When Callie arrives home, she finds me sitting on the kitchen floor with a couple of empty beer bottles beside me.

“Kayden.” Worry laces her tone as she rushes across the living room, her bag falling to the floor as she crouches down in front of me. “What happened?”

I shake my head, still completely dumbstruck at what the guy told me. “I don’t even know.” I draw my knees up and lower my head into my hands.

“Hey, talk to me.” Her fingers wrap around my wrists and then her gaze skims along the fresh cut on the side of my arm.

“It’s not what you think,” I murmur. “I dropped a beer and while I was picking up the glass, I accidentally cut myself.” It’s the truth too. “I’m not going to lie, though. I thought about it. Cutting myself…” It’s been so long since I had the urge to do it. I forgot how overwhelming the compulsion could be. But picturing Callie’s face seemed to help talk me out of it.

“That’s good you didn’t.” Her voice is so gentle, so Callie. “Do you want to talk about what happened? What set it off?”

“Not really. But I probably need to.” Sighing, I raise my head from my hands.

The moment our gazes connect, I start telling her everything that happened from the moment she left. By the time I’m done, I feel a little better, but mostly I’m a confused mess.

She sits down on the floor in front of me and combs her fingers through my hair. “Do you think this guy was telling the truth?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know why he’d lie about something like that, though.” I hand her the card he slipped underneath the door. “He left this.”

She skims over the card. “Is this his card? Because if so, it means he works for a private detective agency.”

I shrug. “I’m guessing it’s his.”

She traces her thumb along the side of the card with her thinking face on. “He didn’t look familiar or anything?” she asks and I shake my head. She pats the card against the palm of her hand. “Let me do a search about the agency online and see what comes up.” She rises to her feet. “You don’t have to, but I really think you should call your brother and see if he knows anything about this. Or if he can get in touch with your mom and see what she knows.” Remorse fills her eyes for the mention of my mom, who I no longer speak to.

Pushing to my feet, I nod. “I’ll see if Dylan’s still up.” Because I know that’s the brother she meant I should call.

About a year ago, Tyler dropped off the face of the earth and no one has heard from him since. Sadly, none of us were too surprised. Until then, he had relapsed quite a bit with his drug addiction and would disappear for days on end. I’ve always felt sorry for him and wonder if he uses drugs as a way to deal with what dad put us through. Or, well my fake dad, if what the guy told me is true. And what about Dylan and Tyler? Does this apply to them too?

Suddenly, I’m more motivated to call Dylan than I was before. Digging my phone out of my pocket, I dial his number while Callie wanders off to our bedroom to grab her laptop.

“Hey,” Dylan answers after four rings, and I can tell that I’ve woken him up. “You’re up late.”

“Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t even paying attention to the time,” I tell him as I move to the living room and sit down on the sofa.

“Is everything okay?” he asks. “Because you sound upset.”

“I don’t know.” I massage my temple with my free hand, letting my eyelids slip shut. Come on Kayden, just spit it out. There’s no use dragging it out. “Some guy stopped by today. I think he works for a private investigation agency or something. And he told me that… That Dad wasn’t my birth father. And I was wondering if you knew anything about it.”

“Holy shit,” he breathes out. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“No.” And I’m not sure if I want to find out. I’m unsure if I want it to be true.

I mean, what if this guy is worse than the man I thought was my real father? After all, he waited until I was almost twenty-two before tracking me down.

“Holy shit,” he repeats again. “Do you think he was telling the truth?”

“I’m not sure… I ran off before I could ask him any questions. He left a card, though.” I rub my hand across my forehead. “I wanted to call you first before I call this guy up and see if you knew anything about it.”

“I don’t,” he assures me. “If I did, I would’ve told you.”

“So no one’s visited you and told you the same thing?”

“No. But I’ve been out of town for the last couple of weeks, so, I don’t know…” he curses again. “Fuck, this is some crazy shit. And… And what if it’s true? What if that asshole wasn’t really your dad?” He blows out a breath. “What’re you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper, squeezing my eyes shut. “Callie’s looking up stuff about the agency online right now. After I find out if it’s a legit place, I’ll go from there.”

“Do you need me to come out there? Because I can.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, let me know… I want to be there for you like I wasn’t in the past.”

