Kiss This (46 page)

Camryn woke with a jolt when she thought her
knees hit the sidewalk. Her eyes flew open and she gasped, and then
the confusion of being in Brandon’s living room made her
freeze.

Thank God it was just a nightmare
.
She slowly sat up on the couch, pulling a blanket off of her in the
process. Her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking, and if
the nightmare had continued any longer, she’d probably be bawling
right now. Just the thought of Teague not being in her life was
unbearable.

She looked around the room again and shook
her head, realizing she must have fallen asleep last night. It was
strange to have slept on a couch alone. She was so used to lying
with Teague, or his strong arms carrying her to bed.

The image made her heart sink, and that
empty feeling in her chest convinced her it was time to call him.
She got up and used the bathroom. After washing her face and
rinsing with mouthwash, she stepped into the hall, almost running
into Brandon.

“Thought I heard you up,” he said, rubbing
his eyes with his fingers.

“Sorry to wake you.”

“It’s only a half an hour before I need to
get up anyways.”

“It’s Sunday. Why so early?”

“Because Mondays fucking suck if I don’t
keep some kind consistent routine. I’m lame, I know,” he
smiled.

“Yes, you are,” she teased, giving him a
light shove.

They walked down the hall to the living room
and Brandon said, “Teague was here last night.”

Her reaction went from totally frozen to
deep creases appearing in her forehead. “Why didn’t you tell
me?”

“You were sleeping. I thought it was best.
He agreed.”

Camryn dropped to the couch with a heavy
sigh. “I shouldn’t have left.”

“You’ve said that ten times now.”

“Because it’s reality. I needed to go for a
drive and automatically came here. I just needed a night to regroup
and you’re my comfort zone.”

“Well if you ask me, it was a good thing.
But it looks like Mel either told him where you were or he figured
it out on his own since he showed up after midnight.”

She barely shook her head. “I really wish
you had told me he was here,” she said, looking up at him.

Brandon was pensive as he crossed his arms
over his chest. “I’m betting he’s still here, Cam.”

She stood from the couch. “What?”

“I doubt he ever left. I’m sure he’s still
here.”

He lifted his chin to motion to the front of
the house and Camryn slowly went to the window. The curtains were
barely parted at the middle and she looked through the gap without
touching them. There in Brandon’s driveway was a beautiful Mustang
Boss, and there in the driver’s seat with his head leaning against
the side window was Teague.

She stepped back and bit her lip, realizing
that her heart was crashing in her chest again. How much she loved
him hadn’t changed, but now she was worried about the conversation
they needed to get through.

She turned around and looked at Brandon.
“Did you guys talk last night?”

He placed his hands on his hips and
shrugged. “A little.”

Camryn licked her lips as she resisted the
urge to barrel out the front door. But first she needed to know
where she stood with Teague. “And?”

Brandon slowly exhaled. Motioning with his
head he replied, “Go see him, Camryn.”

She scarcely nodded and walked to the door.
When she stepped onto the porch she assumed Teague was asleep in
his car, but the side of his head came off the glass and he stared
at her for a few seconds. When she took a few steps down the
walkway, he opened the door and climbed out of the car.

They stood there for a bit in silence until
Teague closed the distance between them. “Please can I just hold
you for a minute?” he hardly whispered. “Even if you hate me right
now, I just…”

He didn’t finish the plea because she took
another step towards him and wrapped her arms around him tightly.
Pressing her face against him she said, “Yes, please hold me.”

And he did. He held her so tight it made her
cry and she returned his embrace even tighter.

“I’m so sorry, Camryn,” he whispered into
her hair. “I never meant for this to hurt you. I thought I would be
able to walk away from this without having to bring it into our
relationship. I had no idea my own family would do this. I’m so
sorry. Please forgive me.”

She was silent for a long time as she
processed everything. But not only did she worry about what she was
going to say, she had new things to assess. She could smell that
he’d been smoking at some point since the last time she saw him. It
literally broke her heart. He hadn’t had a cigarette for almost
four weeks.

