Trenton Morgan. My goddamn father.

  My knees finally give out and I fall back, catching myself against the wall as the betrayal rocks through me. I’ve never had a close relationship with my father, not since I hit my teens, but I never imagined he could do this to us. I never thought he’d do this to Mom. He’s not just cheating on her, he’s got himself a whole new family.

  Riley watches me as Roni continues talking, but my head is spinning so erratically that I can’t make out her words. The one thing I know for sure is this little girl is my sister, and as for her chunky twin brothers who’ve stolen her mother’s attention, well fuck, they’re my brothers too.

  Riley gapes at me, having no fucking idea what to say to make any of this okay, and I don’t expect him to because fuck, I haven’t got a damn clue what to say either. I try to tune into Roni’s voice, knowing in the back of my mind this could be my only chance to get information on this family I never knew I had, but a woman’s voice cuts through the phone. “Roni, baby, where are you?”

  “Uh-oh,” she laughs before the phone is plagued by the rustling sounds of Roni bolting through her home.

  “Roni,” the woman calls. “Where are you—oh no, not again. You know you’re not allowed to touch daddy’s phone.” Roni laughs, all too proud of herself as her mother chants in the background. “Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.”

  A baby starts crying again, but the rustling gets louder, drowning the baby out until I hear what must be my father’s side piece yanking the phone out of Roni’s hand. There’s a short silence before a panicked curse. “Oh, crap, Roni. You’re calling people again?” she says before her voice is much louder, speaking to me. “Hello? Hi, I’m so sorry, my daughter likes to call people. Who is this?”

  I pause, unsure how to handle this. I have no idea what this woman knows of me or if she even knows of me at all. Does she think my father is a knight in shining armor giving her the world, or does she know he’s betrayed the family he has back home, a family who very much believed they were his only priority? “I think the more appropriate question is, who are you?”

  “Ex … excuse me?” she questions, taken aback by my question. “Who is this?”

  “My name is Tanner Morgan. I’m the son of the man you’re currently living a double life with.”

  There’s a pause and I swear, I can almost hear the rapid beat of her heart. “I … Ummm, what?” she breathes, sounding as though I’m playing some kind of wicked prank on her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your boyfriend—”

  “Husband,” she cuts in with an accusing tone, as though trying to insert some kind of dominance over this conversation.

  I laugh. “Holy shit, he’s really got you fooled,” I tell her, almost pitying the woman. “I’m sorry to break the news, my father has been married to my mother for twenty-three years, and despite how much I despise the man, they’re still very happily married. So, I’ll ask you again, who the hell are you?”

  “I’m … I’m his wife. We’ve been married for five years. I just had his babies.”

  I cringe. “Well shit, hey! This is awkward,” I say. “I suppose you better check the legality of that wedding certificate, but in the meantime, could you let him know he has a wife and daughter back home who’ve been desperate for his return?”

  “Uhhh …”

  I close my eyes, the weight of my father’s infidelity weighing down on my shoulders. How the fuck am I supposed to tell Mom and Addie about this? I suppose I could simply do it without tact like I just did to this woman. I don’t even know her name and I just blew up her world in the space of two seconds, just as her three-year-old daughter did to me. I mean sure, I probably owe her an apology, but she’s not going to get it today.

  There’s nothing but the soft cries of the woman’s babies in the background and then just like that, the call goes dead, and I realize there’s a good chance I will never get the answers to the millions of questions flashing through my head. Who the hell is she? When did my father’s affair start? Will my half-siblings ever be a part of my life? And will that little girl ever truly know who I am to her? Because even though I’ve never met her, never even laid eyes on her, I feel this strange need to protect her, exactly how I feel about needing to keep Addison safe from the ugliness and horrors of this world.

  The phone falls from my fingers, crashing to the ground and cracking the screen as my hands come up and slowly drag down my face. “Fuck, Tanner,” Riley says, his voice thick with hesitation, trying to find the right words. “You good?”

