42. Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty

Devon

I’m getting a plate of food for myself when Lola, Summer’s mother, comes up to me carrying Astrid.

“Do you know where Summer has run off to? I think this one needs a diaper change.”

Summer has been working on potty training Astrid but was worried she’d be too excited today to use the potty so has kept pull-ups on her. Seems she was right in doing so.

I put my half-full plate down on an empty table. “I don’t, but I can take her.”

“Thank you, darling.”

Lola hands Astrid over and walks away. I roll my eyes, and though I don’t know for sure, I’d bet she didn’t change Summer’s diaper once when she was a baby. Bet she hired 24/7 nannies for that. I know Summer had one growing up, but we never got into specifics about it. It’s terrible, honestly. Why have kids if you aren’t going to take care of them yourself? My father had a nanny to help out because he worked so much, but he also did what he could for us. Summer’s mother hasn’t worked a day in her life. So why have a nanny?

I head inside to where Summer and I put all of our stuff, but I don’t see the diaper bag. So, I go in search of Summer.

“Where is your mommy hiding?”

“Hide,” Astrid whispers, reaching for my hair to run her fingers through it.

The door to the room Astrid was napping in is closed, and just as I’m about to open it, I pause. There are voices inside. Harsh voices. I press my ear to the door, because I swear it’s my brother in there. Why would Dane be in there? Is he taking a business call? I can’t imagine him talking to clients like that. I flick my eyes to Astrid and hold my finger to my lips.

“Shh,” she whispers.

I smile and run my hand over her hair.

“—don’t understand why you’re doing this now. Here. ”

“When else was I supposed to do it?”

Is that Summer? It sounds like Summer… but why would they be in there together, arguing?

“Any time within the last three years, Summer. You know where I live. You have my number. Did you make Devon invite me just for this?”

“No, of course not.”

Is she crying? What is going on?

“Does she know?”

My heart pounds harder, my ears rushing with blood as I wait for her to answer.

Do I know what?

“No, Dane. She doesn’t know anything. I never told her. ”

Told me what?

I pull my ear away for a second, a lump forming in my throat. I have a really bad feeling about this… which is why I press my ear to the door again.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this—”

“It’s not like you didn’t have an idea, Dane. You had to have at least considered it.”

“Of course I did! But I thought you’d have said something. You always made it seem like she was Tommy’s. Not mine!”

I cover my mouth, gasping as I step away from the door. My back hits the wall across the hall, and before I can move, the door is yanked open.

Dane is pissed. Furious.

Until he sees me.

His face falls. Brows shooting up.

“Shit, Devon—”

Summer moves out right after him, looking more ashamed than anything. Her cheeks are pink and her eyes wet with tears. When she locks eyes with me, she freezes.

I hurry over and hand Astrid to Summer. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“Devon, wait!” Summer calls, but I rush down the hall, through the kitchen, and to the room where my purse is. I grab it and rush out of the room, only to slam into someone.

“Hey, baby, where you going?” I look up, and Tate frowns. “What’s wrong?” he demands. If this were any other situation, I’d love how quickly his mood changed because he’s worried.

“Did you know?” I ask, stepping away from him .

I feel so betrayed. My chest hurts. How could they lie to me about this? How could Summer keep this from me and from my brother? I didn’t even know they hooked up and now I’m finding out that Astrid is my niece! That my brother has a child! Because that’s definitely what that conversation was about. And thinking about it has me feeling crazy!

My brother has a child. A little girl. He could have been in his daughter’s life for three years, but Summer didn’t let him. The both of them could have had a better life if she allowed Dane in, but she took all of that from him. From me. From my father. From Astrid.

And Dane! He knew this was a possibility. Obviously, he isn’t an idiot. Why didn’t he ever say anything? Why didn’t he ask her? Why didn’t he try to figure this out?

“Know what?” Tate asks carefully.

I scoff, pushing by him.

His answer doesn’t matter because I won’t believe him anyway. He’s another one who lies to me. Only tells me things to appease me. It’s apparently what everyone in my life does. Just tells me things to keep me complacent and quiet. I thought Summer was different. I thought she was on my side, but she’s only been lying to me too.

“Devon!” Tate calls after me, but I push out the front door and run down the steps toward my car.

