by Hadley Quinn
When headlights cut through the front window briefly accompanied by the low rumble of a muscle car, Brandon expected Camryn to jolt into a sitting position. She didn’t move, so he craned his neck to see her face better and found she was sleeping.
Good, he thought. She doesn’t need to see this.
He carefully got up from the couch, even upping the volume on the TV just a bit so he could open the front door without her hearing it. When he stepped onto the front porch, Teague was already heading up the walkway. He saw Brandon and slowed, eyeing him carefully.
“She’s sleeping,” Brandon said after he shut the door behind him. He took a few steps away from the house and added, “That’s a good thing.”
Teague didn’t respond right away, so Brandon took a moment to look him over in the glow of his porch light. He didn’t have that cocky aura to him this time. Instead he just looked like a beaten man.
“Is she okay?” Teague finally asked, his voice low but measured.
Brandon shrugged a shoulder but narrowed his eyes. “She will be. Cam is tough, but not unbreakable. I think you broke her a little bit and I’m not happy about that.”
Teague hung his head and sighed. “It was a misunderstanding. Well, it was just flat out my own stupidity. I reacted too quickly and I regret it. I let the history with my family put me on autopilot. I should have stayed to talk to her.”
“Yeah, no shit. A one-minute conversation about your kid would have been better than nothing. Instead, you act like an asshole and take off. Now I’m sure there are things about it that you want to explain or reassure Camryn about, and she knows that too, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that you didn’t trust her enough to tell her in the first place. I don’t fucking care what the hell happened between you and the kid’s mom, but you can’t go into a new relationship without laying that all out there. You don’t have custody of him, fine. But whatever your role is in his life, you still need to acknowledge it.”
“Hang on, you’re getting ahead of yourself. I need to see Camryn, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to do that, okay?”
“You’re not going in my house, Teague. I will risk getting my ass kicked to protect her if it comes to that, but I will fight to the death trying.”
Teague sighed and shook his head. “I don’t want to fight you, Brandon. I just want to see Camryn. She was told something that I need to explain.”
Brandon paused as he eyed him again. “She’s sleeping, and as much as I want for you to spill your guts because she deserves the truth, I really think she needs to sleep right now. And she left for the night to make you think about things a little bit. She’s not one to fuck with, Teague. So just spend a night without her and you can see each other in the morning.”
Teague’s shoulders slumped but he nodded. “Yeah, I hear ya.” He ran his hands over his face as he headed for his car.
Brandon watched him with interest. It wasn’t exactly what he expected from the guy.
But Camryn had shared so much about Teague that Brandon felt like he knew him, too. It was weird, but as much as he hated the fact that Camryn was going through this, he was happy she was at least living life again. She was probably the only person Brandon was close to these days, and even though it was hard to look back at how they’d gotten to this point, he was finally accepting the fact that Teague was going to be around for a long, long time…
Chapter Forty
Camryn woke with a jolt when she thought her knees hit the sidewalk. Her eyes flew open and she gasped, and then the confusion of being in Brandon’s living room made her freeze.
Thank God it was just a nightmare. She slowly sat up on the couch, pulling a blanket off of her in the process. Her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking, and if the nightmare had continued any longer, she’d probably be bawling right now. Just the thought of Teague not being in her life was unbearable.
She looked around the room again and shook her head, realizing she must have fallen asleep last night. It was strange to have slept on a couch alone. She was so used to lying with Teague, or his strong arms carrying her to bed.
The image made her heart sink, and that empty feeling in her chest convinced her it was time to call him. She got up and used the bathroom. After washing her face and rinsing with mouthwash, she stepped into the hall, almost running into Brandon.
“Thought I heard you up,” he said, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.
“Sorry to wake you.”
“It’s only a half an hour before I need to get up anyways.”
“It’s Sunday. Why so early?”
“Because Mondays fucking suck if I don’t keep some kind consistent routine. I’m lame, I know,” he smiled.
