“That’s not why I’m here.” Sticking his hands in his pockets, he levels me with a look. “I found him.”
I pause, my shovel stops mid-scoop, and I look at my brother. “Found him where?”
I brace myself for the answer I don’t want to hear.
“Denver.”
I curse, moving to set the shovel against the side of the wall and strip off my gloves. Dread curdles in my gut. The momentthat I’ve been simultaneously waiting for and wishing never happened has come.
“Okay,” I answer, shaking my head and stepping out of the stall. I head down to let the guys know I need to leave and then start the walk to my apartment. Mitch falls into step beside me, and I glare at him. “You’re not coming.”
“Like hell I’m not,” he replies, casually sticking his hands in his jacket.
“I’m not having you come there and shoot him in the head, tying me up in your fucking gang of brothers, and getting pinned with bullshit. I have a baby on the way. I can’t risk it.” My anger at the situation is starting to boil my blood, and I know that part of what I was saying is more the anger directed at the person who was supposed to care for us but didn’t.
However, Mitch is here. So he is the target.
He grabs my shoulder, spinning me to face him, and I flinch at the look on his face. He is pissed. “First, fuck you.” He spits on the ground before looking back at me. “I’m not in a gang. We’re a club that happens to have some good resources. One of them who lives in Denver and has some tracking skills that can find what we need.”
I brace myself for a hit as hissecond, but instead, I watch my brother’s features soften. “Second, I know you were hurt when I called them my brothers. And they have become important to me, Jax.” He tries to catch my eyeline, but I hate looking at him, not knowing what kind of heartbreaking thing he might hit me with next. “You, Logan, and Stetson are always going to be number one, Jax. I don’t love a lot of people.” He scoffs, shaking his head at some obvious internal argument. “But I love you three. It’s why I’m trying to help out, trying to make better decisions when it comes to family.”
“Is that why you came home?”
His jaw clenches, and I brace for the answer to a question I’ve been dying to know. But he shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter why I came home, Jax. It doesn’t. I’m here now, and I’m helping you whether you like it or not.”
I almost expect him to hug me or something, but he does something not surprising and tilts his head toward my place. “Now go change. You smell like shit.”
34
felicity
“I mean,I’m just saying this is fancy.” Erin’s voice holds a tinge of awe in it as she revels in the fact that Jax sent us all to a spa for the day. I don’t know how he did it, and I didn’t ask. It was a great distraction, one I desperately needed.
“It’s so nice,” Thea says from the chair next to me, her feet being rubbed just like mine as part of the pedicure treatment.
It feels not only amazing to be off my feet and have the angel of a woman rubbing them—she really knew what she was doing—but it feels amazing to only be thinking about one thing.
Having this baby.
“Did Zack ever do this kind of thing for you? Because I’m riffling through my memories, and I can’t think of a single instance he did something like this.” Erin came to town just a few days ago, insisting on being here for the birth, and she fit into my group of friends seamlessly. It is really nice to have her with me again.
But what I didn’t expect was the complete outpour of support over me and Jax being together. Apparently, Zack had corneredmy best friend at one of the awards shows this month, asking where I was and what I was doing, putting her defenses up.
I expected everyone to find out where I lived fast and come hound me, but somehow, I’d been mostly left to my own. I never actually thought I would be able to live a normal life, but I wasn’t going to squash the opportunity to do so.
“No.” I smile, thinking about Jax right as a Braxton Hicks hits my right side. I rub there, letting out a breath as my angel rubs my feet. I haven’t called her that out loud, for fear she will stop, but she really is one. “He was more interested in getting out in front of photographers than sending me to the spa.”
“What a douchehole,” Erin replies, making Juniper snicker and Thea look at her dubiously.
“Douchehole?”
“Yeah.” Erin shrugs, not a care in the world. “A douchey asshole.”
I laugh along with the ladies, another pain hitting me after a few moments. Subconsciously, I look to my midwife, Laura, who’s already watching me, her eyes on her wristwatch.
“So…” I clear my throat, distracting myself as my pedicurist paints my nails a hot pink. I was still firmly on Team It’s a Girl while Jax held out hope for a boy. “Where is Bonnie again?”
“There was a fundraiser in the city that she and Stetson went to. She’s hoping to raise funds for the rodeo school to get going,” Thea answers, taking a long sip from the lemonade on the small table beside her.
