Redneck Romeo (Rough Riders #15)(106)

Meanwhile, just up the road, Tell sat in the driveway in front of his house for a long time before he climbed out of his truck.


Although Georgia had left the light on in the living room, he expected she’d gone to bed. Which was probably good because he planned to drink a helluva lot of whiskey. Then he could blame the sick feeling on booze.


He shucked his coat and kicked off his boots. He headed directly to the liquor cabinet, pulling out the bottle of Koltiska that Brandt had given him to celebrate Jackson’s birth. He remembered missing his baby brother that day. Dalton had been a part of damn near every milestone in Tell’s life so it’d seemed…wrong somehow for him to miss that one.


Tell didn’t even bother with a shot glass; he just chugged straight from the bottle.


How the f*ck could Tell ever look at his father again with anything except disgust? With this…Casper had gone beyond alcoholic * unhappy with his lot in life and taking it out on everyone around him. The man was a f*cking psychopath. An evil manipulator. A f*cking puppet master. An evil sonuvabitch.


Casper McKay had pitted his sons against each other. He wreaked havoc with his own brothers and caused a rift in the family that’d taken years to repair. He verbally abused his wife. All of those things were bad by themselves.


They should’ve washed their hands of him years ago. Fuck that forgive and forget mindset. Fuck that honor thy father tenet.


There was no doubt in Tell’s mind that Dalton was Casper’s kid. No doubt. If Dalton had spoken to their mother, he would’ve learned firsthand that Joan McKay hadn’t been unfaithful. Yes, she’d left Casper once. She’d gone to stay with her family in Nebraska. But her aunt and uncle had convinced her that marriage was a lifelong commitment in the eyes of God and advised her to return to her husband and work it out. So she had.


Tell had accidentally overheard that conversation between his mother and mother-in-law one night last year when he’d been up feeding Jackson. They’d talked about their struggles with being more afraid to leave a bad marriage than to stay in it. How long it’d taken to muster up the guts to leave for good.


He thought of Jackson and got that warm surge of love. How could a father do to his own child what Casper had done to Dalton? Plant the seeds that his son wasn’t really his son and watch that kid cut himself off from his entire family?


Because he could. Because Casper knew Dalton wouldn’t tell anyone. Just like he hadn’t told anyone about the years of physical abuse he’d suffered at the hands of their father.


Fury boiled through Tell like hot lava.


What a f*cked up mess.


The booze hit him hard. He shoved the bottle out of reach and cradled his head in his hands. If he felt this lost and miserable for Dalton, how had Dalton felt the last three years?


After Dalton had first left, Tell had reached out to him, but when Dalton’s response times got longer, it’d gotten easier to put off making that phone call. If he had any guilt, he’d quickly squashed it with the self-righteous reminder that the phone lines ran both ways.


Dalton had shut himself off and they’d let him. They’d f*cking let him.


He’d never felt more like a miserable f*cking excuse of a human being as he did in that moment.


The floorboard creaked behind him. “Tell?”


He was too choked up to respond.


“Sweetheart, are you okay?”


He shook his head.


“What’s wrong?”


“Everything,” he said hoarsely.


A pause. “Talk to me.”


“I don’t know if I can.”


Georgia draped her arms over his shoulders, hugging him from behind. “I’ll be right here, holding on to you until you’re ready.”


Tell took the strength and comfort she offered and began to talk.


After he finished, his beautiful, sweet wife rested her damp cheek against his. No surprise his tenderhearted love had shed tears for Dalton. “I’m sorry. What else can I do for you?”


“You’re doin’ it. Every day you do it for me. I’ve got so much…because of him. He’s the one who kicked me in the ass to tell you how I felt about you. He all but gave us this house. It’s f*ckin’ killin’ me that he’s been dealin’ with this shit alone.” Tell didn’t bother to hide his tears. He just closed his eyes, held onto her and let them fall.


“You can be there for him now. You guys can get past this.”


“Why would he want to?”


“If he didn’t want to, he wouldn’t have come back.”


“He came back because me’n Brandt didn’t give him a choice. He’s staying here because of Rory.”


“Will Dalton go to her?”


“No. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t told her about any of this.”


“Tell. Baby. Rory deserves to know.”


“That’s not my call.”


“Then I’m making it mine.” Georgia retreated and unplugged her phone from the wall charger. She scrolled through her contact list and held the phone to her ear, sliding a notepad on the counter within reach.