I hate seeing the two of them fight. They’re best friends; time can’t change that. I don’t want to be the reason that they’re fighting right now. I get no satisfaction from it, none.
“Giselle,” Levi reprimands as I continue to evade his grip.
“Mama, are you okay?” I see Parker enter the room. I pray he hasn’t been there long and didn’t see Gage knock Tane out. Levi lets go of me so I can go over to him, squatting down in front of his small body.
“Baby, everything is fine. Go back into your room and I’ll come read you a story, okay?” I say, smoothing his hair out of his face. He nods and with a final look at the scene before him, turns around and retreats back to his room.
I lean down over Tane, who seems to be unconscious.
“Gage,” I growl, frantically running my hands over Tane’s face. I doubt it helps but I do it anyway. Probably more for me, than for Tane.
“So what? He just fucked you and left?” my brother asks, his chest heaving with anger.
“No,” I begin, knowing Gage won’t like where this goes. “It’s complicated. I never told Tane I was pregnant. I only just told him that Parker is his son.” I sigh and sit back on my heels, thankful when Tane starts to come to. That’s going to be one hell of a black eye, though.
Gage stops. “He didn’t know?” He sounds almost hopeful.
“He had no idea, okay? He didn’t desert us,” I tell him, my eyes pleading. I don’t want to ruin their friendship over this, and the problems between Tane and I are just that: only between us. No matter what issues I have with Tane, I don’t want Gage or Levi to be mad at him. He doesn’t deserve anyone’s wrath except mine.
“How could you not tell him, Giselle?” he asks, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “That doesn’t sound like something you would do.”
I hate the disappointment in his tone.
“We spent one night together, Gage,” I say, avoiding going into details. No brother wants to hear about his sister having a one-night stand. “He didn’t even recognise me. Look, it doesn’t matter, it happened. But he’s here now, and we’re trying to work out what the best thing for Parker would be. I can’t keep him away; Parker would hate me and Tane would hate me.”
And my heart might get broken, again. But now it’s time to think about Parker, not me. It’s all about my little boy.
Gage just stares at me, looking like he wants to hit something else. I look over at Levi, who has an unreadable expression on his face.
“I’m sorry I never told you the truth,” I say softly. Levi stares at the ground, not saying anything. “Both of you.”
Gage sighs, closing his eyes, as if when he opens them everything will be solved. “He’s my friend. But you’re my sister, Giselle, and he should have been there for you. I know I don’t know the whole story, but you shouldn’t have had to deal with this alone.”
“Let me handle this, Gage,” I plead. He goes to argue, but I cut him off. “No. Just stop. Don’t ask me questions when I haven’t even figured out how to handle this situation yet. Let me deal with this and I’ll explain everything later. For now, I need to think and talk to Tane.” I can see Gage thinking it over and when he sighs I know he’s agreed.
“We will talk about this tomorrow,” he demands, his tone brokering no argument.
“Why did you guys come back so soon, anyway?” I ask him.
“We forgot Parker’s bag,” he replies. “We didn’t know …” Something like this would be happening? No, I guess not.
I nod quickly and watch as they both leave.
Levi didn’t say a word.
I’ve really fucked up.
Tane opens his eyes, blinking furiously.
“Are you okay?” I ask. It’s a well-known fact that Gage is a good fighter and he’s built like a brick-house, so I can only imagine how hard he hit Tane.
I watch as Tane shakes his head no, but I don’t think it’s the pain from the hit that he is referring to.
“Wait a sec,” I tell him, getting up and running to Parker’s room to check on him. He’s lying on his bed, fast asleep, clutching a book. The sight makes me feel guilty. I carefully pull the book from his grasp and put it away, then cover him with his blanket. I kiss him on his forehead and run my hand through his hair. He is such a good kid. I really am blessed.
When I return to Tane, he is sitting on the couch, staring at the wall. I see him staring at the bottle of wine, but not reaching to pour any.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he says, still staring at the wall. I sit down next to him.