Page 712 of The Tempted
Chapter Fifteen
Staring down at my son, I brace my hands on the edge of the crib and watch him sleep peacefully, knowing he’s the only cure to the anger flooding my veins. It’s pretty much a mind fuck to think the one thing that calms me and brings me back to focus is my son. I was so scared to be a father and not just because I was the pimp daddy of the MC world but because I had no fucking idea what being a dad entailed. I don’t have memories with my father, and my mother’s a nagging witch who still tries to use me to keep up with appearances. They hired a fleet of nannies to raise me and when I was old enough to break free from them I fled like a nun running away from a whore house. If it wasn’t for my best friend Bones and his mother, who was our housekeeper, I wouldn’t know how to be a man.
“Don’t worry little guy, those vultures won’t get a chance to sink their claws in you,” I promise as I grit my teeth.
Fuck that.
I press a kiss to my son’s head before turning to leave him to his nap and face Kitten. Running my fingers through my hair, I let out a groan knowing I’m about to be interrogated by my favorite feline. I was in no mood to rehash my shitty childhood but I knew Lauren wouldn’t let that shit die. She’s a woman, asking questions came with the chromosome. I blame this shit on my dick, if I wasn’t horny, I wouldn’t have come home early, I would still be at the clubhouse. I never would’ve laid eyes on the two people I never wanted to see again as long as I lived.
Kitten is waiting for me in the living room nervously biting her lip and staring into space. She lifts her head when she hears me walk into the room and pushes her glasses further onto the bridge of her nose.
“Riggs—”
“Why would you let those people in here?” I interrupt.
She blinks, her big blue eyes narrow as she stares at me with confusion.
“They’re your parents,” she says incredulously.
“No, they’re not,” I insist, waving my hand between me and her. “You and me? We’re parents. Those two assholes don’t know the first thing about being parents. For fuck’s sake, you were there, you saw how that woman held our son. She held Eric like he carried the Ebola virus.”
“So maybe they’re different—”
“Different? God, Kitten, open your eyes,” I growl, losing my patience and my sanity, and losing it with the person who didn’t deserve this side of me. Still, I couldn’t help myself and unleashed the fury building inside my gut since the moment I stepped foot inside this apartment and saw my parents withmyfamily.
“Baby,” she starts, closing the distance between us as she runs her hands down my arms, lacing our hands together. “My eyes were open and yes, your mother needs some work but your dad? I don’t know,” she shrugs. “He looked sincere. He looked at you and he looked at Eric…he cared.”
“Don’t you think for one moment those people came here with good intentions. They found out they have a grandkid, not too sure how the fuck that happened but whatever. Eric carries the Montgomery name, and that shit means a lot in my parents’ world. They look at me and then our kid and they don’t want him to turn out like me, they need someone to rule their fucking empire after they croak.”
I pull my hands away from Lauren’s and run them over my face in frustration.
“They figure they can mold him to be the perfect heir,” I continue, tearing my hands away from my face and pinning Lauren with a hard stare. “I don’t want them near Eric.”
“Riggs—” she starts.
“Lauren, it’s not up for discussion. I don’t want them near him or you for that matter.”
“So if they show up here again, then what? Slam the door in their face?”
“Yes, and if you have a problem doing it then call me and I’ll come home and take care of them.”
“Riggs, people change. Why don’t you take a few days to think about it, maybe even give your dad a call and hear him out? Give them the benefit of the doubt. Who knows, maybe finding out they have a grandson is a second chance for them—maybe they can right all the wrongs they did with you.”
I fell in love with Lauren for many reasons but mainly because of her heart. She’s good people, loves big and fights hard for what she believes in. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman but right now I wish her heart was a little bit smaller, her will to fight for what she believes in not so strong. I wish she’d realize not everyone is worthy of a second chance.
She closes the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my neck and peering up at me from the rim of her glasses.
“I’m not doubting you have your reasons for feeling how you do but I always wished my dad would’ve walked back into my life, that he’d realize what he walked away from and want to be a part of my life, especially after Eric was born. My dad isn’t coming back, Riggs, and while your parents didn’t walk away from you they came looking for you. Your father is the only chance Eric has of having a grandpa.”
Picking a piece of spaghetti out of her hair, I bend my knees, bringing me level with her mouth before pressing my lips against hers.
I take it back.
I wouldn’t change a fucking thing about her.
But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t changeeverythingabout my parents. If they had a sincere bone in their body, maybe I’d consider giving them the benefit of the doubt but my mother didn’t want to be a grandmother, she wanted to show Eric off like he was a prize filly. Then there was my old man, standing alongside ‘Mommy Dearest’ with the same useless expression his face carried when I was five and asked him to play catch with me. If he isn’t turning millions into billions, he has no fucking clue what to do with himself.
They’ll try to throw their money around, offer to put Eric in a fancy school and probably enroll him in fucking fencing classes. I know the consequences of being a Montgomery heir and I don’t want that for my son. I want him to be his own person, someone who creates his own destiny. If he grows up and tells me he wants to join the fucking circus, guess what, Kitten and I will be at every show cheering him on with big red noses.
