“Honey,” I murmur, squeezing her hand again.
“No,” she whispers. “No.”
I can hear her voice crack and I know that she’s on the verge of tears. She’s tried to stay strong during all of this, but she’s breaking. I don’t blame her either. This is fucking bullshit and I’m the cause of it all.
It’s my fault.
If I hadn’t ever pursued her, none of this would have happened. If I had waited the way I knew in my head that I should have, then fuck me, this wouldn’t be happening. But then she wouldn’t be in my life, house, and in my bed. I wouldn’t have all of the joy that she and Holden bring to me each day, either.
“The man, whoever he is, he drugs my drink at a party, takes me upstairs and rapes me. He disappears, I never see him again and weeks later I find out I’m pregnant. No. She doesn’t get to find him. She doesn’t get to bring him back into my life to violate me again. She doesn’t get to do that,” Tennessee says, her words ending on a shout.
She stands, turning toward the bedroom and I watch her run away, the sound of her sobs filling the quiet room.
“Dad?” Lucinda rasps.
Turning to my daughter, I clear my own throat. “Yeah?”
“That happened to her?” she asks softly.
I nod my head once, my own tears pricking the backs of my eyes. “It did, Lucy,” I whisper, unable to say her full name. I haven’t called her Lucy since she was a girl, but I need that right now and I think that she does too.
Instead of saying anything else to Lucinda, I turn toward Hansen and Bash. “Tell me what I can do, what we can do?”
“She’s going to go forward with this, because she knows that it will hurt you both,” Bash announces. “You need to forge together. All of you,” he says, his gaze flicking over each of my children.
Pressing my lips together, I close my eyes for a moment, then reopen them. Nodding my head once, I lift my eyes to meet Bash’s and then shift over to Hansen. “I want this to go away. I do not want this man to get any kind of visitation, let alone custody. What do I need to do?”
Hansen clears his throat. “I got what I could on the fuckwad,” he murmurs. “He’s been arrested for domestic, all charges have been dropped each and every time. Technically, his file is clean. I talked to a couple of the women, they said that he was violent, manipulative, and that college parties were a pastime of his.”
“So we don’t have shit, not really?” I growl. “Not unless Tennessee talks to the judge herself and even then, we’re at his mercy.”
Lawrence raises his hand, clearing his throat, he just stares at me for a moment. It’s my answer, all that I need. Shifting my gaze to Bash, I arch a brow in question. He shakes his head once, dropping his chin slightly.
“All I can do is fight fire with fire, legally speaking.”
Fuck.
“Not-legally speaking?” I ask.
Bash snorts. “I’m bringing in the big guns. Whatever we can dig up and use, we’re using. I’m going to work with Hansen closely on this one.”
I nod my head once, then shift my gaze over to Lawrence. “Yeah?” I ask.
He clears his throat again. “From a psychologist’s point of view, I can do whatever you need me to. Talk to her, give a statement afterward. Talk to Holden. Whatever.”
“Thank you.”
Lucinda doesn’t say anything, she stands and I watch in awe as she walks in the direction of the bedroom where Tennessee disappeared to. Looking over to a very quiet Bethie and Holden, I watch as she entertains him quietly so he doesn’t get upset by the energy that’s charging the room.
Once again, I can’t help the overwhelming feeling of guilt that fills me. This is my fault. All of it. And I’m going to fix it—somehow.
Chapter Thirty-One
TENNESSEE
I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, my face in my hands, crying like a baby when I hear the door open. Assuming that it’s Landry, I hold up one hand, keeping my eyes pinched closed.
“I’m okay, Landry. I promise. I just need a minute to get myself together,” I whimper.
I inhale deeply through my nose, then let it out through my mouth. When I don’t feel him sit next to me, or even approach me, I lift my head from my hands and open my swollen eyes. My entire body jerks at who is standing in front of me.
It’s Lucinda.
“Lucinda?” I ask.
