All In (Keep Breathing Book 2), стр. 65
Nausea rises in my throat at the images of my brother and Holly in bed together. He slept with my Holly. My Red. I knew deep down something was off with how she said we met. Why I couldn’t remember someone like her. She wouldn’t have been someone I would forget no matter how high I was.
“When you mentioned it the first time, I think I went into a bit of denial. Maria and I had been broken up for three months at the time and Holly was the only girl I had slept with besides Maria."
"Why the fuck did you use my name?"
“I didn’t think, okay,” he snaps. “You weren't the only one dealing with shit back then. I wasn't handling the breakup well, and Dad wanted me to be the one to take over in California. Three thousand miles away from everything. From Maria. He didn’t think you could handle it after the shit that went down with Sara and he didn’t want you alone. When I ran into Holly, we hit it off. She was funny and there was something about her.”
“You don’t have to tell me about her,” I grunt angrily. I don’t need to be told what is special about her. Especially not by my jackass of a brother. To be reminded he had her first.
“Right. I was leaving, and I had no idea if I was going to get Maria back. I needed to see if I could move on from her, but at the same time, I didn't want it to get back to Maria. It’s stupid.”
“Yeah, I’d fucking say. Motherfucker. How could you? How could you not say anything from the beginning?”
“I didn't think you would actually go through with a DNA test. Not after Sara, but you did.”
“That's why you told me to throw money at her and walk away. You weren’t worried about my fucking issues; it was about you. It’s why you told Dad and kept saying I wasn’t ready for kids. So I would run? So it wouldn’t fall back on you?”
“Yeah,” he says and he has the audacity to sound affronted.
“You motherfucker.”
“Listen, I was flipping out the whole time waiting for the results to come back. I swore you would see he was mine.” He snorts. “I only found out later since we are identical twins the results would come back as both of us being the father unless you do some high tech testing, but before I searched google for that, I spent the week waiting for your call. Not knowing how I was going to tell Maria what I did. Then when you finally told me the kid was a 99% match to you, and I thought maybe I had the wrong girl. I let the denial take over. Till I did that google search.”
“You son of a bitch. Seriously why are you telling me now? Now?” I ask, and I swear my voice cracks.
“Because it’s been haunting my dreams and in my mind for months. I can’t stop thinking what if she meets me one day and she figures out it was me at the bar that night and not you. Wouldn’t it be good to have our story correct?”
“We're fucking identical!" I bite out. “You used my name. She wouldn’t have figured it out.”
“But we're different. And I remember the night. What if I slip up and say something only me and her know? I don't know. I keep going through these crazy what-if scenarios.”
“You’re telling me this now based on a bunch of what-ifs. Is this some game to you?” I bark, seconds from blowing.
“Lying about it has been killing me, okay? I didn't think you and her would start dating or you would even Dad up. I thought even after you told me you had done all that you would eventually get bored with her, but I was wrong.”
“So, what do you want me to do? She thinks I’m the father of her child. I was the one there that night. I’ve been...” I choke on the last of my words. I feel as if my world has been ripped from me once again. A child I've come to know and love as my son, the one I thought I missed out on so much time with because I dipped out on a one nighter, in reality isn’t mine.
It fucking stings. Actually kills.
"Liam,” Landon calls out to me. “Liam?”
“What?” I snap, after the fifth time he calls my name. “What the fuck do you want, Landon?”
“You don't have to tell her I'm the father."
“Excuse me? Don't tell her?"
He’s cracked. I’m seconds from hopping on the next plane to California and ripping him from limb from limb, much like he did me.
“I told you I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing, but it was killing me not to tell you. But I still don’t want this to get back to Maria.”
“So, you want me to cover your lies?
While destroying me.
“Because if you say anything it's just going to hurt both of us. Mom told me you're obviously in love with Holly and smitten with Matty. I don't want you to lose that, man. I don’t want Maria to know. It would break her heart if she learned I could father another child with another woman, yet I can't give her one.”
“And the fact you didn't tell her you slept with someone during your break…”
“We never discussed what we did during that time. Listen, I’m more worried about her fragile state. She's a wreck after the last miscarriage.”
“Yeah? And what about me?