Christ. What the hell did he know? “Avery, just tell me.”
“I had Noah look into your uncle. Had him go over the scene where Danielle died.”
“Why?” His palms felt clammy, and Nathan wiped them on his jeans.
“I know why Danielle gave you away,” Avery answered. “I know why she never told you the truth.”
Nathan had a hard time catching his breath. “What?”
“That vision I had? I saw and heard a conversation between us. One where we talked about Malcolm Dixon being your dad.”
Nathan shook his head. “Wait. What?”
“He’s your biological father, just as Danielle Dixon was your biological mother. It made no sense, so with Jack’s okay, we had Noah do some digging.” Avery expelled a long breath. “You ready to hear the truth?”
The iconic phrase, You can’t handle the truth, popped into his mind, and he almost gave in to the hysteria building inside him. “Fucking talk, man.”
Avery reached for his hand and held on as he spoke. To Nathan’s bemusement, the touch grounded him and took some of the numbness away. “Thirty-three years ago, Danielle Craft married Malcolm Dixon. They were happy at first. I think you saw that when we were in the house.”
“Yeah.” It had been real.
“But Danielle noticed something not right in her husband. She loved him like nobody’s business. I mean, a forever kind of love. They were soul mates—that’s straight up what Noah felt and saw when he saw her past.”
His parents had loved each other. Not exactly comforting, considering dear old Dad had killed Mom.
Avery continued and squeezed his hand. “She didn’t want to leave him. Refused to listen to her sister when Michelle begged her to leave. Malcolm was getting unstable. But with Danielle around, he kept that part of himself suppressed. He could function better when he was with her.
“Noah thinks that Malcolm’s work for the government pushed him to use his talent in a way he shouldn’t have. That all that negative energy rebounded on him, made him not right.”
“Not right. Yeah, that’s Malcolm.” Nathan had a hard time understanding it all. “So he loved my mother, but he was nuts?”
“Ah, yeah. That pretty much caps it. So when Danielle found out she was pregnant, she was scared. She loved you the moment you sparked to life inside her, but she was afraid of what Malcolm would do. He acted possessive and jealous all the time. Her sister couldn’t visit anymore, because Malcolm would turn verbally abusive. But with Danielle, he was nothing but loving. It was bizarre.”
Nathan could see it. His uncle had been that way with him. So wonderful to his mother, yet a monster to Nathan. “So she had me and gave me away?” In essence, she’d chosen his father over him.
“She loved you, Nathan.” Avery stood and crossed to sit next to him. “You have to know that.”
“Why? She gave me up.”
“She saved your life. She refused to have an abortion, and she knew Malcolm would kill you as soon as look at you. Noah said it tore him up to feel that, her pain when she handed you to her sister. She actually lucked out that Malcolm was overseas for so long when she was pregnant. He never knew. And he never would have if Michelle hadn’t been hit by that car.”
“Christ. It’s like a bad dream.”
“No shit.” Avery tilted Nathan’s chin up and looked into his eyes. “You have to know how much she loved you. She wanted a normal life for you. That’s the kind of sacrifice a good mother makes for her kid. She would have lived with you, except she knew Malcolm would hunt you two down. She took a chance raising you when her sister died, but your grandmother was sick. Danielle kept a close eye on Malcolm to make sure you were okay.”
“Not close enough,” he muttered, remembering the abuse, the beatings. “You know he used to lock me in the fucking cellar? We had rats. Big, hairy rats. And it got cold down there. He’d beat me and leave me tied up until she got home. Then he’d threaten to hurt her if I said anything.”
“God, Nathan. I’m so sorry.” Avery pulled him into a hug, easing the shivers Nathan hadn’t realized he’d had. “But that’s why Malcolm snapped. When your mom found out about his abuse, she said she was leaving him. He didn’t want her to go. He couldn’t let her leave. So he tried to kill her; then he tried to kill you.”
“I have to find him. To take him on before he kills anyone else.”
“Hell, no.”
Nathan glared at him. “I can do this. Quit trying to protect me.”
“Sorry for caring whether you live or die.”
“She was my mother.”
“Yeah, well, Daddy Dearest is trying to kill you, in case you missed that.”
“Stop calling him that!”
“Face it. Malcolm is your father, and yeah, he’s a psycho. Doesn’t mean you are.”
Avery kissed him. “Quit torturing yourself. You and he are nothing alike.”
“Yes, we are.” Nathan pushed back from the table and stood. He reached for the weapon Avery kept on a side table. “See this gun?” He put his hands over the pistol grip of Avery’s Beretta, and a psychic miasma settled over him.
Nathan held the gun pointed down, but he’d adjusted his grip so he held it the way Avery normally did.
Avery stared. “What—”
“I’m like him, Avery. I pick up energy from weapons, the way I know things about objects. Psychometry gets jacked up when I touch something with strong emotion tied to it. That’s why I don’t like to touch things that kill. They have a special feel to them.” Nathan looked down at Avery’s gun. “You’ve killed with this, but you never enjoyed it. When I hold this, I know I can shoot anything that moves, that I’m an expert, like you. And that I can nail a fly to the wall at seven meters, no problem.”
He put the gun back on the table and looked at Avery, wishing he didn’t feel such a connection to Malcolm.
Avery swore and stood. “Fuck him. Come here.” He yanked Nathan forward and caged him in strong arms.
Nathan rested his head against Avery’s strong shoulder, sad and bone tired all of a sudden.
“I’m so sorry about all of it, Nathan. But just think how fucked up your life would have been if he’d raised you.”
Avery had a point. Nathan wasn’t sure how long he stood there in Avery’s embrace. He extricated himself and took a step back. “Sorry.”
Avery scowled. “Don’t even try it.”
“Try what?”
“I’m here for you, you little jerk. Don’t even think of pulling away from me.”
Nathan surprised himself by laughing. “You’re being a dick to me now?”
Avery gave him a punishing kiss. “Hell, yeah, now. You have the truth, and you have all these whacked-out ideas floating in your head. But I’m not about to lose you to some dickhead, deadbeat dad after all the shit I went through to get you.”
His fatigue drained as he realized what Avery was saying…without saying. “Huh?”
“Oh, come on. I dragged your ass out of bars and didn’t kill any of the guys trying to get a piece of your fine ass. I didn’t jump you the way I wanted to the very first time I rubbed up against your sexy body. And that was what? Eleven months ago?”
Nathan could only stare.
“Then I managed to behave myself when I wanted to fuck you the entire trip to Bloomville. I wanted my dick down your throat during the drive, despite your annoying chatter. And no offense, you cook like a dream, but your coffee tastes like shit. I only drink it because I love you.” Avery grimaced. “Not the best timing, huh? You find out your father’s a psychopath, then you have to hear from the guy who rubs your face into the mats on a daily basis that he loves you—”
Nathan stole Avery’s breath with a kiss. Balance had a way of making things right. The truth of his past might be hell, but the beauty of his future was here, right now, for the taking.