Beneath The Lies Read online

  Kate, I knew your father very well. He very much intended for you to graduate. I also know he would love the fact that you’re attending Berkley but before his death didn’t make the financial arrangement for you to do so.

  At his request all of his assets have been frozen until you’ve graduated or until you turn twenty-five, meaning I have no way of transferring additional money to your savings account.

  The only loophole I’ve managed to find is the stock you own in Simple Global Solutions. Mr. Reynolds set aside ten percent of the company in your name at the time of your adoption. That is the only other form of money you have access to until you reach one of the two requirements. SGS has never been short on buyers and if you choose to go this route, you would make more than enough from the sale to finish paying your tuition and you’ll have plenty of money for your living expenses.

  I must in good faith to your father tell you this is not what he wanted. His death was truly unexpected and when the time came for SGS to officially be yours, your father’s forty-one percent of the company added to your ten percent would ensure you’d always have controlling interest.

  If I do not hear back from you, I’ll continue to inform potential buyers that no SGS stock is available to purchase. If you do however decide to go this route, please give me adequate notice to ensure funds will be available when you need them.

  Sincerely,

  Jim Togg

  Holy crap. I had no idea that my father sold any of his stock. I was always under the impression he had complete control over SGS. Maybe I could get a job. Shit, I wonder how much money I’ll need. Or, God forbid, maybe I will have to ask Leeta if I could move back in. That would royally suck, especially if Gavin shows up. But other than finishing the semester and heading back home, I don’t know what else to do.

  From: Kate Reynolds

  To: Jim Togg

  Subject: Re: Stock

  * * *

  Mr. Togg,

  Thank you for contacting me. At this time, I’m not ready to sell my stock. Would you please tell me how much you feel I’ll need to sustain myself until I graduate

  Sincerely,

  Kate Reynolds

  As I’m exiting the library, I see Alyssa walking to her car. “Alyssa!” I yell, causing Alyssa and several other people to stop and look at me.

  “Hey, how did it go? Did you score your very own bad boy?” The look on my face must give me away. “Shit. Come back to my place. We’ll have a few drinks and forget all about the jackass.” This is exactly why I love this girl. She didn’t even hear what happened yet and already she has my back.

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  ****

  Alyssa convinced me we should go to a party where we end up drinking all night. She had the good sense to text Gabby to ask for a ride, but Noah was the one who showed up. He looked pissed when he first saw us, but by the time he dropped us off at Alyssa’s, he was actually laughing at how crazy we were acting.

  I wake up Tuesday morning with my head in the toilet, regretting every drink I had the night before. I’ve never been hung over before and I never want to be again.

  Once I get my stomach under control, I curl up in a ball in Alyssa’s bed and go back to sleep. When I wake up, it’s already late afternoon. I see a note from Alyssa claiming she left for class.

  I’m thankful I worked ahead in my classes. Hopefully, missing today won’t hurt me too bad. I gather my stuff and notice my phone is dead. Oh well. I’m sure by now he’s stopped texting me, anyway.

  I make it home a few minutes later and hop in the shower, but even that isn’t enough to kick me out of my funk. I feel like shit, and I have no one to blame but myself. I stick my phone on the charger and again I somehow manage to fall back asleep.

  I wake when I hear my phone buzzing. This time when I get up, I notice it’s dark outside. Crap. I truly slept all day. Between last night and the night before with Gavin, I hardly slept.

  I get up, find something to eat, then grab my phone. Shock doesn’t begin to describe what I’m feeling.

  I only have twenty-seven missed calls from Gavin, but I have over a hundred texts from him. I look at the last text first.

  I scroll through the rest of them to see he started out acting concerned, then turns upset, and now he seems to be downright angry with me because he’s accusing me of playing games with him. Well, screw him.

  I hit send and wipe away a tear. No...I’m not going to cry over him again. I get up and shut off my light as my phone buzzes with another text. I slide it open, and I’m not surprised to see it’s from Gavin.

