She knew. She had to fucking know, but she didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to believe it.

Nick hadn’t expected anything else.

Nick checked his phone. Bryce still hadn’t called. Maybe Bryce would end their relationship before it went any further. There was a very real possibility that he’d started outing himself for no reason.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Bryce spent the whole day driving around. Usually riding his bike cleared his head, but his thoughts were still a jumbled mess.

It was around six that evening when he pulled up to his parent’s house. He cursed when he saw Mitch and Jamie’s cars there.

He didn’t want to do this with an audience. Hell, he hadn’t wanted to drop both the Nick and Christi bombs on his parents in the same day, but it looked like he wasn’t going to get what he wanted. Now that his dad knew, he needed to tell everyone else.

He’d get it all out there at once so there’d be no secrets.

“Having a family gathering without me?” Bryce asked when he opened the door.

“No, your father and I just got lucky that all of our kids decided to come see us on the same day.” She kissed Bryce’s cheek. “Minus Christi, of course. Where is she?”

Jamie cleared his throat. Hope gave him a shy smile from beside Jamie on the couch. Of course she knew. Bryce ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know where she is. How am I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know, because she’s your girlfriend?” Mitch said sarcastically. He didn’t know about Nick, but he did know about Christi, so of course his brother would have to bust his balls.

“Leave him alone, Mitch.” Abbey elbowed him. They sat on the other couch, his mom beside Mitch.

His dad sat in his chair, having yet to say a word.

“Actually, that’s what I came here to talk to you guys about. I’m glad everyone is here.” Bryce sat in the last chair, because if he didn’t, his legs might give out. His dad looked down. Jamie nodded his head, a quiet support. Hope gave him another smile. Mitch rolled his eyes as if to say, finally, when he didn’t have a clue about everything Bryce was about to say. But Abbey...he could have sworn she gave him a nod of support as well. Maybe for more than just what he had to say about Christi. Had Hope told her?

His mom...she just looked confused as hell. Pretty soon she’d be broken hearted.

Bryce wrung his hands together and his first thought was... I wish Nick was here. It wasn’t fair to the other man to have him go through this, but Bryce wished he had him here for support. This would be a whole lot easier with Nick by his side. That was another first. He’d never had someone who he looked to for support that way before.

“I’ve been lying to you all for a while now.” Because he wasn’t going to throw his brothers and their wives under the bus for knowing. “I’m not proud of that fact, but it came from not wanting to hurt anyone...not wanting to disappoint you.”

“What’s wrong, Bryce?” His mom’s voice was all parental concern.

“Christi and I...we haven’t been together for a while now. I think we both realized not long after we got together that it had been more out of fear than real love.”

“I don’t understand, Bryce.” His mom shook her head. Mitch set a hand on her knee.

“I asked her not to tell anyone. I knew...” Knew that he was kind of the oddball when it came to the Tanner kids. Being with Christi would have made his parents happy. Would have made them feel like he wasn’t coasting through life like they thought he was. “I knew it would hurt you, Mom—”

“Not nearly as much if you would have told me in the beginning, instead of letting me believe a lie for...how long, Bryce? How long have I thought that you were in love with Christi when you weren’t?” Her eyes filled with tears.

Fuck. He knew this would be hard, but nothing compared to the real thing. To the overwhelming feeling of guilt gnawing at his insides. “Too long. It’s not Christi’s fault, either. She wanted to tell you. I asked her not to.” Because it had been a relief not to have his mom on his back about settling down. She’d been happy just knowing he was with Christi. Yeah, there was the kids thing, but she didn’t pressure him on that very often. And pretending with Christi had always been easy because they were close. Bryce never expected to fall for someone else and to have that muddy everything up.

“Oh, I’m not blaming her. I’m angry at you, Bryce. You’re my son. You should have told me! I thought...” She buried her face in her hands and started to cry. Bryce’s eyes stung as well. He’d really fucked this up.