“Yes, you are,” she teased, giving him a light shove.
They walked down the hall to the living room and Brandon said, “Teague was here last night.”
Her reaction went from totally frozen to deep creases appearing in her forehead. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were sleeping. I thought it was best. He agreed.”
Camryn dropped to the couch with a heavy sigh. “I shouldn’t have left.”
“You’ve said that ten times now.”
“Because it’s reality. I needed to go for a drive and automatically came here. I just needed a night to regroup and you’re my comfort zone.”
“Well if you ask me, it was a good thing. But it looks like Mel either told him where you were or he figured it out on his own since he showed up after midnight.”
She barely shook her head. “I really wish you had told me he was here,” she said, looking up at him.
Brandon was pensive as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m betting he’s still here, Cam.”
She stood from the couch. “What?”
“I doubt he ever left. I’m sure he’s still here.”
He lifted his chin to motion to the front of the house and Camryn slowly went to the window. The curtains were barely parted at the middle and she looked through the gap without touching them. There in Brandon’s driveway was a beautiful Mustang Boss, and there in the driver’s seat with his head leaning against the side window was Teague.
She stepped back and bit her lip, realizing that her heart was crashing in her chest again. How much she loved him hadn’t changed, but now she was worried about the conversation they needed to get through.
She turned around and looked at Brandon. “Did you guys talk last night?”
He placed his hands on his hips and shrugged. “A little.”
Camryn licked her lips as she resisted the urge to barrel out the front door. But first she needed to know where she stood with Teague. “And?”
Brandon slowly exhaled. Motioning with his head he replied, “Go see him, Camryn.”
She scarcely nodded and walked to the door. When she stepped onto the porch she assumed Teague was asleep in his car, but the side of his head came off the glass and he stared at her for a few seconds. When she took a few steps down the walkway, he opened the door and climbed out of the car.
They stood there for a bit in silence until Teague closed the distance between them. “Please can I just hold you for a minute?” he hardly whispered. “Even if you hate me right now, I just…”
He didn’t finish the plea because she took another step toward him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Pressing her face against him she said, “Yes, please hold me.”
And he did. He held her so tight it made her cry and she returned his embrace even tighter.
“I’m so sorry, Camryn,” he whispered into her hair. “I never meant for this to hurt you. I thought I would be able to walk away from this without having to bring it into our relationship. I had no idea my own family would do this. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
She was silent for a long time as she processed everything. But not only did she worry about what she was going to say, she had new things to assess. She could smell that he’d been smoking at some point since the last
time she saw him. It literally broke her heart. He hadn’t had a cigarette for almost four weeks.
But it was another minute before she was ready to share her thoughts. She pulled out of his arms, not really wanting to but needing to.
“If you can’t share everything with me, Teague, then I’m not ready to marry you,” she said quietly. “I just don’t understand this. If you have a child with another woman, okay…just tell me. I would love him too just because he’s yours, Teague. Can’t you see that?” she barely choked out, tears falling down her cheeks.
Teague’s eyes were filled to the brim when he shook his head and she could see him swallow. “I lost him, Cam,” he said, hardly above a whisper. “I just—I could’ve and—I don’t even…”
Camryn’s heart cracked even more, seeing him look so fragile, standing there with his shoulders drooped in defeat. Her strong and sexy Teague that seemed unbreakable was only human, and she resolved to help him heal, no matter what he shared with her.
“Just tell me about it,” she whispered, taking a step forward again until she was standing inches from him. She rubbed his arms that hung at his side and then placed her hands against his face. “I am never leaving you, Teague. I love you so much and I’m yours forever. Do you hear me? Do you understand that?” She grabbed his head firmly until he nodded and looked her in the eyes. “I want you to tell me what happened. Please, Teague. If I have to keep it with me until I die, I will. I swear to you. But please, for the sake of our relationship, tell me.”
