“Don’t even think about getting up. Do it right there,” I assert, pointing at his bed and pushing him back by his shoulder. He groans, but then stops when he looks up into Em’s wide eyes. She cups his hand in between the two of hers and questions him with just a look.
“Beautiful, you charged into my life with barely any clothes on.” He stops to wink at her and she rolls her eyes in return. “I was hooked from day one. I couldn’t look at another girl from that point on. You ruined me, and I never want to be put back together. You molded yourself into my family so perfectly. I couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any better.” He stops and looks at the ground again, frustrated. “I wish I could do this on one knee, baby.”
She quickly swipes at her eyes and laughs through the tears. “It’s okay, it’s okay! Keep going.” She points to the box in his hand and he pops it open to show her the two-karat diamond I helped him pick out this past summer. Quinn and Em gasp at the same time when they see her ring.
“Emerson Moore, every day you find a new way to save me. Please, marry me. I love you and I promise to protect you for as long as I live.”
“Yes, yes! Of course, yes,” she cries. She grabs his face and plants her lips squarely on his. He sluggishly wraps one arm around her and straightens the other one out for me to bump knuckles with him.
When Em finally lets him breathe again, Jax turns to me and says, “Thanks for grabbing that for me, man.” I shrug my shoulders because that’s what we do. We all watch as Jaxon slides Em’s new ring onto her left ring finger.
“Dude, you totally pulled the ‘coma card’ to get her to marry you!” Cole bursts out laughing.
We all join in and Jax smiles widely, “Hey, I had to convince her somehow.”
Quinn bursts into sobs and runs to hug Em tightly. Girls are so damn weird. We all knew this was coming between Jax and Em, so why the tears?
“Jesus, the waterworks on this one lately...” Cole mutters, while pointing at Quinn with his thumb.
“You leave her alone,” Em snaps, wiping her own tears away.
“Well, aren’t pregnant girls supposed to be all emotional though? And tired. You said she’s been sleeping a lot,” Jax says. The room goes completely silent. Cole’s brow wrinkles, Em looks with confusion at Jaxon, and Quinn’s mouth drops open wide. I have no idea what the hell just happened.
“Pregnant girl? Who the hell is pregnant?” I question, since everyone else has obviously been struck dumb.
Jax looks at Quinn in bewilderment. “Didn’t you tell me...”
“You were in a coma! I didn’t think you could actually hear me,” she exclaims, trying to give him a dirty look.
“Oh shit, they don’t know?” Jax rushes to ask.
“WHAT?” Em yells. Quinn doesn’t answer Em. She doesn’t look at Jax or me. She just stares across the room at her white-as-a-ghost-boyfriend. Well damn.
“Quinny?” Cole whispers.
“I...I just haven’t found the time to talk to you yet...” she stutters. It takes Cole three long strides to cross the length of the room before he falls to his knees in front of Quinn. Immediately, he latches onto her hips and looks up at her from his position on the ground.
“Are you trying to tell me that my baby is in here?” he asks, his voice starting to sound as hoarse as Jaxon’s. Quinn looks around the room uncomfortably. All eyes are on her and I feel for her.
“Well...I wanted to tell you privately,” she stammers. “I found out the day Jaxon got hurt.” She starts to fidget nervously. “I’m so sorry, Cole.” He stares at Quinn’s stomach as if he can actually see the baby growing inside. He gazes in awe, and I never thought I would be jealous of some guy who just found out he knocked up his girl unexpectedly.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m sorry you’ve been carrying this around all by yourself all week. I mean, a baby...” A quick look of terror crosses his face as he stands up. “Shit...I don’t know anything about babies. I mean, I literally know nothing. I’ll be a terrible father. Oh my God, I asked you to pick up that heavy box the other night. Pregnant women can’t pick up heavy stuff, right? Shit! No more getting your hair done, all those toxic chemicals and shit,” he rambles while pacing the room.
Abruptly, he walks over to a side table and grabs her coffee cup. She protests as he slams it into the trashcan. “Caffeine, Quinn? No. I need books. I need to know everything. We need to find a store that can teach me about babies. God, I’m going to be the worst father ever!”
