“What the fuck is goin’ on?” Louis asked as he shoved into the office. “I have shit to do. I’m in the middle of writing reports, and I really would love to get this done before I have to fuckin’ get home. Calloway needs some help.”
Louis had married Calloway, his high school sweetheart, and gotten his happily ever after. Meanwhile, he had no clue that his sister didn’t have that same option.
“I, uh…” I looked at my brother who was now standing next to us. “I need to talk to you both.”
That’s when I reached for the trashcan and threw up next to my father’s desk.
Thank God he had his own office now.
I felt a warm, dry hand place itself on the back of my neck and knew that Trouper had joined us in the office.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” my father snarled, moving with deliberate, heavy steps.
It surprised me that he hadn’t noticed Trouper until now.
“And why the fuck do you have Kase?” Louis barked.
I stood up so fast that I felt vomit drip down my chin.
I wiped it away with my wrist and pushed them both back. “Don’t fucking touch him!”
My dad blinked at me, startled by my outburst.
The door to my father’s office closed, and I looked behind me to see that Trouper had been the one to close it.
Once it was closed, he turned to look at us.
My stomach was still roiling at the thought of telling my family what had happened.
What had gone down.
“That man you met a couple of months ago is not Hiro’s father. I am,” Trouper said quietly.
Trouper never raised his voice when around my family.
Never showed his anger.
Never did anything that would outwardly display his anger.
But I could tell that he was pissed.
At everything.
The way he held himself, strung so tightly, as he said those words, as if waiting for my father’s condemnation?
I hated that for him.
“You’ve got to be fuckin’ kidding me,” my father growled. “Beckham? You did this? How could you? And why are you calling him Hiro? His name is Kase!”
I felt that familiar roll start in my stomach again.
I’d need his trash can a few more times before I was done explaining.
“Sit down, baby,” Trouper ordered.
I did, getting to my ass a lot faster than I intended.
Troup handed me Hiro who was now very much awake. I immediately placed him on the ground next to my father’s desk where there was a small trash can full of tennis balls. I wasn’t sure why they were there, but Hiro instantly tumbled it over and started to play.
“Someone better start talkin’, really fuckin’ quick,” Louis ordered. “Or I’m about to start letting my fists fly.”
“You touch him, and I’ll never speak to you again,” I told Louis quietly. “And you’ll never see your nephew again, either.”
Louis looked at me, stunned.
“Have a seat,” Trouper ordered. “You’re going to need it.”
“I don’t have to fucking do any…”
“Sit. Fucking. Down.”
That was my mother.
I turned to see her standing there, looking pissed.
And I knew that Troup had told her. Everything.
I wasn’t sure when he would have had time. But the moment my eyes met hers, I knew that she knew.
“Blake, you don’t understand…” my father started.
“No,” my mother growled. “There are things you don’t know, Foster Spurlock. Things you have no fuckin’ clue about. Now, sit your ass down and listen to what your daughter and your son-in-law have to say. I’ve been passive about your attitude with Trouper for far too long. It’s time for it to end. They’re not teenagers anymore, Foster. They’re adults. Now, let them tell you what happened.”
“This man’s been to jail,” Dad tried to explain, but my mother interrupted him before he could get any further.
“Do you know why he went to jail, Foster?” my mother snarled. I reached for the wastepaper basket and threw up all over again. “Because your daughter was kidnapped, violated, and nearly sold into sex trafficking. So, being justifiably pissed way the hell off, Trouper beat the holy hell out of the man responsible for it until he was paralyzed, and then admitted to it. He went to jail because he wasn’t given a fair trial.”
I threw up again.
My father made this low, moaning sound in the back of his throat, and I knew that the words had finally penetrated.
He knew.
My brother knew.
I threw up again as memories assaulted me.
• • •
“Come on, let me touch her,” the grossest man I’d ever