No matter how hard I try to convince Dylan what happened with Dad wasn’t his fault, he still blames himself.

“It’s not your fault,” I still make an attempt to convince him. “But I promise I’ll let you know if I need you to fly out here.”

“Good.” He drags out a pause. “I hate to bring this up, but I feel like I should, because it could help you get some answers.” He hesitates again. “Do you want me to call up Mom and see what she knows about this?”

I figured that was where he was going. “You know how to contact her then?”

“I haven’t talked to her in a while, but as far as I know she still has the same number.”

“I don’t… I think…” I skim my finger along the fresh wound on the side of my arm. When the glass cut me, I felt a drop of relief from the confusion and pain stirring inside me. If I don’t take care of this problem, I’ll more than likely want to feel that relief again. And I don’t want to go back to that dark place. Or drag Callie there with me. “Yeah, can you call her up? That is if you don’t mind.”

“It’s the least I can do,” he says. “I’ll call her first thing in the morning.”

“Thanks.”

“Of course. It’s what I’m here for.”

We talk for a few more minutes than we say goodbye and hang up. Usually, we talk for longer but it’s fucking late and honestly, my mind is too crammed with other shit to be much of a conversationalist.

By the time I’ve gotten off the phone, Callie has returned to the living room with a worried look on her face.

“The agency seems legit.” She moves in front of me and plays with my hair. “I think, if you want to, we should give them a call tomorrow.”

Nodding, I wrap my fingers around her waist and guide her down so she’s straddling my lap. “Thank you. Not just for looking that up, but for being here for me.”

“You don’t need to thank me. I love being here for you, just like you’re always here for me.” She softly kisses my lips. “I wish you would’ve called me, though, when that guy showed up. I would’ve come home.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t.” I draw her with me as I lean back in the sofa. “Now, how about you take my mind off this whole dad ordeal and tell me how the interview went?”

Her face contorts in puzzlement. “I’m not sure if I’m going to take the job or not.”

I brush my knuckles along her cheek. “Why not?”

She shrugs, her face contorting even more. “I don’t know if I can do it or not.”

“Callie, if there’s one thing I’m sure of in this world, it’s that you can do anything you put your mind to.”

Hesitancy crosses her face. “You might want to hear what the job entails first before you give me a pep talk.”

I frown. “You make it sound like it’s something bad.”

“It’s not bad. In fact, it could be really, really good.” She nibbles on her bottom lip. “But it could also be a little bit dangerous.”

I immediately want to tell her not to do it, but that’s not the sort of relationship we have. While I want to protect her in every way possible, it’s not my place to tell her what she can and cannot do. She’s smart. Whatever she decides will be the right decision.

“Can I tell you about it?” she asks quietly. “Maybe you can help me decide.”

I nod, grateful she wants my opinion. Of course, when she starts telling me about the job, I want to beg her not to take it. But again, that’s not the kind of person I want to be—the kind who tells his fiancé not to take a job because it makes him uneasy.

“It does sound a bit dangerous,” I say after she’s finished giving me a recap of how the interview went.

She nods, leaning back a bit. “It also hits really close to home and that scares me.” She sighs. “But, there’s this other part of me that’s really excited about doing this. If I do it right I could really do something that means something, you know.”

“Whatever you decide, I’ll support you.” My chest tightens a bit. “But promise me you’ll be careful. I couldn’t handle losing you.” I pull her closer to me. “You’re my person, you know.” Callie is everything to me and I don’t even want to think about what would happen if I lost her.

“You’re my person too.” She rests her forehead against mine. “I promise I’ll be careful if I take the job, but you have to promise me that you’ll keep me in the loop about everything that goes on with this whole dad thing. I don’t want you not calling me just because you think I’m doing something more important.” She leans back to look me in the eye. “Nothing is more important than you. Got it?”

I nod, the corners of my lips pulling upward. “Got it, boss. Any other orders?”

She bobs her head up and down with her stern face on, which is more amusing than it is anything. “Yes, take me back to our room so I can cheer you up.”

Holding onto her, I stand to my feet. “Best order ever,” I say then I kiss her while carrying her to our room, grasping onto the peaceful moment with all I have in me because I have a feeling, come tomorrow, this quiet life I’ve been so accustomed to lately is about to turn into chaos.