Baby Daddies

Chapter Thirty-Three: Lost Time

The entire table had been stunned into complete silence. Kelsey had started to clean up his spilled drink but the moment she'd heard the truth, she froze. Cole's stomach dropped to his knees. "W-what?"

"Joss is my dad. I didn't fuck him. I'm not in a relationship with him." Though he looked calm, Cole could tell Brent had snapped. He didn't react to same way Cole did when he was angry. No, he got quiet. His hard glare was enough to make Cole return to his seat without so much as another word. "If you really want to know the truth, Cole, you should have just asked me. But now everyone around us knows the truth. Are you happy? Did you enjoy making me feel like an asshole in front of my friends?"

"Brent, what do you mean he's your dad?" Kelsey interrupted, staring up at him with a mixture of horror and curiosity. None of this was registering in her mind.

"I didn't know until two years ago. He and my mom were only married for a few months before they called things off. When she moved back home, she was only a few weeks pregnant. Rather than telling my dad that he was going to be a father, she kept it to herself. She raised me with her mom. For my entire life, I'd been told that my dad died of a brain tumor. But when we moved back here when I was eighteen, they ran into each other and he found out he had a kid. By then it was too late to start being a parent. I was already grown.

"So instead of trying to teach me anything new, he decided he would send us money to help us out. And it did help us out. There were nights that we went hungry, but because of him, we finally had food in the house." Cole stared at the drinks in front of him, listening to all of this. He felt like complete dirt. Brent shouldn't have had to tell this story in front of everyone. This was his own fault. He'd made Brent do this.

"Brent," Cole started.

"Oh, no, Cole, you're going to listen to this. You want the truth so goddamn bad, so shut up and listen to me." Brent unclenched his fists. "I didn't know he had a family when I met you. I just thought you were some girl that I liked and wanted to be with. It wasn't until that time I went over to your place for dinner that I realized that my dad was technically your dad, too. We wanted to tell you, but we couldn't. You would be so disgusted. It was basically like we were brother and sister. But we're not, and... We decided that we'd tell you later on."

"Is that why he was giving you money? So you didn't tell me the truth?"

"No."

"Then what was the money for? If he was supporting you and your mom, why did you have the huge check and not her?"

"Because... God," he sighed. He looked up at the ceiling, blinking away any of the potential tears that were about to fall.

"Brent," she insisted.

"He was putting me through college, Kelsey. I... I wasn't smart enough to get into school. I wasn't able to get any kind of scholarship. Coach only let me on the team in high school because he knew my mom. She'd been one of his best friends for years. The teachers simply put me through each class, giving me the minimum required to pass. I'm stupid, Kelsey. Everyone always told me I was, and I am," he said. Brent's eyes watered and his hands were back to fists. Kelsey shook her head.

"No, you're not, Brent."

"Yes I am! I couldn't get into school on my own! My dad had to influence people to accept me. Did you know that he got me in over a girl with a 4.0? She deserved so much more than I did and she got rejected. And - and I tried to hide it. I tried to pretend like I'd gotten in on a sports scholarship, but I didn't. The only way I was going to get in was if I bought it. If my wealthy father bought it for me. Do you get how screwed up that is?"

Cole stood and left the table. He could feel every pair of eyes on him. They were all thinking the same thing. He was a horrible person. He'd just ruined another guy's life by humiliating him in front of his teammates. Cole kept his eyes down and sniffed away his tears. He pushed through the doors and almost ran to his car. When he was inside, he dropped his forehead onto the steering wheel and tried to control his breathing.

He'd done this. He'd just ruined everything Brent had worked so hard to keep secret. Cole had never felt lower than he did right then.