Kiss This (49 page)

“I was only going to mention the—
Oof
!
Ow!”

“I know what you were going to mention and
it’s private!”

He laughed and said, “Oh. Okay.” He looked
into the rearview mirror and said, “Hear that, man? It’s
private.”

“Got it,” Jay replied. “
Oof
! What was
that for?” he glared at Melanie.

The rest of the ride was about the same.

***

“Wow, what a cool place,” Camryn practically
whispered of the old theatre-turned-club they were in. She looked
around at the details of old and new mixed together.

“Yeah, my grandpa used to perform here when
it was a live stage,” Teague answered. “That was, like, fifty years
ago.”

“Yeah, I’ve read some of his biography and
some of the earlier acting he’s done. Definitely a legend.”

Teague nodded as they grabbed a couple of
drinks. Neil McCallan was a mysterious man and Teague could never
tell how the old man regarded him. His grandfather was a
tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy, but he hardly ever pushed his
thoughts and opinions on him or the direction he thought his life
was supposed to take. It could be for a lot of reasons, but maybe
his grandpa was just wise enough to leave him alone.

But Grandpa McCallan sure adored Max. He was
proud of his success in the industry and treated him like the
Hollywood icon that he was. As for the other grandchildren that
weren’t high society along with Teague—Jay and Kellie—Grandpa was
also indifferent to them as they were to him. It seemed like an
acceptable agreement and nobody bothered to change it. There
weren’t callous words or actions ever exchanged. They all
just…co-existed.

“Speaking of the old man…” Teague murmured.
Neil McCallan was headed their way, his newest wife on his arm,
fifteen years his junior.

“Well this must be where all the cool
grandkids are hiding out,” he announced.

“Hello, Grandpa,” Teague greeted him. “Happy
Birthday.”

“Thank you, Teague. Kellie. Jay.” He nodded
to each one but gave Kellie a gentle pat on the arm, and then
looked at Camryn and Melanie. “And who might these two new beauties
be?” he inquired with a classic McCallan smile.

Teague put his arm around Camryn and said,
“This is my fiancée, Camryn Jacobs.”

Neil tilted his head as he subtly looked her
over. “Fiancée, huh?” He seemed to think about that for a moment,
and Teague was pretty sure he knew why. Grandpa should have been
informed of stuff like that.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. McCallan,”
Camryn smiled politely, holding out her hand.

“Yes, you too,” he replied, shaking it
softly. “I think we’ve found the second most beautiful women in the
room,” he nodded to Camryn and Melanie. “Meet the first, this is my
wife Blaire.”

“Hello, nice to meet you,” Camryn said.
Blaire smiled and returned the greeting as they shook hands. “This
is my sister Melanie,” she introduced to them.

“Hi,” Melanie smiled shyly. “Happy Birthday,
sir.”

“Sir?” he snorted. “You can call me Neil or
Grandpa, whichever suits you. But thank you for the birthday wish.
Hopefully you still look as gorgeous as I do when you’re
seventy.”

Everyone laughed and Camryn said, “Oh my, I
see where these boys get their ‘self-confidence’.”

“That’s a kind way of putting it,” Neil
said. “You can say it.
Arrogance
.”

“Hey, we’re just thankful for our charm and
good looks,” Jay shrugged.

“Wait, who’s charming?” Melanie asked,
scowling at Jay.

Neil laughed earnestly as he looked at both
boys and said, “I’m liking this. Strong women to put you two
jackasses in your place.”

“He’s the jackass,” Jay and Teague replied
in unison.

“Whatever,” Jay shook his head. “At least
the lady doesn’t dispute my good looks,” he winked at Melanie.

She narrowed her eyes at him but relented.
“No, you McCallan men aren’t lacking in that aspect.”

“Just everywhere else,” Kellie teased.

“You shut it,” Jay said. “Sister opinions
definitely don’t count.”

Teague was going to add something more, but
Max was approaching their group and he changed his mind. Max was
looking over the gathering cautiously, but gave his grandpa a hug.
“Happy Birthday, Gramps. You look good, young man.”

Teague didn’t hear the rest of the exchange
because he turned away, kissing Camryn on the head at the same
time. “You hungry? Wanna go test some appetizers?”

