Page 49 of Inked Temptation
“You shouldn’t be hitting me at all, right, Dad?” I asked, teasing.
My dad just rolled his eyes. “I’m not getting in the middle of that. You’re adults. But if it’s going to knock some sense into you,” he began, and I rolled my eyes. Because my father had never once hit us. Oh, he had crossed a few lines professionally when he hadn’t been able to cut the strings of his connection to the company, but he was still a fucking amazing dad.
“I can’t believe you’re taking his side. I’m your son.”
“So is Lee. Get over it. He married into the Montgomerys.”
“I’m not actually a Montgomery,” Lee warned.
“Don’t try to tell them that,” Jacob put in. “They won’t believe you.”
“Because youareMontgomery. Get over it,” Beckett said as he scowled at the Avs losing the puck. Again.
“Why are you even watching this? As soon as we lost Sakic, everything just went downhill,” I grumbled.
My dad threw a chip at me. “Because we don’t jump ship when things don’t go well. And they have some amazing guys other than Joe Sakic—who we still love, but it’s been how many years since he retired, Archer Montgomery? Get over it. Now, what’s going on with you?”
I sighed. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get out of this anytime soon.
“I met someone.” As the heat began to crawl up my neck and to my ears, my dad studied my face.
“Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head, even though that was a lie. Seeing those tears after Killian moved off me had hurt. But that wasmyproblem. Not his. Because Killian hadn’t been ready, I should have known that.
Hell, our first kiss was right after he told me he had lost his wife and child. After literally explaining to me that his wife and child had drowned and and froze to death in a lake, we kissed. I was the selfish asshole here, and though watching the tears fall from Killian’s face as I walked away had cut me like a jagged edge of a blade, it was still my fault. Something I needed to get over.
“Is it the mountain man?” Lee asked.
There were truly no secrets in my family. Not anymore. “Yes, the mountain man,” I said with an eye roll.
“What’s his name again?” Lee smiled at me, his gaze penetrating.
I swallowed hard. “Killian. His name’s Killian.”
“It’s a good name,” my dad said slowly as he looked at me. “And why is this man with a good name giving you such pause?”
I looked down at the now warm beer in my hands and took a big gulp, ignoring the bitter taste, and my own feelings.
I had bottled everything up with Marc, not telling my family about everything that had happened—my family who were also my best friends—and where had it left me? Alone, damaged, partly broken, and afraid of my own failings.
Maybe I need to be better.
“I don’t know if you’re going to want to hear this part, Dad,” I said with a wince as Benjamin chuckled softly from across the living.
“Do you need me to leave the room?” Dad asked, looking between us.
I closed my eyes. “No. I guess it’s fine. Killian’s been through some shit, and I went up to the place up in Boulder in order to just think and to work; and he’s doing the same on his place.”
“So, he’s building a house then?” my dad asked.
“Yeah. It’s pretty cool too.”
“Is this the place with the windows that you talked about?” Beckett asked.
I nodded. “Yes. How’s that coming along, by the way?” I asked.
“It’s good. I’ve talked to the guy. He seemed growly but nice. So, I guess like a Montgomery,” he teased.