I grab onto his shoulder with one hand to try and calm him. “Okay, first of all dude, breathe. You just learned some pretty major news. Chill the hell out,” I say. When Quinn walks his way, I pat him on the back and step aside. She stands on her tiptoes and wraps a hand behind his head, bringing his face toward hers and capturing his lips.
“Baby, I love you,” she says against his mouth.
“I love you too. I’ll try my best.” He rubs her flat stomach and kisses her again.
“You’ll be amazing,” she reassures him.
“I want one!” Em calls out.
I look just in time to see Jaxon’s face freeze with his own terror. “You want one what? You want a puppy? I can get one of those. You want a bigger ring, baby, I’ll do that too. How about a nice long vacation, anywhere you want to go,” he says, obviously trying to distract her.
“I want a baby,” she begs.
“Whoa. Let’s get married first, and then way off in the very faraway future, we can discuss the possibility,” he states, but I can see the panic in his face.
“Dude, you’ve been following this chick around like a puppy for over a year, and now it’s you that’s afraid of the next step?” I laugh.
“We haven’t graduated yet! We aren’t even married,” he squeaks. “I’m getting really tired,” the bastard says, feigning drowsiness. “I’m getting a headache. I was just in a coma, guys, and this is all too much.” I chuckle at his over-dramatic show of drowsiness.
“You’re not getting out this,” Em says sternly. Jax presses the button that calls the nurse to his room and she immediately pops her head in with a wide smile. She’s shown Jax a little too much helpfulness, if you ask me.
“I have a headache,” he whines to her.
“Of course you do, poor dear. I’ll administer some more pain meds,” Miss-over-attentive-nurse says, rushing to his side.
I laugh when I see Em rolling her eyes. Then she leans down close to Jax and purposely juts out her chest. I can’t help but stifle another laugh. This is classic Em. “Don’t you worry. Soon you’ll be home and naked in our bed again, giving your fiancé a baby,” she loudly whispers, while winking seductively at him. Jaxon’s mouth drops open in surprise and Em says, “Yeah, I still got it.”
“Okay, okay we’re bringing the vixen out in her again,” Quinn interrupts. “Oh Jace, by the way, since you were home last night, did Audrey go by and grab her textbook? I know she really needed it.”
“What?” I ask. “That was a...she was really there?”
She looks at me with a confused expression. “I guess so. She left it in your room. I didn’t know you’d be home though, so I told her she could just go right in.”
“Shit! I thought that was a dream!”
“Dude, what did you do to the poor girl now?” Jax asks sluggishly. The meds are really starting to hit him.
“Nothing. I need to find her though. I gotta go,” I say, reaching for the door.
“I’ll be here...” he trails off.
“Oh, by the way, been meaning to tell you,” I start and then, as quick as I can possibly get it out, I say, “Long story short, I dropped Pre-med. I’ve been double-majoring in Business. I’ll be taking over Dad and Uncle Logan’s company. Cole’s joining and you should be there too. I know you never really had any interest in it but it just wouldn’t be the same without you. Okay? Just think about it, buddy. Love you, bro.” With that last confession off my chest, I hurry out the door.
On the opposite side of
the closed door, I hear Jax say, “Beautiful, you’ll explain all of that to me when I wake up, right?”
“Just as soon as I figure it out myself, babe,” she responds.
- Nineteen -
JACE -
All day. I searched for her all day and found nothing. I’m embarrassed to admit the amount of times I have called her phone with no answer. With my head hanging low, I make my way back into Jaxon’s hospital room. The second I step inside, I immediately step right back out.
I shouldn’t even be surprised to see Em straddling Jax, but I guess I wasn’t expecting it in a hospital bed. It looked like only her shirt was off at this point but I hightail it out, just in case. After some giggling and shuffling around, Jax calls for me to come back in. I step inside and smirk at the two guilty parties sitting casually on the white hospital bed with coy looks on their faces.
“You were just in coma, you remember that, right?” I ask.
