Chapter 9 Being an adult is a little out of my price range. -Audric to a manufacturer AUDRIC "But not all?" she asked. "They know enough, because we had to give them that much to make sure that they respected your boundaries when we were in Hawaii for Webber and Silver's wedding," I explained as I merged onto 635. "I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable once I knew." She started to circle her hair around one finger, and I longed to reach out and do the action myself. God, I loved her hair. "Okay." She nodded, then told me about her experience at Cakes's place last week. "That tracks," I agreed. "He may not necessarily have been there, been there. But he has the pulse of everything that goes on there." She looked at me. "Do you know how you're going to tell him?" I gritted my teeth. "I don't." "How about you let me start?" she suggested. "I can tell him what I know. Then we can tell him how you just found out." I closed my eyes for a brief second, then said, "I don't want him to hate me for keeping her away from him." "But did you?" she asked. "It's been what, two weeks since we've been home and you've known for sure?" "Not for sure, sure," I admitted. "I was trying to get a DNA test done, but without going through Apollo to get it, it's been slow going. It said it could take up to four months." "You didn't want to talk to Apollo?" she asked. Her confusion was adorable. "I didn't want anyone to know," I admitted. "I literally have no fucking clue. We know what Laney told you. Who I suspect. But we don't actually know who." "And we don't know that Laney was telling the truth that day," she agreed. "I mean, she had been drunk off her ass and was on her way to sobering up when you left. How do we know that what she knew was the actual truth?" "Exactly." I scrubbed my left eyeball. "I wanted to wait because this is huge. How do I tell someone they might be a father? I have no clue how to do this." "Maybe you should wait?" she said. "Maybe your instincts are spot on. Maybe you need to know for sure?" I grumbled under my breath. "That's great, but she needs surgery now. I can't make these kinds of decisions. I'm not actually her father." "You're her father for now," she pointed out. "You need to talk to Webber. And this Apollo dude. You need to stop shouldering this alone." She was right. I knew she was right. "Fuck," I groaned. "Where is Webber?" I pulled off the highway, then turned around, crossed the highway, then started back the other way. "His office is near where we just were," I admitted grumpily. "Of course it is." She snickered. "Let's go there first." So that was what we did. When we arrived in the parking lot, I pulled right up into the bay to keep the sun off the truck, then left it running as I got out and closed the door as quietly as I could so not to wake Lottie. Creole did the same from the other side, wincing when it made a louder click than she'd intended. I grinned and said over the hood of the car, "She's not quite that bad." "God." She laughed nervously. "I'm just so used to Damon and how he..." She trailed off, her face falling. "One wrong step on a floorboard, and that boy's eyes snapped open like a horror movie villain. Swear to God, I think I tiptoed around for two straight years." I smiled. "But I bet he was a really good kid once he grew out of that stage." What little I knew of Damon, I knew that to be true. Damon had always been such a cute kid, and always so damn happy. Even in the throes of the leukemia trenches, he'd been smiling. "Hey, what's up?" I heard Silver call. "Oh, hey! What are you doing here, Creole?" Creole offered Silver a small, reserved smile before saying, "We need to talk to Webber." "Webber's..." Silver trailed off when Webber rounded the back corner of the shop, carrying a transmission casing in one hand, and a pan full of nuts and bolts for said transmission in the other. "There he is. He was getting some parts from the steamer." Webber set everything down, then walked over to me and offered me his hand. "What's up?" I looked around the shop and said, "Have some time? This might take a bit." Webber studied me for a long moment before he said, "Sure. Lottie asleep?" "In the car." I jerked my head toward the truck. "She'll be out for a while, though. We drugged her up and gave her some medication to help with the pain." "I'll sit in your truck for a bit while y'all talk," Silver said, reading the room. "Y'all can talk in the office." I blew out a breath and said, "Thanks." Creole patted Silver's shoulder, whispering, "Thank you," as she passed. The three of us headed into the office, the air conditioner hitting us full blast as we crossed over the threshold. "Hey, I'm getting lunch. What do you want?" Webber's mother, who ran the front office, called out without looking up. "Whatever, Ma," he said. "Can you get something for Audric and his girl, too?" "Oh." Webber's mom smiled sheepishly. "Hey, didn't see you there." "You don't have to get us anything," I promised. "Nonsense." She patted my shoulder. "I'll bring pizza." Then she was gone, leaving us to the office alone. "Okay, hit me." Webber jerked his chin toward a couple of seats near the window where customers usually sat. I took the seat and was pleasantly surprised when Creole took the seat next to me. "Okay, so I'm going to start." Creole looked green for a moment. "And I don't want you asking questions until we're done." Webber smiled in amusement before saying, "Okay." Creole nodded, then started in on her story. "So we're going to start with the whole story of Laney, Audric, and me. Okay?" Webber waited, holding true to his word not to interrupt. "Do you know why Laney and Audric married in the first place?" she asked. Webber stayed silent. Creole's lips twitched. "I knew I liked you." That got a smile from Webber. "Okay, maybe you'll have to talk." She snickered. "Do you know that Audric's mom tried to kill herself?" Webber's eyes came to me. "Yes." "Okay." She nodded. "So you know that they had a shit ton of medical bills?' "Yes," Webber continued. "Laney, to get her inheritance early, had to be married. She chose to marry Audric, though she would've been fine with me, too. She married Audric, she got her inheritance, and she paid off all of Audric's medical bills. The only thing was, Laney was one hundred percent in love with Audric, and Audric didn't feel the same." "That I didn't know." Webber glanced at me. I nodded, agreeing that it was true. "She felt that way, and I never did. I'd known for a long time, but she was my best friend, so I never made a big deal of it," I explained. "When she asked me to marry her, I agreed. The medical bills were drowning me and Dad, and Laney's inheritance