He took her hand and moved for the porch step so they could sit down. He took a long, deep breath and then slowly let it out.
“Kate and I were together for a year total. She lived in Las Vegas and that’s where I met her. We kept in touch for a couple months, saw each other casually a few times—I went back to Vegas once, she came out to LA twice.” He took another deep breath and shook his head. “She got pregnant. It was totally unexpected because we were so careful. She didn’t even want kids. But…we just dealt with it. After another month I was pretty excited about it, and a few months after that, I couldn’t even wait until my son was born,” he smiled with the memory. “I was kind of a paranoid father-to-be, always fussing over Kate and how she was feeling and just trying to make sure she was okay and the baby was okay.”
Camryn smiled. She could picture Teague that way. He was so loving and strong; so unselfish and just…good. He was always asking about Melanie’s wellbeing and constantly offering his help if it was needed. He’d even told her he’d help her pay for anything the baby needed.
“Kate stayed in Las Vegas,” he continued. “She refused to move out to LA and I didn’t understand why at the time. We had kind of grown apart by then and it was becoming pretty obvious we weren’t meant for each other. I was busy fitting in work while trying to spend as much time in Las Vegas as I could. When she went into labor, I took the first flight out and was there when Chase was born. It was awesome. I’ll never forget how it felt to hold him the first time.”
Camryn smiled again and Teague did too, but then he started to frown and she could tell the not-so-amazing part of the story was coming up.
“I was working on a pretty huge movie with Max and my dad when Chase was about ten weeks old. Kate came to LA and brought him to the set to visit me. She still wouldn’t move out here and it was a problem between us. It became apparent that we were just going to share a son and nothing more. Anyways, I was finishing a scene. It was one that Max was going to have face time in also, so he was on the set that week. But the bit I was doing in the afternoon was without him. Afterwards I went to find my son. It was… I just…” He shook his head. “I still don’t even remember how I ended up there, but I was by my brother’s trailer when I saw Kate coming out of it.”
Camryn’s heart fell and she shook her head. She squeezed Teague’s hand to show her support, but he seemed dazed with the memory now. Or numb. Maybe he was trying not to feel it again.
“It wasn’t a friendly kind of thing, and that’s what was odd to me,” he sighed. “They looked like they’d been fighting. But they both saw me. I just stopped and was staring at whatever the fuck I was witnessing. Long story short, I finally found out that she’d slept with him the first time she’d come to LA.” He took a deep breath and looked at Camryn. “That was nine months before Chase was born.”
“Oh my God,” Camryn gasped, throwing a hand to her mouth. “Are you saying…?”
“Chase isn’t mine. He’s my brother’s.”
Camryn could only gape for a minute. So many thoughts were going through her mind, and so many emotions were charging through her. Teague had been raising a child, and if it wasn’t bad enough to discover his girlfriend had slept with his brother, he also found out that his son wasn’t even his?!
“Max swears it was the only time, and that he was drunk,” he continued. “But Kate was actually happy I finally found out. She had an agenda apparently, and it consisted of a life with Max McCallan, not his little brother the stunt junkie. He’d been able to keep her mouth shut until that point, but once I knew, she was all too eager to move on with Max and let everyone know that Chase was his son.”
Camryn’s mouth dropped open. “She told you that?”
“Oh yeah. Max was a different story, though. He didn’t want his life to change or the press to get a hold of the information. My dad had promised him thirty percent of his production company on Max’s twenty-sixth birthday, which is next month, and Max didn’t want the news about Chase to ruin it for him. Kate just couldn’t understand why he was being an asshole,” Teague scoffed sarcastically.
“Had he known that Chase was his before you found out?”
