Pit: The A**hole Club Series by Saffire Blue (summer books txt) 📕

involved.” I go to reach for him. “But you’re going to have to brush those teeth. I’ll wait.”

I burst out laughing. “You’re such an asshole.”

“For life, now hurry your ass up.”

Chapter 42

It’s What I Knew

Pit

I sat up all night thinking about this. I love Skittles for distracting me for as long as she could before I tagged that ass to sleep. The fact of the matter is I want the truth. I’ve lived a lie for thirty-three years and I have a ton of questions about it.

First, why not choose my father over Thaddeus fucking Pitman? That’s what I want to know above anything else. I take a deep breath as I stare out the windshield of my car.

“I’m here. You’re not doing this alone,” Skittles says beside me as she runs her fingers through my hair.

“I’d rather be eating ice cream and lying on your booty while watching the game.”

She stops playing in my hair and mushes my head. “Boy, bye, get your butt out of this car. Can’t even be sweet to you.”

We get out of the car and head inside. Once we’re all signed in, we head to my mother’s room. This hall feels like it has grown ten feet. I can hear my own breathing with each step I take.

Skittles puts her hand in mine and gives a gentle squeeze. I look down at her and she gives me a smile. I try to smile back, but it feels tight to me.

When we step into my mother’s room she’s sitting in her little living room. This place is set up like little apartments. That’s why I picked it. She can still feel like she has a home of her own.

Mom beams at me as soon as her eyes land on me. “Will, Blake told me to be on the look out for you. And who is this?”

“My half pint. Mayven this is my mom, Claire.”

“That’s how you introduce me?” Mayven says incredulously.

I shrug. “Mom, this is the crazy little woman I’m in love with. Better?”

Mayven opens her mouth. I’m sure she’s about to call me an asshole, but she clamps her lips back shut. “Never mind. It’s very nice to meet you, Ms. Claire.”

“None of that.” Mom laughs. “Claire is fine. Come have a seat.”

Mom pats the seat beside her. I take it and pull Mayven into my lap as an anchor I’m sure I’m going to need. I take my mother in.

The left side of her face never fully recovered after the stroke, so her smile is weak on that side. Her eyes still sparkle a bit, but not like they used to when I was little—very little. I remember now that smile changed at some point.

Mom cups Skittles’ face. “Oh, you are very pretty. Mayven, as in Mayven Jennings? The mayor’s daughter?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Ah, I remember your mother. She had a lovely spirit and was a gorgeous woman as well,” Mom says.

“Uncle Blake called you?” I say cutting through all the BS.

“Actually, he came to see me.” She moves her hand from Skittles’ cheek to mine. You’ve always looked so much like your father. You may have my eyes and dimples, but you are all him.”

“Why would you keep something like this from me? From Leo and Scarlett.”

The smile drops from her lips. “Our story is complicated. I can’t say I’m proud of all of it.

“I didn’t know who he was. Things were never supposed to go as far as they did. I met your father one summer in a jewelry store. I was getting the clasp to my necklace fixed.

“I was enamored from the moment he said hello. Nicky was so handsome and charming. His hazel-green eyes lit up when he spoke. He asked me to dinner—”

“Wait, wait,” I cut her off. “His name was Nicky?”

She smiles and nods. “Nicky William Blake.”

Well, there goes one answer. My full name is William Nicky Pitman. I now understand why Thaddeus always called my name with such disdain and disgust.

“Whatever this story is, I just want you to know you have balls of steel,” I say to my mom.

She shakes her head. “I wish I did,” she says and frowns before she continues. “If he would have known my family ties with the Pitman family, he probably would have walked away.”

“Bullshit,” I scoff. “If he was my father, he wouldn’t have cared.”

She looks me in the eyes with her smile stretched as far as it will go and chuckles. “You’re right, but the Knight and Pitman families already had bad blood. To this day they do.

“Your brother Anthony never knew his father or his mother because of the Pitman family. Gordon Pitman was a ruthless man.” She pauses with this distant look in her eyes. “I was never right for Nicky. I was a little socialite and he… he came from a different world. He was so different from them, but he was still a part of them.

“I knew nothing of the world outside of my parents’ money and grand parties, Nicky started out as an adventure for me. I didn’t know I would fall in love.

“We were both intended to marry others. Willow was very sweet. She loved Nicky as a friend. They were close friends actually, but neither of them had intimate love for each other.

“I… I never loved Thaddeus. He was… difficult to get along with and was very entitled. I tried, truly I did.

“When my father found out I was carrying you he was furious and wanted to disown me. Gordon Pitman threatened to ruin me if I didn’t follow through with the marriage or tried to get rid of the baby.

“You see, Thaddeus had secrets too. I was the perfect answer to Gordon’s problems. Your father… it was complicated because Nicky’s father allowed him to do a lot outside of the family, but he wouldn’t let him out of the marriage agreement with Willow.

“We were trapped in a web of our own making. If either of us would have