“Sounds good. See ya soon.”
“Bye.” I ended the call and stashed my phone in my back pocket.
“I guess it’s only me who you’re an asshole to.”
The quiet voice behind me had my heart freezing in my chest. Sabrina.
I turned around. Shit. I didn’t know what to say.
Searching for the right words, I looked up, but seeing her pained expression tore me up inside. “Angel, I don’t… I’m not…”
Sabrina’s face drained of color. “You do remember me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You just called me angel. You remember me.”
Chapter Three
Sabrina
“You remember me.” I swayed on my feet. But only for a second. Anger burned deep in my belly and slowly spread through my body.
Logan blinked down at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Last time you were here, I couldn’t tell if you remembered me or not. You treated me like a stranger—worse than a stranger. And I thought—wondered—if maybe you didn’t remember me because of your accident. Like amnesia or whatever.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Logan gave this harsh barking laugh that was like nothing I remembered from him. “That’s not how I remember it. You tore me a new one for being an ass and wasting your time. Pretty sure you called me an asshole.”
“I was mad. And you were being an ass.”
He turned away from me and wrestled with the ladder. “I gotta finish up here.”
“That’s it?” I watched, incredulous, as he folded up his ladder. “You have nothing else to say to me?”
“Nope. I’m good.”
He turned and had the nerve to walk through the shop doors like we weren’t in the middle of a conversation.
Ass.
I slammed through the shop doors and stomped after him. “What the fuck?”
“What?” He didn’t even have the courtesy to turn around and face me. He just continued to pack up his toolbox like I wasn’t even in the room.
“You aren’t even going to tell me what happened? Why you ghosted me? Where you’ve been for the past two years? Why you never returned even one of my phone calls? I thought we had something pretty special. You made me feel special. Besides, I had something pretty important to—”
“Look.” Logan bit out, cutting me off. He finally turned to face me, but instead of the gentle expression I knew from before, or even the anger he’d shown me moments ago, his face was now blank. “I thought you’d get a clue. I didn’t return your calls then, and I really don’t want to get into it now. Whatever we had is over. Fucking dead and gone. Which is where I’ll be in two weeks. Gone. So can we just keep shit professional between us?”
I might’ve swallowed my tongue. Of everything he could’ve said to me, I hadn’t expected that. And I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to lash back at him, but the pain I felt at him dismissing everything we’d had was overwhelming.
Instead I nodded tightly, pivoted on my heel, and ran away.
I think I would’ve preferred wrath to that empty, nothing expression on his face combined with his nasty words. I was obviously less than nothing to him.
Pain bloomed in my chest and a wave of heat swept over my face. I knew what was coming next. But I’d be damned if I cried in the same building as that asshole. Instead, I grabbed my purse from my office and headed for my car. I scowled at his shitty pickup and seriously considered keying it for half a second, but then I remembered that wouldn’t be professional.
Instead, I left in a wail of screeching tires and burning rubber.
I had myself mostly under control by the time I pulled into the parking lot of Bette’s Diner. My mom might not know the whole story with me and Logan, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get a hug from her. She knew I didn’t tell her everything about my life. My mom was cool like that. She’d always been my soft place to fall—the one person in the whole world I knew who’d always love me unconditionally.
And I felt the same way about her.
The lunch rush was long over—there were only a few cars in the parking lot. Mostly staff vehicles that I recognized, including my mom’s shitty Camry, and one out of place BMW gleaming up front. Not my mom’s usual clientele—Bette’s was kind of a dive, but the food was plentiful, crazy delicious, and overseen by my equally crazy mom.
Immediately feeling lighter, I climbed out of my car and headed for the front door.
But before I could reach it, it swung open and my mom stood there screaming and waving her arms like a crazy person. “I don’t give a flying fuck what you want, Brian Brooks. You need to get the hell out of my restaurant before I call the cops. Because that’s my next move. GET! OUT!”
“I’ll leave, but don’t think that means I’m going away.” A middle-aged, well-dressed man stepped out. “This was just a courtesy call. I’m giving you the opportunity to come clean with her. Because I’m not leaving town until I see her.”
My mom’s face turned red. “You don’t deserve to see her. You made your decision twenty-seven years ago.”
“That’s bullshit. I didn’t have all the information.”
“Call it what you want. I don’t care. You already made it clear I was second-best. I’d be damned if I was gonna stand by and let you do the same to my daughter.”
“Our daughter. She’s mine too.”
For the second time that day, my heart dropped to my feet.
“What?” My voice sounded like it had been torn out of my throat.
But they had clearly heard me, as they swung around and stared at me with differing expressions—my mom, horrified, and the stranger, still angry, but also saddened.
“Sabrina. I didn’t…” Mom opened and closed her mouth a few times but didn’t say anything more.
“He can’t be my father. My father died when you were pregnant. You told me. You showed me the articles. He was killed by a drunk driver. Remember? Remember that, Mom?” My voice raised with every sentence until I was all but shrieking at the end. “My father is dead…right?!?”
Mom shook her head, and tears fell from her eyes. “Sabrina…”
And I knew.