  I wait a second as the text bubble comes up and goes off several times. When I’m about to put my phone up his text comes in.

  I knew this was coming. I’m actually the one who stepped out of the running but...still, I wasn’t expecting him to give up so easily. This is better, at least it will be in the long run. I don’t want to be any man’s second choice but I’m definitely not going to be second best to a woman he claims is toxic.

  ****

  I’ve drifted to sleep but I wake when I hear a banging. I slowly get up when I hear it for a second time. The closer I get to my living room, I can tell someone is banging on my door. I look through the peephole and my heart starts racing when I see Gavin. Crap. What is he doing here?

  I sigh out a breath of air. I don’t want to see him. I just need to put him and his drama behind me.

  “Kate, open the door. I’m sorry. Please let me explain and if you still hate me then I’ll leave you alone.” I can hear the desperation in his voice, which like it or not, pulls at my heart. I hesitate for a second longer before I open the door.

  Gavin is a gorgeous man but compared to normal he looks like shit. His five o’clock shadow looks more like the beginning of a beard. And he looks like he hasn’t slept in days. I shouldn’t enjoy seeing him like this but I do. I’m happy to know I’m not the only one who’s had a rough couple of days.

  “Why are you here?” I ask in a clipped tone. Instead of answering me he continues to stare at me, waiting for me to invite him in.

  Gavin probably weighs a hundred pounds more than me. If he really wants to force his way into my apartment he could, but he’s not. Instead, he’s waiting for me to give him permission to come in, and his eyes are pleading with me to listen to him.

  “Please, before you write me off for good, at least hear me out.” I let out a deep sigh because I know if I don’t listen to him I will always wonder what he would have told me. Therefore, I back out of the doorway and motion for him to come in.

  He walks in and there’s no questioning that he’s on edge. He sits down and looks over at me while he nervously picks at his fingernails.

  He swallows loudly. “Carly called me Sunday morning and I did go over to her place but I was there less than five minutes. I don’t want Carly in any way, shape, or form. If you want the God's honest truth, I’m to the point where I hate her. But I do put up with her for a reason. That reason is four years old and the only person that has ever loved me unconditionally.”

  My stomach tightens almost to the point of pain. “You have a child?” Oh, my God. How could he have kept that part of himself from me?

  “Yes, but...no.” My expression must mirror my confusion. “I met Carly when I was seventeen. She waited six months before she broke up with me the first time. That was the longest stretch we’ve gone without breaking up. She loves drama and when none exists, she creates it.

  “During every one of our breaks she went out looking for another man. I don’t know if she is looking for someone better or wants to make me jealous. Either way, she always comes running back with promises that our relationship will change. When we were nineteen and on a long break, she came to me crying that she was pregnant. Carly comes from a shit family. The guy that knocked her up was heavy into drugs and didn’t want anything to do with her or her kid. I agreed to help her out. She moved in but we weren’t a couple. Then she had Callie and I fell in
love. Callie looks a lot like Carly but she’s not toxic. She’s...she’s perfect.”

  My eyes are narrowed, my heart is racing, and the acid in my stomach hasn’t stopped turning. He has a child, or claims a child, and he didn’t tell me...why?

  I finally find my voice. “Why didn’t you tell me about her?” He shrugs, causing my gaze to painfully shift away from him. If he wants me to forgive him, I need more than this.

  “Carly listed me as the father on the birth certificate but there’s no way in hell I’m Callie’s biological father. The two of us were going on close to a year since we’d had sex when she got pregnant.

  “Carly loves to stick her hand out and take but the second I don’t do what she wants she’s quick to throw Callie’s paternity in my face. Biologically I’m not Callie’s father, but I’ve acted like one since the day she was born. I tried a relationship with Carly a few more times since she had Callie but I can’t. I can’t live like that. I made Callie a room at my place, we have a visitation schedule, and I even pay Carly child support.” He pauses to clear his throat then looks back toward me.

