"What are you doing here?" I ask. It tumbles out of my mouth on a wave of shock and embarrassment. I left thinking I wouldn't have to face them again.
Nothing in my life ever goes to plan.
Greg takes a step forward, and I automatically take a step back. That carries on until he's through the front door, and I'm almost backed against the stair rail, my hands hanging limply at my sides. Able follows and closes the door behind him softly. "Did something happen to Tyler?" I gasp. That has to be why they've come. I left, knowing he was low. Did I push him to do something stupid?
"Tyler's fine," Able says. "Well, not fine, but alive."
I grasp the handrail behind me, the bottom falling out of my world. "Is he hurt? Did something happen at the race?"
"He's fine," Greg growls. "You fucked up his heart, but that's it."
Fucked up his heart. It's said with a menace that chills me to the bone. It's not that I fear these men, far from it. I know they'd lay down their lives for me if they had to. It's just that hearing the impact of me leaving is so hard.
"I'm sorry," I blurt.
"Sorry?" Greg takes a step closer. He's so close that I can smell the washing power smell that clings to his shirt and sense the power coiled inside his body. I can't look at him, so I keep my eyes at the level of his throat. He doesn't like that, though. When his finger rests gently under my chin so that he can tip my face up, everything in me seems to still. He's like a conductor, waving his stick to control the orchestra of my soul.
When our eyes meet, it brings back the moment he slid his cock inside me. His stare penetrates in a way that is raw and explicit, and I feel bare before him.
"Why did you leave?" he asks huskily. "Was it something we did?"
I shake my head, and he lowers his lids, his nostrils flaring slightly as he draws in a breath.
"Was it something we didn't do?" he asks. When I shake my head, his brow furrows. "Then what was it?"
I'm so taken up by Greg's intensity that I haven't noticed Able has turned to look at the photos on the wall in the hall. It's not until he gasps that I realize what's happened.
The very thing I didn't want to happen.
He knows.
Greg turns to his friend, wondering what the fuss is about. Able turns from the most recent picture of Sophie taken at kindergarten. The photo that stabbed me in the heart when Sophie bought it home because there's no hiding it.
Sophie might be a little girl, but she's the image of her daddy, cat-green eyes and all.
It takes Greg a little longer to figure out what Able is seeing, and by the time they both turn to me, my hands are shaking. The strength seems to leave my legs, and I fall back, landing on the stairs. They're there in a second—Able next to me and Greg kneeling in front of me—expressions genuinely concerned.
Greg's hand on my shoulder is there to make sure I don't fall. Able takes my hand in his warm palm. "Are you okay?" he asks. "Do you feel dizzy?" Dizzy is not the right word. Overwhelmed is better. Filled with dread too. What's going to happen now? When I shake my head, Greg sighs. I can't tell if it's from relief or frustration.
"She's Tyler's?" he murmurs, and my instinct is to press my face into my palm.
"Yes," I whisper.
"You came back because of her?"
I want to say yes. I wish I could tell him that I'm her momma and I needed to come back to care for her, but it wouldn't be true. I'm Auntie Sandy. Sophie has a mom and a dad, and they aren't Tyler or me.
Able squeezes the hand he's still clutching. "You could have told him," he says softly. "It would have been a shock, but he'd have been happy."
"Happy?" I spit. "Happy? Nothing about this situation is going to bring any of us happiness."
"What do you mean?" Greg says. "You think Tyler won't want his daughter? You guys come as a package deal. We get that. Tyler will get that. He'll be over the moon, Sandy."
"Over the moon…" I shake my head, and a tear leaks from my eye, dropping onto my yoga pants, leaving a dark stain of my sorrow. "You shouldn't have come here," I whisper. "You don't know what you're stirring up. You have no idea."
"SO TELL US," Greg growls. It's the first time he's raised his voice in front of me, and Able gives him a warning look.
"MY SISTER ADOPTED HER!" I shout, then I grit my teeth, knowing that I'm going to have to explain without breaking down. "When Tyler left, I didn't have a way of supporting us. I was still at college. My heart was broken. I just couldn't deal with what was happening to me…and my sister can't have kids, so she offered to take Sophie. It was the best solution at the time, but now…"