Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
So at this point, Dru pressed closer to her dad, I did the same, and Judge and Rix flanked us.
Like AJ wasn’t there, Morgan passed him and stopped a few feet in front of Jamie.
“I knew before he told me,” he said, his gravelly voice deep and attractive. “You should know that.”
“I knew before I saw you, you should know that,” Jamie replied.
“Didn’t reach out because I didn’t know if it would cause you problems,” Morgan continued.
“I didn’t reach out because of the same.”
“My wife knows about you. She knows about Cordelia too.”
Cordelia, as a reminder, was Jamie’s mother’s name.
“Your boys?” Jamie asked if Morgan’s sons knew they had a half-brother.
The man lifted his hand and scratched the back of his neck before answering, “Well, see, that’s a little tougher.”
“I understand,” Jamie said quietly, and Morgan narrowed his gaze on him.
“It isn’t that I’m not proud of you,” he stated.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” AJ groused.
“You still here, old man?” Patricia bit.
“Patty,” Jamie whispered.
She fell silent.
Morgan was so focused on his son, it was like this byplay didn’t happen.
“Moment I saw your picture in the paper, when you ran in that touchdown to win regionals in the last five seconds your freshman year, I knew,” Morgan said. He shook his head sadly. “Back then, I shoulda—”
Jamie cut him off. “If you did, she would have suffered, and we both know it.”
Morgan drew a visibly rough breath into his nose.
“Was she happy in the end?” he asked.
“She was free,” Jamie answered.
My eyes started stinging when I saw the wet in Morgan’s.
And I whimpered out loud when Morgan asked, his voice no longer gravelly, but croaky, “Can I hug you, son?”
It was Dru who whimpered when Jamie stepped out of our hold and into his father’s.
Judge wrapped his arms around Dru.
Rix curved his arm around my shoulders.
And Jamie hugged his dad.
I was pacing the suite, my phone to my ear.
“I knew we should have gone with you,” Mika declared.
“It happened in the lobby, dearest. I don’t think Jamie needed a larger audience when he went through that,” I replied.
“I’m talking about supporting you,” she retorted.
I so loved my dear friend.
“I can so totally believe AJ is not Jamie’s sire,” she remarked.
I’d had the time to fill her in on a great deal.
And it was, indeed, very believable, and not only because it was true.
“So, he’s…what? Catching up with him now?” Mika inquired.
“I left him in the bar with Morgan, Judge and Dru,” I confirmed.
“Jamie was down with you leaving?”
“I think Jamie sensed that Morgan doesn’t need Jamie’s entire posse breathing down his neck at this juncture. His grandkids, yes. His woman and sister, not as much.”
“Posse?” she teased at my use of a word I didn’t think I’d ever used my entire life.
“I’m in Texas. When in Rome…” I trailed off.
She laughed then said, “You know what I love most about this?”
I knew what I loved most about it.
The fact that Jamie, right now, was sitting down with his real father, drinking bourbon with him.
“What?” I asked.
“That AJ thought this was a big play, that he’d fuck with Jamie’s head, and kick Jamie’s real dad where it hurts, but they ended it hugging.”
Yes, that was a good part too.
“I think we’re going to be longer here in Texas,” I noted.
“Or you’ll go back,” she said.
“Yes,” I agreed.
“And how was Paloma at the funeral?”
I stopped pacing, sat in an armchair and crossed my legs. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you. Before we left New York, Rhys Vaughan left us a package.”
“Really?” she asked, not hiding she was intrigued.
Ah, yes.
The mysterious Rhys Vaughan perked up everyone’s attention.
“Really,” I replied. “And in it was information to show that Paloma, through some shell companies, paid Chester Lynch two hundred thousand dollars.”
She asked the same question I did. “Where did she get that kind of money?”
“Would you like me to guess?” I offered.
“Please do.”
“Jamie told me there was quite a bit of value at that ranch. So I think she got it by pawning AJ’s valuables, likely things he wouldn’t notice missing. Because Jamie went fishing by mentioning it at the funeral, and it was obvious AJ knew nothing about it, but Paloma’s face grew deathly pale.”
“Well, that’s interesting,” she remarked.
“It was a long ride back from Reid and Greer’s, so I had time to think, and what I think is that you don’t poke the bear that’s mauling you. AJ has so much on his plate simply to keep his head above water, he isn’t considering messing with Jamie, even if he threatened to do it. The man is all bluster. And I certainly don’t think, if he could get his hands on nearly a quarter of a million dollars, he’d give it to the likes of Lynch.”
“He sure showed up with a wallop in an effort to fuck with Jamie this evening,” Mika pointed out.