“Wow, that looks like a good one.” He reaches out and touches the bruising on my jaw that’s barely covered by my scruff. I can feel the swelling. Then he turns his attention to Harley. “What are you doing out of bed, young lady?”
“He came looking for me.” Doc whips his head around toward Dylan and snarls. I could feel the tension rippling off my friend.
“Relative or not, if he’s the one who…”
“I’d never hurt a hair on her head,” he says, promising not just to us, but directly to Harley.
“Just my heart,” she whispers. Dylan winces like she just slapped him across the face.
“Harley,” he sighs. “It’s hard to explain.” His eyes flit toward me and then back to her, and I immediately have a gut instinct that it has to do with me.
“Tell me about you. Where did you grow up?”
“I’ve lived with the woman who I thought was my mother. She told me when I was about ten that my real mother had given me up. Later on when I was thirteen she developed an aggressive form of cancer.” He pauses, feeling the pain of the memory. She must have meant a great deal to him as the one person to have given him the love when he was abandoned.
Harley rubs his hand gently, coaxing him to continue. “However before she died she explained my parentage to me so that I knew the truth. She said mother came in claiming that I was the product of rape and that even though she tried to love the idea of me, she couldn’t so when I was born a preemie, she wanted nothing to do with me and gave me up. My adopted mother was the nurse who took care of me at the hospital. After she died, I went into foster care until I aged out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t believe he was a rapist?”
“No. A dog? Hell, yes. He knew he was good looking and took advantage of it, but that’s his own personality and I don’t have that trait in me even though we look identical.”
“That’s for sure. The day I met you, all her friends were hitting on you,” Esperanza huffs.
“Were you hitting on him?” he growls at Harley, getting jealous.
“No. Not that it’s any of your business.” Harley crosses her arms and scowls at Dylan, and I can see that he’s mad about this woman.
“The hell it’s not.”
“You’ve got a good girl. It’s how you treat her, and that’s how you’ll keep her. As for your mother—if I’m right, you were born in wedlock and not from a rape. I can’t know for sure just yet, but I promise I’ll get to the bottom of it for you.”
“Thanks. I’m sorry that I decked you.”
“No. I understand how thinking about another man putting his hands on your woman can piss you off.” I give Blade a look, and he just smirks at me like the playful bastard he is. “Anyway, I’ll look into the matter as soon as I can. It’s the least I can do if I am your uncle.”
“Let me run out and grab some things from my truck, and I’ll be back in a minute to do the labs. I was expecting to be doing some patch work here.” He winks at me and then heads back out the front door. Nickel’s guarding it because as of now, the bar is closed. He’s turned off all the bar lights and kept others from stopping by. It’s cool because the crowd will stay light on a night like tonight anyway. It’s the middle of the week on an extremely cold March evening for this area.
Silence reigns over the room as if there’s someone demanding it, but in reality, what is there to say? If he is my brother’s son from his ex-wife, I’m going to lose my shit. We had a right to know he had a child. Even if she didn’t want the baby, my parents would have gladly taken custody of their grandson and loved him. Now they’re gone and missed out on a life with him.
“I’m back; please hold your round of applause. This may hurt a bit, but I’ll be gentle,” Doc says with a chuckle and a little swagger in his step.
“Don’t be a prick,” I snip.
“Only a little.”
“That’s what she said,” Blade coughs out.
“That’s not what she told me,” Crystal adds.
Boomer wraps his arms around his wife, pulling her tightly to his chest. “Don’t be talking about his dick, babe, or I’ll be bending you over really good tonight.”
“You need to work on your threats,” she says, rubbing her ass on his front.
“No pizza. Only salads with light dressing.” She freezes, and we all know he’s gone too far now and a big gasp goes around the room.
“That’s cruel. Fine. Well, commence with the blood draw, damn it. I want my pizza,” she huffs, crossing her arms over her pregnant belly.