Chapter 5

Luke stared at the ceiling in Paisley's room. Garrett was just starting to stir but hadn't cried yet and Paisley was curled into Luke's side, her head on his chest and her leg draped across his. He burned this into his brain as the first moment he'd felt calm in months.

Paisley stirred and tensed. She must have realized where she was.

"You're fine," he whispered.

She jumped and pulled away. "Sorry. I didn't mean to"—she waved her hand over his chest—"do that."

He laughed. "I wasn't complaining. Glad you were warm." Luke sat up and put his feet on the floor. "I'll take him. You get ready." Luke hesitated a moment and stood. He wanted to kiss her, but it was too soon for that.

"Thanks," she muttered.

Luke took Garrett out of his crib, talking sweetly to him. It was different to wake up with a baby, but he'd been loving it for the few days he'd been here.

"Your mama needs to rest today, bud," he told Garrett. "We are going to make sure she does."

He changed Garrett's diaper and made him a bottle all before Paisley joined them.

"You're getting the hang of it," she told him.

Luke nodded. "I think so." He was proud of himself for learning how to take care of his son.

Garrett finished his bottle, and Luke lifted him to his shoulder to burp him. He was happy to be able to feed him, but he did wonder why she hadn't decided to breastfeed him since it was the cheaper option and he knew that she was pressed for money. He wasn't ready to ask, though, worried questioning her choices might offend her.

"When he's done, he needs some tummy time." Paisley pulled a colorful mat out of a basket and spread it on the floor. "You lay him down on his stomach here so he can see the toys."

Luke nodded as Garrett let out a large burp. "Guess he's ready, then."

He set him down on the floor and sat beside him. Garrett lifted his head up and smacked at the toys on the mat.

"Breakfast?" she asked him.

Luke nodded and lay down in front of Garrett. "I could eat."

Paisley laughed. "I'm sure you could."

He played with Garrett for a few minutes, until Paisley brought him a plate of food. "Thanks." He sat up, taking i. "How much longer will he play like this?"

"Not much longer before he gets tired of it. He will roll over soon." As soon as it was out of her mouth, Garrett did just that.

His focus had been mostly on Paisley since coming here. He'd paid attention to Garrett but hadn't been able to fully enjoy having a son. He'd had months to process it, but now, being with him, that was a different level of realization.

"Is he healthy?" Luke wondered out loud.

Paisley took a bite of her food before answering, "He doesn't have any medical issues. He was almost a month early, but overall, he's doing great."

"How was that? The birth?"

Paisley sighed and took her empty plate to the kitchen. "It was rough. I was in labor for a full day before we had to do a C-section. Then I couldn't breastfeed him. He wouldn't latch and I wasn't making enough milk. That was the hardest part. I was worried about making the best decisions for him and my body failed at the things it needed to do for him."

Luke stood and went to her, pulling her into his arms. "You didn't fail."

"I did. It's okay. I've come to terms with it and I'm trying to be the best mom I can to him even with bottles instead of breast."

"It's not a failure. It's a different way. You're making sure our son is taken care of. The how doesn't matter."

He didn't get to say anything else as someone knocked on the door. Luke moved to look out the peephole, and his shoulders sank.

"My friends are here. I imagine they want an explanation and weren't willing to wait anymore." He started undoing the locks. "Don't forget your medicine," he reminded her. "Come on in," he said as he opened the door.

"Sorry, Paisley. We didn't want to barge in on you, but this guy has a lot of talking to do." Evan offered the apology as he, Ryker, Jake, Catherine, Cade, April, Kayla, and Lauren all filed into her small apartment.

"Paisley." April went to her, giving her a hug. "I was so worried when you disappeared."

She answered, but he didn't catch it. He realized that Cade was also carrying an infant carrier, a small pink bundle nestled inside.

"What did you two name her?" Luke knelt to see her.

"Clara," Cade said.

"Keeping the Cs I like it." His mother hadn't been quite as inspired.

"I'll take Garrett and get out of y'all's way," Paisley said.

"Stay," Luke offered. "I think you'll want to hear all of this and as selfish as it may be, I'd like to only say it once. It affects you and Garrett."

April took Clara out of her seat and went to the mat where Garrett was lying, sucking on his hands. "He's so big compared to her," she marveled.

"He grew so fast," Paisley said, taking a seat on the floor next to him. "I didn't realize how much until now when I see her next to him."

April sat beside her and held Clara out for her to hold. Paisley happily held her arms out and shifted the baby to take her face in.

"She's gorgeous," Paisley said. "I don't have anywhere for everyone to sit." She didn't look up.

Her apartment was even smaller with all the men in it. Everyone stood at least six feet tall and broad-shouldered, so there was barely any room to move with them all here.

"It's fine," Luke said to Paisley as he glared at Ryker. This could have waited and not made her embarrassed.

"There's no problem." Lauren stepped forward, pulling Kayla and Catherine with her. "We are really just here to listen and get baby snuggles." All three of them joined April and Paisley on the floor.

Cade and Ryker grabbed chairs from her small dining table, while Evan and Jake sat on the sofa. They all turned to look at him, waiting for him to speak.

Luke sighed and accepted that he was going to have to spill it all now.

"I didn't know who my father was until I was sixteen. I grew up in an apartment that was worse than this building with my mom and sister. When I met my father, he immediately let me know he was there to decide if I would be useful. I was defiant, angry, and generally moody, as teenagers are, and he didn't like it."