  I shrug my shoulders, the overwhelming need to have Bri in my arms plaguing me. “I don’t know, man,” I say. “It’s not me who’s going to be hurt by this.”

  “I know,” he says, knowing just how much Addison idolizes my father, and how my mom longs for him when he’s away on his so-called business trips. “Are you going to tell them?”

  “What kind of prick would it make me if I didn’t?” I ask him, hating this position I’ve somehow put myself in. I stand, needing to get this over and done with quickly, starting with Mom. I’ll let her decide how she wants to break the news to Addie, but I won’t hide this from them. I won’t stoop to his level and betray their trust like he does, and I sure as fuck won’t protect his secret, no matter if he’s been doing the same for me about that night with the Hardin brothers. I don’t care what it costs me; I won’t hide from this.

  Grabbing my water bottle, I’m just about to tell Riley I think it best if he jets out of here when I turn and find Mom sitting just outside our home gym in the adjoining living room, her hand over her mouth as tears stream down her face, doing everything in her power not to fall apart. “Fuck,” I whisper, coming to a stop.

  Riley glances up and swallows hard, seeing the broken woman before us and sighs, heartbreak flashing in his eyes. “I’ll leave you to it, man,” he says, grabbing his shit, and without another word, he walks out of the gym and crosses to my mom. He doesn’t say anything, just simply leans down and wraps his arms around her, giving a gentle squeeze before pulling away and giving her space.

  Riley vanishes out the side door, leaving me with my mom.

  I join her on the couch and take her hand, holding it in my lap and trying to figure out how to talk about this, despite it being crystal clear she heard more than enough of my conversation. “I don’t know what to tell you,” I say, my voice breaking with pain, the lump in my throat making it hard to breathe.

  Mom pulls her hand free from mine before hastily wiping her eyes and standing up. She makes a show of straightening her outfit before giving me a fake smile while trying to appear encouraging. “You don’t need to tell me anything,” she says. “I’m your mom. I should be the one consoling you, but I know how you hate to be coddled.”

  I stand in front of her and pull her into a tight hug, hating the broken sob that tears from her throat as she curls into me. “It’s okay to be sad and hurt,” I tell her. “You don’t need to be strong for me. I got you.”

  Mom cries for a moment, her tears staining my shirt and then finally, she pulls herself together and wipes her eyes again. She gives herself a moment to breathe before giving me another smile, though this time, there’s a little more warmth to it. “I’ll have to break this to your sister,” she tells me. “It’s going to break her heart.”

  “It will,” I agree.

  “I don’t know how much more hurt Addison can take,” she confides.

  “I know, but it’ll hurt her more if we keep it from her, and I won’t do that.”

  Mom nods, reaching for my hand and squeezing. “You’re right,” she says before allowing a quiet moment to pass between us. “I’m sorry you had to find out like that. That's not a conversation anyone ever wants to have, especially someone your age. I think you handled yourself well.”

  I give her a blank stare. “You’re fucking with me, right?” I laugh, a grin pulling at my lips. “I was an ass to that woman.”

  “Language,” she scolds. “But yes, you were a bit of an … ass. However, you gave her the information she needed to make her own decisions. You didn’t need to do that. It wasn’t your responsibility to shoulder, but you did, and that shows what a remarkable young man you’ve become.”

  I give her another blank stare. “Don’t give credit where it’s not due,” I tell her. “There was nothing remarkable about it. I was hurting and I wanted her to feel it too. She had a smug tone, the way she called him her husband, and I wanted her to feel the sting just like you and Addie were going to. I wasn’t kind, Mom. I wanted her to know she wasn’t the only one in his life, wasn’t special enough for him to have ended things here. That doesn’t make me a saint, it makes me a bastard.”

  Mom nods. “Either way, this is only the beginning. Something tells me there’s about to be some big changes around here, so buckle up, kid. The three of us need to stick together.” And just like that, she gives me one more smile, one that doesn’t reach her eyes, and not a moment later she walks away, barely holding herself together.

