Prodigal Son: A Sexy Single Dad Romance: Book 2 in the Marked Men 2nd Generation Series (The Forever Marked Series)

by Jay Crownover

  I frowned slightly. It sounded like this kid knew my uncle better than I did. He sure seemed to know more about his mysterious past than I ever had. It left me feeling a little left out.

  “My Aunt Echo and Uncle Benny will probably stop by unannounced after I go back to work. Same for my mom and dad. They live right around the corner, so they’re really close by if you need anything when I’m not around.” I shrugged my shoulders and told him, “I don’t have siblings like you, but I do have a cousin I’m really close with, and a friend or two I grew up with who might pop in. They’re all related to Daire in one way or the other, so as long as she gives the okay, let them in.” There were times when I was younger that I longed for a brother or sister. Both my parents worked a lot and were busy, but I wasn’t often left to fend for myself. There was always someone there to take care of me, and when I got older, my parents even brought a foster child home every now and then. My mom’s line of work brought her into contact with kids in truly dire situations all the time. She wanted to help as many of them as she could, but she only intervened in a big way when it was a case that was really, really bad. I still kept in touch with a couple of the kids who were temporarily part of my family, but most had moved on and moved away. It was hard to stay somewhere that held more bad memories than good ones. They all still send my mom and dad cards on the holidays and keep them updated on their lives, which seemed to be enough for my folks. My parents assured me repeatedly they had no regrets about keeping our family small and unconventional.

  “Nice to have your family close by.” Campbell sighed and muttered, “I’ll make nice with the sullen princess. I just wasn’t expecting her. I really don’t care one way or the other if she’s hanging around the first few weeks.”

  I chuckled again and shook my head. “Daire isn’t a princess. She’s a hellraiser. Or, she was up until recently. She was in a really terrible accident with her older brother this summer. The aftermath has taken a toll on her, so she’s quieter now. She always looked like an angel but acted more like a little devil. If you underestimate her, you’re going to regret it.”

  He made a sound like he understood the warning, then offered one of his own. “Since you know you’re going to have such a hard time when you have to leave your daughter all day, you should probably start leaving her for short periods and work up to a full workday; otherwise, you won’t make it out the front door. The first time I ventured out to find help for my family, it felt impossible, and I had to go back even though I didn’t want to. It gets easier if you ease into it. Maybe start with meeting a friend for coffee, then lunch, then a half-day event or something. Plus, it’ll give me and the moody teen time to adjust to each other.”

  I wasn’t going to tell him again that he had Daire all wrong. He was going to have to learn that lesson the hard way. But he had a point about easing into leaving my baby alone with him.

  The problem was, the only person I wanted to spend time with aside from Hollyn was Remy, and she made it pretty clear she was in a hurry to get away from me the morning I took her to her car. I knew I could call Joss or my dad and make plans with them, but the one I wanted to see, the person I wanted to know more about, was Remy. Even if it was nothing more than getting coffee or grabbing a quick bite to eat, I wanted to spend the fleeting free moments I had with her.

  Pondering the dilemma of my own making, my thoughts were interrupted when Daire came into the nursery carrying a visibly uncomfortable Hollyn. “I think she needs to be changed.”

  Campbell snorted and walked toward her to take the baby. “She does. I can smell her from here.”

  I was going to tell him to hand her over when Daire put a hand on the center of my chest and pushed me in the direction of the door. “Let him do it. This is what you’re paying him for. I’ll keep an eye on him. You go take a nap or something. You look tired, Hyde.”

  I wanted to argue with her, but she was right. Sooner or later, I would have to relinquish a little bit of control where my child was concerned. It would be a big learning curve, and time was running out for me to adjust. I needed to get with it and find my rhythm fast.

  Taking Daire’s advice, I wandered into my hardly used bedroom and sat down on the edge of the mattress. She was correct that I was tired and could use a nap. However, I didn’t lie down. Instead, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and pressed that damn number I’d kept since the start of time. It was almost as if I couldn’t stop myself from calling her. I knew I really wanted to hear the sound of her voice.

