Page 34 of Protecting Lainey (Broterhood Alliance #7)

Finn jammed the key into the ignition harder than necessary and threw the truck in reverse.

His hands clenched the wheel. His pulse thundered in his ears, racing so fast he felt like he might pass out.

Luke was his son.

He was as sure of that as he was that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

The thoughts slammed into him, fast and furious.

Disbelief.

Hurt.

Rage.

Why hadn’t she told him? Had she ever planned to? Did Luke know who his dad was? Had he ever asked? Did Lainey ever say his name? Had he ever cried for a father while Finn just went on with his life? Clueless? Content?

Damn it! How many birthdays had he missed? How many bedtime stories he wasn’t there to read? Skinned knees he didn’t kiss, lost teeth?

Finn blinked hard, his jaw clenched tight as he barreled down the street. She made the choice for both of them. And now he had to deal with the pieces.

“You might want to slow down,” Dex said beside him. “I don’t want to die tonight.”

“What?”

“Slow down,” Dex repeated.

Finn jerked his gaze back to the road, shaking off thoughts of Luke. He needed time to process this. Time to wrap his head around the fact that he was a father to a son he’d never met.

Dex stayed silent for a minute. Then carefully, he said, “So … are we just going to pretend we didn’t see what we just saw?”

Finn didn’t answer.

Dex let out a breath. “He’s got your eyes.”

“I noticed,” Finn said quietly.

“And your hair.”

“I noticed,” Finn repeated.

“And we can’t forget the chin dimple.”

“Shut. The fuck. Up,” Finn yelled. “I noticed, okay?”

Blessed silence. For a short minute.

“What are you going to do about it?”

Finn stared at the road ahead. What was he going to do about it? No way was he letting this go. No way he was confronting Lainey until he got his anger under control. And no way in hell was he wasting another second not getting to know his son.

“I never got a chance,” he said, his voice low. “And if he’s mine…” Finn swallowed hard. “Shit, I know he’s mine.” He took a deep breath. “I missed everything.”

Dex didn’t say anything after that. He didn’t need to.

Finn kept driving, but his hands hadn’t loosened their death grip on the wheel as he turned toward home. He needed some quiet time to think so he didn’t do something stupid. Like turning around and facing Lainey with his fury, his grief.

By the time he pulled into the driveway, the sky was dark. He parked outside his house and sat there. Dex looked at him once, then got out without a word. Just a look that said I’m here if you need me.

He was a father.

Had been for years and never knew it. And now that he did, he had no idea how to handle it.

Finn scrubbed his hand over his face. He’d deal with this tomorrow. But tonight, he just needed to sleep on it, knowing damn well he wouldn’t sleep much if at all. Hopefully, the night would cool the anger burning in his chest and he’d figure out how to deal with this mess.

Lainey watched the taillights fade, her stomach tied up in knots. She hadn’t meant for Finn to find out about Luke this way. Not tonight. And certainly not with Dex standing right there.

She let the curtain fall back into place and turned away from the window. She needed a drink, a long one. Something that would knock her out so when she woke, everything was as it was before. But that was a dream. The reality was that she had to deal with the fallout.

Finding her glass of iced water in the kitchen, she gulped it down, grimacing when it hit the roof of her mouth, causing instant brain freeze. She winced, pressed her fingers to her temple, then sat at the kitchen table to compose herself.

She always knew this moment would come, always wondered what it would feel like.

But nothing prepared her for the look in Finn’s eyes. Betrayal. Hurt. Fury.

Finn would never believe she had tried to reach out. Never believe she wanted him in their lives. Never trust her again.

She wasn’t worried about Finn walking away. He was an honorable man. But would he fight for custody?

Lainey stared at the framed photo of her and Luke at an amusement park. Her big grin. His even bigger as he hugged her with pink cotton candy on his cheeks.

Would Luke turn against her, knowing that his father was alive?

Oh God. Her stomach churned. What a hellish mess she’d made.

She got up to stand by the sliding glass doors to the patio. The sun was below the horizon; the sky was painted in shades of gray and lavender. What usually brought her peace only unsettled her now.

Her mind drifted to a memory she’d buried deep.

Luke had been five, just starting kindergarten, when he first noticed his family was different.

He’d been on the floor in his dinosaur pajamas, playing with his Lego. She was folding laundry when he looked up at her with his big brown eyes.

“Mommy,” he asked, “do I have a daddy?”

Lainey froze. She knew that question would come. She just hoped it would come later, not sooner.

She crossed the room and sat beside him. “Of course you do, sweetheart. Everyone has a daddy.”

“Where is he?”

Where is he? That was the question, wasn’t it?

She’d thought they loved each other. Thought they could make their life choices work.

But Finn had other ideas. He left her at that rundown motel without a goodbye.

Never answered her letters. And she’d sent every letter to his mother’s address hoping they would reach him.

She thought his mother liked her. Maybe she’d been wrong about that too.

Or maybe he got the letters and didn’t care.

Maybe she’d never really known him at all.

“He’s not here,” she told Luke softly. “But he loved me very much. And you are the best part of what we had.”

Luke blinked up at her. “Does he know about me?”

Her voice caught. “No, sweetheart, he doesn’t.”

Not as far as she knew. She’d written him again and again. But the silence had been deafening. Still a small part of her wondered if the letters ever reached him at all.

“Why not?” Luke’s little head tilted and frowned just like Finn used to.

She pulled him onto her lap and kissed the top of his head. “Because grown-up things get complicated. But I promise you that I have never regretted having you. You’re my bestest boy.”

Lainey hugged him tight, wishing love alone was enough to make things simple. Wishing she hadn’t spent so long hoping for a reply that never came.

He gave her a crooked little smile. “I’m your only boy.”

“True.”

With that, he got off her lap and continued building with his Lego.

Back in the present, Lainey wiped her eyes. When had she started crying?

She inhaled and exhaled a couple of times.

The knock hadn’t come yet. But it would.

And what could she possibly say that would make it any easier? He left without a word, and she was left holding the pieces, and the only one who paid the price was the little boy upstairs.

She’d sent letters.

He’d never answered.

Maybe they’d gotten lost or buried or shoved into a box with someone else’s name. Maybe he just didn’t want to read them or answer them.

She didn’t know.

All she knew was that they had a son. And whatever happened next, no matter how hard it got, she would never let Luke feel like he was a mistake.