  “Sunday morning, Carly called me and told me she was leaving town to take some trip with another guy she met. I either had to come get Callie right then or she was going to leave her with some fifteen-year-old girl that lives in the same building as them.” Gavin’s shoulders tense as he tells me about the call I overheard.

  I’m pissed at him for keeping this from me, but at the same time...I’m adopted. When I see someone who unconditionally loves a child that’s not biologically their own, it makes me weak in the knees. The love my parents showed me is every child’s—adopted or otherwise—dream come true.

  “I’ll ask you again. Why didn’t you tell me about her?” Luckily my voice didn’t give away how nervous I’m actually feeling at the moment.

  “Because I know you.” Gavin pauses and my eyes go wide in horror. “No. No. I know you’ll love her. God anyone who has half a heart loves this little girl. Usually doesn’t apply to her own mother, but every once in a while it does.” Gavin stops and sighs then looks at me again.

  “Carly heard I was dating someone. Kiran was joking around with some friends that I was with the one and news made its way back to Carly. On some level, I believe that she really wants me, but not in the way a girlfriend or, hell, one day a wife should want a man. I’m more of a trophy to her than anything. But the one thing Carly really doesn’t like is when I see a woman more than once or twice. That’s usually when she starts throwing around threats about taking Callie away from me, which is exactly what she did.” Gavin gives me a smile filled with sadness.

  “I knew if I told you what was going on you’d freak and think you were doing me a favor by staying away, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

  I force a smile of my own. He’s right. I would never stand in the way of him and his child. “Sunday wasn’t your normal day to have her?” Gavin shakes his head no but doesn’t say anything else.

  “Does she do this often? I mean, dumping your daughter off on other people?”

  “Remember when I disappeared for a few days when you were living with Leeta? Carly heard I was staying there because of you. She told me if I wanted to see my daughter I had to come get her right then or she was going to take her to Phil’s house for a while.”

  “Wait.” I shake my head confused. “Who’s Phil, again?”

  Gavin’s body goes solid at my question. “Phil owns the place that most of the fights happen at now. He’s shady as shit, and not only does he treat Carly like trash but I almost killed him once for yelling at my daughter. Carly knows I don’t want Callie anywhere near the asshole so she pulled her trump card and made sure I left Leeta’s.”

  Leeta’s comment comes back into my mind. Carly called and asked him to come home. Only she failed to mention that home wasn’t a place they shared. Seeing how Gavin and Leeta appear to hate each other, it’s possible she had no idea they weren’t a couple anymore. Still, I wish she had been a little more forthcoming when she told me he left.

  Gavin reaches out for my hand and when I look in his eyes I see regret in them. “I’m sorry that you have to deal with this. At the same time, I’m not sure where this leaves us. You had the chance to tell me what was going on Sunday morning and you chose to lie. I woke up and heard you on the phone with Carly, so I knew something was up but then I drove by and saw your car at your apartment while you claimed it was parked at The Hill. I hate that. I grew up with honest people, and I’m positive I don’t want to be with someone I can’t trust.”

  Gavin jumps to his feet. “I planned to tell you about Callie. Shit, I’ll need to worry about the two of you falling in love with each other, not the other way around, but I wanted to get shit straight with Carly instead of dropping all of my baggage at your feet.”

  Gavin slowly makes his way over to me and brushes his hand down my cheek. “Carly was attractive and convenient but that’s all she’s ever been to me. You, however, have had a piece of my heart from the second I met you and every time since you’ve taken a little more. I’m sorry I lied. I don’t have any more kids or illegal hobbies. What I do have is a psychotic mother, a deadbeat ex-girlfriend, and those two usually keep me from having any sort of normal relationship. But that’s what I want. A relationship. A future. With you and Callie. One that hopefully all three of us will be happy living.”

