“Okay now you’re starting to scare me guys, what the hell?” Ryan asked, agitated.
Tinsley and Ryan grabbed their coffees. I grabbed a napkin and stuffed as much of my breakfast as I could into it. At least if my mouth was full, I couldn’t fuck things up even worse.
We made our way out to the private courtyard off the conference room the studio had reserved for us. Ryan was staring daggers at me and didn’t look much happier with Tinsley.
“There is no easy way to say this. So, I’m just going to say it. But before I do, I want you to know that I realize you are going to be mad at me, even hate me. I did what I thought was best at the time,” she said, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“Ryan, Lucas is your son,” she said.
I looked at Ryan. An expression of pure shock ran across his face. He looked at me and I nodded slightly. Then he looked at Tinsley. He tried to speak but his mouth just hung open in surprise.
Tinsley got out her phone and began showing Ryan pictures as she tried to explain away the last seven years. She told him everything, that she had been a virgin when they’d slept together and that she hadn’t had another relationship of any kind until Lucas was several years old.
She explained her reasoning for keeping quiet. How his star had just begun rising when she’d found out she was pregnant and how for the better part of seven years it had been easier just to let it be.
“Stop!” Ryan finally yelled out when he had found his voice. “I can’t’ believe that you would do this to me, to us. That you would keep Lucas from me for all these years.
“What? Did you not think I was good enough to be around my own son?” he growled.
“No Ryan no!” Tinsley cried out in a wave of tears. “It had nothing to do with you or who you are as a person. It was my choice. I didn’t want to be the one responsible for side-lining your career.”
“That wasn’t your decision to make,” Ryan barked. Then he got up and stalked out of the room leaving a devastated Tinsley in his wake. She collapsed against me in a heap of sobs.
I held her for twenty minutes whispering apologies in her ear as her sobbing continued. She finally looked up at me with tear-stained eyes. “I have to find a way to fix this.”
I pulled out my phone. “Let me text Adrienne. If there is anyone that knows Ryan better than me, it’s her. Plus, she’s really good at talking him down.”
“Thank you,” she said, choking back tears.
“Don’t thank me. It’s my fault you’re in this mess.”
“No Kai, it’s mine,” Tinsley said solemnly. “I think that’s what has me so upset. He’s right. I did this. I kept Lucas from him. I kept him from Lucas. And for what? He’s an amazing guy. Why did I think I should keep the two of them apart?”
“You didn’t know. Stop blaming yourself. He’ll come around and it will all work out. I promise,” I said. My phone rang out with a text from Adrienne. “She’s going to go find him now.”
I felt like such an asshole. How could I have let this happen? She had trusted me with this secret and now like a bonehead, I'd let it slip and hurt both her and Ryan in the process. They were the last two people on the planet I wanted to hurt.
I had to make this right.
17
RYAN
My world felt completely shattered. I had a son. I was a father. I couldn't wrap my head around it.
I paced around the lobby of the hotel. Part of me wanted to go back and comfort Tinsley, her pain had been so raw. But the other part of me wanted to rip her a new one. How could she keep my son from me?
I was so conflicted. I didn’t know whether to jump with joy or be completely devastated. The life I once knew was over. Things were different now. I wondered if I could ever forgive her.
I rounded the corner to find Adrienne making her way toward me with a latte in each hand.
“Peace offering,” she said, pushing one of them into my hand. “I heard you’re having a rough morning.”
“Rough doesn’t even begin to cover it,” I moaned. “How much do you know?”
“Ryan, you’re not going to be happy with me, but I’ve known since the day I met her,” Adrienne admitted patting me on the back.
“She told you the day she met you? What the hell? That was weeks ago,” I half shouted.