Almost Forgotten (Contemporary Erotic Romance) (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 2)

by Carey Decevito

  “Dad and I had a spat at the office and I walked out on him,” Danica said and proceeded to explain the events of the day to her brother as I remained silent through their exchange. “I took Jordan in for his physical on Monday. They have the swabs. We’ve been expecting the results all week long. They haven’t come yet but Dad had these.” She nodded toward the papers abandoned on the counter. “I think he’s been carrying them around with him all this time or maybe he’s had them in a safety deposit box somewhere. With the amount of times we’ve been in his safe over the years, there’s no way he could have kept them hidden.”

  “Jordan doesn’t know that I could be his dad,” I said, “t-that I am his dad.”

  “You’re my what?” We jumped and turned to find Jordan standing in the kitchen’s entrance. “W-what’s going on? M-mom… U-uncle Mike… Jake?” The teen looked as if he was about to be ill.

  “Sweetie,” Danica made to step toward him but he shook his head and took a step back, “you need to sit down.”

  “No!” he said to his mother. “No more secrets! I knew you were hiding something!”

  “I promise I’ll tell you everything,” Danica said with impressive calmness, “please sit down, Jordan.”

  Jordan gave in and did as he was instructed. His eyes were glued to me, his jaw was tense, his fists where clenched so tight his knuckles had turned white. My boy was mad and all I wanted to do was shield him from the pain he was about to experience.

  Chapter 42

  History came to repeat itself in the way of words. Jordan sat and listened and when he asked questions, we answered as best we could. For once, I was glad that Mike was there because Jordan didn’t allow for either Danica or me to get close, let alone comfort him.

  “When did you find out?” he asked us. His anger had been redirected from me to his mother but even that was fading fast as the story unfolded.

  “We found out today,” I said looking at Danica. “That swab you had on Monday was used to see if you were mine. Those results aren’t back yet, but...”

  “So where’d those papers come from?” He pointed to the envelope.

  “Ten years ago, Granddad ran some tests,” Danica said, keeping her voice soft. “I’m not sure as to how he got Jacob’s DNA but…”

  “So, he’s known all this time?” If I thought that Danica’s look of betrayal had been bad, it had nothing on the one Jordan sported. Seeing it in the face of an adult is one thing but seeing it in a child’s eyes — my child’s eyes — it was… it tore at my soul, is what it did.

  Within seconds, he went from looking like a teenager that bordered adulthood to a three-year-old child who needed both his parents to mend his broken heart. “W-why did he do that?” he whispered. “He… he knew I hated Bruce. All the times he and I talked… He lied to me?”

  Danica and I couldn’t bear saying the word so we nodded. It still looked like we’d sucker punched him in the gut.

  “I’m sure Granddad will answer your questions when we go to see him later,” Mike said.

  “I don’t want to see him.” Jordan’s tone brokered no argument.

  “That’s fine.” Danica supported his decision and reached forward to cover the top of his clasped hands with hers and he let her. “Are you okay, baby?”

  “No. I think I might be in shock,” he said. “My grandfather is a manipulative son of a bitch and…”

  “Watch it, kid!” I said with authority and his head snapped up so our eyes met.

  His eyes watered. “And I have a dad?”

  I felt my eyes copy his reaction as I nodded. “And I have a son.” It felt great to state it out loud, so much so that I felt like yelling it from the rooftop.

  We let those words hang in the air for a moment, digesting the tumultuous emotions that reeled through each and every one of us after what I could consider our first family meeting.

  “So what happens now?” Jordan asked.

  “Why don’t we just keep going the way we are, that’s if you’re okay with that?” I said. “There’s no rush.”

  “I thought that we’d all move in together since you’re always here anyway,” he said.

  Did he mean that? Had anything changed between us aside from the obvious fact that he was of my blood? No, but I knew the battle hadn’t yet been won. What he’d come to learn was far too much for him to wrap his mind around in such a short amount of time. I know I hadn’t digested everything as of yet.