She crosses her arms over her chest and sticks her foot out, tapping it once. I don’t know what she’s going to say, but I’m not sure I want to hear it. I open my mouth, but then something happens.
Her entire body loosens, she drops her arms and she closes the distance between us, turning and sinking down next to me, I hold my breath waiting to hear what she’s going to say. I don’t know her well, but both encounters with her haven’t been the greatest, so I am concerned.
“What happened to you,” she murmurs softly. I don’t say anything. I’m not sure what to say, if there is anything to say. But thankfully, she continues so I don’t have to worry about it anymore. “It happened to me too. I never told anyone.”
“Lucinda,” I gasp in horror.
Reaching out, I grab her hand and squeeze.
“I took the morning-after pill, but I didn’t tell anyone, not until this exact moment, telling you.”
“You need to talk to someone,” I say. “I went to a therapist. It helped me a lot.”
She gives me a sad smile and nods her head once. “Maybe,” she lies. “I just wanted to tell you. I think that you’re probably the bravest woman that I know. You kept that baby and you love him. My father has told me how good you are to him. How loving and caring. Whatever you need from me for this, you have it.”
My fingers flex and she gives me a gentle squeeze. “I’m serious, Tennessee. What my mother has done is disgusting and she’s done a lot of gross things in my life, but this tops all of it and I know it’s not because of some misguided love for my father, it’s for greed and nothing more. So, whatever you need. It’s yours.”
“I don’t want anything, Lucinda,” I say, then I bite on the corner of my bottom lip before I add something. “Except maybe two things,” I murmur.
She arches a brow suspiciously and I don’t blame her. My lips twitch into a smile. “I want you to call me Tenny, please,” I begin.
Her lips curve up into their own smile and I realize that this is the first time I’ve seen her smile. It makes her beautiful face look gorgeous. She looks like the perfect mixture of Landry and Susan and as much as I dislike Susan, even I can agree that she is a beautiful woman.
“What else?” she urges.
“Can you please, once we get to know each other a little better. Can you please give us your approval? I know that Landry really needs it from all three of you.”
She doesn’t show an immediate expression or say anything to me. Instead, she leans back slightly and crosses her arms over her chest. I wonder if I’ve ruined this moment between us. Then she surprises me and leans forward.
“Do you love him?” she asks.
“I do,” I say without a single moment of hesitation.
Lucinda smirks. “I knew you did the moment I met you. I just wanted to hear it from you. You don’t have my stamp of approval yet, just because I don’t know you. However, you have my support in all things, including dating my dad.”
I can’t help myself. I also can’t stop myself. Opening my arms, I lean forward and hug her. She lets out a small laugh, lifting her own arms and hugs me back. That’s how Landry finds us a few moments later, in an embrace.
“This is a sight if I’ve ever seen one,” he announces from the doorway.
Our arms fall from one another and we both turn to face him. He’s leaning his shoulder against the doorframe as if he’s been there for a while and I wonder how much of our conversation he’s heard, then I decide that it doesn’t matter. I love him and nothing is a secret from him, at least not when it comes to my feelings.
Lu
cinda stands, looking over her shoulder to me and gives me a wink, then without a word, she makes her way toward Landry. She stops in front of him, tilting her head back slightly as she whispers something to him. I hear his deep voice rumble, but can’t make out what either of them has said.
Without another word, Lucinda leaves and Landry takes a couple more steps into the room, closing the door behind him.
“Did I give you enough time?” he asks softly.
Nodding my head, I pat the edge of the bed where Lucinda just vacated. He makes his way toward me, sinking down next to me without hesitation. Landry reaches and takes my hands in his, holding them in his lap.
“Talk to me,” he murmurs.
I shake my head. “I’m panicked. I just keep envisioning this man taking Holden away from me. I know that we’re going to fight this. You’ve promised me that you are, but I still can’t help but think that he could possibly win, even if it’s only temporarily. I can’t let him be in his life, not at all,” I ramble.