  Chapter 17

  BRIELLE

  One messed-up drama after the next. When the hell will life go back to normal?

  I can’t even wrap my head around everything that’s been going on. I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of rule about not being stressed out while trying to heal from a stab wound. You know, because it’s not good for you and all that. But hell, let’s go ahead and throw a bigamist asshole with a double life, second wife, and children on top of the ever-growing pile of shit to deal with. Not to mention the even bigger asshole next door who thinks I’m about to become his personal sex slave. Like what the fuck is going on around here?

  I knew Tanner’s father was an asshole the second I met him. He didn’t think I was good enough, but all those bad vibes would never have led me to believe he’d be the type of man to build another life across the other side of the world, while still maintaining a marriage and family here in Bradford. He seemed distant while he was here, not that I saw much of him. But from what I did see, I thought he loved his wife and daughter, the apple of his eye.

  I just wish I’d been here for Tanner when he found out. If I’d known, I would have raced right back here, but I was holed up in the library, smashing out another assignment while Tanner was working out with Riley. He’s been so busy trying to be the shoulder for his mom to cry on that he disregards his own feelings in his need to be her hero. Sure, a part of me loves that about him, but he won’t be able to help anyone if he doesn’t process and deal with the hurt himself. I know Tanner likes to be the protector of his family, but sometimes he needs to put himself first.

  It’s been a strange afternoon in the Morgan household. I’ve been chilling with Tanner while his mom took Addie down to the big comfy couches and broke the news to her. At first, Addie seemed numb, but then the tears started, and now she’s pissed. As for their mom, she’s just broken. I don’t blame her though. I can’t imagine how it would feel learning your husband of twenty-something years created a family across the world with someone else, learning he had three young children with another woman and had supposedly married her. If it were me, I’d be asking how many other women there had been and how long it’d been going on. I’d be re-evaluating my whole life and trying to figure out how the hell to move forward.

  It’s creeping toward dinner time when I walk up the stairs, looking for Tanner to figure out what our plans are for the night, but I come to a stop, finding him standing in Addison’s doorway, murmuring some kind of encouraging words to make her feel better about the bomb she was blindsided with. I don’t bother them and instead, detour to Tanner’s room. He knows I’m here, despite not making a sound. I don’t know how, maybe he can sense me. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had hidden a GPS tracker on me somewhere, and that goes for Addie too.

  Tanner is protective, and since Colby decided to surprise us with a little knife play, that protectiveness has only become more intense. I won’t lie, most of the time, that protectiveness is hot as fuck, but at other times, it’s simply overbearing. I’m sure, given time, he’ll be able to relax, but while it’s still so fresh and those memories continue to haunt him, he won’t be able to find peace.

  Pushing through Tanner’s bedroom, a figure in the window has me pulling up short. My eyes widen, and my heart kicks into gear, but the second I see my brother’s stupid face grinning through the window of the second story bedroom, a cheesy smile rips across my face.

  “Holy shit! Damien!” I shout, rushing over to the window to let him in, only the fucker laughs and straightens up before whipping his dick out and slamming it up against the glass, proving once and for all he’s spent way too much time living around a bunch of dudes.

  I scream and turn away from the window, my eyes burning at seeing all too much of my brother. He squishes his balls up against the glass as he laughs so damn hard the moron almost falls back and tumbles right off the roof.

  “BRI?” Tanner roars, storming down the hall at the sound of my scream, only to bust through the door to find my brother’s version of a squashed frog up against the glass. Not being able to see his face, Tanner is just about ready to end his life, only Damien pulls back and leans down again, grinning at Tanner like a thirteen-year-old boy who just saw his first set of tits.

  Tanner stops, his expression morphing into bewildered glee as he shakes his head. “What the fuck, man?” he says as I step up to the window, flicking the latch and opening it wide for the asshole to climb in.