  Danica seemed as surprised with her son’s comment as I was so I squeezed her shoulder and said, “How about we take it easy for now, let Granddad recover, send him home and then we can talk about a move?”

  “Sounds smart to me and I’ll stick around so that the old man leaves when he should,” Mike said. “Who knows, I might find me a good woman too while I’m here.”

  “If you did, you’d have to move back, dear brother,” Danica said.

  “It wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” he said. “I’ve been thinking about relocating now that I’m practically done with the reorganization.”

  “There’s just one problem,” she said. “To find a good woman, you need to keep her for longer than a night, which reminds me… we’ll talk about that later. Now, who’s hungry?”

  Danica brought the casserole dish to the table along with whatever plates she could scrounge up. “I guess I’ll have to go buy some more of those, huh?” She blushed and looked at me. “I can’t believe I chucked my good china at him.”

  “You’re more like Mom than you think, sis.” Mike laughed when she nodded. Jordan seemed amused and leaned forward to hear the story. “You should have seen how quick he ducked when she hurled that bowl at him.”

  “I always wondered what happened to that thing,” Danica said, giggling.

  “Hey, Dad,” Jordan said, “pass the salt!”

  It took me a few seconds to register I was being addressed. I swallowed the large ball of emotion that manifested itself in my throat before I smiled, grabbed the shaker and passed it on. “Sure thing, son.” I chuckled. “It’s going to take some getting used to but it feels nice.”

  Jordan’s smile widened as he gave me a single nod and began eating.

  Chapter 43

  Mike was alone when he left for the hospital. Danica and I stayed behind with Jordan, too bitter with our son’s reaction to his grandfather’s betrayal. Instead, we settled in for a night of movies.

  Jordan came in the room with two bowls of popcorn.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “What, are you incapable of sharing?”

  “I just figured that you’d enjoy more than a handful this time around,” he said.

  “Now boys,” Danica said, “sit your butts down, this mama wants some cuddles. Jordan, is everything all set for you to be spending tomorrow night at Trevor’s?”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  Before we knew it, both movies were over and Jordan had gone up to bed. Mike had returned with the slight smell of liquor on him. It was evident that he’d been to see Ben over at Fairfax.

  “How’s Ben today?” I asked.

  “Same old miserable man,” Mike said. “I know it’s hard for him with losing Candice and all but the man needs to get laid already. It might make him feel better.”

  “Mike!” Danica smacked him on the arm.

  “You know it’s true,” he said.

  “You’re an insensitive jerk, you know that? Ben’s always been a sweetheart. Some lucky woman is bound to snag him soon enough when he’s good and ready,” she said.

  “I agree with your sister,” I said. “The man’s coming around.” Danica cuddled further into my side and Mike settled in at the other end of the couch.

  “And how about you?” Danica asked her brother. “When will it be that you’ll stop being a pessimist and settle down? You know that they’re not all like Tracey.”

  The man scoffed. “Dani,” he started, “I’d rather not relive the hell that woman’s put me through. So, if I choose to have my fun withou
t settling, I’m fine with that.” Mike’s brows arched, his gaze meeting mine when I rolled my eyes at his declaration. “What?”

  I chuckled before saying, “It’s just that it’s all too familiar. Shit, I was just like you before your sister rolled back into town.” I smiled down at my woman. “I thought I’d moved on, swore off relationships altogether after she left. It was a one-nighter every now and again. I knew something was missing but I just didn’t know what. In the end, it wasn’t pretty.”

  “What changed?” he asked.

  “I realized that none of them were your sister.” My eyes met his again. “You can’t fuck a woman out of your head and heart.” Danica punched my shoulder. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, it’s crass but it’s true. I had a lot of anger buried deep inside, Mike. It wasn’t until your sister gave me her side of the story that I was able to understand and move on.” I kissed my smiling woman’s forehead. “Then again, I had to be willing to listen to her first.”

