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“Where were you?” I ask around my food, and he sighs as he straightens and walks into the house.
“The hospital. I left my phone on my desk. It was an emergency.”
Well now I feel bad for getting mad. I finish chewing and swallow. “Is everything okay?” I ask as I close the front door and walk up behind him.
“It’s my father.”
“Oh.” I want to ask how he is or why he’s in the hospital, but I find I can’t bring myself to.
He may be this baby’s grandfather, but what he did all those years ago is inexcusable. It’s one more reason not to include Lincoln in this baby’s life.
“He’ll live,” he says.
I didn’t ask. “So you chose him over me. Again.”
He grunts out a frustrated sigh. “It’s not like that. I didn’t choose him. In fact, while I was there, I told him I regret ever protecting him.”
“Oh.” Seems I can’t find my words today.
“Asher came to the Complex to tell me. He was pretty shaken up.”
“Asher was at the Complex?” I ask. “Won’t he get fined?”
“Probably, and he probably can’t afford to pay it. I guess that’s what happened to my father. He got involved with some bookies, and they beat him nearly to a pulp. Hence the hospital visit. But I realized something a long time ago that was only proven again today.”
He pauses, and then he paces over toward the window and looks out it. “Eddie Nash is a different father to my brothers than he is to me. I’m not sure if it’s because I was first so he’s harder on me, or if he expects more out of me, or what it is.”
He shrugs, and then he turns back toward me.
I remain silent as I’m not quite sure how to respond to any of this.
“My mother left him,” he continues. “Did I tell you that? She’s back in New York, and I decided I’m next. I’m leaving him, too. I don’t want anything to do with him going forward because while I’m a man who can admit I made a mistake in not letting you in on what I knew, I also blame him for every damn thing that ever went wrong between you and me. And if it means I’d even have one second of your attention, I’d write him off again and again for the rest of time. I just want you, Jolene, and I have no idea how to prove to you that you can trust me.”
“Oh.” There’s that word again. Is it even a word?
“And so, to that end…” He clears his throat. “I thought about what I could do to gain your trust, and I thought admitting to hiring a private investigator would help. I was hopeful the investigator would come up with something, but he didn’t. He came up empty.”
I flatten my lips. “He’s an expert at flying under the radar.”
He nods. “That’s precisely what my guy found. So I had Jack talk to his boss.”
“The investigator’s boss?” My brows crinkle together in confusion.
“No,” he says with a small chuckle. “Jeremy’s boss.”
“Why would Jack talk to Jeremy’s boss?” I ask.
“There was a product launch with the company he works for. Anyway, I have some big news I wanted to share with you, but you said you wanted to see me today, so if you’d like to go first…” he says, trailing off at the end.
“What in the actual fuck, Lincoln Nash!” I yell at him. “Don’t stop there! What did Jack say to Jeremy’s boss?”
He laughs. He laughs at my reaction.
I walk over and poke him in the chest. “Tell me now, or risk my wrath.”
He holds up both hands innocently. “Jack told him we’d partner with them for their new SmartSports analytics system as long as we didn’t have to see Jeremy Landry’s face. So…Jeremy’s boss is transferring him to their Chicago branch.”
My eyes practically fall out of my head and my heart races at this news. “Ch…Ch…Chicago?”