  My heart drops to my stomach. I might be a fool, but a man who cares this much about a child he easily could have walked away from, allowing him to cut ties for good with Carly...well, that’s more than my heart can ignore.

  “If you lie to me again—” Gavin cuts me off with a kiss. When he pulls away he has a ridiculous smile on his face.

  “Never. You might not believe this but I don’t make a habit out of lying.”

  I lean in and wrap my arms around his waist. “Good. I was really pissed when I thought you had tricked me into sleeping with you.”

  He takes a few seconds but he finally comments, “I hate that you were upset. That I gave you any reason to doubt me. I’m so sorry, Kate.” His voice is soft and sweet and I don’t want to let go of him but even after sleeping all day, I’m wiped and all I want to do is go back to bed.

  “Want to stay over?” His shoulders drop.

  “I can’t. Callie is at my place. Carly still hasn’t come back from where ever she went. I called Kiran to come over and sit at my place while I came over here. But—” He clears his throat. “But maybe tomorrow you’d like to come over and meet her?”

  “Are you sure?” My voice cracks. “I mean, if Carly is already causing problems, do you think that’s a good idea?”

  Gavin seems sure of himself when he speaks next. “Yes. I’ll take Carly to court if I have to. I’ve paid her close to two thousand dollars a month in child support since the day Callie was born. Between that and her listing me as the father on the birth certificate, I have rights until she request a DNA test and moves to remove my name as Callie’s father. If she does go that route then I plan to sue her for the child support payments I’ve made. That’s close to a hundred thousand dollars. Carly does not have that kind of money, plus she can’t afford to lose my two grand a month, money I know she doesn’t spend on Callie like she should. If she wants to play hardball then it’s on.”

  My eyes go wide, causing Gavin to chuckle. “I’ve got to look out for my girl. And now I should say girls because that includes you. Stick with me, Kate, and I promise you won’t regret it.”

  I pause even though I know I only have one answer I could possibly give him. “Okay.” I take a deep breath of air. “As long as there are no more lies then yes. Yes to sticking with you and yes to meeting Callie.”

  Gavin leans in and kisses me softly. “You won’t regret it. Now can I expect you’ll respond to my texts from now on?”

  “Yes.” I chuckle.

  “Okay. Come over tomorrow after you’re done with class. Be prepared to attend a tea party. They
seem to be the in thing right now.”

  “Okay.” God, I would love to be a fly on the wall while big, sexy Gavin Loman is at a tea party with a four-year-old. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get my wish.

  I make it to school the next day feeling worlds better. Between resolving my problems with Gavin and getting a full night of sleep, I woke up feeling amazing.

  My mind keeps wandering back to Gavin’s lie. It still pisses me off that he lied, but another part understands why he did. He wasn’t ashamed of his daughter or of me meeting her. In his mind, he was protecting both of us from Carly.

  I still haven’t met Carly but I would bet anything she was the brunette I saw talking to him at The Hill. That woman was trying to get Gavin’s attention and not only was it not working, he acted angry with her. That fits the story Gavin has told me.

  I’m about to knock on Gavin’s door and as ridiculous as it sounds, I’m nervous. I love kids and I’ve never met one that didn’t love me in return but this is different. When Gavin spoke about Callie last night, I could tell how important she is to him, which makes the pressure for her to like me even greater.

  I try my best to turn off my aching stomach and knock on the door. Seconds later, all the pressure I was feeling leaves my body when Gavin opens the door. He’s standing in the doorway wearing a pink scarf, tons of fake jewelry, and a sparkling tiara. I can’t help but burst out laughing.

  “Yeah. Yeah. Laugh it up. This is the proper clothing one wears to a formal tea party,” he says in an annoyed voice.

  I continue laughing to the point tears fall from my eyes. This big and at times mean looking guy even has fingernail polish on. I don’t think Gavin understands that even the most loving and wonderful fathers would draw a line at nail polish, but not him. Geez, I wish he could see himself the way I see him, which is someone he should be proud of.