Nate(8)

6





Nate





The knock on my door wasn’t surprising since I’d made some calls as soon as I left her in the hotel bar downstairs.

What was surprising was the time. Six in the morning.

I went over and opened it. I didn’t need to look.

Mason Kade stood on the other side with a backpack slung over his shoulder, and that was it.

Mason had been my best friend for so long, then there was a group of us who were family. He’d been playing professional football with one of the best teams in the league, so not only was traveling alone a challenge for him, he didn’t have the time for it either.

The fact he arrived less than twenty-four hours later meant a lot.

His head had been down, but he straightened, looking me over. His eyes flickered once before he nodded. “You look better than I would.”

I grunted, stepping back.

He came inside, tossed his bag onto the couch, and took the bourbon that was still in my hand.

I should protest—no. No, I shouldn’t.

He tossed it in the sink, then set the glass down and moved to the coffee machine. Fingering through what contents I had, he frowned and went to the phone. He ordered a whole pot of coffee from room service before turning back to me.

“So.” He leaned back against the counter behind him, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tell me what you know.”

Right to business. That was Mason.

I tossed my phone on the couch, and Mason went over to scoop it up.

As he sat and began scrolling through everything, I said, “Her name is Quincey Royas. I got that much from her social media.”

He was reading and reading fast. “Her dad’s name is Duke Royas. Going through her account, I don’t see a lot of pictures of her and Valerie together. They’re sisters?”

“She said they were half-sisters.” I frowned. “Don’t you have practice today?”

Mason glanced up. “I talked to the coach.”

“Right. I’m sure he was fine letting you fly across the country for my emergency.”

He was putting the phone down, moving almost in slow motion. “Nate, you just found out you have a kid.”

“Might have a kid.”

He gave me a look. “You had a fuck-buddy relationship with Valerie, but it was still a relationship. Now the sister shows up asking you to give up your rights. You sign that paper, and she can’t turn around and demand money. It’s smart to be cautious, but considering what else she tried to get you to sign, let’s just assume the kid’s yours. If it were me, nothing is more important than my kids. I’d have a PI on her ass already.”

I nodded to my phone. “I made a call, and they’re on it already. Once I know when I can see Nova, I’ll get a doctor to do the test.”

“Good.” He frowned a bit. “I didn’t call Logan. Does he know?”

The question was valid. When Logan arrived, everyone would know it. He was a tsunami personified.

I paused, reaching behind me for the counter. I knew this question would come up, but Mason was here without his brother. That told me he already understood. If he hadn’t, fuck whatever I decided, he would’ve decided himself.

“Not yet. I’m still digesting it, and I’m pissed.” I gritted my teeth. My fingers gripped the counter tighter.

“I get it.”

I shook my head. “No. You don’t get it.”

He stood, moving slow. Cautious. “I do, Nate. That’s why I’m here.”

I expelled a ragged breath. “If you found out your ex had your kid? She’d kept it from you? And she was dead? And her sister tried to ambush you to give your kid—the one you knew nothing about—away? Not to mention, we still have to verify the kid is mine.”

His jaw clenched, but his words were low. “Well, in that situation, you’re handling it better than I would’ve. I would’ve made moves to destroy the aunt right then and there, even if that’s not what was right for the kid.”

Now he got it.

And he eased up. I felt it in the air. He stood, nodding his head just as a knock came at the door.

He crossed over, signing for the coffee, and brought the cart inside himself.

“You charge that to the room?”

He shot me a grin, pouring me a cup. “You can afford it.”

I snorted as some of the tension eased.

My kid.

Man.

Man!

“You think she’s mine?”

He paused, giving me a long and steady look. “Yeah, I do. Normally, no, but I don’t know. I think her plan was to catch you before you could process it. And she’s doing it now instead of waiting, in case you happened to find out at some other point. You could’ve come back at them even harder than you might now. She’s being smart, playing her card, and hoping you’d be too shell-shocked to ask questions and would just sign anything she gave you. You read over the paper?”

I jerked my head in a nod. “It looks solid, that I’d be signing away my daughter.”

He swore under his breath.

I sank down on the chair nearest me and caught my head in my hands. “I have a kid, Mase. I might have a kid. I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid. What the hell, man?”