I could tell by the look on her face that it was true.
She’d lied to me my entire life.
I looked back and forth between them.
I didn’t know who either of these freaking people were.
“No.” I backed away from both of them. “No.”
“Sabrina…” My mom held her hands out to me, but I backed up until I tripped over my feet.
I landed in a tangle of legs, dust, and curse words. I swiped at the tears hazing my eyes, no doubt smearing makeup and dirt all over my face. Not that I gave a damn. Then a hand appeared in front of me, and I blinked up at the strange man—my father—standing over me.
I laughed harshly. “I’m a fucking klutz. Do I have you to thank for that?”
“I’m so sorry, Sabrina. This isn’t how I wanted you to find out. I came here to tell your mother that I wanted to get to know you. I thought it would be easier to hear it from her than a stranger. Because that’s all I am to you.”
I could hear the bitterness in his voice, but I really didn’t give a fuck at the moment. I was still reeling from all the revelations today.
Ignoring his outstretched hand, I clamored to my feet on my own and glared at both of them. “If this isn’t the cherry on the shit sundae that is my life lately. I don’t… I can’t…”
“Sabrina,” Mom pleaded.
“No!” I shouted. “No! You don’t get to be the victim right now. You did this to all of us. I’ve had a father my whole life that I didn’t know about? What kinda fucked up soap opera is this? You lied to me my entire life! Why?”
But all my mom could do was cry.
“I can’t do this right now.” I turned and headed for my car.
“Sabrina, I’d—”
“No.” I swung around to face
him, crossing my arms over my chest. “I get that you’re here to see me, but I’m gonna need some time to sort through all this. I don’t…I can’t… Leave your info with Angela inside, and I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
“I understand.” He bent his head and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Thank you.”
I shook my head and walked away.
For the second time that day, I left a parking lot in a shriek of squealing tires as tears burned my eyes.
I didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t run the risk of Logan still being at the shop. Maddie was working the book-mobile, so she was out. I really wanted to talk to someone, but who?
And then I remembered that Hope, my brother’s fiancée, had the exact same thing happen to her. If anyone on this earth understood what I was going through, it was her. I used the Bluetooth in my car and called her.
Her sunny voice sang over my car’s speakers. “Hey Sabrina.”
“Hope?” I couldn’t keep the sob out of my voice.
“Oh my God, Sabrina. Are you crying? What’s wrong? Who do I have to kill?”
“I can’t go through it all on my phone right now. I’m in the middle of a shitstorm. Can I… Is there any way we can get together to talk?”
“Always. You know that.”
“Thank you.” I let out the breath I’d been holding. “Where and when?”
“How about now at my place?”
Her place meant Ryan’s condo, since she moved in with him a year ago. “Uh, could you do me a favor and boot Ryan if he’s there? I really don’t want to hash all this out with him around.”
“Sure. No problem.” I heard some muffled conversation and then a shriek.
“Ryan. No!” Hope yelled.
“What’s going on?” Ryan’s voice came over the line.
I rolled my eyes. My brothers were overprotective alphas on the best of days. No way was I telling him all this right now. I needed to sort through how I felt, first. “What did you do to my friend?”
“She’s my fiancé, and the mother of my child. I got dibs, so why do I have to clear out of my house?” His words were flippant, but I could hear the underlining concern.
All the fight just left me. I was so damn tired all the sudden. “It’s fine. I can talk to her later.”
I switched lanes so I could turn around. I was pretty sure I could sleep for a year, maybe two.
“Sabrina. What the fuck? What’s going on? You’re freaking me out, here.”
“I don’t have it in me to fight now right, Ry. Tell Hope I’ll talk to her later.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. You need girl time. I’ll grab Fliss and Dylan, and we’ll go bug Nate. He’s over at Austin’s. You can have Hope all to yourself. Okay? Gotta go.”
He grunted then Hope came over the line.
“Sorry about that. Everything okay?”
“No. Not at all.” I sighed. As much as I really wanted to run and hide, I knew this situation wasn’t going away. I had to talk to someone. “I’ll be over in five.”
“Okay. Hey, I don’t know what you said to Ryan, but I’ve never seen him reverse course so fast. You gotta give me tips later.”
For the first time that day, I laughed. “Bending the Burns brothers to my will is just one of my superpowers.”
“I will be your student, Master Sabrina. Please teach me your ways.”
I laughed again, feeling lighter than I had all day. My brothers might be alpha-holes on occasion, but they had fantastic taste in women.
* * *
“Are we drinking now, or do you wanna eat something first?”
I sighed. “How about we drink while we wait for the food to arrive?”
“Great.” Hope patted me on the shoulder then headed for the kitchen. “You order the food, and I’ll get the tequila.”
Tequila meant tacos. Laughing, I filled out our usual order on Postmates. We’d done this a time or two.
Meanwhile, Hope lined up a few shot glasses on the coffee table. “You ready to tell me what’s going on?”
I grabbed the first glass and slammed it before filling her in on the insanity that was my life this past week. I hadn’t even gotten to the part about my-not-actually-dead Dad when she grabbed the second shot glass and drank.