Landry lifts his arm, sliding it around my shoulder and pulls me against his side. “Bash and Hansen are working together on this. They’re going to take the reins since they’re the professionals. We’re going to do the best that we can and be strong. And when you can’t be strong, you’ll come right to me and I’ll hold you up, honey.”
“I don’t know if I can ever be strong about this, Landry,” I whimper.
It took me a while, but I sat down and figured out the date. The party wasn’t hard, I remembered what football team ours had been playing that day. I Googled the game. It’s been too long. It’s been too fucking long. There’s no way that I can even bring up the rape, it wouldn’t matter.
I only have Landry and his men, their abilities to hold on to as my hope.
Only this.
“Do you need me to call your mom, get her down here?”
My entire body freezes and I lift my head, turning to look up at him. I can’t hide the shock on my face from his suggestion. He chuckles, shaking his head a couple of times.
“Helen is a good woman. She can stay with us, be that extra support you need. I don’t mind.”
I shake my head, lifting my hand, I cup his bearded cheek. “I have you, and I’m going to call her. If it goes to any kind of trial or court stuff, maybe I’ll have her come for that, but everything else. I have you.”
He lifts his hand, wrapping his fingers around my wrist and squeezes gently. “You do, honey. You have me. All of me.”
LANDRY
I’m not sure if the dinner was a disaster or not. I do know that something transpired between Lucinda and Tennessee, but I’m not sure what. I don’t ask either. It isn’t my place. I’m just glad that they have found a common ground together. I’m also relieved that it wasn’t any of them who told Susan about my relationship with Tennessee.
Tennessee curls into me in her sleep and I can’t help but wrap my arms around her, feeling her soft body lying next to mine. I haven’t been able to sleep much lately, the unknown is driving me crazy. So is the fucking stress of this all.
My phone dances on the nightstand and I squint to see the time on my alarm clock. Two in the morning. Reaching for the phone, the unknown name on the caller ID causes me to pause. Instead of sliding out of bed and possibly disturbing Tennessee, I glide my thumb over the screen and answer in a whisper.
“So you’ve found out my little plan?”
It’s Susan. She can disguise her number, but that slurred voice will haunt me forever. I don’t respond. There’s no sense in it. She can argue all day long, but I will just win in court and that’s the only argument that counts.
“What do you want?” I ask on a sigh.
There is a moment of silence, and I assume that she’s just getting ready to scream at me or gathering her information to say whatever the fuck she’s going to say. Which I hope she does soon because I’d like to at least attempt to sleep tonight.
“You’ve embarrassed me,” she announces.
I almost laugh—almost. I could tell her about the million times she’s embarrassed me. About the dozens of friends who have enlightened me about her in-my-face affairs. The tennis pros, golf pros, and whoever else she’s fucked. Men half my age. Men that I was acquaintances with. She never cared, she flaunted them all around our friends and never gave a single shit if it embarrassed me.
The first dozen times, I admit, it pissed me off. I confronted her, we fought, and a few times we even tried to make it work between us, but it never lasted long. She would always get bored, or whatever her reason was, and find another man to play with.
After that, most might call me weak, might say that I wasn’t man enough because I didn’t divorce her. I didn’t do anything out of spite. I just quietly let her do her thing while I did my own.
Maybe that was my biggest mistake? I didn’t demand that she be mine. But what is the use of demanding something that another person clearly doesn’t want? It was a lost cause to me and I stayed for my kids, at least that’s what I told myself, but in all honesty, I stayed because it was just easier.
Not anymore though.
“I’m not pointing fingers and I’m not going to sit around and say which one of us is worse. I will, however, say that what you’ve done in regards to an innocent child is vile.”
“Your whore, she’s only there for the money. Helen is trash, always has been. They have nothing, Landry. They have absolutely nothing. Helen always wants to be me, to have what I did and she’s just using her daughter to get exactly what she’s always wanted. Money and status. You’re just the old fool who is buying into it all.”
