Five
“S
heriff
Westmoreland!”
AJ
shouted
as
he
jumped
out
of
his
seat.
He
stood
in
front
of
his
mother
and
lifted
his
chin
angrily,
defiantly.
“It
can’t
be
him.
No
way.”
Shelly
smiled
slightly.
“Trust
me,
it
is
him.
I
of
all
people
should
know.”
“But—but,
I
don’t
want
him
to
be
my
father,”
he
huffed
loudly.
Shelly
looked
directly
at
AJ,
at
how
badly
he
was
taking
the
news,
which
really
wasn’t
unexpected,
considering
the
way
he
and
Dare
had
clashed.
“I’m
sorry
you
feel
that
way
because
he
is
and
there’s
nothing
you
can
do
about
it.
Alisdare
Julian
Westmoreland
is
your
father.”
When
she
saw
the
look
that
crossed
his
face,
she
added.
“And
I
didn’t
make
up
that
part
either.
You
really
were
named
after
him,
AJ.
He
merely
shortens
the
Alisdare
to
Dare.”
She
felt
AJ’s
need
to
deny
what
she’d
just
told
him,
but
there
was
no
way
she
could
let
him
do
that.
“The
question
is,
now
that
you
know
he’s
your
father,
what
are
we
going
to
do
about
it?”
She
watched
his
forehead
scrunch
into
a
frown,
then
he
said.
“We
don’t
have
to
do
anything
about
it
since
he
| 
