I inhaled deeply, a lump in my throat. “I can’t…do this. It was so long ago.”
“Matty, as your father, I am begging you, don’t shut me out. Doesn’t matter how old you get. You’re my kid, and I’m gonna worry about you. What happened? Why did Hudson punch Grant? And from what I heard, if thesecurity hadn’t pulled him off, he would have finished him off right there.”
“Last night I might have told him about something that happened between me and Grant years ago.”
Dad stiffened, his chest rising and falling. There was no mistaking what I meant. His jaw ticked. “How long ago are we talking?” His voice came out hoarse.
I fell silent.
“Matty, tell me now.”
“Dad, Hudson’s in enough trouble already. I don’t want you to do anything stupid either.”
“Fucking hell, Matty. That doesn’t make me feel any better. How old are we talking about?”
“Fourteen,” I whispered.
“Jesus.” Dad released my arm and doubled over, breathing hard.
“Dad, are you okay?”
“Fourteen,” he wheezed out, straightening. His eyes were full of tears. “Why didn’t you tell me? God, Matty, you must have known there was no fucking way I would stand for that.”
“He didn’t force me. Everything that happened between us was consensual.”
“You were fourteen!” He shot back. “You could have begged him a thousand times to be with you, and his answer should have been no. I’m gonna gut the bastard. My fourteen-year-old son. Jesus.”
“Dad, you can’t do anything.” I grabbed his arm, wrestling him back before he went off half-cocked. “I can only deal with one of you being in jail right now. For fuck’s sake, stop.”
He stopped struggling to throw me off him. “Fourteen.”Dad’s voice cracked like a splintering board. He dragged a hand down his face, and when he looked back at me, his eyes were wet. “My God, son. How didn’t I see it? How didn’t I know?”
Tears blurred my vision. “Dad…”
“I thought you knew.” His voice broke fully now, rough and ragged, tears streaming down his face. “I thought you knew you could come to me with anything. I thought—I thought I taught you that.” He pressed a fist to his chest, shaking his head hard. “And instead, you carried this alone. You kept it from me. What kind of father does that make me?”
The weight of his guilt crushed me. Before he could turn away, I grabbed his shoulders, clung to him like the boy I once was. “No, Dad. No. Don’t you say that.” My throat burned as tears spilled free. “You were the best father. Youarethe best father. That’s why I didn’t tell you. Because I know you. You’d have killed him had I said anything. And I couldn’t—” My voice cracked. “I couldn’t lose you too. I’d already felt like I lost Mom. I wasn’t gonna lose my dad to a prison cell.”
His face crumpled, the pain etched in every line. He hauled me into his arms, clutching me so tight my ribs protested. “My beautiful boy,” he rasped against my hair. “You should never have had to make that choice. Never. He needs to pay for what he did to you. He needs to pay.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, sobbing into his shirt. “Okay. But not by your hands. Please, Dad. Let the law handle it. I need you. I need Hudson. I can’t lose either of you.”
His chest heaved against mine, shuddering breaths breaking into low curses. At last, he pressed a trembling kiss to the side of my head and whispered, “All right. For you. But hear me, Matty, if the law doesn’t do its job, I swear onmy life I’ll make damn sure he never touches another child again.”
I nodded, holding him tighter. “I need to bail Hudson out. Promise me you’ll take Ivy for ice cream like I told her and then bring them both home. That you’ll stay there with them until Hudson and I get back.”
Dad swallowed, his throat working hard as though still struggling with what he’d just learned. Without a word, he nodded. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do for now.
37
HUDSON
For as long as I lived, I would never regret punching Grant so hard he blacked out. He was fucking lucky that was all I did. Someone had screamed too early, and before I could fuck him up the way I wanted, the security guard had me by the neck, dragging me off the son of a bitch.
To be fair, I hadn’t walked into the bank planning to start a fight. That side of me—the jailbird with a temper—was supposed to be buried. But the second Grant opened his mouth and said Matty should “get over it” since it was almost a decade ago and he “hadn’t been forced,” something inside me snapped.
Before, I’d ignored him as much as you would a bad smell. But I’d never liked him after what he did to Lawson. But this? Dismissing what he did to Matty, to a fourteen-year-old boy? No way in hell.
“You’ve done it this time, Hudson,” Sheriff Donald grumbled, his boots echoing on the scuffed floor as he stood in front of the bars. His scowl was carved deep as old fence posts.