“Yeah. She told him before Chase was born. Looking back I could see why Max never asked me about Kate or Chase; he’d barely even listen when I talked about them. I just thought he was preoccupied with work and stuff. He’d gradually been distancing himself from me and I never had a clue why. But I finally figured out why she wouldn’t move to LA with Chase. Max had struck up an arrangement with her. He made her promise to stay in Las Vegas and keep it quiet, to give him time wrap up a few things in his career and for my dad to make the business deal. He promised he’d be ready to let the secret go public by then. She agreed. I know money was exchanged and an agreement was signed. In the meantime she dangled me along to keep the secret. I was just a fucking placeholder until she dumped me for my brother.”
“My God,” Camryn whispered. What a truly evil scheme. Did the woman have no heart?
“So…obviously there’s been drama,” Teague chuckled bitterly. “I worked on the film for another week after finding out Chase wasn’t my son. It was the only thing I could do to keep from falling apart. Other than telling Jay, I kept things to myself because I didn’t know what else to do about it. I’d already had it out with my brother, and after leaving a few marks on his face, they had to rearrange the filming schedule. Of course my dad was pissed at me, not Max. My dad never found out about Chase’s paternity—Max did everything he could to make sure of it—but there were rumors going around that my brother and I were in a feud. There was all kinds of speculation about the reason: Max wanted to do more stunts like me; I wanted to be a pretty boy like him; we were both competing for daddy’s attention, etcetera. Tons of things were written and talked about. Even crazy stuff like he ate my fucking sandwich and shit like that. Yeah, I’m really going to kick his ass at work over that. We just let all the rumors cloud everything up like always, but see the garbage that gets spread as ‘news’?” he asked with a cheerless smile.
“Yes, I get it,” she frowned sympathetically. She rubbed her hand on his back and asked, “So tell me about those last days on the set. When you left it all behind.”
He barely shrugged. “I’d just gotten the results of the paternity test that morning and couldn’t deal with it anymore. All it took was to think about Chase and I’d want to fall apart. I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t focus on what I was supp
osed to be doing. I was deteriorating, bit by bit. My dad was riding my ass to pull my shit together. He told me I needed to support my brother more by not causing drama in the family. Can you believe that? I wanted to punch his face in.”
“So you actually kept Max’s secret this whole time?” she asked. She didn’t mean to sound judgmental, but that’s how it came out. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’m just trying to understand…”
“I know,” he bobbed his head.
He raked a hand through his hair, making it all kinds of messy. Camryn wished she knew the right things to say. To think he’d been trying to put this behind him when she’d met him gave her an entirely different perspective. In a way, she wished she could go back in time with this knowledge and make everything better for him.
They were both damaged when they’d met.
Teague released a breath of air. “Part of why I kept it a secret is kind of fucked up,” he admitted.
She looked at him curiously. “What do you mean? Like…you loved her, despite what she did?” Camryn asked softly.
“Fuck no, I hated her guts,” he answered instantly. “It was about Chase. At first I had this farfetched idea that she would change her mind and just let me raise him. I knew it was unlikely but I had hope. I would have taken the secret to my grave, just to be Chase’s dad again. The day he was born… I couldn’t get that day out of my head; the day I thought my son came into the world. I loved him so much I was willing to play nice. I thought if I gave her time and space and kept the secret, she would decide to let me have that role again. I hated being at her mercy, but it was all I had. I was the one lied to and I was still subjected to their decisions; two people that didn’t even deserve him.”
He sighed and shook his head as Camryn squeezed his hand again to show her support.
“Max’s selfish actions truly pissed me off,” he added. “I couldn’t believe how self-centered he became just to save face for his career. We used to be friends, but he’s just gotten so much like my dad I could hardly be around him even before this happened. But I didn’t want Chase to be affected by any of this down the road. I didn’t want the media to find out and make a huge spectacle of his life because of who his father is. Maybe I was just prolonging the inevitable, but I felt it was the only option I had. Chase is an innocent kid that should be protected by the grownups around him; not a victim of their shitty choices. So yeah, I kept the secret, but it was for Chase. Not for any other reason.”
