Family Bonds- Emily and Crew (Amore Island Book 4)

by Natalie Ann

  “I get it, but there doesn’t seem to be as much of a rush as you are putting on it.”

  He was really moving around her living room, telling her there was more going on. “Have a seat. We need to talk.”

  “I’m not sure I like the look on your face.”

  “You probably don’t.”

  She sat down and prepared herself for whatever he might say. Was he married? She’d never asked that. No, he couldn’t be. Even if he legally was, they’d be separated. Couldn’t be that.

  “You’ve got me in suspense so you need to tell me what is going on.”

  He ran his hands through his hair. “You know I love you, right?”

  “Yes. I love you too.” Never good when it started like that.

  “There are things about me you don’t know. Not bad things, just stuff that I don’t share.”

  She started to get nervous but then remembered that he had a federal job and Mac said his background was clean from a quick check. “Okay,” she said. “So tell me.”

  “My parents died in a plane crash. I told you that.”

  “You did.”

  “My father was flying the plane. He’d just gotten his pilot’s license.”

  “I thought he was a machinist or something,” she said, confused.

  “He was. Years before that. That plane that crashed was one he’d just bought.”

  “Huh?”

  “My parents won the lotto. Over a hundred and seventy-five million. They took a one-time payment and after taxes, it was still a large amount.”

  Of all the things she expected him to say it wasn’t this. “And when they died, it went to you?”

  “Yes. They’d spent a lot. They were traveling the world. Everything I said about us is true when I was younger. My parents worked their asses off. When they won, they’d quit their jobs and decided to have fun. More so when I went off to college.”

  She could see that. “So not talking to your family is because of this?”

  “Yes. My parents paid off all the debt of their siblings. They were generous and gave the money when they were asked, regardless. It’s just the way they were. But when my parents died, instead of my family being there for me, they contested the will.”

  “Why would they do that? You were an adult.”

  “Because they are all greedy bastards. After a lot of legal fees and heartache, they changed their tune and tried to console me in my grief. They apologized and explained their behavior was a result of their grief. Funny how it was my mother’s brother and my father’s sister. They had the same lawyer too.”

  “Putting their heads together. That’s not grief, that’s scheming,” she said, feeling angry for him but still pissed off he’d kept this from her. At the moment she was trying to keep her emotions locked up until she could get some more answers. That calm and control she always had, she was trying damn hard to find it.

  “Exactly. Things were said and it’s not worth going over it. Years passed and everyone around me just wanted to be with me for my money. Nothing more. I got sick of it and left.”

  Which explained why he didn’t tell her. But she’d like to think she was different. Though by the sounds of it he had a lot more money than her. Her wealth was tied up in the hotel.

  “So this woman,” she said going back to the reason he was here. “She found out about your money and you want to go there and confront her and put it behind you?”

  “Yes. She even mentioned I could give her a settlement rather than take the test.”

  She snorted. “Guess you know her end game.”

  “I do. But I felt it was time to tell you.”

  “Or you needed to because you didn’t want to get tripped up in any lies on why you had to go back? I think it’s more about that,” she said, crossing her arms.

  “I was wondering when or if you’d get mad. You seemed to be taking this too well.”

  “So that is why you never said a word before? We’ve been dating for months. We’ve said we loved each other. You’ve had ample opportunity to say something before. Anything. But you never did. You just let me assume things.” As upset and confused as she was, she was probably more hurt and there was a part of her that just didn’t want him to see the tears falling.

  “I know.”

  “Like your place. You own that, right? You don’t rent?”

  “I do own it.”

  “You could have corrected me and never did.”

  “I didn’t want you to think it was odd,” he said.

  “That you had a job and owned a house?” she said. “I would have thought you had a mortgage like anyone else working on this island.”

  “Come on. Even you know I couldn’t buy a house on my salary on this island. You can’t be that naive.”

  She narrowed her eyes. Was he trying to push her buttons? “Insulting me isn’t going to help your case,” she said. “And I thought you were getting a mortgage for this new place and it never occurred to me one bit whether you could afford it. We’ve never talked about finances.”

  “That’s right,” he said, standing up. “We haven’t. I don’t ask you about personal stuff like that. It’s not my business.”

  “This has nothing to do with it and you know it. This is more that you hid it from me on purpose. You know all about my engagement and why it ended. What the problems were. I told you I didn’t like being used. I told you I was a means to an end for Simon. I feel like you just deceived me like he did.” Her eyes filled with tears. She was trying her hardest not to get upset, but this was hurting worse than everything with Simon and all that control just went out the window.

  “Don’t ever compare me to him,” he growled low in his throat.

  “How can I not?” she asked, wiping at a tear that rolled down her cheek. “In the end you both did the same thing.”

  “I don’t want anything from you. Not anything but you alone. I’ve told you that from day one.”

  Everything started to ram back into her head. All their fights about him being a blue collar worker and she felt like he was just playing this game. “Why did you get so worked up whenever we talked about our backgrounds when you had all this money? At any point you could have said something. There are so many times you could have spoken up and you didn’t.”