  “And there’s the bomb about Jordan,” he added.

  I nodded. “I can’t say that the news didn’t blow me away. I was convinced that I’d be a bachelor for life and now here I am with a family.” I smiled and shook my head at the thought. “I never realized I wanted kids so damn bad until I found out that Jordan might be mine. I’m floating on clouds right now, knowing that he’s mine and to be honest, even if he weren’t, it wouldn’t change the way I feel about him either.”

  “That’s pretty deep for you,” Mike said.

  “Yeah,” I chuckled, “but what I’m getting at is that it’s clear that our situations are different. I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I know everything that’s happened because I heard the Cliff’s notes versions from Ben and your sister but with the way you’re behaving, Tracey wasn’t the one for you. If she was, she wouldn’t have run around. I didn’t expect for your sister to come back into my life and if I were to guess, the woman you’re supposed to be with will find you when you least expect it. Trust me, when you figure it out, it’ll hit you like a shot between the eyes.”

  “I’d like to say that I believe you,” he said, “but I can’t. Life isn’t about fairy-tales, it’s messy, it’s complicated. It’s a lot of work is what it is. At least, it’s how it was with Tracey.”

  “I wouldn’t have believed me, a few months ago either,” I said.

  Danica snorted. “Tracey was a conniving bitch who couldn’t keep her hands off of what wasn’t hers. We’re not all like that.”

  Mike’s laugh was void of humor. “I’m glad you feel about as much love for her as I do, sis, and I know you’re not all the same.”

  “I’m glad she’s out of the picture,” she said.

  “So what’s going on with you two?” Mike asked but looked at me. “I had to calm Dad down tonight because he was on one of his rants.”

  “He can rant all he wants,” Danica said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “I’m not going anywhere and neither is Jacob. Dad knows this. We’re happy and we’re together.”

  Mike groaned. “He said you quit your job, that you want to get rid of your shares. Why would you do that?”

  “He’s taken advantage of me all of these years, Mike. He plotted behind my back, manipulated me to get his way and I’m sick of it,” she said. “I want to show him that I don’t need him and that I could have made my way without his involvement. I don’t think there’s a better time for me to do that than now.”

  “I can’t seem to wrap my head around why he’d hide those results from all of us.” He ran his hands through his hair.

  “Aside from being a control freak, your guess is as good as mine, big brother,” she said.

  Chapter 44

  I woke up with my woman in my arms, my son in his bed in a bedroom down the hall and a wonderful realization — I was home.

  “Good morning, sweetheart,” I whispered into her hair when I felt her stir.

  “It is.” She backed her ass into my crotch.

  I hugged her tighter and rubbed myself on that wonderful derrière of hers. “You shouldn’t do that,” I said but teased her further with a nip to her ear. “We could be liable for waking the entire house.”

  “I’m more curious as to what you’ll do to me to ensure I stay quiet.” She giggled into her pillow. “I’m not sure if I can wait until tonight.”

  I flipped her onto her stomach and climbed over her, spreading her legs with my knees. “With the way you just misbehaved, I should punish you right now,” I said and nuzzled her neck, then nipped where it met her shoulder.

  “Punish?”

  “Yes, punish.” I pulled her head back by her hair, twisted it to the side and kissed her hard. Letting go of her tresses, I let my hand roam down her satin covered body and pulled her panties to the side. I slid a finger into her hot folds. “I love that you’re always so wet and ready for me.” She moaned. “For your punishment, I want you to be quiet. If I hear a sound coming out of you, let’s just say that tonight might be full of surprises.” She groaned at my divulgence.

  I guided myself to her heated pussy from behind, loving it all the more when she arched her ass up toward the ceiling for me. My restraint failing, I slapped her tush. Staying true to my word, she remained quiet despite jumping at my loving smack. I entered her slow.

  I groaned in her ear. “You feel so much tighter like this, I don’t think I’ll last long. You should know that I don’t plan to be too gentle with you either.” She released yet another moan. “Quiet.” She nodded and bit down on her lower lip.