“Devon, please don’t leave!”

It’s Summer this time, coming around the side of the house. She reaches my car just as I get in. Astrid isn’t with her. I start the car as she taps on the window, and though my foot is on the brake, ready to release so I can back up, I wait. I don’t look at her, my hands on the wheel, but I wait.

“Please, let me explain,” she pleads.

I grit my teeth, pushing away the tears as I get the balls to look at her.

“You lied to me,” I ground out.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Just like everyone else in my life, you lied to me too!”

My foot lifts from the brake and the car rolls back. She steps away, and before turning away, I see Tate and Dane standing together by the front door, talking to each other.

The worst part is I can’t tell by the look on Tate’s face if he knows or not. I’ll never get the truth about this. Because there isn’t a single person in my life that I can trust.

I have no idea where I am. I just started driving and ended up… somewhere. There is a sign for a scenic view off the highway a few miles away. I suppose that’s a good place to stop. I ripped the GPS tracker from my car and tossed it out the window miles ago, so I don’t have to worry about being followed. My ass is going numb from sitting in this position, so stretching my legs is a good idea.

I bet my brother is freaking out. My father too, if Dane told him I took off. He likely did, especially if he checked the tracker and realized it wasn’t working. I think a semi ran it over. One agreement of having my own car was having the tracker. My father said it was for my protection, since it would alert him if I was in an accident and he would know where I am if I ever broke down—as if I could go far enough that I couldn’t tell him.

But it’s all bullshit.

Everything in my life is a lie. People lying and manipulating me to get what they want. No one cares about what I want. They’re all focused on themselves and their own lives, and I’m here caught in the crossfire.

When I come up to the view turn off, I take it. I’m grateful no one else is here. There is a dirt lot that can fit a handful of cars. I park in the middle and get out, moving to the guardrail. Well, I can’t be far because I see water. In fact, I think I may be near the beach I went to with Summer and Astrid. Was I only driving for that short of a time? I felt like I was driving for hours…

I hate that I have no one to talk to. That every person in my life has betrayed me. Even my best friend, who I thought I could tell everything to, has betrayed me. Maybe worse than the rest of them. Or maybe it just hurts more because I trusted her the most.

She slept with my brother and didn’t tell me. What a slap to the face that is. I’m not even mad that they slept together. I wouldn’t have cared about that. What I care about is that they lied about it and that my brother hasn’t been able to spend time with his daughter—if it’s even true.

I don’t want to be that type of person to say Summer is lying to him, but why did she suddenly tell him now? Why, after all this time? Why did she let everyone believe Astrid was Tommy’s? Is that why he left and didn’t come back? Because she never even told him? Didn’t anyone else ?

How deep do Summer’s lies go? Is it possible she’s only telling this to Dane to get money? I can’t imagine Summer being like that. I’ve offered her money and she refused… but I feel like I don’t know my best friend and I hate that. We’ve been friends for ten years. That’s a long time. And in all that time, we’ve never had a fight. Never over anything serious. We’ve had disagreements, but we’ve always worked them out because that’s what we do. But this?

This is such a mess. And I’m so angry!

I slap my hands on the guardrail, letting out a frustrated growl before I start pacing.

Back and forth I go, letting out energy, but I don’t feel any better. I feel out of control. Like I’m going crazy. My entire world is crumbling around me.

Why didn’t Dane tell me he slept with Summer? That hurts too. I don’t know which of them I’m angrier with. The fact they discussed it behind my back, I think it’s the worst part. Together, they decided it was best to keep it from me, which is so shitty! And how the hell did Dane not put this together? He should have known that the timeline matched up. Didn’t he question it? He knew Summer was pregnant… he isn’t an idiot.

On second thought… Astrid was premature. She was born six weeks early. I’m not sure I ever mentioned that to Dane, so maybe he did try to line up the dates and they didn’t match? Still, you’d think he’d have at least asked! A decent man would ask, right?

Ugh, this sucks!

I come to a dead stop, like I hit a brick wall, when the memory of me and Astrid at the beach hits me. I looked right into her bright green eyes and told her how they matched mine. Yet, it never clicked. Nothing about that stuck with me because I never thought Summer would lie to me about something like that. I never thought it could be possible that we share blood because I didn’t think my friend would keep something like that from me.

