But she wasn’t thwarted, and she sat there, waiting for him to explain.
Finally, he did. “My mother, Crystal, who is now Kyle’s mother, met my father when they were nineteen,” Remy said, describing the situation from the beginning of his life with his parents. “They both came from abusive, drug-addicted families who didn’t give a crap about them, so when Crystal got pregnant with me, my father did the right thing and married her, even though they had nothing to their names. My mom worked as a waitress at a truck stop, and my father was a mechanic, and all they could barely afford with a new baby was rent at a shitty trailer park, and that’s where and how I grew up.”
Tempest swallow
ed hard, keeping her hands in her lap when she ached to reach across the table and touch Remy, to give him some kind of physical comfort. But right now, there was too much anger and resentment radiating off him, and she knew he probably wouldn’t welcome her show of empathy.
“Even from a really young age, I remember their marriage being tumultuous,” he went on, clenching and unclenching his fist, his gaze lost somewhere in the past. “My mother, who I never really had a connection with and mostly ignored me, constantly fought with my father. She had no issues telling my dad how much she hated her life with him and that she deserved better than what he could provide. One day, when I was seven, she came home from work and announced that she wanted a divorce. Told my dad that she’d met someone else, who could give her all the things she wanted, that she was pregnant with his kid, and oh, by the way, she didn’t need any baggage going into her new life, so therefore she was signing over all of her custody rights to me to my father. And then she walked out the door and left. As soon as the divorce was final, she married Martin Jenkins, a man at least twenty years older than she was and who owned a chain of high-end restaurants, and severed all ties to me and my father and anything relating to her previous life with us.”
Tempest stared at Remy in disbelief, unable to fathom how a woman could completely turn her back on her own child and abandon him. “You never heard from her after that? Or saw her?”
He shook his head, his eyes dark and dispassionate. “Nope.” The one word was delivered with unmistakable contempt. “Crystal had her new life, with her wealthy husband and their son, Kyle, and I became nothing more than a mistake she wanted to forget.”
Tears filled the backs of Tempest’s eyes, and anger burned like acid in her stomach. “How is that even possible?”
It was a rhetorical question, and Remy just gave a stiff shrug. “She was, and is, a cold-hearted bitch,” he stated bluntly, the resentment vibrating off him nearly palpable. “When I was fourteen, my father died, and the state contacted my mother because there was no one else to take custody of me. She flat-out refused and told them she’d already signed over her rights to me, so I was put into the foster care system for the next four years until I turned eighteen.”
Tempest felt utterly devastated for Remy and what he’d gone through. Unable to stand the physical distance between them and desperately needing to touch him and let him know he wasn’t alone, she stood up, went to him, and didn’t hesitate to sit across his lap. She took his face in her hands and forced his gaze up to hers, ignoring the wary, guarded look he gave her.
“I’m so sorry, Remy,” she said, hearing the catch of emotion in her voice. “Your mother should have loved and protected you.”
“She didn’t want me,” he said angrily. “She couldn’t have made that clearer. And the really sad thing? She cut me completely out of her life, rejected and abandoned me when I truly needed her the most, and I spent years wondering what I did wrong. Why wasn’t I enough? Why couldn’t she love me?”
Her heart ached at the misery she heard in his voice and saw in his eyes, and because there were no easy answers to the questions he’d asked, she just wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, letting him know that she cared for him. His body went rigid at her affectionate gesture, but she didn’t let go, and eventually he slid his arms around her waist, accepting her warmth and compassion.
“You are enough, Remy,” she whispered in his ear, even though she knew he had good reasons for those walls of his, for being wary and cautious with his heart and emotions.
It was difficult enough being shunned by your own mother, but Remy’s ex-wife’s rejection had only reinforced his fears and insecurities, and Tempest suddenly wanted to do everything in her power going forward to show Remy that he was a man who deserved to be happy. And shockingly, she wanted to be the woman to give him all the things his mother and ex-wife had stolen from him.
She lifted her head from his shoulder, still curious about something. “How is it that you know about Kyle but he doesn’t know you?”
His hands dropped to her hips, and where before it had been difficult to get him to talk, now he seemed more open to sharing. “Like I said, my mother disassociated herself from everything in her past, and that little kid in me who wanted his mother’s love and attention and affection couldn’t help but look her up on social media. I saw pictures of her with Kyle and her husband, so I’ve known who Kyle is and what he looks like for years now.”
Tempest thought back to Remy’s angry reaction to seeing Kyle in her apartment that night of the ball, and now it all made sense to her. “Why haven’t you contacted Kyle to tell him that he’s your half brother?”
Remy let out a laugh that was harsh and unforgiving. “It’s not my place to tell Kyle anything. It’s my mother’s place, and clearly she’s made her choice.”
Tempest nodded in understanding, though she wished that things could have been different for Remy. That he’d had the opportunity to grow up in a safe environment with a mother who’d loved and protected him, instead of relinquishing all her rights to an innocent child when he’d needed that parental figure the most. Yet despite all his adversity, he’d become a respectable, decent man worth knowing and loving, even if he didn’t see that himself.
“What are you going to do about Kyle?” he asked, the question quiet and tentative.
She realized Remy was referring to the text she’d received earlier that had prompted this entire conversation. While she knew there was nothing she could say or do to change all the horrible things in Remy’s past, she came to the conclusion that, right now, in the present, she had the ability to protect him from any more emotional upheaval.
Her answer was an easy one. She was putting an end to things with Kyle. For good.
Reaching across the small table, she grabbed her phone, and still sitting on Remy’s lap, she typed out her final reply to Kyle. Ultimately, she didn’t want the other man to ever interfere with her relationship and feelings for Remy, who meant more to her than she ever could have imagined. She didn’t want Kyle in her life, never had, and Remy didn’t need the constant reminder of a life he’d never been a part of.
I need you to stop texting and calling me. I’m seeing someone else. I’m blocking your number as soon as I send this, so don’t bother to respond.
As soon as the message left her phone, she made good on her promise to block Kyle’s number, then showed the text to Remy. The relief she saw filter across his features was tangible, and he gave her a self-conscious grin.
“So, we’re seeing each other, huh?” he asked, his gaze searching hers.
She knew what he meant, what he was asking. After all the things they’d shared about their pasts, this thing between them was no longer just a casual affair but something much deeper and more meaningful that affected them both and lent itself to exclusivity. “I’d really like that.”
“Me, too,” he said, and with a hand sliding into her hair, he brought her mouth down to his for a kiss to seal the deal, leaving no doubt in Tempest’s mind that, for now, she was his.
CHAPTER TWELVE