CHAPTER 4

WILLOW

I grew up in an orphanage. Poor. Never having enough. Always depending on the goodwill of the state system. Because I believed I’d been dealt the short end of the stick, I made sure to do everything the state expected of me.

I poured all my energy into school. Got straight As. Scored a scholarship for college. My life seemed to be going exactly as I wanted it to go, unraveling on my own terms.

But then, everything changed when Cary Thompson showed up one day, DNA test in hand.

***

“Willow,” he kisses both my cheeks, eyes brightening as he takes in my cocktail dress. “You look lovely honey.”

“Thanks,” I mumble, allowing him to lead me into the hall.

“So, how was the hockey game?” He picks two champagne flutes off a valet’s tray and hands one over to me.

“It was fine. We won.” I take a huge sip. “Exactly how long do I have to be here for, dad?”

“Oh come on honey. You only just got here and now, you’re talking about leaving? Relax.” He chuckles. “Invites to events like this do not come easy. Besides, there are a few people I would like to introduce you to.”

“I see,” I mumble, sounding unenthused. If Cary notices, he doesn’t comment on it. He leads me forward, showing me off to the people he recognizes in the crowd. He makes a few introductions.

“Cary Thompson.” A middle aged man approaches us. He’s wearing a charcoal gray suit with a bow tie. He’s got jet black hair, that’s slightly beginning to gray.

This man, he’s handsome in a rugged kind of way. There’s also something oddly familiar about him.

“Spencer,” Cary shakes hands with him, grinning from ear to ear.

Spencer?

It suddenly clicks.

He’s Theo’s dad. My ex-boyfriend had shown me a family photo over six months ago, and he’s the one who had been in the photo.

I can’t believe he’s standing in front of me right now. How well does my dad know him?

“Willow… allow me to introduce you to a good friend of mine. Spence, this is my daughter, Willow Thompson.”

“Wow Cary. She’s gorgeous.” Spencer extends his hand for a handshake and it takes everything in me to keep my composure. “How are you Willow? I’ve heard quite a bit about you from your old man. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

I bet he won’t be saying that if he knew how I’d just gotten in between his sons, mere hours ago.

“Nice to meet you too.” I make myself smile.

“So, you attend California state? My sons go to school there too. Theo and Aiden. You must have heard of them. They play hockey.”

Kill me now. “Yeah. Um, I’ve heard of them. They are the reasons we won regionals today.”

Spencer’s beaming with pride. Cary mentions something about getting both families together for lunch, sometime in the near future.

I hope not.

I’m already counting the minutes until I have to leave.

It isn’t until Cary is pulled away to converse with a crowd of stuffy, middle aged folks, that I get a chance to make my escape.

“You’re leaving?” Terry escorts me out of the building, seeing me off to where my Uber is waiting for me.

“Yeah. Sorry. I have something important I have to take care of on campus.” A lie. But he doesn’t have to know that. “Tell my father I’ll link up with him for lunch later in the week.”

“Alright miss Thomson. Have a good night.” He opens the Uber door for me. He doesn’t leave until the car’s safely on the road.

On the ride back to campus, I call Violet.

“Hey. Sorry I had to leave in such a hurry. I had a family thing. I’m on my way back now. Any chance we can meet up at Starbucks?”

“Sorry. I can’t. I’m at Gary’s.” Gary is her boyfriend. A nerd from engineering. Definitely one of the cutest couples on campus. “So… what was up with that stunt you pulled on the ice rink today?”

I knew this was coming. I groan.

“Ugh! I was jealous, okay? I saw that dick head making out with slutty Tessa and all I could think of was a surefire way to hurt me.”

“Oh, he was hurt alright.” Violet chuckles. “It seemed like he was about to rip Aiden to shreds before Tessa showed up to drag him away.” She laughs harder. Her laugh’s infectious and she’s got me on it.

“Everything is such a fucking mess,” I say in between laughs.

“Yeah babe. Not to mention the fact that everyone is talking about it. I mean, everyone. They are calling you a heart breaker. Talking about how you’ve got both brothers wrapped around your fingers.”

“That’s not true.” I snort. “I was just lucky Aiden didn’t push me off him.”

“Yeah. About that… any idea why he let you kiss him so publicly?”

“None.” I inhale a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I have no idea what had been going through his head while it’d been happening. One thing I do know is that I owe him an apology.”

“You’re gonna apologize for kissing the school’s most notorious manwhore?” She scoffs lightly. “Oh please. I’m sure he was honored that you laid a free one on him.”

I’m already at campus. Making the short walk to my sorority house. Campus is abuzz tonight, with studies still up, celebrating the win at regionals. Fireworks light the sky. Campus security is lenient with drunk students.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow Vi. Say hi to Gary for me.” I’m almost at the house.

“Bye bitch.” She makes kissy sounds before she hangs up. I’m all smiles as I cross the rose bush that separates the alpha phi house from the delta house.

I round the corner and a scream tears out of my lips, at the sight of Aiden Cross sitting on the porch steps.