  I wondered if I would ever get used to her finally answering my calls. Before the shock settled, I blurted out, “Remy, come and have coffee with me tomorrow.” She didn’t respond until I whispered a very desperate sounding, “Please.”

  Remy

  I NEARLY TURNED back and ran to my car three or four times on my way to the coffee shop located fairly close to my loft in LoDo. When Hyde asked me to meet him, my initial reaction was no way in hell. But when he said ‘please’ and sounded so scared and lost, I reluctantly agreed. However, I picked a place that was my home turf. This coffee shop was located in the warehouse district and belonged to a chain of the buildings that my dad revamped and updated over the years. It was also close to Hudson Wheeler’s original custom car and motorcycle shop, where my brother spent most of his free time. I’d worked as a barista here for a year or so when I was younger, much like I’d worked as a bartender, florist, personal shopper, dog walker, landscaper, and a professional up-cycler. If there was a creative, hands-on job that kept my mind and body busy, I’d done it. Lately, I’d settled into website development and graphic design, which put my fine arts degree to use, and was probably the career I’d stuck with the longest. I had a friend who hooked me up with a few independent authors, so I’d been playing around with book cover design and branding, which I loved. It was fun to work with other creatives and artists, bringing their vision to life. It gave me a sense of accomplishment none of my other short-lived careers had, but still, this coffee shop was very familiar, and I felt comfortable with the vibe. I’d need it to get through a meet-up with Hyde.

  I thought it was pretty ironic that everyone in my life was so worried that I would get attached to him and constantly seek him out now that he was back, when the exact opposite had happened. I was doing a pretty good job forgetting about Hyde during my day-to-day, but he seemed determined to have our lives collide every chance he got. If only I was slightly more immune to him, I would be able to deny him when he pleaded to keep me close and implored me to see him.

  Calling myself every kind of idiot in the book, I knocked my knuckles against my temple as I stepped into the busy café. I waved absently to the girls behind the counter and shouted ‘hello’ to the owner, whom I’d known since I was a teenager. This spot was a favorite for all the Archers, and I couldn’t even begin to count the hours we’d spent doing our homework here or bringing our crushes by when we’d started to date. This was even the spot where my cousin Ry and his girlfriend had broken up and later cleared the air. Aston worked at her dad’s garage across the road, so both my brother and Ry had spent hours gazing out the window watching her come and go when they were younger.

  My gaze immediately went to one of the back corners where Hyde was sitting. His gaze was glued to his phone, and even with the space separating us, I could see the tension radiating off every line of his big body. He looked stiff and nervous, and not any more excited to be here than I was.

  Wondering why I agreed to give up my afternoon to do this, I made my way over to where he was hunched over his phone and a cup of plain black coffee. I plopped down in the seat across from him with a dramatic sigh. One of the staff yelled across the distance, asking if I wanted my regular drink, and I nodded.

  Hyde lifted his head, and I immediately felt pinned in place by the intensity of his green gaze. He looked worried, and maybe even a little ill. It took me a second to realize he was sitting in this corner all by himself. He didn’t have his daughter wit
h him. Suddenly, the importance and purpose of this little outing made much more sense.

  “You left Hollyn with your new manny?” I asked the question and smiled my thanks to the girl behind the counter.

  Hyde’s dark eyebrows darted up, and the corner of his mouth quirked upward as he asked, “Manny?”

  I shrugged and took my drink from the barista when she stopped by the table a few minutes later. “Yeah. A male nanny. A manny. I think that’s what they’re called.”

  He finally smiled a real smile, and my breath caught in my chest. I forgot how drastically a bright, big smile transformed his usually stern and somber face. He always looked so serious, but when he smiled, he looked years younger and about a hundred times more attractive.

  “I just call him Campbell. That’s his name.” He tilted his head to the side and quipped, “But I’m not sure if it’s his first or last.”

  “Ohh… a single name sounds mysterious. No wonder you’re so uptight about leaving Hollyn alone with him.” I pointed a finger at him. “You could’ve just told me that was why you wanted to meet up.” I would’ve said yes right away. Not that I would’ve been able to reject him after he said ‘please’ in such a soft and serious way.

