Straight Up Love (Boys of Jackson Harbor 2)

The anger in her eyes feels like a punch in the gut. “Molly.”

She nods and turns away, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “So have you known all this time about her kid, or was it a surprise to you, too?”

I toss my phone onto the coffee table. That call was supposed to give me answers and make me feel better. It did neither. “I found out when you did.”

She rubs her arms. “I should have realized something was going on when I saw how much the news affected you.” She laughs. “I thought you just felt sorry for me. Poor Ava has such a screwed-up relationship with her sister that she didn’t even know she had a nephew.” She tosses her purse on the couch and paces between the front door and the kitchen. “But the joke’s on me, because you fucked my sister nine months before she had this secret baby.”

Everything inside me feels like it locks up at those words. “Who told you that?”

“Harrison.” She stops pacing, her back to me, and releases a sardonic laugh. “God, you’d think I’d get to learn something like that from someone other than my ex-husband, but no. What fun would that be?” She turns slowly and meets my eyes. “And you can’t deny it, can you?”

I swallow, but the lump in my throat refuses to budge. Standing, I cross to Ava and take her hands in mine. “I was upset that you’d rejected me. I was drinking, and she was there and . . . it was one night.”

She tugs her hands away. “One night is all it takes. One night was all it took for Harrison to ruin our marriage, and one night was all it took for you to give Molly a baby.”

“Don’t compare me to him. I was with Molly after you shut me down and sent me away. I would never cheat on you. I wouldn’t betray you like that.”

“And yet you’ve had five years to tell me that you slept with my stepsister, and you’ve never said a word.”

“I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t know about Noah. Molly never told me she was pregnant or that she had a kid.” I turn up my palms. “I still don’t know anything, honestly. She didn’t want to talk about it. She said he wasn’t mine, but . . .” But she wasn’t very convincing. “Ava, we’ll figure this out together. I promise.”

She wraps her arms around herself. “Do you know why I realized I couldn’t let you give me a baby?”

My jaw hardens. “I like to think it was because you loved me and wanted more than my sperm.”

She shakes her head. “No. That’s not why.”

“Why?” The word is raw, just like every inch of my heart.

“Because I know you, Jake. I know that you do the right thing. If I’d gotten pregnant, you would have been right there by my side, helping, and fathering, whether that was the life you wanted or not. I know you’ll do the same now for Molly and Noah.”

“She said he’s not mine.” I’m desperate. Panic and confusion twist inside me like snapping fuses creeping toward an ugly explosion.

“Do you believe her? She’s kept this child a secret from everyone for four years, and you’re going to believe he’s not yours just because she said so on the phone?” She studies me, and her expression falters. “You don’t believe it. I see it in your eyes. You think she was lying to you.”

I close my eyes. A few days ago, the only child on the horizon was the one I might make with Ava, and now I’m contemplating the logistics of making Molly do a paternity test on her son. “I don’t know what to think.”

“I can’t see you anymore.”

At first, I’m not sure I heard her right, and then once the words register, they hit me like a sledgehammer right to the chest. It’s a wonder I’m still standing. “Don’t say that.”

“I can’t work at the bar anymore either. I can’t do any of it. You have shit to figure out, and so do I.”

“So we’ll figure it out together.”

“We aren’t any good for each other.” The words vault out of her like rocks thrown at a window. I crack at the impact.

“You’re angry and confused right now, but we’re going to figure this out.”

She nods, her face pale. “I know you will, but not with me. I’m sorry.”

I reach for her, and she steps away, dodging my touch. I don’t have much of a temper, but the little I do have is brewing like a dark storm in my chest.

I can’t lose you.

When she looks up at me, there are tears rolling down her cheeks. “I think you’re amazing.”

Shit. I shake my head, my desperation and panic morphing into anger. “Are we beginning the it’s not you, it’s me conversation? Because I’m really not in the mood to hear that bullshit right now.”