by Brook Wilder
“Can I ask your something, Jace?”
“Sure.” Jace swallowed his last mouthful. “Although it depends what you’re asking.”
“Why did you leave?” Maddie paused. “Was it because of your father?”
She saw Jace freeze up, any emotion behind his eyes shutting off. Maddie stared at this sudden transformation. She had never seen anything like it before on Jace. And she had not expected it with regards to his father, a man Maddie remembered and loved as much as her own father.
Jace unfroze himself and reached for his water, drinking the rest down in two gulps.
“You know how he was killed, don’t you?” he asked, slamming the glass down.
“Yes.” Maddie swallowed. “He was killed in a bar shootout, protecting my father.”
“Did you mourn him?”
“Of course I did. He was an awesome guy.” Maddie looked down at her plate. “Dad was distraught that he died instead. There was a huge amount of guilt that Dad carried around after that.”
Right until he died a few years later. Maddie had never really gotten over that either.
“Everyone mourned Dad’s death.” Jace’s mouth twisted. “I don’t think I ever did.”
Maddie stared. She had not expected that at all. From what she remembered, Jace seemed to be a little withdrawn from his father, as all teenagers were, but he had cared for his father dearly.
Now she came to think about it, Jace didn’t mourn with everyone else. He accepted condolences but never said a word, merely withdrawing to his room. That was the last time Maddie had ever seen him. Three days later, he had gone off to college early and he never came back, not even leaving a forwarding address.
“Why not? Everyone loved him.”
“Yeah,” Jace sneered. “Everyone loved him. And he loved everyone.” He glowered at the counter. “I don’t think he ever loved me.”
“What makes you say that?” Maddie sat forward. “He was a good father, from what I saw. And he raised you alone. I don’t recall your mother at all.”
“I’m not surprised, since she left as soon as she was able to walk out of the delivery room. We had no idea where she went. Dad was the only one there for me, but only… he wasn’t.”
“How do you mean?”
Jace sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Now he was looking embarrassed for confiding anything about himself.
“He never showed emotion around me. He never came to any of my track meets or any practices. I didn’t have help with homework because he was always busy, and he didn’t teach me how to drive. I had to learn everything myself.” He laid his hands on the counter and stared at his palms. “Broken Hounds was his life and he didn’t want me to be a part of it.”
Maddie listened to this with growing amazement. The picture of David Howard that Jace was telling her about did not fit with the David Howard she had known. He had always had time for her and Jeremy and had talked at length about Jace. Maddie had seen how much David loved his son. She had had no idea Jace thought the opposite.
“How can you say that? He talked about you all the time. He was very proud of you for winning the state track tournament in your sophomore year.”
Jace snorted rudely and glared at her. His eyes were dark with anger.
“If he talked about me, how come he didn’t come to that tournament? How come he never said that he was proud of me to my face? That he loved me to my face? I never got any of that.” He almost snarled. “Broken Hounds was everything and he sacrificed everything for them. I got fed up with hearing things about my father that I couldn’t link with a man I’d grown to resent. So, I just left.”
Maddie was floored. Jace couldn’t have shocked her more if he had hit her over the head. This was startling.
“You left because the memories of your father were bad?”
“Call it running away if you want, but I didn’t want to be stuck with memories that I never got to share with him and where none of the memories actually involved me.”
He stood and took both of their plates over to the sink. He almost tossed them in and leant against the counter, his fingers flexing on the countertop as his body tensed, his shoulders shaking. Was he crying?
Maddie slid off her stool and went to him. She laid a hand on his back.
“Jace, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Jace tensed when she touched him, but Maddie didn’t move her hand away. He spun around to face her, knocking Maddie’s hand away as he stared down at her.
“Do you want to know why I was mean to you, Maddie?” he demanded. “Why I was so bad that now you hate me?”
“What?” Maddie started back. “I don’t…”
“Don’t, Maddie, please. You’re not very convincing. I know you hate me.” Jace took a breath and let it out with a shudder. “Your father was involved in everything with you and Jeremy. So was your mother when she was alive. They went to everything, supported you, put your certificates up on your walls. They went to every graduation they could. I never got that. You had everything that I wanted from my father. Attention. If Dad hadn’t died when he did, I doubt he would’ve gone to my college graduation.”
Maddie stared at him. He really meant what he said. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to figure out what to say.
Her stomach started to tighten, and her head began to pound.
“You were mean to me because you were jealous?”
“Yes.” Jace was starting to breathe heavily. “You had something I didn’t, and I was immature enough to become a bully because of it. So, I took it out on you.” He stepped back and turned away. “Now you see why I was such a bastard.”
