“Shhh,” I plead, not daring to look behind me. “No one has bothered me. I just want to go.”
“Heaven?” I close my eyes because just fuck my life. But I don’t turn around. I hope if I don’t move, he will go away. “Cupcake, I know it’s you.” He tugs at my braid, flinging it over my shoulder. “Although, it doesn’t look like cupcake fits anymore. But I know the tattoo. Got the same one, remember?”
I’ve never regretted a dare so much in my life as I do in that moment.
“Who are you?” Tyler asks, crossing his arms over his chest. For a hair’s breadth of a second, I breathe a sigh of relief that Tyler doesn’t recognize the man from the pictures in my room.
“Holy shit,” Matt gasps. “You’re Maddox Masters.”
Maddox lifts his glasses with a wide smile, apparently not caring who recognizes him. Then again, he’s been recognized most of his life.
But his attention is firmly on Tyler.
“Who’s Maddox Masters?” Tyler asks, looking between all of us.
I jump between them with gritted teeth. “He’s no one. Matt take Tyler to the car.”
Matt and Tyler look at me like I’m crazy while Maddox gives me a look that saysbusted.“I’m Maddox Masters,” he tells my son.
Tyler walks around me like I didn’t say a word. He looks straight up to Maddox like he’s a grown man instead of an eight-year-old kid with his chest puffed. “I’m Ty,” he says as he sticks his hand out to Maddox. “Tyler Christopher Sinclair.”
Maddox’s brows shoot to his hairline as he makes a noise in the back of his throat. If he had any doubt, it probably just vanished. He takes Tyler’s hand, giving it a firm shake, but it’s me that has his attention. “Nice to meet you, Ty.”
“Matt, take Tyler to the car.Please.” I’m practically begging.
“What about food?”
I snap my eyes shut, wishing for anything to make this stop. A bomb falling on the store right now would be the perfect solution. But I know he’s right. We need food, and I can’t let them starve because I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown. “Okay. Just go pay.”
“Are you going to be okay?” the protectiveness is back in his voice as his eyes flit between Maddox and me. I give him a shaky nod and a weak smile. He’s reluctant, but he takes the two buggies and Tyler to the front of the store.
“Looks like someone has some explaining to do,” he tells me with gritted teeth. “At least, now I know why you keep running.”
My mouth falls open at his accusation. “You think Tyler is why I don’t want to see you? Why I can’t get away fast enough?”
“Pretty big fucking secret you got there,” he spits. “Don’t you think he deserved to know he has a son.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” I am whisper-shouting, so the entire store doesn’t hear our conversation. “Why would I subject my son to the man that doesn’t want him? That sent his mother to give me a check because he was too chicken shit.”
“If you had hung around, you’d know –”
“I didn’t need to stick around to know. The message was received loud and clear.” Tears sting the back of my eyes. I’m about to fall apart right here in the middle of the store. I can’t do that. I can’t let the whole town hear my dirty laundry. That would draw too much attention to Tyler. I definitely can’t let Tyler see me fall apart.
I spin on my heels to leave, refusing to have this conversation now or ever. “It was nice to see you again, Maddox, but I’ve got to go.”
“So, it’s like that?” he growls as I walk off.
“Just like that.”
“You destroyed him. You know that, right? He was already being held together with duct tape and dental floss, but you demolished him.”
Allthe breath leaves me. I stop, looking over my shoulder. The first tears begin to fall. “I didn’t demolish him. He broke me, Maddox. I was a mess. He did all of this. He made that decision.”
“You left without the facts.”
“I had all the facts I needed. His signature on the bottom of the check said it all.”
“Tell him, Heaven. Or I will.”
