Nobody's Son by Shae Connor Read Free Book Online Page B

to look her up before….”
    Erwin gave a careless shrug. “Like I said, I figured she wouldn’t be interested in talking to me. She could’ve found me if she was. Never thought that she might’ve had my kid. Not until Vincent told me.”
    He grinned then, full of false sincerity. “It was quite a pleasant surprise, I have to say. You’re a nicely turned out young man. Well-spoken too.”
    “Articulate, you mean.” Shaun had heard the euphemisms plenty of times, the built-in racism in assuming a black man wouldn’t be able to put together a coherent sentence. Never surprising, always annoying.
    “Exactly!” Erwin’s grin widened. “It warms my heart to see my son doing so well for himself. Overcoming your upbringing.”
    And that was enough. “My ‘upbringing,’” Shaun shot back, “was being raised by a loving mother and grandmother who taught me to value family, education, and hard work. I graduated from high school and college with honors. I’ve been working since I was eighteen, and the only reason I’m sitting here talking to you is that I know my mama would have wanted me to hear what you had to say.
    “But I am not going to sit here and listen to you insult my mama and act like we’re beneath you.” He pushed back his chair and stood. “We’re done here.”
    “No, wait!” Erwin held up a hand. “Don’t leave.”
    Shaun glared. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t walk out and never have anything to do with you again.”
    Erwin deflated. “Because I’m your father isn’t reason enough?”
    “No.” Shaun wavered for a moment. “But I will agree to one thing, and one thing only. I will consider taking a DNA test to prove paternity. If I decide to do it, and if it’s positive, and if you apologize for insulting me and my mother— then I will consider giving you another chance. If not….” He shrugged. “Then we’ll be done.”
    “Deal.” Erwin stood. “I’ll be ready to schedule the test. Just tell me when.”
    Shaun nodded once. “I’d say it’s been fun, but that’d be a lie. Good-bye.”
    He turned and walked out. He half expected Erwin to try to call him back again, but he remained silent.
    Either that or Shaun just couldn’t hear him over the roaring that filled his head.

Chapter FIVE
     
     
    AFTER SHAUN lost his grandfather and his mom—who was an only child like him—family pretty much meant him, his gran, and some distant cousins they saw a handful of times a year. But then there was the man he thought of as his stepdad, even though he’d never had the chance to marry Shaun’s mama.
    Darnell Curtis had loved Sharon Rogers. That much Shaun knew for sure. And he’d taken Shaun under his wing not long after he’d started dating his mama. Sharon worked long hours sometimes, often late hours, but since Darnell worked construction, he had most of his evenings free. He spent them playing one-on-one basketball with Shaun at the park down the block, helping with his homework when he could—the math parts, mostly—and fixing things around the house.
    At Sharon’s funeral, Darnell had sat on one side of Shaun with his gran on the other. Sherry had insisted. And while Darnell didn’t come around as often as he had before Sharon died, he’d stayed close.
    And single , Shaun thought as he approached Stripes, the tiny little bar a few blocks from Shaun’s house where they met most weeks for a drink and to play pool. They still hit the courts now and then, but over the years, Darnell had starting having knee problems from too many years carrying heavy things around construction sites. He’d taught Shaun to play pool instead.
    When Shaun walked into Stripes, classic soul flowed from the speakers, just like always, and Darnell was sitting at the bar, laughing at something the bartender had said. Shaun took a moment to study him. At forty-five, the same age that Shaun’s mama would have been, he still looked a good ten years younger than he was, except for the