  His smile slipped a little, and he looked away from where our locked gazes. “Maybe I wanted to see if you would come, regardless of the reason.”

  An awkward silence fell between us after he dropped his words like a bomb. That’s what I used to do, run to him whenever he called, and even when he didn’t. I couldn’t decide how I felt about him wanting to see if he still had that same power over me. It felt like a test, and I wasn’t sure if I passed or failed. I guess it would depend on who was doing the grading.

  “How has the new guy settled in? Is he getting along with Daire okay?” I tried to ask my cousin how things were going over at the Fuller household, but for once in her life, she was stingy with the details. The queen of gossip had clammed up, which was telling.

  “He’s very good with Hollyn. It’s easy to tell he’s familiar with babies. He said he raised his siblings from the time they came home until they were all school aged. I feel like I can learn a lot from him. He’s pretty quiet and doesn’t really interact with either me or Daire. All his focus is on Hollyn. When he gets off work, he sort of disappears into the basement or takes off with my Uncle Benny. I didn’t realize the two of them were so close when he recommended Campbell for the job. It makes sense, though; he kind of reminds me of a younger version of my uncle.”

  I snorted and swirled my straw in the whipped cream on the top of my drink. “Then no one is going to mess with your kid.” I copied his head tilt. “Not that it makes leaving her for the first time any easier. How bad do you want to get in your truck and race home right now?”

  This time when he smiled, it was brittle and thin. “It’s literally taking every ounce of self-control I have not to bolt for the door. I’ve texted twenty times and called around ten. I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin, and the one sip of coffee I took tasted like acid.”

  I wanted to reach out and put a hand over his. His fingers were curled into a fist on top of the table. They were clenched so hard, I could see the veins on the back of his hands bulging. He really was doing his best to hold himself together.

  “Can I ask about the other side of Hollyn’s family? I know you mentioned things were complicated before her mom passed away, so I don’t want to add any extra stress by bringing it up if you don’t want to talk about it.” It took him a minute to nod, but even with that, I could sense his reluctance to broach the subject, but he was willing to indulge me, like he always had in the past. “I’m just wondering how they felt about you bringing Hollyn back to Colorado. She’s a piece of the daughter they lost suddenly. It had to be hard for them to see her leave. Are they planning on coming to see her at all?”

  Hyde shifted in his seat and lifted his eyes back to mine. I was taken aback by the anger I saw in them. Hyde wasn’t exactly an easygoing kind of guy, but he also wasn’t someone who lost his cool without a very good reason, and right now, there was pure rage in his evergreen gaze.

  “My ex, Ava, told her parents that Hollyn might not be mine. She’d been seeing someone else during my last deployment and kept it up when I got home. She didn’t like that I was ready to move on from the Army. She wanted to be a military spouse no matter what, just like her mother. When the accident happened, I was more worried about the baby, because she had survived. I knew there was nothing I could do about Ava. I guess in my mind, Holly was already mine and Ava stopped being someone I considered my own the minute she told me she was cheating on me. To them, I didn’t grieve properly or show enough remorse over Ava’s passing. I think they even blame me for the accident. Ava was on her way to see me when she was run off the road. I’d told her that day that I was fine breaking up, but I wanted a DNA test to prove who the baby’s father was. I didn’t mind losing her to my former friend, but I wasn’t going to give the baby up without a fight. Not after everything I went through when I was younger. Ava was upset and wanted me to drop it. She didn’t care if the baby might be mine, she wanted the other guy to raise her. She’d moved on and wanted me to do the same. It was so easy for her to get over me; I guess she assumed I could do the same thing when it came to my child. I think she was anxious about the other guy walking away if the baby was mine. That would throw a wrench into the perfect family unit she built up in her mind.” Hyde sighed and shook his head. “The other guy was way more into her than I was. He was also stationed under her father’s command, so he knew her family better than I ever did. He took her death really hard. He barely came by to see the baby, even when there was a possibility she was his. Ava’s family was the same. They were weirdly resentful that her baby survived and Ava didn’t. They didn’t come to see her at all when she was in the NICU and didn’t make any kind of move toward custody arrangements or visitation. They didn’t say anything when we left Georgia for Colorado.”

