Love, Diamonds, and Spades (Cactus Creek #2)(36)

“Don’t you think that’s Quinn’s decision? What gives you the right to keep a boy from his father? What, you think just because you’re sleeping with her, you can play step dad to my son?”

Rylan saw red. Chest heaving, he was so angry he couldn’t see straight. He rammed Brody back up against the wall, very nearly cracking the man’s head open in the process. “I’m going to ask you one last time,” he snarled. “What are you doing here?”

Brody snarled right back. “Can’t a father just want to help his son?”

Where this douche bag was concerned? Over Rylan’s dead body.

That’s when a thought occurred to him. “You know about Cooper’s surgery, don’t you?” His eyes narrowed and he let him down. “How?”

Brody shrugged. “There’s been some buzz on YouTube and some crowdsource pages that went viral after the chocolate and beer thing here. So I thought I’d stop by to see if I could...help.”

Rylan had a sickening feeling he knew where this was going. “Okay, you want to help Quinn? Cut a check right now and I’ll see to it that she gets it. Every little bit will ease the stress she’s been under lately.”

Brody’s jaw ticked and Rylan could practically see the conniving wheels turning.

“See, that’s the thing.” Brody’s voice turned slick. “Finances are a little tight right now. But I thought with all this music stuff you guys have going on to help Cooper, I’m a musician so why not come on down and help.”

Rylan stood there in shock for a second, almost disbelieving his own ears. “You’re just here to cash in on all the social media attention.”

Brody simply shrugged, but at least he showed embarrassment—albeit a fleeting microsecond mini flash only—over his despicable actions. “If my being here creates a bigger buzz, it’ll mean more attention for Cooper, right? Which will mean more money. What’s the harm in getting me a little face time and name time in the process? I mean how great would it be for everyone to see Coop and I doing some photo ops, maybe before and after the surgery, that sort of thing? We could even do some sort of documentary of the whole surgery, too. And I could play the music in the background of the video, you know?”

Un-friggin-believable. The guy was lower than scum. He was an evil, opportunistic little prick willing to put his own five-year old son through a possible media circus for a little table scrap of publicity. “You’d put your own son through that? Record all the fear and pain he’s about to go through and splash it all over the creation? You would do that knowing full well with the internet now days that it could all escalate to something crazy or even morph into something ugly that could possibly blow back against Quinn somehow—jeopardize the fundraisers or even her business. You’d be willing to put your ‘family’ through all of that?”

Rylan’s voice shook with pure fury. “After all you’ve already done to her, this is how you treat the mother of your child? Quinn would do absolutely anything for Cooper, anything to keep him happy, keep him safe. Even if it meant slaving away for pennies day and night for the next three lifetimes, she’d rather choose that path than subject that amazing little boy to a tenth of what you’re suggesting.”

Now it was Brody’s turn to look stunned. “You love Quinn.”

“I love them both,” he snapped. “And until my dying day, I’ll protect them in any way I can.”

For a second there, Rylan could’ve sworn that he saw a look of empathy in Brody’s expression. Even respect.

But it was gone a moment later, only to be replaced by a slow transformation, that seemed to shift Brody’s entire demeanor. Rylan didn’t trust that gleam in his eye.

“You know…” Brody began with carefully measured words. “I can see that my being here is a concern for you. I guess I don’t blame you. I could go back to Europe. Without Quinn and Cooper even knowing I was here…if that’s what you want.”

Rylan’s eyes narrowed and he remained silent, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Brody lifted an innocent, golly-gee shoulder. “I could just help out from Europe. With a song.” He leveled a look on Rylan. “But, really, it seems like the public who have been following Cooper’s story already thinks there’s already a perfect “dad” song on YouTube. I must’ve seen hundreds of comments just yesterday alone talking about how this song is the most amazing father–son anthem…”

Rylan couldn’t friggin’ believe his ears. “You want credit for my song. The song I wrote for Cooper.”

“Well, I just think it would be a little weird for there to be two Dad songs on this project, don’t you?”

The feral growl that came blasting out of Rylan’s chest was all the warning Brody needed to narrowly miss the fist coming at him.

Rylan jerked back his hand and shook off the blood. That brick wall might have possibly broken his hand, but he didn’t even register the pain. “You were never Cooper’s dad.”

Another fleeting look of regret flashed over Brody’s expression before again being replaced by that detached, I’m-in-it-for-the-money smirk…that for a second, Rylan was certain was a mask.

It was a very short second.

“I’m sure,” Brody shrugged, straightening his suit, “the media would love to shine a spotlight on Cooper’s parents. On how hard it must have been on Quinn for me to have left her pregnant and alone, a college dropout, forced to live with her best friend Luke, and now with creditors chasing her for years. God, can you imagine what a field day the media would have with that? I bet within twenty-four hours, folks will start speculating if Luke is Cooper’s dad, and if she’s secretly using the money to pay off some ill-gotten debts she was passing off as medical bills.” He crossed his arms coldly. “You’re in the music business—you and I both know how ugly these online crowdsourced fundraisers can turn. And last I checked, the one that got started for Cooper the other week has gotten over a thousand donations already.”