"This better get to why we are here soon," Ryker warned.

"My father told me he'd take care of us if I did what he needed me to do and that meant a better house, money, and food. I learned quickly to shut up and do what he asked. I never understood what my mother saw in him, but I did what I had to." Luke ran a hand through his hair. "It was little things at first, delivering papers to people, spying on people, nothing that was too hard."

Cade squinted at him. "Who is your father?"

Luke only nodded.

Catherine sucked in a breath. "You're him."

He nodded again and continued the story. "When I got older, he asked me to befriend you all. I didn't fit in and I didn't think it would work, but he wanted information. Every time I came to him with nothing or tried to tell him no, he would threaten my mom and sister. I didn't want to help and so I partied and stayed away from you guys as much as I could after the stuff with the restaurant. I didn't know what he was going to do. I only gave him information." He looked at Kayla. "I'm sorry."

He was sorry. He hated that anything bad had happened to them because of him. "I refused to work with him after the initial incident with Lauren's mom. He didn't seem to care since he was using her instead at the time. Once that didn't pan out, he came to me. That was when the restaurant stuff happened, all the scandal and vandalism. I didn't do any of it, but it was my fault."

"Luke," Catherine said.

"Let me finish." He held up a hand, needing to get it all out at once. "Paisley already knows this part, but when you showed an interest in her, he wanted me to put a stop to it. Threatened to cut off treatment for my mom's cancer if I didn't. I asked her out and we hit it off. It wasn't meant to turn into something, but it did. Then he was pissed at that so I backed off before I knew she was pregnant so he wouldn't do anything to her."

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Catherine asked.

"I didn't know how." He shrugged. "I had taken it too far and decided to find a way to stop him on my own. My mother passed while everything was happening with you and April," he told Cade. "At first, he was pissed that I wasn't there to help with that and give him information, but then he changed his tactics. He went to Ashley, told her I had stopped paying for mom's treatments. It took a while to convince her that he was just a manipulative liar. We were so caught up in the grief of losing Mom."

He cleared his throat and shook off that memory. "He called and emailed me often when he first went to jail. After that, well, I gave in and went to see him, hoping to sever things once and for all. It didn't work. He was going to get Ashley kicked out of school with lies about her, completely damage her reputation before she had a chance to build it. It would have wrecked her. I agreed to help him again."

"Marcus?" Ryker asked.

"Yeah. I hated him but I never thought he would do what he did. I had no idea he was that unhinged. I just helped him get a date with Catherine. From there, I had nothing to do with it. The last time I visited him, he wanted me to break you two up and get some other guy to date her. I refused."

"We know about that," Cade said.

He didn't question that. "I've been trying to put things in motion so that if he follows through with his threats, it won't work or at least won't be as bad. I've got information on everyone he contacts from jail and what they do. Some of the people are in pretty high places. I just need to drag things out for a little longer for Ashley to graduate."

"Except that won't stop it." Cade stood. "The threat will change, but it won't go away. I assume that Ashley is our sister too?"

"She is," Luke confirmed.

"Then she will likely end up in the same situation he put Catherine in," Jake added.

"I'm trying to prevent all of it. I have dirt on everyone he talks to, and I'm hoping that when he makes his move, I can blackmail them to stop it." Luke had been working hard to gather it.

"Shit," Cade swore.

The room went quiet as everyone took in the information. Luke studied the floor, the wall, anywhere but the people he'd just told all the terrible things he'd been involved in with them.

"Luke," Paisley whispered. She was standing beside him and he hadn't even noticed. She slid her hand into his, squeezing.

"You being here puts them at risk," Cade said.

Luke was surprised his tone was more concern than admonishment. "That's right. We already talked about needing to move out of here to some place better maintained."

"Oh, you can use my house." Catherine stood and swiped the wrinkles out of her pants. "Ryker and I were just talking about what to do with it. I lived there less than a month before I moved in with him."

That close to Ryker probably wasn't a good idea.

"It's not a bad idea. I can keep an eye on you from there and they will have someone nearby if they need us," Ryker said.

Shocked, Luke finally looked up at everyone. What he saw had him choking back emotion in his throat.. Sympathetic looks were all he was getting. Ryker and Cade had their fists clenched but they didn't seem to be sending that energy his way.

"You're not angry?" he asked.

Jake answered for everyone this time. "Angry that you didn't bother to tell us. We would have helped, Luke."

"You can't do this again," Evan added. "You have to be honest with is, even when it's bad. You're our friend, and we will always help you."

Catherine walked over and gave him a hug. "You're family."

Cade shook his hand. "We can talk more later, but I don't hate that you're my brother."

April laughed from behind him. "High praise indeed."

Paisley squeezed his hand again.

"You ready to move?" He turned to her.

She didn't answer as Catherine launched into all the reasons she had bought the house and why Paisley would love it. Everything was a blur as the weight he'd been carrying was finally gone. He had support this time and didn't have to do everything alone. It was freeing.

"Come meet your niece," Cade said, pulling him into the living room.

Luke grinned as he held her. "Meet your nephew again," he said.

Cade picked up Garrett from his spot on his mat. "He's a good baby. Was so happy at Catherine's."

"She seems pretty happy herself," he said as Clara took his finger, holding on.

He'd gone from it being him against the world, being a protective son and brother, to having a son and a niece, a brother, and another sister. It was amazing and he couldn't stop smiling.