Secrets Are

Book 1: Secrets Are Deadly | Chapter 18

I'm pretty sure Hayden had a very confused look on his face after that statement. Anyone would have a confused look on their face if some man had just told them that they were their brother without any proof to back up his claim. It created a bunch of questions in your head, wondering about if this was really true and if it was, where this brother had been all your life and why didn't your father tell you about him? Hayden was probably trying to figure out who this man was and why he would make such a statement like he did. I didn't have a picture of Nick which meant I could never show it to Hayden, so he knew what Nick looked like. Therefore, as of this moment, Hayden had no idea that this man, who was standing in front of us, was Nick.

In the background, I could hear our parents arguing in Dad's office. They were probably disagreeing about how to deal with Ryan. Mom probably didn't want things to go like they did when they had trouble with Hayden when he was a teenager. I'm sure Dad didn't want to have to deal with that again. And I'm sure he thought that he wouldn't have to deal with another teenager like the teenager Hayden was because he always thought Ryan would be so much easier to handle as a teenager since Ryan never seemed like he wanted to rebel against his parents like Hayden had wanted to. Dad appeared to be wrong though.

"Who are you?" Hayden asked putting his arm in front of me and starting to push me back so he could step in front of me. I knew he wanted to make sure he was in front of me so he could protect me from Nick if he needed to. Right now, this man was a stranger and Hayden had no idea what his intentions were.

"Hayden, this is Nick. Nick, this is my brother, Hayden," I answered glancing from Nick to Hayden. I saw the recognition on Hayden's face when he heard Nick's name.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Nick said smiling at Hayden. He held out his hand for Hayden to shake, but Hayden didn't take it. It seemed like he had other things on his mind then being polite to Nick. I didn't blame him though. Nick had just told us that he was our brother.

"What makes you think you're our brother?" Hayden asked ignoring what Nick had said.

"I'm only your half-brother, but I know I'm your brother because we have the same father. His name is listed as my father on my birth certificate," Nick replied. That's definitely a good reason to think that we had the same father, but who knows if that's actually true. His mother could have just put our father down as Nick's father because she didn't really know who Nick's father was, but that could only be true if Andrea's mom had been sleeping with more than one guy.

I saw Hayden glance at me and then back over at Nick. I wasn't sure if Hayden believed him. I didn't even know if I believed him. I thought there was a resemblance to my father, but that didn't mean I actually believed Nick was my brother. Dad wouldn't actually lie about something like that would he? Then again it explained why Dad didn't want me talking to Nick anymore. I had thought that this could be a reason why Dad didn't want me talking to Nick anymore, but to actually have it be true, was a different story. If Dad didn't want us finding about Nick, then he would try to keep him from coming into our lives by saying he has no idea who this person is.

But why would Dad not want one of his sons in his life? That didn't make sense since Dad loved his sons. He would be happy to have another one. Did Nick or his mom do something that made Dad not want them anymore? There were so many questions running through my mind and really only one person could answer them. Actually two, but the other person was dead. If Nick's mom was alive, then I'm sure Nick would already have the answers and would be here seeking out Dad for a different reason.

"Are you sure you got the right Jonathan Dylan?" Hayden said bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. From what I've gathered in the town I was born in I've got the right man. It was hard getting some people to talk about him, but I eventually found people who were willing to talk about him. I never understood why there were some people who didn't want to help me out, but I didn't worry about that. I just wanted to find my father," Nick said shrugging his shoulders like that wasn't a big deal to him. He seemed pretty certain of what he was saying.