  I pulled out, leaving the tip inside her, then rammed into her hard. Lying over her back left more to be desired. Backing away, I pulled her up into a full doggie-style and entered her hard again. I was surprised that she’d kept quiet.

  The slapping of skin against skin, the sluicing of her juices as I sliced through her folds was all that could be heard in the still of the morning. Her ass mesmerized me and I found myself wanting to push her threshold a bit more.

  Reaching to her front, I circled her clit with a finger. Her arms went slack and by the slight tremors of her walls, I knew that she was close. Maintaining her silence was futile from the moment she buried her face into her pillow.

  Her knuckles went white, her body shook, and her core clenched down with such power my movements were hindered. Heat flushed through my body, my balls tightened. I let myself explode which catapulted her into the most violent orgasm I had seen from her yet. The pillow might have rendered her words inaudible but she was a far cry from silent as control was lost and nothing was held back. If anyone was awake, there was no doubt that they’d heard her.

  I leaned forward, letting my forehead rest between her shoulder blades, our bodies covered in sweat.

  Extricating myself from her, I drew an extra whimper she didn’t bother to hide before collapsing onto her stomach. I collapsed onto my back beside her and then rolled over onto my side.

  With a playful finger, I began to trace patterns over her back, eliciting shivers. “Fuck, that was amazing!” I said between heavy breaths.

  She turned her head to the side and smiled at me. “I guess I can’t stay quiet.” She giggled into her pillow.

  “I love it when you lose control.” I kissed her shoulder. “It makes me want to do it all over again.” I grabbed her hand and brought it to my already hardening cock.

  Her eyes widened. “Already?”

  “That’s right, beautiful,” I said, “but we should get up and get started with our day. Although I can just shower and jump into a suit, you, my love, have a few extra things to tend to if I remember how women work.” I pressed my lips to hers and lingered.

  “I do,” she said and smiled, “but I know that lying in bed with you is much more pleasurable.”

  “No doubt but we have tonight,” I said, “and I don’t plan on forgetting to collect that pleasure I’m now able to cash in on.”

  Half an hour later, I was downstairs, whipping something fresh up for breakfast.

&n
bsp; “What smells yummy?” I turned to Jordan who stopped dead in his tracks, a look of confusion strewn across his face. “Did you spend the night?”

  “I hope you don’t mind. I’m making crêpes,” I said as I put the bowl of fresh fruit I had just prepared to the side and got started on the simple syrup. “How’d you sleep?”

  He shrugged his shoulders and sat at the island counter. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Having a hard time digesting everything?” He nodded. “Trust me, I felt the same way when I found out I might be your dad. Give it some time to process.”

  “Where’s Mom?” he asked.

  “She should be down any minute.”

  “Morning.” Mike stood in the kitchen’s entrance, half naked in running shorts and still sleepy.

  “Dude, put some clothes on!” Jordan said.

  “I agree.” Danica came waltzing in beside her brother and smacked him across the back of the head in a playful manner.

  “Hey!” He rubbed the back of his head.

  “We don’t eat at the table half naked in my house. Put a shirt on,” she said.

  “And hay is for horses!” Jordan egged his uncle on.

  “And I’m hung...” He was cut off by an elbow to the gut by none other than his sister. “Okay, all right… I’ll give you that one, my bad.”

  “Remember that,” Danica said.

  “It’s not like I didn’t know he was going to say that he’s hu...” I smacked the back of Jordan’s head. “Ouch!”

  “Just because you know what he means, doesn’t mean you get to repeat it.” I shook my head at him and managed to stifle my laugh but the smile couldn’t be tucked away.

  Danica shook her head at us and came up beside me to grab a cup of coffee. “I can get used to you cooking,” she said and kissed my cheek. “It smells amazing!”

  “By the way,” Mike began, “you might want to think about soundproofing your walls whenever you guys move in together.”