Page 7 of Crave

Her face crinkled. “Autumn? You suspect Autumn? No, I don’t think she knew. She’s a naïve stripper—she seems too nice to hide something like that. She doesn’t even know I’m Mia.”

“She knows who I am, though. Thinking back on that night Tiffany died, I almost feel like Autumn targeted me. Just the way you did at Panthers.”

She lightly punched me in the gut. “I didn’t target you at Panthers, buddy. You zeroed in on me the second you walked into the door.”

I tickled her until she laughed. “Yeah? Because you’re irresistible.” I kissed her and she climbed onto my lap. I enjoyed our chemistry and brief levity in this incredibly fucked up situation.

I pushed her hair out of her face. “But seriously, maybe Autumn wanted to tell me she thought he was my son and then chickened out. She maybe took you because she knew we were seeing each other so she hoped you would tell me.”

“I think you’re crazy. No way did she know Julián was your kid. It was just a coincidence that she told us both. She likes you,” she teased.

I didn’t even respond to that comment, because what was I going to say? Autumn did like me, and she’d been all over me the night of Tiffany’s murder. We didn’t fuck, but there was flirting and drinking and laughing. It hadn’t bothered me that when we went to a room she had shot down my advances. I’d never been one to get pissed about not getting laid, especially when the girl was actually fun. Looking back on everything Autumn and I had talked about that night, something hit me that I hadn’t realized until now. Autumn was much smarter than she pretended to be.

So smart, I remembered asking her why she had chosen to be a stripper. She’d never really given me an answer.

Mia interrupted my thoughts. “What are you going to say to Joaquín? Can I ask him about not being my brother?”

“Yes, I want to hear what he says. Maybe you’re right, and he was adopted. But don’t breathe a word about Julián. Joaquín told us both at the jail that you had an ex name Julián. Do you?”

“No, of course not.”

A chill ran through me. “Exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

“That means that he knows about Julián and didn’t tell us. There’s a possibility your brother killed Tiffany after finding out that she had stashed our son at her mom’s.” I pounded the rest of my beer. “Or, there’s a possibility that he’s involved in something else.”

She rolled her eyes at me. Damn, she still couldn’t believe that Joaquín could be capable of anything shady.

“So why visit him?”

“Because I want to see how he reacts when you tell him about the DNA test. Maybe it will trigger something with him—maybe he will suspect we found out about Julián and let something slip. Just trust me.”

“I do trust you.” Mia looked up at me. “I’m so sorry, Grant. Sorry about everything. Sorry for leaving you, lying to you, getting this stupid plastic surgery.”

I stared deeply into her eyes and inhaled her familiar citrusy scent. If I closed my eyes and just breathed her in, I could still sense Mia. My Mia. Who she was. How much she’d loved me. How much I’d loved her. How she always knew how to calm me down no matter how shitty of a day I’d had, how she’d always believed in me.

I needed to believe in her.

“It’s okay, babe. I’m not going to lie and I say I understand what you did, but I know you didn’t mean to hurt me.”

“I didn’t.” She pressed her palms to her eyes. “I need you to believe me that I didn’t know he was alive. I would never, ever give my son away or keep him from you.”

I placed a few kisses on her head and then embraced her as she sobbed into my arms.

And then I finally said the words she needed me to say.

“Baby, I believe you.”

And was surprised to find that I meant them.

A struggle built in my chest. I wanted to forgive her, maybe even fall in love with her again, but I could never allow myself to become that dependent on anyone. Right then wasn’t the time to figure it out, so I said nothing. I kissed her face, her neck, tasted her salty tears and then I scooped my girl up and carried her into the bedroom.