“Fuck,” I groaned, knowing where this was going. If the kid looked like either of them, then one or the other was the father. The idea of Tanner possibly being the baby daddy briefly flitted through my head, but I quickly squashed the idea. Tanner Reid hadn’t ever fucked around with anyone under the age of forty, period. He liked them older, and the dirtier their appetite, the better. The last time Jos came for a visit, she’d been barely legal. Definitely not Tanner’s type. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because he’s gotta make this right.”
“How exactly is he supposed to make this right, Butch? Matt is with Rory. He loves that girl. You want him to break up with her to play happy family with your daughter?” I shook my head at him in disbelief. “If she wanted to be with him, she should have told him he was a father when she found out she was knocked up.” His face turned purple, but I didn’t feel any sympathy for him. “Jos made her bed, now she has to sleep in it. Matt can be a father without shacking up with the mother.”
“What the hell are you two talking about?” a voice I wasn’t expecting to hear demanded in an emotionally shaky voice. Rory came around the side of the clubhouse, a basket of laundry in her arms and a stricken look on her face. “Did you just say that Matt is a…a father?”
I shot Butch a withering look, but he was only glaring at Rory, as if she were the cause of all this shit. “Fuck right, he is!” Butch snapped at her. “And he should be stepping up and making an honest woman of my Joslyn.”
“Butch, back off,” I warned, stepping closer to him.
The thing about Butch was that he didn’t discriminate when it came to putting his hands on someone. He didn’t care if they were male or female; he would throw a punch if someone pissed him off. And right then, I knew he was too close to the edge. With Uncle Chaz’s death, Butch’s emotions were too out of control. His father had been his rock and they had been pretty close, but grieving wasn’t a reason to put hands on any female, ever.
And if Butch touched Rory, there wasn’t a person on the planet who could save him from Matt.
Tears filled Rory’s eyes, but she was doing a good job holding them at bay. “I don’t believe you! Matt would have told me if he had a baby.”
“Unless he didn’t know.” I tried to keep my voice soft, calming. But before my eyes, her tears were turning into a liquid inferno.
“He would have told me!” she screamed in Butch’s face. “You don’t know shit, old man. If he was a father, he would have told me.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Matt’s voice boomed as he came out of the clubhouse. He took one look at Butch and Rory, and I could practically feel death’s breath as it came for Butch.
But my attention wasn’t on them. My eyes were drawn to the girl who had a baby on her hip as several people poured out of the clubhouse to see what all the shouting was about. That dark hair, those damn blue eyes, and that fucking face that could have been a replica of Matt.
Shit.
I hoped it wasn’t true, but there was no denying that the boy Joslyn Barker was holding was a Reid. He looked a lot like Max, except for a few small differences that reminded me of his mother.
I wouldn’t call Jos a slut, but she had gotten around during her last few trips home to see her dad and grandfather. At one point, I’d been tempted to see how sweet her forbidden fruits tasted, but Kelli had come into my life and captured my complete attention.
“What the fuck are you going to do about my grandson?” Butch demanded.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Matt growled, taking a menacing step toward him. “And why the fuck were you in my girl’s face? You got a problem, come to me, but you stay the fuck away from Rory!”
“Oh my God,” Rory whispered, taking a good look at Joslyn’s son. Two fat tears fell from her eyes, and she took several shaky steps back from the two men. “It’s true.”
“Baby, what?” The distress in her voice had Matt rotating around with a frown, then he groaned at the hurt that was shining out of her eyes. “Fuck, Jos,” he snapped, turning to the other girl. “Tell your goddamn dad the truth and get it over with.”
Quinn pushed through the crowd that was forming. Sensing the dangerous vibes coming off both Matt and Butch, and seeming to realize instantly what was the cause, she calmly took the kid from Joslyn. “Hi there, cutie,” she murmured in her soft tone. “Let’s go find Raider. I’m sure he will be all for causing some trouble with you.”
Joslyn looked like she wanted to follow after Quinn, but when she would have walked away, Matt grabbed her elbow and whirled her around. “Tell him. Now. Or I will.”
She swallowed nervously, wiping her palms on her jeans. “Reid isn’t Matt’s son, Dad—”
“I’m calling bullshit, girl.” Her father cut in. “If he’s not Matt’s, then he’s Bash’s. And I’m telling you right now, I don’t beli
eve that for a minute.”
“He’s not Bash’s either, Dad!” she huffed exasperatedly. “He’s Tanner’s.”
“What?” Butch and at least five other people asked at the same time.
“So, he’s not your son?” Rory demanded of Matt, her voice a mixture of relief and anger.
He exhaled long and hard. “No, Rory. He’s my nephew, not my son.”
“When were you planning on telling me all of this?” she exploded. “Don’t you think you should have told me that you have a mini version of yourself walking around, so I didn’t jump to these conclusions to being with?”