  “Because I’m still just a blue collar worker. And I wanted someone to want me for me. Not my money. If you didn’t know I had it, then you couldn’t want it.”

  “That’s a pretty low opinion you’ve got of me,” she said.

  “Really? I’d think you of all people could completely understand where I was coming from and why. Your whole family could for that matter.”

  He didn’t need to throw that in her face. “Don’t turn this around on me. I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve been completely honest with you from day one. I’ve never kept anything from you,” she yelled at him.

  “I know you don’t want to see this from my side. And I know you’re pissed. I understand that and expected it. I also know you’re hurt. It’s not something I would have told you in the beginning and then the longer it went on I couldn’t figure out a way. I’m not sure how I can get you to understand things from my point of view. You’ve always had class and wealth. I’ve never had class and then suddenly I’ve got wealth. Our old friends felt uncomfortable around us unless they wanted something. New friends, that is all they wanted. It got to the point I didn’t trust anyone.”

  “Oh gee. Maybe you can see what I’m saying here now.”

  “So you don’t trust me?”

  “Can you blame me right now? What else are you hiding?”

  “Not much. Ask and I’ll tell you. Hell, I’ll tell you Laurie isn’t even the first woman to try to pin a kid on me.”

  “So is this going to be something that will pop up a lot?” She couldn’t imagine dealing with this and then realized that as pissed off as she was, she still wasn’t thinking of a life without him in it. Her mind went to how many more potential k
ids could appear from his past.

  “I doubt it. The last one was a girlfriend. Maybe if I explain it to you, you’ll understand more and not think I’m such a piece of shit.”

  He was hurt by her words, but damn it all, she was devastated by his actions. “Tell me,” she said. “I want to understand.” Even though as a member of the Bond family, she knew all too well of some of what he was talking about.

  “I started dating Lisa about a month before my parents died. She knew all about our money. Everyone in college did. I partied with the best of them and I was flunking out and didn’t care. Why would I? It’s not like I had to go out and get a job.”

  “Then why go to college?” she asked.

  “Because my parents wanted me to get the education they never got to. I figured I had plenty of time in my life to figure things out, so why not go and have fun. They were.”

  Was he jealous that his parents were out traveling and not taking him with them? She wanted to ask but felt that might be insensitive.

  “So Lisa?”

  “She knew the money was all going to me. She was there when I was fighting my aunt and uncle. And when that all settled down, she wanted to move in together. I wasn’t there yet. It was the last thing I was thinking of. But little by little she ended up staying at my place more until she pretty much was moved in. Getting mail delivered there was the wakeup call.”

  “So you broke up with her over that? You must not have loved her.”

  “I didn’t know what love was back then. I’ve only just recently discovered it.”

  She ignored that comment. “Again, you wanted to end things?”

  “I told her I wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. The next thing I know she’s saying she’s pregnant. Here I am both pissed and kind of happy. I just lost my parents but maybe I could have my own kid. I could start my own family.”

  She wasn’t expecting him to say that either and was stunned to realize all these things about Crew that she should have figured. How close he was with his grandmother and the need to have her close by.

  “What happened to the baby?”

  “There was no baby. She wasn’t pregnant. I started to suspect it a week after she’d made the statement. I’d caught her drinking with her friends two weeks after and flipped out on her. She’d said she’d lost the baby.”

  “And didn’t tell you?”

  “My words exactly. She finally said she was never pregnant but thought she was.”

  “To force your hand?” she asked.

  He grabbed his keys and she knew he was going to leave when they weren’t done talking about this in her eyes. “Yeah. Just like this time. And there isn’t much more I can say to you to get you to understand. You’ve got it all. Either you’ll forgive me for not telling you or you won’t. I’m going to Texas tomorrow. You can let me know where your head is at when I get back.”

  She stood there as he slammed out of the door. How the hell did she turn out to be the bad guy in this?

  33

  Makes Sense Now

  The next day Crew landed in Texas, got a rental car and went right to the lab, took his test and then drove to Laurie’s apartment. He was having this out once and for all. He didn’t think he’d want to see her but then knew he had to go put this from his life permanently.

  He’d finally felt like he found what or who he was looking for in his life and then, bam, shit hits the industrial-sized fan once again, splattering piles of brown stinky messes all over his face.

  When he pulled into the complex, he realized he’d been here before. That it was where she lived a year ago but the address had meant nothing to him.

  He got out and climbed the stairs to her apartment, then knocked. She was expecting him and it only pissed him off that she made him cool his heels for almost a full minute before she opened the door.

  For someone who’d had a baby not that long ago, she looked the same as he remembered her. Long blonde hair, big boobs in a fitted T-shirt that was dipped low, cutoff jean shorts. She bounced back fast.

  “Crew,” she said, acting like she wanted to go in for a hug. He put his hand up.

  “Don’t even think of it after the stunt you are pulling. Why?”