“Hey, they told me to try and get back to normal. I’ve got a lot of muscle to build back up.”
“I guess so,” I laugh.
“Where’s Audrey?” Em asks, while flipping her hair upside down and scooping the length of it up into one of those colorful hair bands.
I groan and shrug, making my way toward the chair nearest to his bed. I empty out my pockets and say, “I was hoping you would know. I took cold coffee to all of her classes today. Well, it was warm for the first forty-five minutes I carried it around. She’s not answering her phone, she’s not at home, and I can’t find Lane either.”
“Sorry, the last time I talked to her was when she brought the muffins up here for you,” she apologizes.
“What?” I gasp. “For me? She made those? You never told me that.”
“Would you have really cared at the time? She just wanted to help you in some way.”
“This really couldn’t get any worse. You and Jax are getting married, which I couldn’t be happier for you guys. You know that, right?” She nods her head and I continue, “Cole and Quinn are already starting their family. I’m just afraid I’ll be moving back to Texas without Audrey and she’ll disappear again, permanently.” I run my fingers through my hair in frustration. “I just had this whole fantasy about marrying her and building a house with her. Am I completely off my rocker?”
Em shakes her head back and forth and Jax questions, “Do you really think you would let her get away? After all these wasted years, would you really let that happen again?”
“I would chase her to the ends of the earth,” I reply emphatically.
“Alright then, case closed. You’ll find your girl, but you better give her a second to forgive your sorry ass,” he chuckles drowsily.
Em’s phone begins to vibrate on the table next to her and I stare, willing it to be Audrey. She notices my intense gaze and shakes her head when she reads the screen, indicating it’s not who I want it to be. With a defeated sigh, I take the seat nearest the window.
“Hello?” Em’s voice questions into the phone. Whoever is on the other line is somewhere loud, because I can hear the roar of a party from her phone’s speaker. I can’t make out what’s being said though.
“Uh, no, sorry I don’t have that, why...
Well, check her phone. Obviously she would have it...
Have you asked her...
Shit.”
Em’s eyes dart to me then quickly away. The hair on the back of my neck rises as I hear the one-sided conversation.
“Well, don’t let her do that,” she barks into the phone.
She looks at me again and asks, “You wouldn’t happen to have Lane’s number, would you?” Her smile is too wide, too fake.
“Who are you talking to?” I question.
“Do you have his number or not?” she demands. I shake my head with a negative.
“Where are you?” she asks her mystery caller. “Okay, I’ll be there in like fifteen minutes.” She hits the end-call button before I can yank it out of her hand.
“Where is she?” I growl.
“I think I should take care of it, Jace. She wouldn’t want you to see her like this,” Em says. I look to Jax for help because there’s no way in hell he would let that fly.
“Sorry, babe, I have to side with Jace on this one. If someone had said that about you, I’d being going ape-shit. Just let him go get his girl.”
“Okay...fine...” she groans in irritation. “You better be nice to her!”
“I swear,” I immediately respond, while shoving my wallet and phone back into my pockets.
“So that was Max, and he said that he showed up at the Sig Alpha party...” I groan, already not liking where this is going.
“Apparently, Garrett and Mason found out Audrey has never had alcohol before, so they convinced her to try some...” she trails off uncomfortably. Doesn’t matter I’m already halfway down the hallway, heading toward the elevator. Oh, I’ll be nice to Audrey, but I never promised anything about Garrett and Mason. Or Max. That asshole should have called me!
~~~~~~~~~~
Frat row is lined with cars and all the driveways are filled. Last year, we were on this street three or four times a week. I’m glad we all kind of backed off this year. Most of the parties are at the beach now, which somewhat keeps them under control. I pull up in front of the packed Sig Alpha house and park right on the grass of the front lawn. The music is pumping so loud, I can feel my heart beating in sync with the tune already.
As I hop out, a little guy who looks a lot like a freshman comes barreling down the drive. “Hey, you can’t park here, this is Sig property,” he squeaks.
“I’ll be out in ten minutes. I’ve got fifty bucks with your name on it if no one touches this car,” I call out to him as I climb the porch steps.