But it was another minute before she was
ready to share her thoughts. She pulled out of his arms, not really
wanting to but needing to.

“If you can’t share everything with me,
Teague, then I’m not ready to marry you,” she said quietly. “I just
don’t understand this. If you have a child with another woman,
okay…just tell me. I would love him too just because he’s yours,
Teague. Can’t you see that?” she barely choked out, tears falling
down her cheeks.

Teague’s eyes were filled to the brim when
he shook his head and she could see him swallow. “I lost him, Cam,”
he said, hardly above a whisper. “I just—I could’ve and—I don’t
even…”

Camryn’s heart cracked even more, seeing him
look so fragile, standing there with his shoulders drooped in
defeat. Her strong and sexy Teague that seemed unbreakable was only
human, and she resolved to help him heal, no matter what he shared
with her.

“Just tell me about it,” she whispered,
taking a step forward again until she was standing inches from him.
She rubbed his arms that hung at his side and then placed her hands
against his face. “I am never leaving you, Teague. I love you so
much and I’m yours forever. Do you hear me? Do you understand
that?” She grabbed his head firmly until he nodded and looked her
in the eyes. “I want you to tell me what happened. Please, Teague.
If I have to keep it with me until I die, I will. I swear to you.
But please, for the sake of our relationship,
tell me
.”

He took her hand and moved for the porch
step so they could sit down. He took a long, deep breath and then
slowly let it out.

“Kate and I were together for a year total.
She lived in Las Vegas and that’s where I met her. We kept in touch
for a couple months, saw each other casually a few times—I went
back to Vegas once, she came out to LA twice.” He took another deep
breath and shook his head. “She got pregnant. It was totally
unexpected because we were so careful. She didn’t even want kids.
But…we just dealt with it. After another month I was pretty excited
about it, and a few months after that, I couldn’t even wait until
my son was born,” he smiled with the memory. “I was kind of a
paranoid father-to-be, always fussing over Kate and how she was
feeling and just trying to make sure she was okay and the baby was
okay.”

Camryn smiled. She could picture Teague that
way. He was so loving and strong; so unselfish and
just…
good
. He was always asking about Melanie’s wellbeing
and constantly offering his help if it was needed. He’d even told
her he’d help her pay for anything the baby needed.

“Kate stayed in Las Vegas,” he continued.
“She refused to move out to LA and I didn’t understand why at the
time. We had kind of grown apart by then and it was pretty apparent
we were just going to share a son and nothing more. I was busy
fitting in work while trying to spend as much time in Las Vegas as
I could. When she went into labor, I took the first flight out and
was there when Chase was born. It was awesome. I’ll never forget
how it felt to hold him the first time.”

Camryn smiled again and Teague did too, but
then he started to frown and she could tell the not-so-amazing part
of the story was coming up.

“I was working on a pretty huge movie with
Max and my dad when Chase was about ten weeks old. Kate came to LA
and brought him to the set to visit me. She still wouldn’t move out
here and it was a problem between us. It became apparent that we
were just going to share a son and nothing more. Anyways, I was
finishing a scene. It was one that Max was going to have face time
in also, so he was on the set that week. But the bit I was doing in
the afternoon was without him. Afterwards I went to find my son. It
was… I just…” He shook his head. “I still don’t even remember how I
ended up there, but I was by my brother’s trailer when I saw Kate
coming out of it.”

Camryn’s heart fell and she shook her head.
She squeezed Teague’s hand to show her support, but he seemed dazed
with the memory now. Or numb. Maybe he was trying not to feel it
again.

“It wasn’t a friendly kind of thing, and
that’s what was odd to me,” he sighed. “They looked like they’d
been fighting. But they both saw me. I just stopped and was staring
at whatever the fuck I was witnessing. Long story short, I finally
found out that she’d slept with him the first time she’d come to
LA.” He took a deep breath and looked at Camryn. “That was nine
months before Chase was born.”

