Unlike Any Other (Unexpected #1) Read Online Free Page A

the conversation. “Logically, I had to find out what you were up to. I feared you’d been in the hospital and with that pride you carry… you wouldn’t call. That’s why I sent Mason to pick you up, I wanted him to make sure you’re alright. He was in the neighborhood.”
    Well, he’s here, I’m here, might as well get the party started.
    “I wanted you to tell me that what the magazine published is a lie.” I fight with the fist-sized knot in my throat. “But I witnessed that it’s real: a wife, a kid… your first kid, the magazine highlighted that part. Congratulations, I guess.”
    I clean the dripping sarcasm from my mouth with the back of my hand.
    Those wrinkles around his blue eyes shrink even more. He doesn’t look as young as he does on the cover of magazines. Late fifties look different in front of the cameras, in the media, and, in general. With all the makeup and Photoshop they apply, not many get to see the real face of Gabriel Colt; only a few of us are lucky.
    “Ah, that made you crawl outside your little hideout, I see.” He closes his eyes and takes several breaths before opening them again. “Life changed while you were gone, AJ. I don’t think you have the right to burst into my house and make a scene.”
    “Your house?” I try to grab the edge of the desk to keep myself from getting caught in the rapids I’m swimming against at the moment. What happened to: “What’s yours is ours?”
    “So, I take it you’re not here to apologize?” he dodges my question.
    “This house looks a lot like the house in Baja—also looks like home,” I take a few steps and scan the room—avoiding his question.
    Two can play the same game. I learned from the best—him.
    The answer is simple. Hell, no, I’m not asking him to forgive me. Not when he’s proving that I was right. He lied for a long time. Or, that he only cares about his image and what the rest of the world thinks of him.
    “Eight rooms upstairs, I bet. The biggest facing the ocean and it’s right above this library, isn’t it? You never brought us here.” Babbling, faking anger that’s keeping me standing in one piece without shedding a tear. “Can I ask you a question? Actually, just a few things and after that, I swear I’ll disappear forever since that is what you want.”
    I cough a couple of times masking the shakiness of my voice. Gabriel sets his hands on his hips and stares at me before he lets a breath out. I take that as a ‘yes’ or a ‘go ahead you poor kid, let’s give this one last time before I start my new family’.
    “What were we for you?”
    He doesn’t respond or move, and now I wonder if he’s even breathing.
    “Did we mean nothing to you?”
    I place my hands behind my back and cross my fingers hoping we meant something at some point or another. My therapist will have fun when I tell him about this.
    When I told him that my parents didn’t love me, he explained that perception is different from reality. This is the fucking reality of my life. I want at least two hundred and fifty dollars back for that useless hour.
    “You said you had this great love for your family. We were what gave meaning to your life.” I swallow a few times and ask the obvious question, “Another bunch of lies?”
    Darn, I seem to always put myself through these kind of situations. If I could only learn from my past and let the lies roll forever, I wouldn’t be in the middle of this situation, or… the Ryker incident, or… damn, one tear makes it through the barrier and slowly rolls down my cheek.
    Gabriel runs a hand through his blond hair, his sapphire eyes never leaving mine.
    “AJ, you’re real,” he uses his soft but firm voice. “You and your brothers are my entire world, baby girl. I love you—the three of you with all my heart. You were never a lie and yes, my family is what gave meaning to my life. Things change, love changes and just as I protected the four of you for years, now it’s time to look