  A laugh comes from the door and I whip around just in time to watch as Addison lowers her phone and starts hashing out a text, clearly having captured one of the worst moments of my life, right below getting stabbed, being in a car wreck, and tearing off my meat curtain with hot wax. “Oooh, Ilaria’s night is about to get a whole lot better.” And just like that, she hits send on her message and I shake my head, never so mortified in my life.

  Damien’s feet hit the ground and he smirks at me, so damn proud of himself. “What’s up, dork?” he says, crashing into me and pulling me into a tight hug.

  I fight against him, desperately trying to shove him off me. “Eewww,” I shriek. “Get off me with your dirty dick hands. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Damien laughs and eventually releases me, but not before making a point to rub them all over my face, making me gag. I shake my head, never wanting to pulverize someone so badly in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I love my brother, I adore him, but it’s times like this that make me wish I were an only child. I mean, who the hell made it a rule that big brothers are supposed to torment their little sisters? Whoever that was deserves a cactus right up the pee hole.

  Stepping away from Damien, I walk toward Tanner’s private bathroom. “Excuse me while I bleach my face,” I mutter. I swear, I have no idea what Ilaria sees in this douche-canoe.

  “Sure,” Damien says, ignoring my glare as though it simply bounces off him. “When you’re done, you can explain why the hell Mom just told me you’re living here now, and after that, we’re getting fucked up.” He turns to Tanner. “Know any parties going on tonight?”

  Well, fuck. Looks like my night just got a little more interesting.

  Precisely eight minutes later, I’m standing in the cold with my face scrunched in distaste. “Are you sure we really need to bring him?” I ask, hovering in Orlando’s backyard and staring up at Jensen’s bedroom window. “He’s such an ass.”

  “Why, that’s your big brother you’re talking about,” Damien says in his version of a Southern drawl, only it just makes him sound like a bigger ass than Jensen. “You wouldn’t dream about leavin’ me behind now, would ya, lil darlin’?”

  “First off, he’s our stepbrother,” I remind him, rolling my eyes as Addison scoffs behind me, knowing damn well how I’m about to answer that question because if the tables were turned, she’d answer it the exact same way. “And second, do you really want the answer to that while the memory of your dick hands on my face are still burning their way through my brain?”

  “Good point,” he murmurs before making a step out of his hands and bending low. “Now, quit fucking around and get your ass up there.”

  I groan before stepping into him and shoving my hand against his shoulder. My foot drops into his hands and Tanner moves in behind me, more than ready to help hoist me onto the roof. “I swear, If I find that asshole doing anything unholy in his room, you’re both paying for my therapy.”

  Tanner scoffs. “Really? After everything that’s been going down, that’s what you think will put you into therapy?”

  I roll my eyes, but before I can get another word in, Tanner and Damien hoist me up and a piercing squeal tears from deep in my throat. I clutch the edge of the roof as they push me all the way up, and I scramble to get my knees firmly on the roof. “Holy fuck,” I mutter, commando crawling across the rough shingles, certain I’m about to fall and drop to my untimely death. I crawl right across to Jensen’s window before pulling myself up against the frame and peering in.

  My face scrunches, taking a look at the hot mess before me, and while I’m glad not to see him jerking off into an apple pie, there’s definitely porn paused on his laptop. I bang my knuckles against the glass. “Oi, fucker,” I call through the glass.

  Jensen’s head pops out of his bathroom, his toothbrush hanging from his mouth. “What the fuck?” he says, catching sight of me at his window. He gapes at me, shaking his head before ducking back into his bathroom and spitting a mouthful of toothpaste into the sink. He ditches the toothbrush and wipes his mouth before striding out again. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Grab your shit,” I tell him, not exactly wanting to explain the bullshit that led me right up to this moment of my life. “We’re going to a party.”

  “Fuck off, like I’d wanna spend my night chilling with you.”