Cease Fire (Blackbridge Security 9)

Mom smiles wide as I approach, her arms open for a hug, and God do I need that unconditional support from her. I squeeze her, holding on to her much longer than I normally would. When I finally manage to take a step back, she cups my cheeks in both hands, and I have to swallow down emotion. If I thought I could keep my shit together today, I’m now realizing it’ll be an impossible task.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

All I can manage is a shake of my head. If I open my mouth, I won’t be able to control my words. I’ll spew all of them right at her feet.

“Where’s Jules?” she asks, looking around me as if she thinks I’m hiding the woman.

I swallow again before answering. “I don’t know.”

She frowns, her hands dropping from my face. “I fully expected to see the mother of my grandchild here today.”

Her words slam into me like high caliber gunfire. “Wh-what?”

She gives me a sad smile. “She—”

“Hey, little bro,” Jason says, pulling me into a hug. “Where’s Jules?”

He too looks around me to find her.

“What is going on?” I manage. Shock, adrenaline, and something akin to fear are coursing through my body, and I’m having a hard time separating it all out enough to function.

“Is it Jules?” Beth says, walking into the foyer drying her hands on a dish towel.

“She’s not here,” I murmur.

“Don’t tell me you two are still fighting?” Dad says as he joins the group in the entryway.

“We’re—”

“I won’t allow it,” Mom says, her hands on her hips, something I’ve seen a million times in my life. My mother does this when she’s annoyed, and as a parent to four boys and one girl, she’s done it too many times to count.

“Allow—”

“You need to get over it,” Dad says.

No one is allowing me to speak, which could be considered a good thing since I have no idea what to say.

They all know. Each one standing in front of me knows about her lies, and they don’t seem to care. Jules had it all wrong. No one hates her. She’s not going to lose anything by being pregnant with my child, but maybe she didn’t tell the full truth. Maybe her confession stopped at admitting paternity.

“Did she—”

“She told us everything,” Beth says, her eyes sparkling. “But I knew long before she opened her mouth. I was just waiting for one of you to grow up and admit what happened.”

I realize right then that my family doesn’t know all of it. They wouldn’t be so damn cavalier if they did.

“You got to get over this attitude, bro,” Gannon says as he passes through from the living room to the dining room.

“Attitude?” I snap, glaring at his retreating form. “She—”

“Got pregnant on purpose,” Dad says waving his hand as if the betrayal doesn’t matter. “Same thing happened to me, and I can tell you, getting over it quickly will only make things easier in the long run.”

“She made a mistake,” Mom adds. “We all make mistakes.”

My head is spinning from being bombarded with so much information right now.

“She didn’t have to trap me. I lov—” I hold my hands up, indicating it all just needs to stop. “I’m not talking about Jules with any of you.”

“If you just—” I glare at Beth, the look so harsh, she snaps her mouth closed.

“I’m not talking about her.” I say the sentence slowly, enunciating every word so it leaves no room for argument.

Beth sucks an irritated breath through her teeth, but she simply nods at me before walking away.

Mom looks around me one more time. “You’re sure she isn’t coming?”

“I haven’t spoken to her, Mom,” I mutter as I’m finally given enough room to step into the house and close the front door.

“That’s a shame, Kit. Maybe you can call her after dinner?”

“We’re not together,” I remind her, my eyes looking at everyone who is staring at me like I’m about to do some kind of circus trick. “We’re not going to be together.”

“But—”

“Drop it,” I snap, hating that I’ve just spoken to my mother that way.

I open my mouth to apologize, but she shakes her head, eyes glimmering with tears before she walks away.

Feeling like a complete asshole, I walk past everyone and drop down onto the sofa, twisting my head to pop my neck.

I have a million questions for them. I want to know when she spoke to them, exactly what she said. I want to know if she was upset or remorseful. Did she mention missing me as much as I miss her?

But I won’t. I don’t need to know those things. This isn’t the first time Jules Warren has hurt me, and as the mother of my child, I can’t even think it will be the last.

Everything about this is going to hurt.