Bad Boy Rebound(20)

“I had nothing to offer you.”

“All I wanted was you. Just you. I didn’t care about things. I didn’t care about anything but having your time.” My voice actually cracked. I cleared my throat. “Not once did you take the time to wonder what I was doing with my life.”

“That’s not true,” he said, quick to defend himself yet again. “I used to drop by your baseball games.”

“You came once and left within two innings.”

His upper teeth brushed over his lower lip and he sniffed. “I didn’t like seeing that dude act like your father.”

Angry, I didn’t check myself, and blurted, “He was my stepfather, and he was more of a father to me than you have ever been.”

He winced like I’d slapped him. “Wow. There it is. What else do you want to say?”

The blood coursed through my veins, ratcheting up with my anger. “You put yourself before everything and everyone. Where were you my entire life? Oh, that’s right—in a bar somewhere, with some sleazy bitch, getting so wasted you couldn’t see straight. And using what money you do make on toys that don’t make you happy, only to sell them because nothing can fill the endless void that is your life. You know why that is? Because deep down inside, you’re a fucking miserable person.”

The punch came within seconds, and I had half expected it. I didn’t flinch, I took it…right on the jaw.

I touched my jaw, tasting the blood pooling in my mouth. He looked like he couldn’t believe what he’d just done. “I think you should go,” I said, walking toward the door.

He lifted his chin and stared at me hard. For a second I thought he might apologize. “Look at this face long and hard, boy…because it’s the last time you’ll see it.”

My heartbeat was a roar in my ears. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that statement. Was I relieved, or was I terrified? Scared that I had finally shut the door on the only chance I’d had to have my father in my life?

Shaking his head, he walked to the door and stopped short. He took the hundred-dollar bill from his pocket and set it on the table, then shut the door behind him.

My heart was still racing. I removed the phone from my pocket and pulled up my mom’s contact information. My thumb hovered over the dial icon.

Since moving to Texas, she had called me less. Her daily phone calls had gone down to two a week, but I understood. She had a new husband and a new life and was finally experiencing a freedom that most mothers waited eighteen years for.

I might be a grown man, but it was moments like this that I needed to hear her voice. She was the one person I could tell anything to, and she wouldn’t judge me. She’d give me hard to hear advice sometimes, but it always made me feel better.

Instead of calling, I sent her a text.

I LOVE YOU, MOM.

Within seconds my phone rang and I smiled…even as tears burned my eyes.



I combed a trembling hand through my hair. “Hello,” I said, my voice cracking at the last second. Fuck!

“Brax, what’s wrong?”

Just hearing her voice put a lump in my throat. I took a deep breath and released it. “Nothing. I just wanted to tell you I loved you.”

There was silence on the line. “Well, I appreciate that, and I love you, too…but what’s wrong?”

I shook my head. She could always smell bullshit a mile away.

“I just had a rough day.”

“What happened?” She sounded alarmed, and I was pissed at myself for making her worry.

I would never tell her about dad. He was a sore subject that would instantly put her in a bad mood, and I didn’t want her to worry about me. She’d spent the past twenty-two years doing that.

“Is the business doing okay? I could send you some money.”

“Business has never been better, Mom. I hired a great crew, and they’re working on that new subdivision I was telling you about while I help Toby’s sister out with a renovation.”

“That’s right. Mandy’s back. How is she doing?” As always, there was concern in my mom’s voice.

I’d love to tell her how much I cared for Mandy, but I wasn’t ready for the barrage of questions that would follow. “She’s doing good.”

“She’s a strong woman. I bet that son of a bitch will rue the day he let her go.”

“There’s no doubt about it.” No doubt the son-of-a-bitch was suffering from regret. “She’s a keeper, that one.”

Again, there was hesitation. “You always liked her, didn’t you?”

The woman was psychic, I swear.

She laughed lightly. “Be careful. She’s your best friend’s sister.”