  I blinked and couldn’t stop anger from bubbling in my blood. “That’s terrible. How could anyone do that to a baby?” And how could his friend and girlfriend betray him that way? No wonder his grief was complicated and not overly obvious. He’d been through a lot before he came back home. He really was the prodigal son who faced trials and tribulations before making his way back. It was really hard for me to imagine anyone cheating on him. To me, no one ever compared to Hyde. There was no one better than him. I couldn’t figure out what his previous girlfriend was thinking.

  “I figure if they have a change of heart, or if Hollyn wants to get to know them when she’s older, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, they don’t want her, and I do.” He didn’t have to tell me he knew how that felt as a child because I was well aware of the impact his time in the child welfare system had on him. Then, he suddenly turned the tables on me. “What about you? I hope you had better luck with your love life than I’ve had with mine.”

  I picked up my drink to keep my nervous hands busy. “No. I’m not exactly lucky in any department.” Dating was easy enough. I’d always had a knack for drawing people to me and making anyone and everyone feel at ease, but my over-the-top personality and my unpredictable moods usually proved to be difficult to adjust to for anyone who tried to get serious about me. I was sick to death of love interests thinking they could change me or that I would suddenly morph into a mellow, docile woman after we’d been together for a bit. I started to feel like no one wanted to put in the effort to love me just the way I was, so I stopped trying. I was more of a fun-fling-while-it-lasted kind of girl anyway.

  “I moved around a lot after I had a falling out with my mom. I was really angry at her for a long time, and wanted to be anywhere but home. I was never in any place long enough to get serious about anyone, or invest my time into them. Also, being upfront and honest about my mental health and my history is often a turn-off.”

  Hyde sat back in his chair, and a harsh expression crossed h
is handsome features. “You lost a lot of time with your family because of me. I’m sorry. That was the last thing I wanted to happen.” His words were full of regret, and I could physically see the way remorse weighed his broad shoulders down as he slumped slightly in his seat.

  “I had to get out and see the world the same way you did. Had to find who I was supposed to be.” I put my drink down and lifted my chilled fingers to twirl a curl round and round. “I’ve been everywhere…but still ended up back here. Which means this is where I’m meant to be.” I arched an eyebrow at him and muttered, “I wasn’t ready for you to suddenly decide it’s where you were supposed to be as well. The timing is a bit suspect.” It was almost as if fate were playing games with my heart.

  “I’m glad the timing was right and brought us back together.” Hyde leaned forward in his seat and put his arms on the table. I felt crowded even though he wasn’t actually in my space. I leaned back reflexively and twisted the curl around my finger even harder. “I missed you, Remy.”

  I pushed the chair away from the table so hastily that it screeched across the floor. It made a sound loud enough that several heads turned to look in our direction. I held up a shaking hand in front of me, almost as if I could ward his last words away.

  How long had I waited to hear Hyde Fuller say exactly that sentence?

  How many nights had I stayed awake, mind racing, wondering if he thought about me at all the way I still thought of him?

  How many days did I fight to remind myself that it wasn’t my fault he ran away all those years ago?

  He wasn’t allowed to miss me, and I wasn’t allowed to let those words worm their way into my heart.

  “We are not back to the way we used to be, Hyde. I have no interest in playing the role of your surrogate little sister or your reliable best friend. I let you put me in those boxes back in the day because all I wanted was the chance to be close to you. I don’t let anyone else define me anymore.” I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. I put a hand over the spot on my chest where I was sure my heart was trying to jump out. “You miss who you wanted me to be. Not who I am or even who I was. I think you need to find someone else to hold your hand when parenting gets hard. I already told you I’m not the right person for the job.” His vulnerability had always been my weakness, and I knew if he told me he needed me, I was toast. It was the one thing in life I always wanted more than anything: for him to rely on me the way I’d always had complete faith in him.