Fierce-Ryder (Fierce Family Series Book 7) Read online

  She didn’t know if there was an insult in there or not but knew there was no reason to cover anything up at this point. She’d been caught and for Tommy’s sake it was time to let the cat out of the bag, even if all his claws were out trying to stay hidden.

  She looked around and saw tissues on his desk, helped herself to one and blew her nose. She shouldn’t be upset Ryder had never told his family about her and it just reminded her again and again she never knew him that well.

  That Ryder had said all the right things at the time and then turned around and broke her heart right before finals.

  “He broke up with me the week of finals. Or the week before. He was harsh about it and I was devastated. He said he didn’t want to look at me let alone talk to me ever again. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until almost two months later.”

  “It took you that long to know?”

  “My parents were in a car accident two weeks after graduation. They were both severely injured and it wasn’t a good time in my life for a lot of reasons.”

  She’d finally found a job and then got terminated because she missed so much work trying to care for her parents. Thankfully she’d found another one a month later and though her parents needed her help, she had to put the child she was carrying first.

  Her brother, Cody, was home for the summer and he’d been a great help. Her parents were getting better. Her mother recovered and went back to work, her father a little slower as he needed more surgery to repair his broken back that never healed the way it should have.

  “I’m sorry about that. But that doesn’t excuse why you couldn’t make a phone call and let my brother know he was going to be a father.”

  “Tommy’s middle initial didn’t give it away. What did, Dr. Fierce?” she asked.

  “I think under the circumstances you can call me Sam,” he said. No smile at all, not like when she first met him. He was pissed; she could see it and she couldn’t blame him. “And you have to know Tommy looks just like Ryder. The Fierce genes are strong. He’s almost the spitting image of my brother at that age.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I just know he doesn’t look a lot like me.”

  “He has the shape of your eyes,” Sam said. “But the blue of Ryder’s. Not even the light blue of yours, but darker like Ryder’s. Ryder is the only one in the family with blue eyes.”

  She remembered those blue eyes of Ryder’s too. Much darker than her light ones. Sometimes they even came off as brown, but when he wore blue, they just stood out so much.

  She’d been blown away that Ryder Fierce was interested in her. She thought she might be on the rebound from her breakup with Bryan and didn’t want anything to do with him when he approached her.

  But he’d managed to convince her that he’d had a crush on her for weeks and when he found out she was single he wasn’t going to give up until she gave him a chance.

  She stupidly fell for his good looks, charm, and smile. It bit her in the ass more than sitting on a mound of fire ants.

  “I knew I was taking a risk coming here, but it was one I needed to take.”

  “Once I get the scans and test results back today, I’ll make a final decision. I’m pretty sure I can operate, but you need to know the risks involved.”

  “Thank you,” she said, crying again.

  “I won’t know for sure until I get everything back. This is a risky surgery. He’s a child and though I understand why others have said to watch and wait, I’m also concerned that his bilirubin number was at the top of the acceptable range when he had blood work last. It’s not the end of the world, but knowing he has the mass against his liver and his frequent infections, it’s concerning.”

  “I’m just glad you are seeing that.”

  “I’d see it regardless of the patient. You weren’t going to the right specialists and I have to ask why. Is it an insurance thing? It says you work as a financial adviser.”

  “I have a job. I have insurance, but it’s not the best insurance. I’m out of network for this visit and I don’t care. I’ll pay whatever it takes. I’ll deal with what I have to owe that insurance won’t cover. I don’t want anything from you or your family.”

  “That’s just too damn bad,” Sam said. “Because you’re going to get it.”

  “I don’t need anything other than you to help my son,” she said.

  “Tommy is my parents’ first grandchild. They are going to freak out. In a good way. If you want my help that means you need to tell my brother he is a father. My family needs to know. And the first thing that will be done is adding Tommy to Ryder’s insurance which will cover this surgery.”

  She wanted to argue, but knew it’d be stupid. Her pride had to be put aside. “I don’t want him or your family to think I’m coming after you for anything. I’ve got a good job. I can take care of my kid.”

  “I’m sure you do and you can. But that doesn’t change the fact that Tommy is family and should have been a part of our lives for years. My wife is pregnant right now. It’s making me almost crazy thinking about not knowing if I had a child. Whatever your reasons were or are, you stole these years from Ryder and my family. That is going to be hard to get past.”

  All the more reason not to tell Ryder or his family. She didn’t need them against her when she needed all the support she could get. But she’d made the decision to keep Tommy’s paternity a secret and she was going to have to deal with that when the time came. It seemed the time was now.

  “I understand. I had my reasons. Whether anyone thought they were right or wrong doesn’t matter now. All that matters is Tommy.”

  “What does Tommy know about his father?” Sam asked.

  “Nothing,” she said. “That’s wrong of me. I know it. I just said that it was someone I used to date in college. When he was younger he didn’t ask a lot of questions. He doesn’t ask much now. He’s got my father and my brother in his life. I know when he gets older he’ll have a ton of questions.”

