And the walls crashed down around me. The day we met, Sloane thought we were related because of Voodoo saying I was his brother. The joke was on us. A very sick and twisted joke. My stomach lurched.
There was a knock on the door, and it tentatively opened, with Annette’s face peeking around the edge. Nervousness was written all over her face. “Um, Penny was going to come out to see what was taking you two so long. I offered since she was showing Sloane baby pictures of you,” she explained.
“You can come in. I was explaining everything to Keagan.” My dad wearily sighed.
“Keagan, I had no idea,” she rushed out. “I’m so sorry. This is so awkward.”
She wrung her hands as she stared at me in worry.
“Awkward?” I sputtered, the volume at the end of the word much higher than I’d intended. “I’d say this is a little bit more than fucking awkward, Annette!” I snapped.
“Keagan!” my father admonished. “Don’t be a dick!”
“Me be a dick? What the fuck? You just sat here and told me that Sloane is my goddamn sister—that I fucking knocked up, might I add—and you’re telling me not to be a dick?” I shouted as I turned to my dad.
“Wait, what?” Annette questioned, taking a stumbling step back as if I’d pushed her.
“I fucked my motherfucking sister and got her fucking pregnant!” I roared.
A gasp caused my eyes to drop shut in dread. In my tirade, I hadn’t heard the door open. It didn’t matter if it was Sloane or my mom, or both; the situation was fucked.
“Mom?” Sloane’s voice cracked saying the word. It made me want to turn and gather her in my arms to protect her from all this shit, but now I couldn’t. Inside I wanted to set fire to everything around me; my rage was so strong.
“Oh boy,” Annette said on a sigh. That had me spinning in outrage to face her.
“That’s all you have to say? We all believed Voodoo’s father was Sloane’s father!” I barked.
“Killian?” my mom called out in a horrified tone.
“Jesus Christ,” my dad cursed at the same time.
Annette shook her head and sighed, then held up a hand to silence everyone. “Stop!” she called out for good measure.
The conversation immediately halted.
Annette dropped her head and speared her fingers through her hair. For a second, she held that pose, then she glanced up.
“Penny, I had no idea who Keagan’s father was. He only ever referred to him as ‘my dad,’ so I never had a reason to think about that time in my life. I cannot apologize enough. All I can say is I was young, and I—” Annette faltered as she directed the explanation toward my mom.
“First of all, I knew about that time in Louisiana. When Killian came home, we sat down and talked. He told me everything. He wasn’t the only one who—” She shot me an uncomfortable glance. “—um, you know, while we were separated. We decided to go to counseling and work through our issues because we loved each other. It worked for us. I can’t hold that time in his life against him any more than he could do it to me,” my mom said with an apologetic though sad shrug.
“Well, I’m really glad you all can be so goddamn forgiving,” I sneered, still pissed and sick to my stomach. There was no way to say where my heart was because I was pretty sure it had been fucking obliterated.
“Let me finish, please,” Annette begged me. While pinching the bridge of my nose, I nodded. “Sloane isnotKillian’s daughter.”
My hand dropped.
“Are you sure?” my dad asked Annette.
“Wait. What?” I stuttered.
“I’m fully aware of the man who got me pregnant. Especially considering he did it on purpose. I’m not going into the ugly details of what happened, but he and I had briefly dated. He swept me off my feet and fed me a line of shit. When his façade slipped, I left him. That’s when I met Killian. About a month after Killian went home, Gambler broke into my apartment. He held me there for a week. I finally escaped when I broke a picture frame and used the glass as a weapon. I sliced his face and ran as he lay screaming and bleeding all over the floor. Hoping he would give up on me, I went into hiding. During that time, I found out I was pregnant. That’s when I made my escape to Texas, and the rest is history. To clarify, without getting into particulars that aren’t fair to anyone in this room, I wasn’t pregnant after Killian left.” The explanation left us all reeling for a bit.
“So Phoenix is not my brother,” Sloane clarified as she laced her fingers with mine.
“Absolutely not,” Annette confidently announced.
Sloane squeezed my hand tightly, then spun into my arms and buried her face in my chest. The relief almost made my knees buckle. Talk about a shit show of epic proportions… welcome to my family.