Free Ruthless by Cheryl Douglas Page B

friend.
    Trey laughed. “Okay, this is all very cloak and dagger. Are you gonna tell me what the hell is goin’ on with you?”
    Luc took a deep breath. He’d been weighing his options all day. He knew he had to tell Marisa the truth if they had a prayer of building a life together, but he was terrified that his secret might change her feelings. He decided to tell Trey and gauge his reaction before telling Marisa. Luc thrust his hands in his pockets and stalked the stone footpath surrounding the huge pool.
    “Whatever’s on your mind, just spit it out, Spencer.”
    Luc turned to face his friend. He and Trey were always there for each other. He knew if anyone would understand the choice he’d made all those years ago, it would be Trey. “I know my timing sucks. I shouldn’t be laying this on you today of all days.”
    Trey walked toward him and clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Luc, I know you. Something’s been eating you up inside, and if I can help, you know I will. Now, what is it?”
    Luc took a deep breath and dug deep to try and find the courage that had been eluding him for fifteen years. “I have a daughter.”
    The color drained from Trey’s face. “Wait a minute; did you just say you have a daughter?”
    Luc shook his head. He hadn’t spoken those words aloud in years. No one in his life knew about Nikki, not even his parents. “She’s fifteen now. I haven’t seen her since she was a baby.”
    Trey sank into a patio chair, dropping his head in his hands. “I can’t believe this. Why didn’t you ever tell me about her?”
    “The truth? I was trying to forget.”
    Trey glared at him. “You were trying to forget you had a daughter? What the hell’s wrong with you, man?”
    Luc expected Trey’s anger and confusion. Trey had wanted to be a father for as long as he’d known him. He’d never been able to understand Luc’s aversion to playing the daddy role. Maybe now he would. “I never wanted a baby, Trey. I was dating Nikki’s mom—”
    “Her name is Nikki?” Trey asked.
    “Yeah. Anyways, I was young when I was dating her mom, only twenty-five. My career was just starting to take off, and next thing I know, she’s telling me she’s pregnant with my kid. I was a wreck; I didn’t know what the hell to do.” Luc relived that conversation in his mind. Those two words had changed the course of his life. “I don’t understand how it happened. I was so careful about using protection, ya know?”
    “It happens, Luc, even when you’re careful.”
    “I guess. Anyways, I tried to be there for my little girl, Trey. But I was screwing everything up.” A day rarely passed when he didn’t ask himself if he could have done things differently, but it was too late now. No matter how much he may want to, he couldn’t re-write history.
    “How so?”
    “You know me, man. I’m a workaholic. It was even worse back then. I was still trying to make a name for myself. I was working all hours of the day and night.”
    “Did you live with Nikki and her mom?”
    “Yeah, but I was never there. I was rolling in at three in the morning and leaving the apartment before the baby woke up. Maybe it was sub-conscious, I don’t know. Maybe I was afraid of bonding with her, afraid that if I did, I’d never be able to walk away.”
    “When did you decide to leave?”
    “Shana, that’s Nikki’s mom, basically told me I had to make a choice. She told me if I wanted to be a part of my daughter’s life, I’d have to come home at a decent hour, make more of an effort to spend time with her.” Luc raked his hands through his hair. “I was just like my old man, Trey. I was obsessed with my career to the exclusion of everything else, including my family.”
    “So you left?”
    “One night I just didn’t come home.” He thought back to the internal struggle that led to that decision. He sat in the parking lot of their apartment building for hours before he finally drove away, coming to terms with the fact