  “And now he’ll know who his father is. Who his family is. How long are you in town for?”

  “Just the day,” she said. “I planned on driving back home after this appointment.”

  Sam didn’t look happy and pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something down. “Ryder’s cell phone number. I’d like you to call him before you leave. At least talk to him.”

  “It might be best to not show up with his son at the same time. Not sure how to do that,” she said.

  “You’ll need to figure it out,” Sam said. “If you want to wait until the end of the day, I can keep an eye on Tommy for you. If you trust me. Since you trust me to operate on him, I’d think you’d trust me to watch him for thirty minutes before you introduced the two of them.”

  There was so much going through her mind right now. None of it was this. She’d known there was a chance Sam might figure this out, but she hadn’t planned on seeing Ryder today or introducing her son to his father for the first time.

  Then again, there was so much in her life she hadn’t expected to happen either.

  “I don’t know if he will even want to see me,” she said.

  “He will.” Sam looked at his watch. “It’s three right now. He’s at work. You’ll be here another hour or so easily, I’m sure. I’m done with my appointments at four thirty. Ask if you can meet at his office.”

  “Your family’s firm?” she asked. Talk about being outnumbered.

  “Yes,” he said. “You can follow me over there and I can wait with Tommy on another floor. My father’s building is four floors and his firm takes up the top two. We can wait in the lobby on the first floor until you’re ready.”

  “I don’t think I have much of a choice. If he’ll see me.”

  “Like I said, he will.”

  2

  His Son

  The last thing Ryder Fierce expected when he woke up this morning was to get a phone call from his ex-girlfriend from college.

  The one who broke his heart.

  The
one that tainted his view of all women in general.

  When his phone rang, he hadn’t recognized the number but answered it like he always did. There was silence on the other end and finally her voice saying hi.

  The voice he still dreamed about when he told himself to stop. That she had used him and played a game to make her ex jealous.

  Whatever her reasons or lies were back then, he hadn’t cared and told her so when he confronted her later that day.

  He’d skipped his classes and wanted to go get drunk but knew that wouldn’t have solved anything. Instead he went back to his dorm room and stayed locked in his room while he stared at the wall and tried to think of any explanation possible.

  Nothing he came up with would change the fact that the two of them were kissing and he’d seen it.

  Nor would he ever be able to forget the shocked look on her face when he told her he was done. That he didn’t waste his time on women like her. Whores and liars. She was crying and asking for an explanation and he didn’t feel he owed her one. He knew what he saw with his own eyes.

  She didn’t follow him. She didn’t try to call him after either. If she really cared for him like he’d hoped, she would have fought back. She would have tried to explain. Nope, she told him to get the hell out of her face and slammed the door on him.

  That was the last time they talked. They only saw each other once more, the day of their English final, and neither of them looked at the other. At least he didn’t look at her.

  And two hours ago she called and said she was in the area and they needed to talk and she wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  He’d been so stunned by the call and then her firm voice, he figured why not? Might as well listen to what she had to say before he kicked her out of his life for good. He owed her a slammed door in the face from his way of thinking.

  The office was quiet now. Just a few left. He heard voices and knew his cousin Drake and Drake’s wife, Kara, were still here, but they’d probably take off soon. They normally rode in and out together if they were both in the office all day. With any luck they’d be gone before Marissa showed up.

  At least his father and uncle Garrett were gone for the day. They’d had meetings offsite and left around two.

  When his phone went off, he saw it was a text from Marissa saying she was on the way up. He’d go out and meet her since the receptionist was gone for the day. He wondered how she got his cell number since it’d been so many years.

  He walked to the front and stood there while his heart betrayed him and started to race like it always did when he was going to see her. Be with her. Even talk to her. After all these years he wanted to put his fist through the wall that he still reacted the same.

  The minute the elevator doors opened, she stepped out looking as unsure about this visit as he felt. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing that he was rattled.

  She looked the same…only different. The same brown hair, but it wasn’t falling straight down the middle of her back, rather layered and just past her shoulders with a little wave to it.

  Her clear blue eyes were looking at him and waiting for him to say something. He finally found his voice. “Why are you here?”

  “Is there someplace private we can talk?”

  “My office,” he said. “Follow me.”

  He turned and walked away assuming she was following behind. He didn’t want her in front of him where his eyes would go to the curves she still had. She was fit like always, but definitely more mature. She was dressed casually in jeans and dressy sneakers on her small feet. She always had small feet for her five-foot-six-inch frame.

  “This is a nice place,” she said.

  “Thanks, I think.” They got to his office and he gestured her in. “Have a seat.” He shut the door. No way he wanted witnesses for whatever this might be about. “So I’ll ask again, why are you here? After what? Almost ten years?”

  Nine years and eight months to be exact and he wanted to scream that his mind just had that thought.

  “I’m not sure how to say this. You’re going to have a lot of questions and I’ll try to answer them as best I can. I suppose this is like pulling a Band-Aid off and I should just do it.”

  He was losing his patience. “Just say it.”

  “I’ve got a child.”

