Down Fall (Fallen Duet 2)

“And…”

I frowned. “And what?”

“For cheating on me.”

“I…” I blinked, not prepared to lie anymore. I’d done enough of that to last a lifetime. “I’m sorry for hurting you, but I can’t be sorry for it. She—”

“Jesus,” Moira hissed. “You’re in love with her.”

I nodded, my words caught in my throat. I never thought I’d be standing across from my wife and telling her I was in love with someone else. But here I was, not a doubt in my mind about how I felt.

“Who?” Cade asked, and I looked over at him. He wasn’t sitting there like a sullen teenager anymore. He was standing, his face getting redder the longer we talked.

“Lola,” I told him, not willing to deny it. She’d wanted actions, and even though she couldn’t see these, I knew I’d done them. I was trying to do the right thing, and that meant transparency.

“Lola,” Cade repeated. “As in my Lola?”

Moira laughed, the sound echoing around the room. “Jesus, she has you both under her spell. Can you not see that she’s a goddamn whore?”

“Don’t,” I warned her. “She had no idea I was married. I was undercover for fuck’s sake.”

“Yeah, okay.” Moira pursed her lips. “I’m over it, and I’m over you. You think you’re the only one who’s been having his fun?”

“Mom?”

She ignored Cade and kept going. “You think I was going to sit around and wait for you to keep coming home? I have my needs, Brody, and you weren’t meeting them.”

I wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth, or if she wanted to hurt me, but I found myself not caring. I didn’t care if she’d slept with other people. I didn’t care if she had a boyfriend. I just...didn’t care.

I turned to face Cade. “I’m going to get my own place, son. If you want to come and stay—”

“It’s about time you became a father. God knows you haven’t since the moment he was born,” Moira snipped.

I took two steps toward her, having had enough. She had every right to be angry at me, but that didn’t mean she could use Cade to punish me. “I’m gonna say this once, and once only. You will not interfere with my and Cade’s relationship. I know I hurt you, and from the looks of things, you have no right to be angry, but that doesn’t mean he has to be stuck in the middle. He’s my son too, and I’ve done everything I can to provide for both of you. Don’t belittle everything I’ve done just because you’re angry.”

She huffed out a breath and twirled around. “Whatever. Be gone by the time I get home.” Her heels clicked along the floor as she walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

“Dad?”

“Son.” I scrubbed my hand over my face and through my hair, feeling a stress headache coming on. “As I was saying—”

“Why would you do that? Why would you sleep with Lola?”

“I know I hurt your mom, but—”

“You don’t get it.” His hands clenched at his sides. “I liked her, Dad.” His shoulders slumped, and he looked down at the floor. “I liked her.”

My eyes widened. “Wait...do you have a crush on Lola?” A laugh bubbled up inside me, and I did all that I could to keep it down. I didn’t find it funny that he had a crush on her, but it was the situation as a whole. I’d hurt Moira by cheating on her, destroyed Lola by walking away from her, and harmed

Cade by loving the woman he was crushing on.

Jesus. I just couldn’t catch a break.

* * *

LOLA

It had been five days since Brody turned up at my apartment and told me he’d left Moira. Four days since Cade looked at or spoke to me, and two days without heartburn. I wasn’t sure which one was more prevalent in my mind, but all three were taking up some space.