“Let’s go sit,” he said.
I took his hand and followed him. We dropped to sit on the small beach area. It was dark, with just a little bit of light coming from the stars above. Water lapped against the shore, and I stared out at the darkness.
“I’m sorry for ghosting you.”
“Okay. Let’s talk about it.” I turned to face him and reached for his hand.
“Listen, Ace, I don’t want to talk shit about your mom. Hell, there was some truth to her words. She doesn’t think I’m good enough for you, and she’s right. There are things that you don’t know about me. Things that would change the way you looked at me.”
I pushed up to sit on my knees and used my thumb to stroke over the area swelling beneath his eye. “There is nothing you could tell me that would change the way I feel about you. My mother is dead wrong. Keep in mind she thinks Alec, who has lied and cheated on me multiple times, is good enough for me. So, we aren’t dealing with someone rational. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. I love you. That’s what’s important. Not my mother’s opinion. You can’t shut me out like that.”
He covered his hand over mine, and his gaze studied me so intently, I lost my breath.
“What is it?” I whispered.
He removed his hand from mine and looked out at the water. “I overheard my mom talking to her best friend, Shay, a few months ago. She didn’t know I was home. I always thought my father just abandoned us.”
He paused and his tongue came out and swiped his bottom lip. The water lapping against the shore didn’t soothe me enough to stop my heart from racing.
“What did she say?”
“She was raped, Ace. My father was a monster.” His words were so soft, so full of pain, and every part of me ached to comfort him.
I moved forward, wrapping my arms around him, and holding him as close as physically possible. Wanting to make him feel loved. Because he was.
“I’m so sorry, Jett.”
He shifted away a little, and pulled me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I felt wetness where he’d buried his face in my neck and I knew he was overcome with emotion too.
“I’ve never told anyone what I heard. Promise me you will keep this between us.” He looked up to meet my gaze.
“I would never tell a soul. But maybe you should talk to your mom about it? It might be good for both of you.”
“No. She obviously doesn’t want me to know what a monster my father was. She prefers that I just think he left on some adventure. This is her secret to tell me when she’s ready.” He let out a long breath.
“You can talk to me any time you need to about it. I’ll always be here for you, okay? And I’m really, really sorry that my mother treated you badly, Jett. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She treats everyone poorly, if I’m being honest. But I’m not her. I think you are—” I paused as tears ran down my cheeks and I clasped a hand to each side of his face. “You’re so brilliant, and talented, and beautiful to me.”
A wide grin spread across his handsome face, and I saw the wetness in his eyes in the glow from the moon. “Brilliant, talented, and beautiful might be a stretch, Ace.”
I put a hand on my chest. “Not a stretch. Not by a long shot. You are one of the smartest people I know. Look at Sherman and me… we can’t function in AP calc without you. You were offered a four-year full ride from more than thirty amazing universities to play football. You willingly get in the cage with badass fighters to help your mom pay the bills, and, come on, look at you.” I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from laughing at how sappy I sounded. But it was all true. Jett Stone was the whole package and then some.
“I’m sorry for shutting you out,” he whispered, grazing my bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. Chill bumps spread down my arms.
“We need to stick together, okay? Have one another’s backs. If my mom says something to you, you have to tell me and let me handle it. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“And thanks for telling me about what happened to your mom. But Jett, that has nothing to do with you or who you are,” I said, running my fingers through his wild, disheveled hair.
“Doesn’t it? What do you think your mother would say if she knew the truth? She basically called my mother trash and said the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. What would she think if she knew about my father?”
Rage engulfed me at his words. That my mother would say such disgusting, hurtful things to him. It stung and it angered me, and I didn’t know how I would be able to look at her with anything other than disdain for a long time.
“He was a sperm donor, nothing more. And the fact that your mother faced all that judgment after going through so much trauma is horrific. My heart hurts for her. Does your grandmother know?”
“I don’t know. This is the first I’ve ever heard of it. That’s why I’m struggling with Wren. He’s always hanging around, looking after her. Keeping an eye on me. For a lot of years, I wished Wren were my father. But after I overheard this conversation, I hated him. Because who else could it be?”
“It doesn’t make sense that he’d be violent and then be watching out for both of you, though, right? Maybe you should just ask him?”
“How do I ask him if he raped my mother?” he asked, his fingers tracing the side of my face as my head rested on his chest.
“You don’t. He doesn’t know you know. Nobody knows you know besides me, right?”
“Right. So, what do I ask him?” he asked, and I swiped at the last of my tears that had run down my face. Sadness had swallowed me whole, and I was still processing all that he’d shared.
I sat up, meeting his gaze. “You ask him if he’s your father. Or you could ask your mother if Wren is your father.”
“I’ll think about it. It would suck if I’d been hating him these past few months for no reason. But if he did it, then what? I can’t let him get away with that. Maybe it’s better if I don’t know.”
“Maybe. But the truth usually comes out. Whatever you want to do, I’ll support you.”
His face was so close I could feel his warm breath on my cheek, as his eyes searched mine. “I fucking love you, Ace.”
“I love you more. We’re in this together, okay?”
“Okay.”
“That means if you’re sad, you talk to me about it, Jett. It’s normal to feel all sorts of things about this. I know you’re hurting for your mom. I can’t imagine how that feels, but I’m here. I’m here, okay?”