  “Congrats to you,” he said not wanting to feel the hurt over that. At one point he’d thought they’d have a future together and he would have had a family by now. One with her.

  No, instead he was doing everything he could to date anyone the complete opposite of Marissa.

  She took a deep breath. “I have a child with you.”

  He started to laugh. “Yeah, right.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. She’d never been an emotional person. It was one of the things he loved about her. Other girls in college threw fits, they cried, they got bitchy. Not Marissa. Nope. She was always calm. She was always cool. She was always collected.

  He should have realized that about her. That it was part of a game. She’d only ever showed any true reaction when she’d been caught.

  “It’s the truth. I’ve got a son. We’ve got a son. His name is Thomas. Tommy. Thomas Ryder,” she said.

  “You’re joking,” he said. There was no way this could be happening. “You would have told me years ago. Like when it happened. I don’t believe it. You’ve got to want something from me. What? Money? Is that what this is about?”

  “This was a mistake. I can’t believe I let Sam talk me into this.”

  “Sam?” he said. “My brother Sam? He knows why you are here?”

  He was going to kill his older brother for not giving him a heads up. “Yes. He’s downstairs in the lobby with Tommy. Tommy is sick. I needed help. I reached out to Sam. I didn’t tell him you were Tommy’s father. He figured it out just looking at him.”

  Ryder started to pace around the office. “Sick how?”

  “He has a mass on his liver. He was this happy healthy boy and then last year he started to get sick a lot. More than normal. I couldn’t get an answer from anyone. Then he’d had pains in his side one day and I wasn’t leaving the hospital until they ran tests. I didn’t care what they ran, I wanted answers. That’s when they found the mass.”

  The words felt like they were stuck in his throat. “He has cancer?”

  “No. It’s benign. But it’s affecting his liver function. It’s affecting his health. No one will operate on him. They say it’s risky. They want to watch and wait. I can’t sit back and watch my son be sick and do nothing. I started to do research; I remembered you said your brother was a surgeon at Duke. I just looked into him…and here we are.”

  There were so many questions he had. So many things he wanted to know. “Where do you live now?”

  “Greenville,” she said. “I pulled Tommy out of school today for this appointment. We were going to just drive back, but Sam figured everything out.”

  “And he would have pushed you to tell me or he would have done it,” he said, knowing his older brother was probably conflicted and confused. Maybe pissed off too over being robbed of knowing his nephew, then finding out he was ill.

  “Are you going to let me see him? Does he know about me? Are you married?” he asked looking at her left hand.

  “Not married and never have been. Tommy doesn’t know who his father is. I’ve never told anyone. I never even told my parents your name.”

  He snorted. He’d wanted to meet her parents when they were dating and she’d said no. She wasn’t one for bringing guys home especially after what Bryan did to her. He wondered if it was more like she didn’t want her parents to question her behavior.

  But then the next thought came into his head. Maybe Tommy wasn’t his.

  No. If Sam knew by sight, it had to be true. Fierce genes were strong.

  “So you didn’t tell me if I get to meet him,” he said.

  “Do you want to?”

  “I think that goes without saying. Ther
e are so many things racing through my mind right now, but first and foremost is seeing my son I didn’t know I had. What are your plans? You go back home and I’m not allowed to see him again? I hope you know that isn’t happening. If he’s my kid, I’m fighting for him.”

  The tears were rolling down her cheeks faster now. “I knew that would happen. It’s a risk I haven’t wanted to take, but his health is more important. I’m not going to fight you. I hope we can work something out in the future, but right now, I just need to focus on Tommy’s health.”

  Calm and reasonable again. One of the things he remembered and appreciated about her personality.

  “I’ll text Sam to bring him up,” he said. “Do you work? Does Tommy have insurance? Do you need money? My God, I owe you so much.”

  He was rambling now that things were slamming into his brain.

  “I don’t want or need anything. That’s not why I’m here. I work. I’ve got a good job. I’ve got insurance, but it’s not going to cover this surgery much. I’ll find a way to deal with it. Sam said Tommy should go on your insurance to be covered for it, but that isn't why I’m here.”

  “We’ll get it taken care of first thing in the morning. Whatever has to be done we’ll do it,” he said. He didn’t care the cost of anything at this point.

  “I should thank you. And I will. It’s not why I’m here. And I keep saying that and I’m sorry. I was wrong to keep this from you. I know it. But it’s time you knew.”

  He opened his mouth to blast her on how wrong she was, but he heard laughter in the hall and his brother’s voice, then turned his head to see Sam standing there with his son and all thoughts just dropped from his brain.

  He could see why Sam figured it out right away. It was like looking into the mirror of his past at that age. How was that possible?

  “Mom,” Tommy said coming forward. “Sam asked if I was hungry and got me a granola bar. I wanted a candy bar, but he said he didn’t want to get in trouble if I wasn’t allowed. I told him I was.”

  Marissa gave Tommy a hug when he moved toward her in the chair, then a kiss on the head. “You haven’t had dinner yet and you know the rules. No candy before dinner.”