Risqué Business (Club Risqué #8)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

C onnor checked his watch with a frown when the rap sounded on his office door. He was working late, he didn’t have any appointments scheduled, and he wasn’t expecting anyone, so who the hell wanted to see him at this time of night?

Sighing, he rubbed his hands over his face. It had been a long day, and he wanted to go home. The wedding was this weekend, and he needed to tie up some loose ends before he and Laurel left for their honeymoon. “Come in,” he finally called when the knock sounded again, and it became obvious they weren’t going to leave.

The door opened, but whoever Connor had expected to see, it sure as hell wasn’t his father, and that just added to his irritation. What the hell was his old man doing here?

Jesus, if the bastard was going to have a go at him about Laurel not being the kind of ‘wife material’ his father expected, then Connor was going to cut him out of his life for good.

He sat back in his seat and braced himself for the worst because whatever he wanted, Connor doubted it was anything good.

“Son… it’s good to see you,” Connor Senior began.

“Dad, I have a busy weekend coming up. I really don’t have time…”

His father raised a hand to stop him, and Connor went with it. Whatever his father was here to say, it would be quicker to just hear him out and send him on his way.

“I’m sorry I didn’t make dinner.” His father finally sat down in the seat opposite, when it was clear Connor wasn’t going to offer.

Connor said nothing. What was there to say anyway?

“If I’m honest, I was being a coward.”

The admission made Connor frown, and he stared at the man who had sired him, wondering where this was going.

Allowing some of the tension to bleed out of him, Connor lounged back in his office chair and sighed. “Look, it doesn’t matter, Dad. Laurel - my fiancée…” He emphasised the word. “…wanted to meet you, and I agreed. If honesty is the name of the game here, then I can tell you I wasn’t that keen on the idea in the first place, but she insisted.”

The senior Griffin gave a slow nod, but he looked kind of sad. “Your sister mentioned you were getting married, so of course I knew…”

“Ah, I see. So, allowing me to tell you in person was just wasted time you could better spend on something else, I guess? I shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve never taken the least interest in my life except to bug me about an heir. I suppose knowing I was getting married made you think the job was done.”

“Please, Connor…” His father uncharacteristically begged. “I know you’re angry, and our relationship hasn’t exactly been the best. But there are things I need to say, and I’d appreciate it if you’d let me do that.”

Connor bit his tongue and raised a hand to give his father the floor. “By all means, go ahead,” he replied with more than a hint of sarcasm.

His father closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, and Connor was surprised at how uncertain he seemed. This was not the bombastic man he remembered.

“Like I said, your sister told me you’d chosen a wedding date, so I guessed why you wanted to see me…”

Clenching his jaw, Connor managed to avoid any more snarky remarks and let his father continue.

“The reason I bailed on dinner was because I didn’t know how to handle it.”

Okay - not what he expected his father to say. He stayed quiet and waited.

“You see, I also have a fiancée, and I…”

The air left Connor’s lungs in a whoosh and he slapped a hand to his chest, suddenly feeling like a balloon that someone had let go of, so it had gone flying around the room until it deflated and dropped.

“And I was worried about how you might take the news.”

He could say that again!

“So I didn’t tell you, and I asked your sister not to say anything until I was ready.”

His father sucked in a breath. “But I never seemed to be ready, and I knew if you were going to tell me you were getting married, I’d have to come clean… so I bailed.”

Connor didn’t know what to say. Hell, he didn’t even know what to think right now. He closed his eyes and did his best to regain his equilibrium. He wasn’t a kid anymore. Whoever this new woman was, she wouldn’t be bringing him up. This was nothing like the position he’d been in with Rayleen. He was an adult now. An adult who knew the score and was able to defend himself.

None of that wisdom stopped the slow lurch of dread from rolling through his chest.

“I never blamed you, you know.”

Connor pulled himself out of his stupor and focussed on his father’s words. “I always thought that was obvious since I dispatched Rayleen immediately. But Barbara - that’s my fiancée - says things like that should never go unsaid. So, this is me, saying it,” he finished awkwardly.

Connor stared, wide-eyed, words deserting him.

“And God knows I’ve never managed to shake the guilt I felt… that I still feel.” His father stared down at his hands like he was lost in his own little world. “You have no idea how many times I’ve asked myself if there were signs I should have seen. That if I’d been around more, maybe I would have seen what was going on. Or prevented it altogether. That if I’d paid Rayleen more attention, she wouldn’t have gone after you.”

His father’s voice cracked on those last words, pulling Connor out of his head.

“It wasn’t your fault, Dad,” he finally managed, his voice strained. Despite all the months of intense therapy, Connor still struggled to talk about it.

Or maybe it was just because he was having this conversation with his dad.

He cleared his throat. His father was right. It was long past time for them to have this conversation. Decades. “I never blamed you for what Rayleen did. That was all on her…”

He sucked in a breath. “But goddamn, I needed you afterwards. I needed to know everything was alright. I felt so adrift, and you just carried on like nothing had happened and I didn’t know what to do, so I followed suit.”

He swallowed, feeling a tell-tale prickle in the back of his eyes. “But I did think you blamed me for what happened. It fucked me up for years.”

“No, Connor!” The elder Griffin surged to his feet and came around the desk, and before he could make sense of anything, Connor found himself hauled out of his seat and into his father’s arms. “God, I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry. I didn’t know what to do. What to say. I felt so fucking betrayed. I wanted to murder Rayleen for what she did to you. But aside from the anger, I had no idea how to deal with all of it, so I just tried to behave like everything was normal. I thought, if I tried hard enough, I could pretend it was, even though nothing could be further from the truth.”

Connor had never known just how much he needed this day of reckoning. He thought the therapy had rid him of his demons. That his relationship with Laurel proved he’d moved past the events of his youth. But standing here, within the tight clutch of his dad’s arms, he felt like that fifteen-year-old boy all over again.

Only this time, he was finally getting the closure he needed.