By the time I’d finished my story, tears sheened my eyes and hers.
“I am so sorry, Sabrina. This isn’t…” She shook her head as she reached for the liquor bottle. “I think we need more tequila.”
She poured another round and handed me my shot. We clinked glasses.
“To fucked-up parents.” Sabrina toasted.
“To shitty ex-boyfriends.”
And we drank.
I sank back onto her comfy sofa. “So what do you think?”
“I don’t even know where to start. Is Logan the one who—”
“Yeah.” I answered before she could finish the question. I knew what she was asking.
“But he doesn’t know.”
“Nope.” I popped the p like I wasn’t dying inside. But we both knew the truth. “Kinda hard to know when he didn’t ever answer the freaking phone. But hey, that was two years ago. It’s water under the bridge, right?”
“Sounds more like an open, gaping wound, but okay.” Hope muttered, not-so-quietly under her breath. “How are you feeling about your dad?”
“Numb.” I set my shot glass down on the coffee table with a clink. Staring at the tequila bottle, I contemplated another shot, but I’d already had two—or was it three?—and I couldn’t remember when I’d eaten last. I probably should wait.
Because that was who I was. The youngest child who tried like hell to not make any waves, because my brothers created a fucking tsunami in our world. I was the peacekeeper. The one who always toed the line. Hell, I was usually three feet behind the line, so I didn’t upset anyone.
“…hard but give it time.” Hope’s words sounded like they were coming from the end of a long tunnel.
I shook my head, and the room came back into focus. “Right.”
I don’t know what she’d said, but it felt like the thing to say.
She gave me a sad smile. “Do you know anything about your dad?”
“No. She told me they were high school sweethearts who hooked up again at their ten-year reunion, and that he died because of a drunk driver while she was still pregnant.”
“There’s one way to find out the truth.”
“I’m not talking to her. I can’t right now. I’m just so fucking…I don’t even know. Mad? Stunned? I can’t believe she’s lied to me my whole life. I don’t…” I covered my face with my hands and gave a muffled scream. Tears streamed from my eyes. And then the sobs came again.
Hope’s arms wrapped around me, and I buried my face in her shoulder.
“I just don’t know what to do.” I cried. “I thought I had almost everything in my life figured out, and it all came crashing down inside a freaking week.”
“I know,” Hope murmured. “I know. It’s shitty, and it’s hard. But you’re strong. You’re gonna get through this. And we’re here for you—as many of us as you want. Just say the word.”
I let her comforting words soak into me. It just felt good to have someone understand me—hold me—when my entire world was crumbling.
Up until today, my mom had been my safe place. I loved her so much. But now I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know how to reconcile all this new information with the woman I’d spent my entire life looking up to. Because if she lied about something so fundamental…
I couldn’t even finish the thought.
The ringing of Hope’s doorbell had us pulling away.
Hope smiled at me and headed for the door. “You’ll feel better once you get some food in your stomach.”
“I’ll just go wash my face.” I headed in the opposite direction, toward the guest bath.
Hope was sweet, but I really doubted that the magic power of tacos would help me tonight.
Because I
’d never felt so broken.
Chapter Four
Logan
I knew, the second Vanessa answered the door, that this had been a mistake. Instead of the frazzled single mom I’d been expecting, she stood in her doorway dressed like she was ready to hit the club. From her smooth hair to the smoky eye makeup and the skin-tight clothes, she was the Vanessa I knew from before. Not the one who’d called all panicked about her dishwasher.
“Hot date? We can come back tomorrow.” I offered, gesturing to where my overweight Labrador mix, Bella, lay panting at my feet.
Vanessa smiled brightly. “Nope. You’re the only guy I’m expecting to see.”
Shit.
I inclined my head and stepped past her, careful to avoid her very prominent breasts from brushing against me. Bella jostled us, eager to reach the spot under the living room window. I had to grab Vanessa with my free hand to keep her from falling.
She gave me a seductive look under her eyelashes.
I closed my eyes and mentally cursed. When I opened them, her face hovered a little too close for comfort. I gave her a pained smile and moved away with a loud rattle of my toolbox.
“Dishwasher, right?” I headed for the kitchen at almost a jog.
But the sight that greeted me left me with a hollow feeling in my stomach.
The floor was completely dry, and the table was set for an intimate dinner for two. She’d even gone so far as to make my favorite—T-bone steak with roasted potatoes and green beans.
Dammit.
“Where’s Jaeda?” I asked dully.
Vanessa hovered near the table with an uncertain smile. “Travis volunteered to watch her for us tonight.”
“Fuck. He knows about this?”
“I, uh, well yes. He kinda had the same reaction as you.” Her forehead wrinkled with her frown. “I, uh, thought you’d be more receptive to… This was stupid. I’m sorry.”
Still holding my toolbox in one hand, I rubbed at my face with the other. “I don’t… I can’t do this, Vanessa. You’re my best friend’s girl. I can’t—”
“He’s dead, Logan. Dead. Has been for two years.”
Spark: A Bad Boy's Second Chance Romance (Burns Brothers Book 3) Page 3