  “Why what?” she asked.

  “Come on, Laurie. You know damn well your daughter isn’t mine. Any idiot could see it. I could easily fight you without the test, but it is better this way. It’s about money? Why not just tell me you were down and out and needed some.”

  “You’d give it to me?”

  He wasn’t sure if he would have. If she approached him the right way, explained her situation, he might have. Not for her but for the kid’s sake. Now all he felt for her was repulsion rather than sympathy.

  “If you had a legit reason for it, maybe. But trying to blackmail me or saying the kid is mine. Nope, you can go fuck yourself.”

  “So why come here if that is your attitude?” she asked, crossing her arms. Her bravado was crumbling along with her lower lip starting to wobble.

  “Because I want to make sure we are very clear on this and where it was going and how it was ending.”

  “How is that?”

  “With you never contacting me again once the results come back and say what we both know they are going to be. You know who the father is.”

  When her face turned bright red he knew he’d hit the nail on the head with Thor’s hammer.

  Before he could say anything else there was crying coming from the back of the apartment. “Sarah is up. Maybe if you see her you’ll think differently.”

  He wanted to roll his eyes, but didn’t. Instead he looked around at the baby stuff in the small apartment while she went and got her daughter.

  When she came back out the baby was wailing pretty hard. “Hold her while I get her bottle.”

  There wasn’t much he could do when she thrust the screaming kid in his arms. He cradled her while Laurie left the room and went into the little galley kitchen. He’d never held a baby before and wasn’t sure what to do with this one.

  He started to rock her around and walk a few steps here and there. It seemed to work a little, but then she started back up again.

  As he looked down on the crying infant, he was even more convinced it wasn’t his kid. Her skin tone was way too dark, darker than what it looked like in the picture, and her black hair had the texture of an African-American. He ran his hand over the top of it gently and then shook his head over the ridiculousness of this whole situation.

  It wasn’t the kid’s problem that she was born into this messed up situation.

  When Laurie walked back in, she took her daughter out of Crew’s hands and popped the bottle in, Sarah sucking on it greedily. “She has a big appetite. Just like you.”

  “Most kids have one. Don’t keep playing that game with me. Why do you need the money?”

  Her eyes dropped down to watch her daughter and then back up. He didn’t see a woman out for fun but rather someone in over her head and in love with the child in her arms. “Formula and diapers are expensive,” she said. “I’m out of work and not getting paid. I go back next week.”

  “Why not go after the real father?”

  She looked down at her daughter, her fingertip brushing at a tight curl. “I can’t find him. Either he gave me a false name or false number but no one knows who he was.”

  It was making more sense. He knew what bad decisions were like. He’d made plenty in his life too, but what she was trying to do to him was just wrong on so many levels.

  “You’ve got no one to help you at all? No family?”

  “Not around here. My parents have sent some things, clothes and the crib and so on. Everything adds up so fast. I guess I didn’t realize it. Or you never do until it happens to you.”

  Long gone was the conniving woman trying to take him for a ride, but rather a single mother that was going to struggle. Those years when he was younger, he remembered the struggle his parents had and it was two of them w
orking.

  “There is help out there for you. Have you tried to apply for it?”

  “Not yet. I probably make too much, I’m sure, when I return to work, but not enough to really live on.”

  He remembered now she worked as a customer service rep for some sales company. He couldn’t believe he was even thinking this, but he finally said, “What were you hoping to get from me?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I was desperate. When people are desperate they do stupid shit. My rent was due and there were other bills and I was just trying to figure out what I could and couldn’t pay. I started to look for you. I’m sorry. I’m not sure what else to say.” Tears were gathering in her eyes. The annoying whining woman he remembered and partied with wasn’t there anymore either.

  “Be honest with me. Do you know who the father is?”

  She looked up and put her daughter on her shoulder, set the bottle down and then started to pat the baby’s back. “Yeah. Like you said, it’s pretty obvious. But I can’t find him.”

  He pulled his checkbook out. He never carried it, but had grabbed it before he got on his flight today just in case. The sad part was, he didn’t even remember her last name and had to ask. He wrote a check out for ten thousand. “This should help and give you breathing room.”

  She started to cry. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say. I really don’t. I’m so sorry and shouldn’t have done what I did. I’m behind in rent because I had to get pulled out of work a month early. Disability doesn’t pay much, but at least I can keep a roof over our heads now.”

  “Take care, Laurie,” he said and turned to leave. When he got to his car, he stopped and looked at the name of the apartments, pulled it up on his phone and called the office. “Hi, I’d like to take care of the rent for Laurie Shaffer for the year. Can you tell me how to go about doing it?”

  After he hung up the phone, he started to wonder if he was a wuss and then told himself no. He was more like his parents than he realized.

  As much as it always pissed him off people wanted shit from him, he wasn’t going to let the kid suffer what would most likely be a hard life. At least he knew she’d have a roof over her head for a year. If Laurie blew through the ten grand, then that was her problem. He did more than most would have.