“Sure,” she smiled, sliding her arm around
his waist. “Wow, is this all standard McCallan chow?” she asked,
eyeing the five long tables of food.

“Pretty much. This is what I grew up
with.”

“It doesn’t seem like it. I mean the
specialty caviar dishes, all the wines here, the fancy desserts… It
doesn’t seem like you, but you also fit in here pretty easily.”

“I’ll take that as an insult?”

“No,” she laughed softly. “It’s a
compliment. You’re well rounded. I’m proud of you for being your
own man.” She kissed him on the cheek.

He glanced around the main ballroom and
murmured, “I’m sure one of these hallways leads to a closet or
vacant dressing room. Or
un-
dressing room,” he smiled
against her neck.

“Hmm, sounds like the kind of dessert that
I—”

She stopped short and Teague followed her
gaze until he spotted Kate and Chase across the room. He looked
away just at quickly and chose to be silent.

“Do you want to leave?” Camryn asked
quietly.

“Kind of.”

“Then let’s leave. I’m only here for you,
honey.”

“Okay. But Melanie looks like she’s having
fun,” he motioned.

Camryn looked at her sister, who was now
talking to a trio of young celebrities. She recognized the one in
the middle and asked, “Is that who I think it is?”

“Uh huh,” Teague replied vacantly.

“Well Melanie is only here with us. If we
leave, she’ll leave too.”

“Did you wish your grandfather a happy
birthday?” a voice asked as Teague’s dad suddenly appeared from
behind them.

Teague slid his arm around Camryn. It was
either protective instinct or for his own security, he wasn’t sure.
“Yes, of course,” he answered simply.

Craig nodded before taking a tiny sip of
alcohol. “And what about your son? Seems I’ve hugged and kissed him
hello and you’ve not so much as glanced his way.”

“It’s not your business, Dad.”

“Not my
business
?” he hissed, his
eyebrows so angry they were almost touching. “That is my
grandson
. Look at him, Teague. Look. At. Him,” he growled,
grabbing Teague’s shoulder and forcing him to face Kate across the
room. Kate was now holding Chase against her hip and Grandpa
McCallan was speaking with the two of them.

Teague took a slow, deep breath in an
attempt to rein in his bitterness. It hurt too much to look but he
knew he needed to get used to it at some point. It was Camryn that
stepped between the two men and looped her arm through Teague’s.
Without words she led him away, and Teague walked with her
willingly, feeling a bit of strength because of her ability to
stand up for him in a silent manner. But he definitely was not
expecting his father to make a scene.

“You going to knock her up too, Teague?” his
voice called after him. “Raise a kid until you get bored and just
walk away?”

Teague stopped dead in his tracks, even
though Camryn was telling him that Craig wasn’t worth the argument
right now. She was right, but what the hell. He turned around and
walked back to his dad.

“That’s my goal in life,” he said quietly,
so he didn’t add to the drama. “To make as many kids as I can feel
as unwanted as I did.” He scoffed and shook his head. “Do you
honestly think that little of me? Do you really think that I could
go from worshiping the ground my kid walks on to…nothing? To just
leaving him behind? You think that was my
choice
?”

“Well actions speak a thousand words,
Teague. I don’t know what the hell happened between you and Kate,
but making an innocent little boy suffer the consequences too is
pretty damn low.”

“I’m not going to talk to you about this
here,” Teague said. “You’ll figure it out soon enough anyways.”

“Figure what out?” Craig asked. “What are
you saying?”

“He’s saying that Chase is
my
son,”
Max said from behind them.

Chapter Forty-Three

It took about eight seconds for Craig to
process the information as he looked from one son to the other.
“What did you say?” he finally whispered.

“I said…that Chase is
my
son,” Max
repeated quietly. “Teague is the victim in all of this, so stop
shitting on him with things he has no control over. This is my
fault, and I know I’ve made some stupid mistakes, but I’m tired of
trying to live up to your career expectations.”

Camryn studied Craig’s reaction first. To
say he was stunned was an understatement. But she looked at Teague
next and didn’t like the way his eyebrows knitted into a worried
stupor. “A victim,” she heard him scoff as he stared at the floor.
He shook his head, and as Camryn heard him take in a breath of air,
she tightened her hold on his arm.