I chuckle. Her words are hilarious, considering Helen never so much as flirted with me all those years ago. And it wasn’t Helen who was social climbing and money-hungry.
“I hope that you find whatever makes you happy in life, Susan.”
Ending the call, I power off my phone and toss it to the nightstand next to me. I don’t realize that Tennessee is awake, not until I look down at her and she’s watching me. I can’t quite read the expression on her face, but I know her well enough by now to realize that it isn’t good.
“That was Susan?” she asks, her voice soft.
Nodding my head once, I let out a grunt. “She called me from an unknown number, I didn’t think, I just answered.”
“She thinks I’m a gold-digger,” she rasps. “So to punish me, she’s trying to have my son put in the hands of an abuser? She seems stable,” she mutters.
I can’t hold my bark of laughter in. Flexing, I pull her closer to me and hold her body against my own while I laugh.
“Susan Astor is a lot of things, but stable definitely isn’t one of them, honey.”
Sliding my hand up the middle of her back, I lace my fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck and look into her green eyes. Since the room is dark, the moonlight is reflecting in them and it’s stunning, just like she is.
“She will not win, honey,” I murmur.
“I really don’t want her to,” Tennessee sighs.
I hum, dipping my chin and touching my lips to hers. “She won’t. I won’t let her. No matter what. Also, I know you’re not a gold-digger and neither is Helen. Please, don’t let her get in your head.”
“I hate that people will automatically think that though, because of my age.”
Sliding my tongue along the seam of her lips, I let out a low grunt. “They’ll think all I want is a young little trophy wife that I can control. It goes both ways,” I inform.
Tennessee laughs, it sounds husky with sleep and so fucking sexy. Then she pushes up and my hand is forced to leave her hair. With a smile, she throws her leg over my hips and straddles me. The sheet falls away, exposing her beautiful bare body for me.
When she rocks her hips and her pussy slides along my length, I let out a low moan. Wrapping my hands around her hips, I grip her as I clench my jaw at the sight of her above me.
“Little do they know,” she whispers, reaching bet
ween us as she wraps her hand around my hardening length and begins to stroke me. “That in here, control goes both ways.”
“Does it?” I ask, arching a brow.
She bends slightly, her tits swaying when she does. Her lips are turned up in a sweet smile. “You know that it does, Landry. And you love the back and forth.”
I chuckle. “I love you, honey.”
Her eyes soften and she aligns my dick with her center, sitting up and sinking down along my length. “I love you too, Landry.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
LANDRY
“You’re shitting me?” I bark.
Bash only grunts. “I wish that I were.”
“Where’s Hansen?” I demand.
There’s a moment of silence, then Bash clears his throat. “She’ll be served today, at work. Just be there for her, that’s all I can say.”
“I want everything on that fuck. Everything,” I growl.
Slamming down the phone, I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath. Then I roll my chair back and stand. Fuck this shit. Fuck all of it. Walking toward my door, I open it quickly, looking to the right and there is Tennessee there working on her iPad.
“Grab your things, I need you to come with me,” I gruffly announce.
She lifts her head, her brows snapping together. “Landry?” she asks softly.
I shake my head once. The fucker can serve her, it just won’t be here and it won’t be today. She needs another night, another good night before she’s forced to watch a swab being shoved into Holden’s mouth and have him tested for his paternity.
Holding out my hand, I wriggle my fingers. She slips her hand in mine before I gently tug her to her feet. Sliding my arm around her, I wrap my fingers around her hip as I begin to walk us toward the elevator bank. Before I get too far, I stop in front of Julie’s desk.
“Forward all my calls to my cell, cancel my meetings for today.”
“But Landry…” she begins.
I hold my hand up. “I’m meeting with the real estate agent, and that’s all. Nothing more. Okay?”
Hypocritically Yours: A Standalone Age-Gap Romance Page 22