Page 28 of Beautiful Trauma
Sergio: Get out here Silas.
Me: STOP TEXTING ME!
* * *
A few hours later:
* * *
Sergio: Are you up? Because I am and I’m bored.
Wyatt had made sure we were up with the sun, so I was awake.
Me: It’s 3am
Sergio: It’s 6am for you.
Me: Still too early to deal with you
Sergio: What if I told you I’ve been listening to Silas whine about L for the last 2 hours?
I groaned. I had enough drama to look forward to with my sister.
Me: WAY too early for that
Sergio: If I ever get that depressed over a woman put me out of my misery
Me: Ha! I’ll send the extra smutty books. All spice, no romance
Sergio: This is why we you are my bestie.
Seventeen
I had to tell Eli what was about to happen. I knew that this would work to get Mason and Elle what they wanted. What says ‘divorce’ louder than you knocked up her sister?
This would not go well with Elijah, and I knew it. Other than the day I told him about Mason, we don’t talk about the fact he’s Wyatt’s father. I’m not sure if that’s because Eli wishes he was Wyatt’s dad, if he hated the thought of Mason and I together, or something else, but he never brought it up and I didn’t feel the need to shove it in his face either, so I didn’t talk about it.
“Mason wants to release a statement about Wyatt,” I said as we sat on the couch. I’m sure it seemed out of the blue to Eli, but I’d been struggling with getting the words out for hours.
“Little late for that, don’t you think?” His tone was even.
“Things aren’t going well with Elle. They both figured out they want normal lives, I guess. Or just not a fake marriage. And since the press is pushing for answers about Wyatt, it just seems like the time.” I was trying to keep this a very casual conversation, as if I wasn’t panicking about the changes this meant for our lives.
“Why do we have to tell anyone that Mason is his father? Add me to his birth certificate. Mason’s marriage is his own problem.”
“Eli, Mason is his father, that’s why. And the time has come for the secret to be out,” I responded. Eli went from nonplussed to irate in a second flat.
“No, Katie. He hasn't been around for the last four years. You know who has? Me. I was there when he was born." He slammed his finger into his chest. "I was there when he learned to walk. I put him to bed at night. That guy has done fuck-all for Wyatt and you know it.” Everything he just said, and the way he said it, made me hurt.
I sighed, trying to figure out how to have this conversation while acknowledging his concerns, but also making him realize he had little say in the matter. Everything he said about being the one there for Wyatt was one hundred percent true, but he knew I had an agreement with Mason that this secret wasn’t forever. Mason and I had agreed a long time ago that by the time Wyatt could understand what a dad was, Mason would be just that. I couldn’t go back on my word, even if it was happening so much faster than I could’ve imagined.
“I know, Eli. And Wyatt loves you so much. I wish you were his biological father, but you just aren’t. I don’t want to hurt you, but this is reality. The only thing changing here is that the world will know that my sister’s husband is my baby’s dad.”
“This is fucking bullshit. That kid is more mine than he will ever be Mason’s,” he spat.
I cringed. “In every way that counts, yes. He has been yours. But we have to share him with Mason now. I’m not thrilled about it either, trust me. My sister is going to hate me. Fuck, the world is going to hate me for fucking my sister’s husband. But it’s what is best for Wyatt.”
“Who the fuck cares how Elle feels about this? This isn’t about her. How are you not sick to death of catering to her and Mason after all these years? You got out from under your father, but you let Elle and her needs rule your life.”