“Teague, let’s go,” she said.

He finally looked at her and nodded his
head. He glanced at his dad and brother before he turned to
leave.

“Is this true?” Craig suddenly asked.
“Teague? Is this true?”

Teague stopped and answered, “Yes, it’s
true.”

Craig slowly shook his head. “Why in the
hell…? What would even—? Jesus Christ,” he whispered. “What the
hell am I missing here? You both know this but— What the hell is
going on?”

“It’s not my problem anymore,” Teague told
him. “You guys have a fun chat.”

“Teague!” Craig growled angrily.

“It’s simple, Dad,” Max said somberly. “I
hooked up with Kate one night. It was an accident, I was drunk, and
it was stupid of me. We conceived a child, and Teague didn’t find
out until Chase was a couple months old. We kept it from him.”

Craig stared at Max and blinked with
confusion. “Are you kidding me?”

“No,” Max replied, just as Grandpa McCallan
joined the group.

“It’s about damn time this all came out,”
Neil spoke gruffly, but he was corralling them towards a
hallway.

“You knew about this?” Craig gaped with
disbelief.

“Not for sure, but I suspected it. No one
bothered to get Teague’s side of it and you’re always quick to
glorify your other son anyways. But did you have to steal the
attention away from the birthday boy?” he faked a smile. “Come on,
let’s take this to another room.”

When the bomb-dropping discussion was
reorganized in a small conference room, Camryn was appalled to have
to be there with Kate, too. Thankfully Chase was with Judith and
didn’t have to be in the middle of another McCallan battle, but
Kate had been summoned by Grandpa and didn’t look too pleased about
it.

“Explain yourself,” Craig said, now
narrowing his fiery gaze on Kate.

“Wh-what? What do you mean? Max just told
you—”

“I know what Max admitted. Now I want to
hear it from
you
. Is this why you just disappeared? I can’t
even imagine what you two came up with in order to pull the wool
over my eyes,” he added furiously, glaring from Kate to Max and
back to Kate again.

“It was— I… We weren’t ready to share the
news,” Kate finally said angrily. “Max asked me to respect his
career and his family’s reputation, so I complied. What choice did
I have, going up against your family?”

“Going up
against
us? You are the
mother of my own flesh and blood! Chase
belongs
in our
family. It sure would have been nice to know
which
son he
actually belonged to, though! Do you realize what this has done to
my family?” he asked, the last two words barely a choked
whisper.

Camryn couldn’t tell if Craig was still
totally pissed off, or trying not to cry. From everything she’d
heard about him, sometimes it seemed like he didn’t have a soul.
But whether he was feeling apologetic over the situation or just
embarrassed and upset, he was obviously affected by it. He was now
looking at Teague, but Teague was looking at the floor.

“I don’t even know where to go from here,”
Craig finally sighed, shaking his head.

Grandpa turned to Max and asked, “Do you
want to be with Kate?”

“No,” Max scowled. “Not at all.”

“Then Chase will grow up in a nice, normal
split family like the rest of us have done and it will work,”
Grandpa stated. “But there will be no more lies, no more judgments,
and no more foul play. Do you understand me?” he asked everyone in
the room. He looked from Craig, to Max, to Teague, to Kate, and
even to Camryn. “This family will put the children first, no matter
what. It will be a joint effort, whether you’re a father, a
grandfather, an uncle, or a brother. Do I make myself clear?”

He looked at every face in the room until
they nodded.

“I’ve had enough of media getting a hold of
our business, but I no longer care what the world does with it,” he
continued. “We take care of our family and that’s what matters
first. We’re not perfect, but it’s time to start being better for
each other instead of for the public.” He took a breath of air and
then paused. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I have a big ass
cake I’m supposed to dig into.”

He gave a curt nod and left the room. All
that was left was the awkwardness of a father and his two sons, and
two women that couldn’t be more different from each other.

Finally Craig looked at both boys and said,
“We’ll talk later. I need another drink.”

Camryn didn’t prefer being in the room any
longer, either. Now that two people had left, it felt even smaller.
But Kate looked smug. It was obvious she was more comfortable
dealing with Teague and Max on her own.