19. Sequin

19

SEQUIN

S lade is motionless as he stares at Chime. I think he’s holding his breath. I don’t know what to do, so I hug Chime back. This isn’t how I wanted him to find out about her. It certainly isn’t how I wanted her to find out about him.

Silver steps inside the dining room. His mouth drops open when he sees Slade. “I thought she only needed to be gone for an hour and we were gone for two.”

I wasn’t clear enough when I texted him. We also took that detour to the Motel. How could I have been that stupid?

Chime straightens and looks at Slade curiously. “Who are you?”

The whole room becomes silent, as if time has stopped.

“Slade,” he finally stammers out. “I’m Slade.”

She tilts her head to one side. “Are you a whale shifter?”

“It isn’t polite to ask why type of shifter people are,” I remind her.

“Blue whales are the biggest animals in the world,” she explains, matter-of-factly. “And he’s the biggest person I’ve ever seen.”

Slade’s lips quirk up on one side.

“We also don’t talk about the size of people’s bodies, remember?” I say.

My omega mom elbows my alpha mom. “Yeah, remember?”

“It’s okay,” Slade reassures her. “I’m half grizzly shifter, half human.” He glances at me. Not with anger or confusion, but almost as if he’s asking permission to continue. Then he turns his attention back to her. “What’s your name?”

“Wind Chime. But people don’t say the ‘Wind’ part unless they call me their little wind chime. Mostly my uncles and my dad.”

“Chime,” Slade repeats softly. “That’s beautiful.”

She smiles. “All raccoon shifters are named after beautiful things. It’s because our parents love us.”

Slade smiles at her with a tenderness in his eyes that makes my heart stop.

“I think your dad needs to talk with Slade alone for a while,” Silver tells Chime. “Let’s go play Mario Kart.”

Slade’s smile fades. “Oh. Okay. It was good to meet you, Chime.”

“Bye!” She gives me a quick hug and bounds out of the room, clueless about who she just met.

The silence returns. All we can hear is Chime’s feet pattering through the house and a door shutting. Slade sits there, deep in thought. I don’t know how I expected him to react when he found out about Chime, but it wasn’t like this.

“She’s mine,” he finally says. It isn’t a question.

“Yes.”

He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again.

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to protect her.” The words come out hollow because I’m no longer sure I made the right decision. The way he looked at her…

I think he would protect her as fiercely as he protected his brother, if given the chance.

“I got my electrician license while I was incarcerated,” he says.

“What?” Did he just change the subject?

“I’ll find a job as soon as I can. If I pay child support, could I see her? The visits can be supervised, if that would make you more comfortable. And…you don’t have to tell her that I’m her alpha dad.”

I hate the anguish on his face as he offers up that last compromise.

Here I was worried that he’d lose his temper or fly into a rage, but he just wants to be in Chime’s life. He’s even willing to pay child support to have supervised visits with her.

What have I done?

“You don’t have to pay child support,” I say.

My omega mom raises her eyebrows in disbelief.

“I mean for right now,” I clarify. “We need to figure out what’s going on with our bond before we make any decisions about child support or visitation.”

Slade rests his elbows on the table and sinks his head into his hands. His shoulders are hunched and tense. “She’s beautiful.” His voice is ragged and broken. After watching him successfully control himself all morning, it’s unsettling to see him like this. But what did I expect? Slade just found out he has a child and a possible bond with me. He also got released from the most dangerous prison in the US just this morning.

That’s a lot for one person all in one day.

“Does Slade have somewhere to go?” My omega mom asks. “We have an extra bed here, if he needs help getting back on his feet.”

I’m surprised that my alpha mom nods in agreement.

Slade sits up, discretely wiping tears from his face. “I’m staying with my brother. He lives in San Antonio. If you have a phone I could borrow, I’ll ask him to come pick me up. He said he wouldn’t mind.”

“Silver’s already heading that way. I’m sure he can give you a ride,” My alpha mom suggests.

So that’s it, then. Slade is going home to his brother’s house. No more discussion about our unresolved bond, no more reassurance that he still wants me. It feels like a slap in the face. But what did I expect? That he would instantaneously forgive me for keeping his daughter from him all these years?

“Do you want Slade to go?” my omega mom asks. “If the two of you need more time together, we’d be happy to have Chime over for the night.”

Slade stands up. “I need to see my brother.”

Maybe it’s for the best. After all, I still don’t know if he’s safe to be around. Just because the sex was amazing, doesn’t mean I can throw all caution to the wind and settle down with him.

If only my heart didn’t ache at the idea of him leaving. Even after all this time, I’m still a fool for him.

“I’ll go ask Silver if he’s ready,” my alpha mom says, and heads for the door.