Southern Secrets (Southern #7) - Natasha Madison Page 0,72

out there."

"I feel a huge but coming on," Ethan says, looking at me, and then Beau groans and takes another shot.

"I was working at the grill in this tiny shithole of a restaurant." I shake my head. "I was making under minimum wage, but I had no choice. It was in the middle of fucking bum fuck when the door opens. I looked up because the bell usually didn’t ring that often. A man steps in wearing a three-piece suit. I laughed, thinking this guy was for sure lost. He looked around and spotted me right away. Pointing at me, he asked if my name was Asher." I swallow the lump in my throat. "He asked me who my mother was, and at first, I was confused, and then I thought this could be my father."

"It wasn’t," Beau says right away. "In order for him to be a father at all to you, he would have to acknowledge you, and from our experience, he doesn’t give a shit where he leaves his fucking seed." He takes another shot and then looks at Ethan. “I love you with everything I have, and you know that." Ethan just nods at him.

"It wasn’t Liam," I confirm to him. "I also didn’t tell this man who my mother was. I didn’t answer anything. He held out a manila envelope," I say, and Ethan gasps out.

"No," he says, shaking his head, and he walks over to the bar to stand next to Beau who just hands him the bottle. He doesn’t even bother grabbing a shot glass. Instead, he drinks straight from the bottle. His hand is shaking when he puts the bottle down on the bar. "How old were you?" Ethan asks me.

"I had just turned," I say, and Ethan finishes with me, "Twenty-one."

"How the fuck do you know?" I look at him, shocked he knew this. No one knew this because I didn’t tell a soul. One because I had no one to tell, and two because no one would believe me.

"Did the man tell you that it was your truth?" Ethan says, and it’s my turn to need a drink. But my feet don’t move from my spot. He must see from my face that he is hitting it right on the spot. The back of my neck burns as my stomach sinks even more to the floor. "How old are you?" he asks.

"Going to be thirty in a month," I say, and he shakes his head and laughs, but the laughter is soon followed by the bottle in his hand.

"Four months," Ethan says. "I’m younger than you by four months."

"What was in the envelope?" Jacob says. "We need to know what was in that envelope."

"What wasn’t in that fucking envelope," I say, and I hear sniffling from Amelia, who looks at her father.

"A letter from Clint Huntington," I say, and I hear Beau hiss out from behind the bar.

He shakes his head. "That would be dear old grandpa to you." He claps his hands together. "Even from his grave, the fucker is getting his jollies."

"It had the name of a paternity test that was taken a day after I was born," I tell them, “with the results stating that Liam Huntington was my father." I shake my head. "I had a name. For the first time in my life, I had a name. It took me a month to get the courage to go and look him up online. I went to one of those libraries and typed in his name. His wedding photo was the first thing to come up and then you," I say, pointing at Beau. "All about how you were mayor of this town." I shrug. "For the first time in my life, I had a family. I had someone who was a part of me. It was as if I won the jackpot."

"It’s been nine years," Ethan says. "It took you nine years to come here?"

“I wanted to be sure of myself before I just came here and told you who I was,” I tell him. “I still wasn’t sure what was going on. Was this letter even real, or was it a joke? I came to town intending to find out who you were,” I answer them honestly. “I didn’t know anything else besides who Beau was,” I tell Ethan. “I was on my way out of town when we met at the diner. I thought for sure you would see that I was hiding