An Unwanted Second Chance (JB Tirado) novel Chapter 59

Chapter 59

It was Patrick who knocked on her door this time. She opened it to see his disheveled hair, dark bags under

his eyes. Any other day she might have chalked that up to the new baby, but today she knew better. It brought her an odd level of satisfaction to see him looking so terrible. He softly asked her to come to Kent’s office,

that Kent was insisting they talk.

“We haven’t told him anything,” Patrick explained as she stepped into the hall. “We wanted you to decide how

to handle this.”

“How considerate,” she muttered sarcastically, walking past him. She pushed open the door to see Kent sitting on the couch, wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a green t–shirt. The bandages were still visible

on his shoulder and neck, his arm still in a sling. Max sat in a chair across from him, leaning forward to rest

his elbows on his thighs. Riley noted that Max looked as exhausted as Patrick.

Kent looked up as she walked in. “What the hell happened? These two are being so quiet it’s scary.”

She walked over to sit in a chair as Patrick sunk down heavily on the couch beside Kent. She moistened her

lips with the tip of her tongue, looking between the three of them.

“I think Max can tell you,” she said finally.

“Fuck.” The color drained out of Max’s face as he looked towards her. He rubbed his face, sighing.

“Tell me what, Max?” Kent demanded.

“..” Max sighed again. “Listen, Kent, I’m really sorry. I was just so upset last night. I couldn’t help but feel like

you getting hurt was partially my fault. I asked you not to tell her about Ev but maybe if you had..” He rubbed

his face again.

Kent straightened, his eyes widening as he realized what Max was saying. “What the f**k did you tell her?”

“Everything,” Patrick cut in. “He told her f*****g everything.”

Riley leaned back in the chair, watching the three of them carefully. Kent looked at her, his eyes still wide and

she calmly raised an eyebrow at him. He looked back at Max.

“Keep talking,” he growled.

“I told her about Evan,” Max said, dropping his head into his hand but continuing to speak through his fingers. “I told her how you found him. I told her how we never officially adopted him, how we never disclosed his

presence to the Council. I told her about the rogue we caught a couple months ago. How we interrogated him

and what he said.”

“f*****g hell,” Kent cried. “I told you to let me handle it when you were ready. I told you she would be f*****g

pissed.”

“It gets worse,” Riley said quietly. Kent’s eyes snapped to hers, the color draining from his face.

“How is that possible?” he whispered.

“I misspoke,” Max groaned, looking up. “Riley, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. You just misunderstood.”

“No, I didn’t,” Riley snapped, “You said what you said.”

Chapter 59

“What did you say?” Kent yelled.

“She wanted to know what we were waiting for, what we were waiting to happen before we told her,” Max explained quietly.

“He told her that we were waiting for her to accept you,” Patrick cut in, slumping back on the couch. “He told her that you were pretty positive she would accept you soon.”

Kent opened his mouth but no sounds came out. He closed his mouth, swallowing hard.

“Holy f**k,” he said, his voice sounding strangled. “Max, why would you say it like that?” He looked at Riley.” That sounds way worse than what was actually sald. I never meant it like that. You have to believe me.”

Riley narrowed her eyes. “I don’t have to believe anything.”

“Riley,” he pleaded, his cheeks reddening, “come on. You told me you were staying last night. I thought we were going…” He trailed off, as though remembering that there were two other people in the room.

“Oh, f**k,” Max whispered into his hands. “f**k, f**k, fuck.”

“Max, Patrick, please leave.” Riley sounded far calmer than she felt as she looked at the beta and gamma. Patrick stood quickly, seemingly relieved to be able to go but Max hesitated.

“Listen, Riley,” Max started.

“Just shut the f**k up, man,” Kent yelled. “You’ve already done enough. Just f*****g go.”

Max looked at Kent for a moment before nodding. He stood up, walking to the door where Patrick was waiting. After they left, Kent leaned back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. The silence in the room was deafening, but Riley knew she wasn’t going to be the first to talk.

Finally Kent looked at her. “Riley, please listen to me.”

“I’m listening,” she said carefully.

“I wanted to tell you about the boy. I really did. I told Max that we should be up front with you about it, but he

insisted that it was too much of a risk. He’s worried about the Council taking his son. He’s worried how Penny insisted that it was too much of a risk. He’s worried a

and Alex will handle losing Evan. They’re a family and they’ve been so for four years. They love that child like

he’s their own.”

“You still should have told me,” she said simply.

“I know,” he moaned, leaning back into the couch. “But Max is my best friend. He’s been with me through

everything. He’s never let me down. He was there when my mom and brother died, when my dad died, when

Lily died. I couldn’t just go against his wishes. I was stuck between my mate and my best friend, but my best

friend hadn’t been toying with the idea of rejecting me. So I went with what he wanted.”

She flinched at the last comment, trying to ignore how much that stung. “Even so,” she said after a moment,” you just decided to get me to accept the mate bond so I could keep your secret.”

“That wasn’t my idea,” he said miserably.

“How could it not have been?”

“Max said that if you were to accept the bond, then he would be willing to tell you everything because you would be his luna. He thought you would be more loyal to him and Penny in that position. He asked if I thought it would happen soon.”

< Chapter 59

“And you said?” she asked quietly, raising her eyebrows.

“I’d just gotten back from New Dawn,” he muttered. “We spent the night together in your bed for the first time. I thought things were going well.”

“What did you tell Max?” she asked, louder than she meant to.

“I thought it would happen soon,” he yelled. “I told him that I thought it would happen really soon, that I was feeling good about our relationship.”

“So you figured you would just get me to accept you and then your secret would be safe?” she sneered.

“That’s not true and you f*****g know it,” he snapped, glaring at her.

“How do I know that?” she challenged.

“I told you that I didn’t want you to feel pressured into this bond with me. I told you we needed space and I never wanted you to say you felt forced. I told you that right after I talked to Max and Patrick.” He was yelling, his face red as he leaned forward. “Don’t you remember? You had just finished talking to that f*****g alpha at New Dawn and then you tried to take my pants off in you bed.”

Her face flushed at the memory of it. She looked away, remembering how frustrated he had looked.

“This is exactly why I asked for space,” he said after a moment, his voice much gentler. “I knew at some point we would have to talk about this and I didn’t want you to feel like I tricked you. I didn’t want you to be with me because of this secret or the child. I wanted you to be with me because you want to be with me. Because I… I

… care about you.”

She looked up, his expression gentle. “I don’t know what to think, Kent.”

“Listen,” he whispered, leaning forward. “I would never purposely hurt you. I would never force or trick you into accepting me. Anything I’ve done for you or with you in the last week has been about you and my feelings

towards you.”

She knew he was being honest. She could feel it, but it still didn’t take away the sting of feeling betrayed.

“I think I’m glad you know now,” he said with a sigh. “I’m glad you found out before you accepted me. Because now there’s no more secrets. You don’t have to feel like there is a hidden agenda in our relationship. I want to be with you because of you and for no other reason.”

He sounded so genuine that it hurt. She wanted him to be the villain, she wanted to be angry, but she couldn’t. She just felt exhausted.

“I need to think,” she said, standing up. “I’m going to get something to eat and then lay down.”

He nodded weakly. “I can ask them to send up some food if you’d rather not go down right now.”

“That would be good,” she muttered, walking past him. “Thanks.” She stopped at the door, turning to look back at Kent. “I am going to have to call my commander. You do realize that, right?”

He nodded. “I always knew you would. I’m not going to stop you. Just tell me after it’s done.”

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