“Oh my God,” Camryn gasped, throwing a hand
to her mouth. “Are you saying…?”

“Chase isn’t mine. He’s my brother’s.”

Camryn could only gape for a minute. So many
thoughts were going through her mind, and so many emotions were
charging through her. Teague had been raising a child, and if it
wasn’t bad enough to discover his girlfriend had slept with his
brother, he also found out that his son wasn’t even his?!

“Max swears it was the only time, and that
he was drunk,” he continued. “But Kate was actually happy I finally
found out. She had an agenda apparently, and it consisted of a life
with Max McCallan, not his little brother the stunt junkie. He’d
been able to keep her mouth shut until that point, but once I knew,
she was all too eager to move on with Max and let everyone know
that Chase was his son.”

Camryn’s mouth dropped open. “She told you
that?”

“Oh yeah. Max was a different story, though.
He didn’t want his life to change or the press to get a hold of the
information. My dad had promised him thirty percent of his
production company on Max’s twenty-sixth birthday, which is next
month, and Max didn’t want the news about Chase to ruin it for him.
Kate just couldn’t understand why he was being an asshole,” Teague
scoffed sarcastically.

“Had he known that Chase was his before you
found out?”

“Yeah. She told him before Chase was born.
Looking back I could see why Max never asked me about Kate or
Chase; he’d barely even listen when I talked about them. I just
thought he was preoccupied with work and stuff. He’d gradually been
distancing himself from me and I never had a clue why. But I
finally figured out why she wouldn’t move to LA with Chase. Max had
struck up an arrangement with her. He made her promise to stay in
Las Vegas and keep it quiet, to give him time wrap up a few things
in his career and for my dad to make the business deal. He promised
he’d be ready to let the secret go public by then. She agreed. I
know money was exchanged and an agreement was signed. In the
meantime she dangled me along to keep the secret. I was just a
fucking placeholder until she dumped me for my brother.”

“My God,” Camryn whispered. What a truly
evil scheme. Did the woman have no heart?

“So…obviously there’s been drama,” Teague
chuckled bitterly. “I worked on the film for another week after
finding out Chase wasn’t my son. It was the only thing I could do
to keep from falling apart. Other than telling Jay, I kept things
to myself because I didn’t know what else to do about it. I’d
already had it out with my brother, and after leaving a few marks
on his face, they had to rearrange the filming schedule. Of course
my dad was pissed at
me
, not Max. My dad never found out
about Chase’s paternity—Max did everything he could to make sure of
it—but there were rumors going around that my brother and I were in
a feud. There was all kinds of speculation about the reason: Max
wanted to do more stunts like me; I wanted to be a pretty boy like
him; we were both competing for daddy’s attention, etcetera. Tons
of things were written and talked about. Even crazy stuff like he
ate my fucking sandwich and shit like that. Yeah, I’m really going
to kick his ass at work over that. We just let all the rumors cloud
everything up like always, but see the garbage that gets spread as
‘news’?” he asked with a cheerless smile.

“Yes, I get it,” she frowned
sympathetically. She rubbed her hand on his back and asked, “So
tell me about those last days on the set. When you left it all
behind.”

He barely shrugged. “I’d just gotten the
results of the paternity test that morning and couldn’t deal with
it anymore. All it took was to think about Chase and I’d want to
fall apart. I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t focus on what I was
supposed to be doing. I was deteriorating, bit by bit. My dad was
riding my ass to pull my shit together. He told me I needed to
support my brother more by not causing drama in the family. Can you
believe that? I wanted to punch his face in.”

“So you actually kept Max’s secret this
whole time?” she asked. She didn’t mean to sound judgmental, but
that’s how it came out. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’m just
trying to understand…”

“I know,” he bobbed his head.

He raked a hand through his hair, making it
all kinds of messy. Camryn wished she knew the right things to say.
To think he’d been trying to put this behind him when she’d met him
gave her an entirely different perspective. In a way, she wished
she could go back in time with this knowledge and make everything
better for him.

They were
both
damaged when they’d
met.