Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
* * *
Harrison stared at the four empty bourbon glasses on the table at his brother Zach’s bar and grill. The Back Door was named after the entrance located in the rear of the building, with a nod to his sibling’s computer hacking skills. Then there was the Urban Dictionary meaning, giving the place triple entendre significance. Zach found it amusing.
Harrison leaned back in his chair and waved until the server, Raven, a pretty brunette who flirted with Zach and vice versa, walked over.
Harrison lifted his empty glass.
She shook her head. “Your brother cut you off,” she said, picking up one empty glass at a time and placing each on her tray.
“Come on. I need it.” If he kept drinking, the words, I’m going to be a father, would stop swirling around in his head.
She shrugged, sympathy in her eyes. “Sorry. Take it up with management.” She sashayed over to the bar, hips swaying, and stepped behind it, where she said something to Zach, who nodded and gave Harrison a hooded look before turning to another customer.
From the moment Harrison had walked in, chosen a table, ordered, and refused to discuss what was bothering him with his sibling, Zach had watched him warily from behind the bar. So, Harrison wasn’t surprised when the rest of his siblings strode in and pulled up chairs around his table.
Zach had clearly called for an intervention. Making his way across the room, the traitor joined them. He dragged a chair from another table, turned it backward and sat down, straddling the seat.
Asher placed his hands on the wooden table and studied Harrison. “Okay, let’s have it. What’s got you drowning your sorrows?”
“I need one more drink, and then I’ll tell you,” Harrison muttered.
Zach rolled his eyes and nodded at Raven across the room.
“I left my wife and kids at home,” Nick said. “And by the look of you, it’s a good thing I did. But you’d better start talking.”
Jade, Nick’s twin, nodded in agreement. “Leah wanted to come, but I had a feeling this wasn’t the time to see her uncle. I’m here for you,” she told him, squeezing his hand.
His gaze drifted from the twins to Zach and then to Asher, the father figure of them all. It wasn’t that their dad, Michael, was a bad father. Not at all. He’d just had his hands full after Audrey—mom of the siblings sitting here now—had walked out and all but disappeared.
When Harrison was six, their father told them he’d gotten word she’d died by suicide. The truth still caused him deep pain, yet it was hard to think of Audrey as his mother when Serenity, once the nanny and now his stepmom, had always filled that role.
Asher had stepped up to help. Of everyone, Harrison hated to disappoint him the most. But from the serious scowl on big brother’s face, Harrison had a feeling he already had. No doubt Nikki, who’d probably known about Winter’s pregnancy since last night, had filled him in.
Harrison couldn’t put it off any longer. “You all remember I was seeing Winter Capwell this summer?”
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Nick asked with a chuckle. As brothers, they always gave each other shit.
Jade nudged her elbow into his side. “Shut up. Go on, Harrison.”
He drew a deep breath, preparing to say the truth out loud for the first time. “Winter is pregnant, and I’m the father.”
“Oh, Harrison!” Jade reacted first, and she covered her mouth with one hand.
“Shit,” Zach said as Raven set down Harrison’s drink and discreetly walked away.
Asher’s gaze remained steady on Harrison, confirming he already knew.
Nick clenched his hands together on the table, clearly having lost his amusement now that he knew the facts. “As someone who had a child and didn’t find out about it for five years, the upside here is you won’t miss out on being there for Winter and your kid.”
Harrison groaned. Of course, Nick would immediately put himself in Harrison’s shoes and have a different feeling about the situation. When Nick was younger, he’d been in Florida for college spring break. He’d had a one-night stand with his now-wife, Aurora. They hadn’t exchanged last names, and she’d had no way to find him.
At the time, she’d just aged out of foster care and had been living in the back room of the diner where she worked. She’d been alone, penniless, and pregnant before her life had finally taken a positive turn. The Kingstons had discovered she was their illegitimate sister. Linc Kingston had gone to Florida to find her and bring her home. Four years later, luck had brought Nick back into her life. So yeah, he’d missed out on a lot, and he’d have given anything to have been there from the beginning.
But Harrison? When Winter told him she was pregnant, he hadn’t acted like an upstanding guy despite his proclamation of having been raised better. Actually, when he thought about it, he’d been a dick and should have at least left her with more concrete reassurances.