“Deal,” he cries with his hands up in surrender.
Max is perched at the top with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “I was hoping you would show up instead of Em.”
The second I reach him, my hands shove his chest, forcing him to shuffle backward. “Next time, asshole, you call me,” I demand.
He raises his hands and says, “She begged me not to.”
“If it concerns her, it concerns me.”
“Message received. Now go get her. Hopefully you’ll have more luck than I did.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Hey, if it means anything, I was hoping by calling Em I’d get you,” he confides to my retreating back. I nod my head because that’s all I can give him right now.
It takes some effort to push the front door open with the thick crowd on the opposite side. I shoulder my way in, searching for her. It’s not hard to spot Audrey in this mass of bodies, and it’s not because I practically have a homing device on this girl. It’s because she’s standing on the kitchen bar top with Mason, Garrett, and a few other girls I don’t recognize, the five of them dancing wildly to the blaring music.
I may be pissed at the circumstance but seeing her again is like a breath of fresh air. When Jaxon and I were kids, we used to go out to the lake near our house and swim all the way out to the very middle. Once we got out there, we would race down to the very bottom, touch it, and swim back to the top.
The only problem is that it was extremely deep. Our ears would begin to pop from the pressure by the time we were touching the cold sand. The worst part was swimming back up. I can’t even remember the number of times I began to panic, thinking that this was going to be the time I wasn’t swimming fast enough and needed air about three seconds ago. Each time the surface seemed a little bit further away, but the second my arms would cut through the water into the open air, I would feel this moment of extreme euphoria.
Seeing Audrey again is like breaking through the water and taking that first gulp of air. Except this time, I didn’t even realize how oxygen-deprived I was. I can’t let her get away from me again. If she doesn’t go to Texas, I’ll have to figure something else out because I go where she goes. But first, time to get her
away from these guys and get my girl back in my arms.
Garrett takes a swig from his beer bottle and tilts it toward her lips for her to take a drink. Audrey leans his way and takes in a mouthful. She covers her mouth to swallow and laughs out loud. Mason moves up behind her and latches onto her hips. I begin to have déjà vu at this familiar scene. I yell for him to remove his hands, but the crowd is too loud and my voice is lost in the music. I’m charging forward when someone grabs a tight hold of my arm, halting my advance.
“Watch it,” I growl and turn to face my captor. When I realize it’s only Cole, I reel in my temper.
“Easy...” he cautions.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, still trying to get closer to Audrey.
“Jax called me in for back-up. Good thing he did too,” he gestures to my girl and whistles.
“I’m not gonna get in a fight...” I don’t even believe the words that leave my mouth, so I know Cole’s not going to fall for them.
“Right...seeing as how Mason is leaning in closer to her neck, I’m having a hard time believing that.” His words cause my body to go rigid, and I instantly start shoving people out of my way. I’m fucking done trying to push through politely.
AUDREY -
My Auditing and Assurance class spent the day sitting in on one of Los Angeles’ top accounting firms while they went through their clients’ audits. The day could not have dragged by at a slower pace. Lane went to a different firm than I did, so I got to know Olivia, one of my classmates, really well today.
She’s the reason I’m here now. I told her I needed to relieve some stress, when in actuality I just wanted to feel. Jace can’t be the only person or thing that makes me feel alive. I realized this past week that I’ve been going through the motions, smiling when I thought appropriate, speaking when spoken to. The truth is I’ll always love Jace. No matter how many times I think that maybe we’re better off without one another, there’s this part of me that won’t let go. But I need to be able to breathe without him.
Olivia convinced me to wear these tiny shorts and this tight, button-up, sleeveless shirt. I was hesitant about the party at first. I never pictured myself as the type of girl to be pulled up onto a bar to dance and actually enjoy it. I should have never let Mason and Garrett know that I’ve never tried alcohol because now I feel like I’m swimming in it. My stomach is full of liquid and I feel a buzzing sensation in my veins. My head is cloudy and my movements are sluggish, even though I feel like I’m moving at lightning speed.
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