Maddie didn’t know what to say. She had never expected a reason for the bullying other than that Jace had enjoyed the power. She would never have thought it was because Jace had been jealous.
Right now, her heart ached for him. She reached for Jace but he pushed away from the counter.
“I think I’d better go.”
He started towards the door. Maddie hurried after him.
“Jace…”
Then she stopped when pain ripped through her stomach, enough for Maddie to stop dead in her tracks and clutch at her belly with a groan. Immediately Jace was back at her side, catching her in his arms as Maddie feel to her knees.
“Maddie?” Jace propped her against him, shifting until he was sitting beside her. “Maddie, what’s wrong?”
“My stomach.” Maddie felt sick. Her dinner was threatening to come up. “It hurts.”
Then she couldn’t hold it any longer. Lurching away from Jace, Maddie emptied her stomach contents onto the floor. Jace held on to her, brushing her hair away from her face. Then he eased her back before Maddie fell into her vomit and onto her side on the floor.
“Lie still. I’m going to call an ambulance.”
Maddie’s head was spinning. Her heart was racing, and her stomach was cramping badly. She clutched onto Jace’s hand.
“The baby.”
Jace squeezed her hand, leaning over to kiss her on the head.
“Just lie still. You two are going to be fine.”
Maddie tried to say something, but another wave of pain went through her body and she curled up into herself, still clutching onto Jace’s hand.
Chapter Nine
Jace was trying not to panic. Seeing Maddie collapse like that and be so vulnerable was frightening. Jace had never been so scared.
All the way in the ambulance, Maddie clutched onto his hand and wouldn’t let him go. The paramedics had been okay with her wanting him with her on the ride to the hospital. But once they got there, she asked if she could be left alone. Jace could see she was starting to be a bit more herself and the embarrassment was still there. She didn’t like being in a vulnerable situation and that it had happened in front of Jace.
Jace couldn’t blame her with that. But he wished he could be there for her.
He sat in the waiting room, aware that his hands were shaking. He had
never laid himself so bare before someone, not even his father. Maddie was the only person Jace had ever made himself so open to for an attack. And Jace didn’t like it. Maddie had deserved to know and now she did.
She could rip him apart now if she wanted to.
And now he was sitting here, trying not to panic at the thought that he and Maddie could be losing their child. He still had the scan photo in his pocket. Jace didn’t know what he would do if he lost this baby.
Maddie had given him a chance to redeem himself and it was being taken away.
“Jace.”
Jace looked up. Jeremy were hurrying towards him from the entrance. Jace had called the president as soon as he had left Maddie’s cubicle to update him. Jeremy had barely said anything beyond that he was on his way before he hung up. His boss was pale and clearly shaken up.
Jace stood and they shook hands.
“She’s being checked over now. She’s looking better than she was in her condo.”
“How come you’re not in there with her?”
Jace sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck.
“She said she didn’t want me in there.”
“But you’re the father!”
“She said that, but she also said she didn’t want me in the room. She’s the patient so she gets the first dibs on who gets to be in there with her.” Jace shrugged. “Said she wanted privacy from me.”
Jeremy snorted.
“She wasn’t worried about showing you her bits when you were making this baby. It’s a bit late for modesty.”
“Thanks. Just what I wanted to hear.”
Jace sat and rubbed his hands over his face. It was nearly midnight and he was exhausted. But sleep would have to wait; Maddie was more important right now.
Jeremy sat beside him, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. His left leg started bouncing, the way it always did when he was nervous.
“What happened?”
“What happened? Why did Maddie collapse?”
Jace had no idea.
“We got into an argument when we met at the hospital. Maddie didn’t like the fact that I was standing up for her when Martin Roberts came by. She called me possessive.”
“When it’s Martin Roberts involved, you shouldn’t worry about being possessive. He’s mean to all bikers. Maddie’s probably the only one he tolerates.”
Jace snorted.
“I can imagine. He looked like he had the hots for her.”
“Well, Maddie certainly doesn’t reciprocate the feelings.” Jeremy looked at him. “She can deal with that guy.”
“I don’t know about that.” Jace rubbed at his eyes. They were starting to burn. “So, I went to apologize to her tonight.”
Jeremy chuckled. Jace scowled.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“I never thought you’d apologize for anything.”
“Will you stop? I’m trying to tell you what happened and it’s not the time for jabs at me.” Jace sighed, picking at something on his jeans. “We had dinner, I apologized, and we had a…difficult conversation. Then she started clutching at her stomach and collapsed.”
He wasn’t about to tell Jeremy about that conversation. Opening himself up to Maddie was one thing but opening up to Jeremy was another. Jace wasn’t going to go through that vulnerability again.
