Read Online On My Own: Book Three in the Who's Your Daddy series by Rhonda Marks - Free Book Online Page A

about them right now. JJ was at the top of that list. Somehow, word leaked that he was Dirk’s son and she needed to deal with the fallout. How to do so was the question. A “No comment” would probably cause the media to stay camped out here. The standard “Please give our family some privacy” would probably end up with the same result. She wished she could speak to Dirk. Warmth settled into her chest just thinking about him and their time together last night. Maybe he was right about them starting over and giving their relationship another try.
    Deciding that the privacy request was the better way to go for now, she opened her mouth to address the crowd. Before she uttered a word though, another reporter shoved some tabloid in her direction with a picture of Dirk and JJ on the cover. She immediately closed her mouth and covered it with her hand. How did someone take this? When? And hadn’t Dirk agreed to no photos? Her blood pressure spiked as she silently fumed.
    Somehow her parents push ed to the front of the crowd and the three of them retreated inside her home. A cameraman and reporter tried to follow, but her father shoved them aside and slammed the door closed.
    “What do you think about that man now?” he sneered while pacing around her living room. “I knew he wouldn’t keep his word. He’s just like his old man. Wanting to do things his way.”
    Caroline sank into a chair and dropped her head into her hands. Her whole body shook as she realized her fears were coming to fruition. Plans to slowly ease JJ into the public’s attention were shot. The media attention she did not want was now unavoidable.
    “Ty, please sit down,” her mother pleaded. “Your questions aren’t helping.”
    “This is what I was afraid of when Benedict showed up in Devinne. Everything was going great. We were doing a great job raising that boy. No he’s ruined everything.”
    Part of Caroline wanted to agree with her father, but the other wanted to hear from Dirk and get an explanation for his actions. First, she needed to get another look at that picture.
    Wordlessly, she headed for the dining room and booted up her laptop. A quick search found the picture and a couple more. It looked like they were taken in the school on Thursday, the day of the assembly. But why did he allow them to be taken? And why had he gone behind her back to meet with JJ?
    Her dad hovered over her shoulder as she viewed the photos. At least he had the compassion to stop talking, but she could still see that I-told-you-so look on his face.
    “Mom?” She turned to find JJ standing just inside the room, his hands twisting in front of him.
    “What is it baby?” She motioned him over and pulled him into her lap, something she hadn’t done in a long time because he was just as tall as she was now.
    With a quiver in his voice, he said, “Don’t blame Dad. This is all my fault.”
    All three adults began to speak at the same time, assuring him he hadn’t done anything wrong. “No, you don’t understand,” he continued. “I went to him after the assembly. He tried to send me back to class, but I wouldn’t go until I got to talk with him.” He filled them in on their conversation and his request that Dirk not tell anyone.
    “I thought we were being careful. No one was around when I caught up to him. Nobody!” The tears he’d been holding back suddenly began to fall and Caroline hugged him close.
    Just then the more banging on the door startled all four of them. Ty strode to the door and swung it open. “We don’t have anything—” His words hung in the air as Dirk entered the room while pushing back the surging crowd. He looked directly in her eyes and simply said, “I’m sorry.”
     
    Dirk broke all kinds of speed limits driving from downtown Pittsburgh out to Devinne. He’d been greeted at the training facility this morning with a copy of the tabloid photo of him and JJ then blew up at the reporters who confronted him. Security