Sin City Baby

“And I fell asleep in her hotel room.”

“Damn it, Luke.”

“And Lauren came by, and that’s how she knows,” I said quickly.

Liam’s eyes whipped up to mine and I saw frustration behind them. That exasperated look he gave the brothers and I when we’d really fucked up and he felt he had to clean up our mess.

“That’s how Lauren found out?” he asked. “Because she caught you in Sam’s hotel room?”

“It happened so fast. Lauren came banging on the door to check on Sam because she thought Sam was sick, and I had nowhere to hide. Lauren busted through the door and saw me and started rattling on about how I was the father of the child and Sam—blurted everything out.”

“And you’re just now telling me this!?”

“I was hoping it would all blow over,” I said.

“Shit like that doesn’t blow over, Luke. What? How did? How could you?”

Fuck. It was never good when Liam was speechless.

“Why do you keep fucking this up, Luke?” he asked. “Why? You’re the reason why her parents are irate with her. And now, you’re the reason why Lauren’s angry. Because I know even without you telling me that she is.”

I sighed and closed my eyes as Liam slammed down into his chair.

“I want to make things right, okay? I know I messed up,” I said.

“You think?” he asked.

“You can get off your high horse now, since we’ve all pissed her off at some point in time. But what do I do? What do we do?”

“We don’t do anything, Luke. Sam’s scared. And for the first time in her life, she’s allowing herself to admit that. Stop putting your wants and wishes for your own world in front of hers. That’s what you do. Because it’s not about you.”

“Thanks,” I said flatly.

A resounding knock on the door caught our attention. Who in the world was knocking down his office door? Liam jumped out of his chair, his brow furrowed deep with confusion. He grabbed the doorknob and swung it open, revealing who was standing on the other side.

The hairs on the back of my neck bristled the second I saw who it was.

“Mr. Easton?” I asked.

What the hell was Sam’s father doing in Bakersfield?

He whipped his eyes over to mine, flaring with an anger so unspeakable it could only be considered demonic. He charged me and drew his fist back, lunging at me before Liam could process what was happening. A searing pain shot through my nose. Throbbed behind my eyes. Caused me to stumble back. I heard Liam yelling in the background as footsteps ran down the hallway. Tears crested the folds of my eyes as my nose began to throb. It was an earth-shattering pain that coursed through my face. My nose ached, and I could feel something dripping from it.

I brought my hand in front of me to guard myself against another attack as feel scuffled along the floor.

I watched Liam’s shadow loom in front of me as I wiped at my nose, grimacing at the pain that was almost blinding. Holy shit. Sam’s father had just punched me in my nose.

“What's going on?” Liam asked. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s for knocking up my little girl,” Mr. Easton said.

“Assault isn’t tolerated on this property, sir. But since we’re on the subject, we’d like to have a word with you,” Liam said.

“A word with me?” he asked. “That was something I should’ve done to you boy’s years ago. You baited my daughter. Prowled around her. Gawked at her like she was your piece of meat. And now you’ve ensnared her and we’ll never get her back.”

“You never had her,” Levi said as he stepped up to the plate. “Her entire life, you tried to control her. Manipulate her. Get her to grow and mold and become someone she wasn’t.”

“It’s called parenting,” Mr. Easton said.