That got a smile from him.
“Makes sense.” He sighed and rubbed his jaw. “If he’s my son, I want to be a part of his life.”
“And if he’s not?”
A strange expression settled on Rafael’s face. “I’ve been thinking about that, and if he’s not happy where he is…” His voice trailed off, and I didn’t press him. I had no idea what he was going through, and even if I did, I wasn’t certain I was in the position to give anyone any advice about kids.
“I really appreciate you taking the time to do this for me, Nyx,” Rafael said. He stood up and put out his hand. “I mean it.”
His hand was a little clammy as we shook, but that was understandable. “I’ll let you know as soon as I have some answers.”
He thanked me again, and I left, already going through steps in my mind as to how I could get what I needed and keep Bradyn from finding out what I was doing. As I made my way back to the car I’d borrowed, my phone rang, interrupting my thought process.
The name on the screen sent my pulse racing. I almost didn’t want to answer it, but I knew I had to. I took a deep breath and accepted the call.
Six
Bradyn
I didn’t stick around the hotel to see how long Nyx was inside. The fact that she’d been meeting with an ex-lover the same week we were getting married was bad enough. That she was lying about it was worse.
We’d spent the first few months we’d known each other lying and hiding things. Misunderstandings that could’ve been cleared up if we’d just asked about it instead of making assumptions. Lies of omission and outright lies that we thought would protect the other, keep them from being hurt.
It’d fucked up a lot, us not being honest with each other, and I’d thought we’d learned our lesson.
I’d thought about going to the cabin and waiting for her to come back, but I didn’t think I could stand being in that space where everything would remind me of her. I already couldn’t stop thinking about her. Going through all the things I wanted to say to her, the questions I wanted to ask when she returned.
I couldn’t bring myself to stay confined to the cabin when I had that much going on in my head. I had to move, or I’d go crazy. So, I stayed outside after I got out of the car, and I walked. Down the path to the cabin. Back to the main house. And again. I did it two more times before Shadae came out on the porch.
“Tryin’ to work off a breakfast you ain’t ate yet?” She briskly rubbed her hands against her upper arms. “Get in here.”
It was no use trying to convince her that I was just out for a walk or that I wasn’t hungry. If I said the latter, she’d want to know why. She’d probably ask me what was wrong, anyway. She’d always been way too good at reading me. Especially when it came to my relationship with Nyx.
I sighed. Better to just get it over with than to have her drag it out of me. I’d learned that from experience.
When I got on the porch, she grabbed me in a hug and then hurried me into the house. She didn’t tell me to sit down or relax, but she did offer me a cup of coffee, which I appreciated. I didn’t really need the caffeine, but sometimes, it was more about the comfort than the energy boost.
“Mornin’,” Brew said from his usual seat. He opened his mouth to add something else, glanced at Shadae, and then closed his mouth again.
“Now, why don’t you tell us what’s goin’ on, sugar?” Shadae asked as she settled next to her husband.
I set down my coffee and started to pace around the kitchen, walking out into the living room and back again. The area was small enough that we could still hear each other.
“I saw Nyx go into a hotel room with another man this morning.” I blurted out the sentence before I could censor it…or talk myself out of saying it at all.
Shadae’s eyes widened, but nothing else gave even a hint as to what she was feeling or thinking.
“It was a man from Nyx’s past. Someone she’d…been with.” I couldn’t say dated, and I definitely couldn’t explain what they’d done when they had been together. “I’ve met him before, in New York, and everything seemed fine, but there’s no reason for him to be down here. No reason for her to be going to a hotel room.”
“Maybe he’s here for somethin’ personal and decided to reach out with his congratulations on the weddin’.” Shadae’s tone was mild, preventing me from knowing what she was really thinking.
“Why wouldn’t she want both of us to go then?” I countered. “It’s not like I don’t know him. Or why wouldn’t she ask him to come here? Hell, why couldn’t he just do it over the phone or in New York? It’s not like I forbid Nyx to be in contact with anyone from her past.”
“If that’s the case, then why are you upset about her seein’ him here?” Shadae asked.
“Because she’s lying to me.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “You didn’t see her this morning, sneakin’ out of here like she didn’t want me to know she was leaving.”
“With you actin’ like this, I can see why.” Shadae gave me a pointed look.
Even as aggravated as I was, I couldn’t bring myself to backtalk her. Hell, I couldn’t even raise my voice to her without feeling guilty for doing it. “It’s not about her going to see him.” Shadae’s sharp look made me clarify. “Okay, it’s not all about her going to see him. It’s her hiding it from me, lying about things. I thought we’d gotten past that.”
“Things, plural?” Brew scratched the side of his nose. “What else is she hidin’ from you?”
“When we first got here, she said she needed to make a phone call. We’d promised each other that we wouldn’t work while we were here, but this is her first time leaving someone else in charge of Phoenix Investigations, so I figured she was going to call Dru and make sure everything was still okay. I thought she was embarrassed by worrying about it, but when I asked her, I figured she’d say something like how we hadn’t really started our vacation yet. But I overheard part of her conversation, and it didn’t sound anything like business.” I dropped onto a chair and put my elbows on the table, my head in my hands. “I think she was talking to Rafael about arranging a time for them to meet.”
“Did you hear her say his name?” Shadae asked.
“No,” I admitted, “but if you’d heard what I did, you’d–”
“I’d get my head out of my behind and talk to the lady,” Brew cut in.
“Didn’t you learn nothin’ from before?” Shadae waggled a finger at me. “I ain’t condonin’ her keepin’ things from you, but you’re in the wrong here too. Instead of sittin’ here tellin’ us all this stuff you think is goin’ on, you should be talkin’ to that fiancée of yours. Besides, we both know that no matter how messed up your family is, you had a better time of it than she did.”
Shadae was right. About that last part, at least.
My dad had done enough fucked up shit by himself that no one would ever consider my family even close to ‘okay.’ He’d hurt a lot of people in ways that could never be forgotten or forgiven, but the worst he’d ever been to me was a cold-hearted, self-centered bastard, and most of that came out when I was an adult. It wasn’t even close to what Nyx had been through in her childhood and adolescence.