlotte hugging me, burying her cheek against the fabric of my pants. She doesn’t say anything and that’s strange because she’s been so talkative since I first saw her awake on the plane.

What exactly am I supposed to do here?