The Confession

“I will. And I’ll breathe a lot easier knowing you and Beck are looking after everything.” He handed Seth a ring of keys and an envelope. “These are for the house, garage, and cabana. Raine wrote out a list of phone numbers for Liam’s sisters. I think she also jotted down everyone from the pediatrician to the gardener, so…”

For the first time since he’d arrived, Seth genuinely smiled. “She’s covering all the bases.”

“She is,” Hammer confirmed with a sanguine shrug, then frowned. “How are you doing?”

“Fine.”

“No, I’m serious. You doing better?” Hammer’s stare delved deeper than Seth wanted. “You know there are no secrets between Liam and me, man. He’s…concerned about you.”

Are you fucking kidding me? Now Hammer is going to crawl up my ass, too?

“I said I’m fine,” Seth bit out.

Hammer scowled. “And I’m a Boy Scout. Listen, you helped Liam and me with Raine. Let us help you.”

“Oh, Liam already tried, thanks. Anything else?”

“How about you fucking listen? I get you, man. I really do. Juliet was pregnant when she killed herself. Besides the coroner and Liam, I’ve told almost no one…until now.”

Shock blasted at Seth’s fury. He slumped down into the nearest chair. “Jesus, Hammer… How did you deal—”

“With it? I didn’t. I ran away, clear across the country to escape the memories, just like you.”

Seth shook his head. “I wasn’t running. I came to help Liam. I moved here for Heavenly.”

“And you started a new life, like me.” Hammer’s smile was acidic as he perched on the edge of the desk. “You told yourself you were really moving on, didn’t you? Yeah, I did the same. It took a while for me to realize that changing scenery didn’t do a damn thing to erase my loss. It took me even longer to figure out that you can either learn from your mistakes or let them eat you alive.”

“Our situations aren’t the same.” Seth scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t there to protect my wife and child.”

“I wasn’t there to protect mine. And like you, the signs were there. I just didn’t see them.”

“Hammer, I don’t—”

“Want to deal with it? I know. But tell me what will convince you to. Are you waiting for someone who will love you more?”

“No.” Heavenly seemed to love him unconditionally, though god knew why…

“Someone who understands you better?”

“No.” Beck and Heavenly understood him too damn well, sometimes better than he understood himself.

“Someone you can truly be yourself around?”

“No.” They accepted him—warts, flaws, and foibles—and still wanted him.

“Then what the fuck are you waiting for?”

“I don’t know.” Someone to forgive me.

Hammer shook his head. “Figure it out fast. Because I’m going to tell you, if you keep waiting, they’ll move on. Raine and Liam almost did without me. If I hadn’t pulled my head out of my ass, I wouldn’t be celebrating today. And I wouldn’t be having a son.”

Seth froze. “A son?”

Somehow, Hammer’s smile turned even brighter. “Yeah. Raine just told me. We probably should have waited at least six weeks, but…yeah. She’s pregnant again, and Liam says it’s my son.”

Hammer was having a boy?

The news was a sucker punch. It left him reeling. Struggling to breathe. Bleeding.