Ethan (Alluring Indulgence #5)(123)
Author: Nicole Edwards

Curtis swallowed hard. He could take damn near anything this man had to dish out, but when he wanted to intentionally take out his anger and ignorance on his own child, Curtis had to put his foot down. “In case you haven’t noticed, Beau is a grown man. A man I’d be honored to call my son. In fact, he’s been a member of this family now for as long as I can remember. And if you want my honest opinion, he turned out to be a fine young man.” Curtis took a deep breath and added, “No thanks to you.”

Not allowing Ben to say another word, Curtis placed the phone back in the cradle, and then he turned to look at his wife. Just as he suspected, she was crying. Pulling her into his arms, he held her against his chest as she sobbed silently. They stood there for a minute or two before she pulled back to look up at him.

Wiping the tears away with his thumbs, Curtis waited for her to speak.

“Call him, Curtis. Call him now. Make sure he’s ok.”

Curtis nodded his head in understanding.

“Ben threw him out, told him to never come back,” she sobbed, more tears streaming down her lovely face.

Grabbing his cell phone, he flipped through his contacts until he found Beau’s number, which he had gotten back when Zane had been in the hospital. Pushing a button, he put the phone to his ear and listened to it ring.

“Yeah?” Beau answered, sounding oddly calm.

“Where are you, son?” Curtis questioned, not bothering to announce himself.

“On my way home… uh, on my way to Ethan’s.”

Curtis grinned. That was a true slip on Beau’s part, but Curtis was already well aware of the fact that Beau was staying at Ethan’s. He had seen his truck there day and night.

“You mind stopping by here on your way over there? I think Lorrie has some furniture upstairs that she needs you to move.” Curtis lied, remembering how Lorrie had tricked Ethan and Beau into coming to the house back at Christmas. She was ever the matchmaker that woman.

To his surprise, Beau laughed and said, “Yes, sir. I’ll be there in just a few minutes.”

When Curtis hung up the phone, he flipped through the contacts to another familiar number. “Where’re you at?” he asked Ethan when he answered.

“On my way home. Why?” Ethan asked, obviously curious.

“Stop by the house, would ya?”

“Sure. But why? What’s up?”

Curtis chuckled, but he tried to keep his voice rough as he said, “Don’t question me, boy, just do what I ask.”

With that, he hung up the phone and waited. It was only a matter of time now.

Chapter Thirty Nine

Ethan pulled into his parents’ driveway and noticed Beau’s truck was there. Once he put the truck in Park, he paused before he got out. He was an emotional wreck at the moment and wasn’t sure he was up for a confrontation with anyone, no matter what the reason. Since his father had requested his presence, Ethan knew there was something going on.

He’d been driving back to Coyote Ridge when his father had called. The last hour and a half had been spent talking, something that Ethan wasn’t keen on doing most of the time anyway, but certainly not when the topics were quite so personal.

Tonight had been his first counseling session. After the initial introductions, the soft spoken, older man who informed him he was there to help, had gotten right down to business, and Ethan found himself opening up about his reasons for being there much faster than he anticipated. The man was obviously a master of manipulation.

Thankfully, their time had been limited, and as Ethan had walked out of the office, despite his reluctance, he knew he would be back. Even if he was feeling slightly off-kilter, he felt like another weight had been lifted.

Pushing open the door, he climbed out of the truck and made his way to the back door where he noticed his mother and father sitting at the kitchen table across from Beau.

What the hell was going on?

Making his way inside, he smiled back when his mother grinned up at him, her eyes lighting up the same way they did whenever he walked into the room. That was one thing Ethan always looked forward to, something he knew he could depend on. She immediately eased out of her chair and made her way over, hugging him quickly and planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Sit,” she instructed, patting him gently on the back.

Ethan peered back and forth between the three of them and then sat down beside Beau. “What’s going on?”

“We’re just sitting here, chatting. Where’ve you been?” Curtis asked, his voice was gruff, but his demeanor was calm.

“I had a meeting to go to,” he explained, not planning to go into further detail. Not yet. At least not until he had a chance to talk to Beau.