“I’m glad you were there.” Jeremy’s voice said he meant it. “Anything could have happened.”
Anything could have happened. Maddie could have fallen unconscious and she could’ve fallen onto her stomach. She could have been lying on the floor for hours in her own vomit, choking to death. That sent a chill through Jace’s body. He didn’t want to think about that.
“Jace.” Jeremy tapped his knee with his fist. “Don’t worry about Maddie. She’s tough. The baby will be just like her and that is stubborn. They’ll be fine.”
Jace hoped that he was right.
He was spared from wallowing in any more fears when the door to the emergency room opened and a tall woman wearing scrubs with jet-black hair and mahogany skin came into the waiting room. Jace recognized her as the doctor who had come into the cubicle to check Maddie over and stood. The doctor saw him and went to join them.
“Thank you for being patient, Mr. Howard.” She said with a smile. “Miss Lyman’s been checked over and she’s just signing the discharge papers. Once she’s got her prescription filled for painkillers, she can go home.”
Jace felt as though a lot of weight had come off his shoulders. Maddie was going home. It couldn’t have been as serious as they thought if they were letting her go.
“What happened to her?” Jeremy asked. “I’m Maddie’s brother.” He added when the woman raised her eyebrows at him.
The doctor’s expression softened, and she nodded.
“We’re running some tests right now, but we can’t see anything untoward. The baby’s heartbeat is fine, Miss Lyman’s heart rate and blood pressure are okay. Once we get the tests back we’ll know more about what’s happening.” The doctor shrugged. “She just needs to rest a little and things should be fine. We’ll know more after the tests for the appropriate treatment.”
“So, you don’t know what’s really wrong with her?” Jace asked.
“Not until the tests have been run.” The doctor glanced towards the door into the emergency room. “She’ll be heading home shortly, and I would advise someone stay with her to monitor her for a while.”
Jace was already nodding at that.
“I’ll be staying the night. She won’t be alone.”
“Good.”
The doctor gave them both a smile, with one last lingering look at Jeremy, and walked away. Jeremy watched her go until she disappeared. Then he turned to Jace, who was picking up his jacket from the chair.
“Are you sure Maddie will let you stay tonight? If things are still a bit tentative between you two…”
“She’ll have to.” Jace shrugged into his jacket. “And I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s okay.”
That part Jace meant. He really wasn’t going anywhere until he knew Maddie was okay. And he wasn’t going to argue with her this time.
Chapter Ten
Maddie had been incredibly scared on the way to the hospital. The cramps had been excruciating and she could barely do anything beyond curling into a fetal position. The painkillers the hospital gave her took the edge of but not much, only enough for her to sit up without being in pain.
Maddie hated tests. And she had been tested for practically everything as far as she was aware. It wasn’t fun being used as a pin cushion. Maddie could barely bend her arm, keeping the cotton wool strapped to her elbow tucked into the crook of her arm. It was something she had always done as a kid; she could still feel the needle in her vein and it made her shudder.
She hated needles.
Seeing Jeremy and Jace after she had been discharged had been a relief. Maddie had flung herself at Jeremy, almost crying into his neck. She didn’t often need someone to lean her head on, but she needed that now. Jace had been there and Maddie wanted to go to him, hold him while she cried. Jace would have held her and given her that comfort.
But she didn’t trust herself to stop at just holding him. Maddie was very much aware of the chemistry still between them and Maddie was worried that, if she went to him beyond simply holding his hand, she would want to do more. She didn’t need that right now, although her body was aching for it.
Maybe Beth was right. Maybe the attraction was still there.
Jeremy had brought his jeep and Maddie and Jace piled into the front beside her brother to go back to Maddie’s condo. Maddie found herself pressed between Jace and Jeremy and was very much aware of Jace’s thigh pressing up against hers. She tried leaning a little more towards her brother, but every time she moved her leg it rubbed against Jace’s and the heat travelled up to her core. Her pussy throbbed like crazy and Maddie was struggling to concentrate.
By the time they got ba
ck to her condo, Maddie’s body was on fire. She needed a very cold shower. Or an ice-cold bath.
Jeremy dropped Jace and Maddie off on the sidewalk before leaving. Jace took Maddie’s arm and gently led her up the path, unlocking the door for her. Then he led her inside, shutting the door behind them before scooping her into her arms. Maddie squealed.
“Hey! What…?”
Her protests were silenced by a swift kiss to her mouth. Then Jace pulled back before Maddie could respond, placing her gently onto the couch. He leant over the back as he arranged her on the cushions.