was so much that I knew it wouldn't even put a dent in it for her." "They were only supposed to stay married for a few years," Creole explained, "but Audric is too nice of a person, and let Laney continue to put it off. She managed to procrastinate for three years. I think that she knew that her time was coming to an end, though. Audric had never intended to let it go on that long. And I was really putting the heat on her from my end, because she was keeping him from his life. Then one day, she had this bright idea to get pregnant." Webber's eyes came to me. "Lottie's not mine," I admitted. "Fuck," Webber murmured. "Even worse, she got pregnant by one of the club members." Creole winced. "She told me it was Cakes." Webber's mouth dropped. "Holy fuck." He shook his head. "This is why you were acting so weird around him at my wedding. You kept looking at him like he was a car wreck you couldn't stop looking at." Creole scrunched up her nose sheepishly. "We think she's Cakes's baby, yes." "But you're not sure," Webber guessed. "And you want me to help you figure out if she's really his?" "I took his bottle while we were in Hawaii. I sent his DNA, along with Lottie's, off to the lab in Dallas. But it's been two weeks, and I've not heard anything back yet. And now Lottie's sick, and she's going to need surgery, and I think he really needs to know. But I don't want to tell him unless I'm sure. This is really big." "Agreed," he said. "Can I link Apollo in on this? I can get the information tonight." "Sure," I agreed instantly, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted from my chest. Webber started to pick up the phone, but Apollo walked in at that moment and plopped a piece of paper down on the desk next to Webber's hip. "Cakes is not the father!" I looked at Apollo. "You knew?" "I hope you all know that there's nothing that goes on in this club that I don't know about." He leveled a look at Webber that had me wondering what else he knew and didn't share. "But that's neither here nor there. Cakes is not the father. However, you're never going to believe this!" he cried out. My stomach sank. "Please tell me it's someone that's not married." "Worse." He looked a little green for a minute. "It's Gunner's." My heart sank. Worst-case scenario, apocalyptic event...this was an eleven on a scale from one to ten. "Fuck." "What's wrong with him being the father?" Creole looked between all of us. It was Webber who answered her, mostly because my insides had sunk down past my knees. Fuck, fuck, fuck. "Gunner lost his son in a school shooting almost a decade ago now," Webber murmured. "He's sworn off all women. Didn't even know that he'd been intimate with anyone, honestly. Broke up with girlfriends who wanted kids. He doesn't want kids. Ever again." "Well," Creole said as she stood up. "It's not like he has a choice now, does he? He's got one." I scrubbed at my face. "Did she take advantage of him is the real question." "Laney would never do that," Creole said fiercely. "She wouldn't have forced herself on him, and you know it." I let my head fall back, and my head hit the metal bars that lined the inside of Webber's office. "No," I agreed while still staring at the ceiling. "But I also wouldn't have thought that she would have put Gunner in that position, knowing how bad it would hurt him to know that he has a kid." "That's why she lied," Creole guessed. "Because once she realized what she'd done...who she'd done...that it was a mistake. She couldn't get out of it after that. But she could throw someone else under the bus." "Fuck," I grumbled, my gaze going to Webber's, as if he could help me solve the world's problems. "What do we do now?" "The entire situation doesn't change, Audi," Creole said, drawing my attention from my club president. "She still needs surgery. She still needs her dad and his medical history. She needs Gunner, whether he's ready to deal with this or not. We can keep her. You and me can raise her. But Gunner has to at least give us information." I liked the sound of 'you and me.' But there wasn't a you and me to be had...was there? "I agree with your little enemy here," Webber said. "He needs to know. He may not like what he finds out, but he needs to know." "Fuck," I groaned. "Fuck!" "Incoming!" Silver called out loudly. We all looked up to find Silver in the doorway with a grumpy Lottie. She yawned in Silver's arms, but didn't make a move to go toward anyone else. I smiled, though it didn't reach my eyes. "When do we do this?" "Now." Webber, Apollo and Creole all echoed the same word. Exactly the opposite of what I wanted to hear. "Fuck!" I got up. "What's going on?" Silver asked. Webber gave her the rundown, causing Silver's eyes to go wide. "Wow." "Wow doesn't even begin to cover it," I grumbled. "Let me give her the medication she needs first, then we'll head to Gunner's place." "He's working," Silver said. "At Dallas High today. He won't be home until three. Maybe you should all go to your place, Audric, and then call Gunner to come over there." "Everyone won't fit," I admitted. "My place, then," Webber suggested. "After work." I nodded, and we all went back to our cars. Webber went back to work. I let Creole strap a grumpy Lottie in, and I stopped beside the back bumper where Apollo was standing. "You know, for what it's worth, I think that I would fuckin' jump right in with both feet." Apollo leveled me with a look. "I would find this as fate's way of telling me I got a second chance. I wish with every fiber of my being that Tavi was back here, in my arms, laughing and carrying on. But if I somehow had a daughter drop in my lap, one of my own flesh and blood, I wouldn't hesitate. He may freak out, but I think that he'll be okay once he calms down." "I agree," Creole said quietly. "I miss Damon with my whole heart and soul. Every day I wake up, and I feel like this huge piece of my heart is just gone. Missing to never be found. The idea of having another child scares the absolute crap out of me, because what if I lose that one, too? But if I found out that I had another piece of me running around out there that I had no clue about, you bet your every breath that I'd stop at nothing to have that piece of me in my life." I blew out a ragged breath. Calmness started to settle in my bones. "But neither one of you are vocal as fuck about how against having kids you are," I admitted. "You don't tell anyone that you'd rather die than be a father again." "He's hurt and saying things he doesn't mean," Creole said quietly. "Once he has a chance to really comprehend...it'll be okay." Despite their calming and assuring words, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be okay. Not even a little bit.