I should have known, though. Tommy has brown eyes too! What are the chances of two brown eye people having a kid with green? I’m sure it’s possible, but the odds? And for them to be the same shade as mine? Wow, I’m an idiot. The evidence was right there in front of my face, and I ignored it.

Because I trusted them… Seems to be a common theme here. A life lesson. Trusting people is bad.

And Tate… I can’t even get started on him.

My issues with him have nothing to do with this and instead with everything else. Which isn’t fair to him. Funny thing is, out of this entire situation, he’s the one who likely didn’t do anything, and I shouldn’t have gotten mad at him the way I did. Maybe he didn’t know. Or he did and never told me. But will he tell me the truth now? If he knew, would he admit it? Or will he hold his loyalty to my brother above his loyalty to me?

I never wanted Tate to have to choose between me and my brother, but now that I think about it, I don’t think it’s because I was worried about him hurting my brother. I was worried about him hurting me. Tate would choose Dane.

I stop in front of my car and take a few deep breaths, then let them out slowly.

One thing at a time, Devon. That’s all you can do .

I need to know if Tate knew about this. I need to know if I can trust him. I have no one to go to about this, and it’s driving me crazy. My issues with Tate can be put aside until this mess with my brother and Summer is over. But how will I know if Tate is lying? Maybe I won’t. Or maybe I’ll just know.

Opening my door, I lean over the seat to grab my phone from the cup holder, and with shaky hands, I unlock it.

I already have a text from Tate from twenty minutes ago.

I swear I didn’t know.

I want to believe him. Do I have any reason not to? I look upwards, leaning against my car.

Has Tate ever lied to me about anything? Not really. He refuses to tell me things. He’s been mean to me. But outright lied? I don’t think I’ve caught him doing that.

With a heavy sigh, I text him back.

Are you with my brother?

His text comes in immediately.

No.

I press the button to call him. He answers on the second ring.

“Where are you? Are you okay?” he asks frantically .

“No, not really.”

“Where are you?” he asks again.

I look around.

“Not sure, but I’m safe, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Devon, I promise you I didn’t know anything about Summer and Dane.”

“I believe you.”

The words fall from my lips easily.

I believe him.

I guess it’s that simple.

“I’m shocked as hell that you didn’t know,” he says.

“That’s why I’m so upset, Tate. They hid it from me. And how could Summer not tell Dane about this? He’s missed out on three years of his daughter’s life.”

“I’m sorry, baby.”

“Where are you?” I ask.

“Home. Your house.” He adds the last part quickly.

“I don’t want to go back there. I can’t. I’m not ready to talk to Dane yet. I definitely don’t want to see Summer.”

“Understandable.”

“I know you hate it, but can we stay at your place?”

He sighs. “I’m not sure that’ll work. If you’re not here, your brother will lose his shit. And if I’m not here either, they’ll put two and two together.”

“Why are you so ashamed of him finding out about us?” I snap.

“Is that what you think?” he snaps back. “It’s not shame, Devon. I’m worried it’ll cause a problem with you and Dane. That he’ll get mad at me or you. Make you choose. I don’t want to put you in the middle like that. It’s unfair.”

I look out at the water, sighing. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t ever think that I’m ashamed or embarrassed of you, because I’m not. This has nothing to do with that.”

“Well, at this point, Dane doesn’t have a leg to stand on. He fucked my best friend and hid it from me for almost four years, so he can’t be mad about me and you getting back together. He was fine with it once; he’ll be fine with it again.”

“But it doesn’t mean he’ll approve of us hiding away at my house.”

“It’s not up to him! I’m an adult, Tate. I make my own decisions. I’m tired of my brother thinking he can control me. Dad too.”

And this is why I need to go. Tate siding with Dane and my father only proves that moving away is the right thing to do. Yet… here I am.

“I get that. Really, I do. They just worry.” It’s silent for a few moments, then he adds, “I’ll pack you a bag and meet you at my house, okay?”

I let out a sigh of relief, my eyes falling close. “Thank you.”

“I love you, baby.”

I end the call and spend another moment trying to calm myself down.

Looks like it’s just me and Tate from now on. At least, until I leave.