Jace: Rebels Advocate (Book 4)

by Sheridan Anne

  “What?” I shriek as I fly to my feet in excitement.

  “Are you serious?” Rylee smiles while Lexi cheers.

  “Yeah,” Imogen says. “We haven’t talked to him about it yet, we want to get all the paperwork out of the way first, but we think this is right for us.”

  “You guys are incredible,” Charli tells her before getting up and giving her a massive hug. “Brandon absolutely loves you guys. You’re doing the right thing.”

  “Thanks,” she says. “I’m so nervous about telling him. What if he doesn’t want this?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” I tell her. “Brandon already sees you guys as his parents. He’ll be so happy. The kid will probably wet his pants from jumping up and down too much.”

  She looks up at me and her bottom lip wobbles as the emotion overtakes her. “I want this so badly,” she tells me.

  “You’re going to be a great Mommy.”

  And just like that, it’s a sob-fest for all the pregnant women in the room, and of course, Rylee who’s still suffering through all the hormones, while the rest of us fill our glasses and continues celebrating an amazing night.

  An hour later, I’m sitting in the back of Cole’s truck, leaning across the back seat with my hand resting on Isaac’s stomach. He clutches my pinkie finger in his hand while a massive yawn rips through his whole body. “So,” I say as the curiosity finally gets the best of me. “What was Jace up to tonight?”

  Cole scoffs. “Who the fuck would know?”

  “Huh?” I grunt as I look into the front seat to study Cole’s face.

  “He’s been a sneaky bastard for the past few weeks,” he tells me.

  “How do you mean?” I question.

  “He’s been pissing off every few days and asking for his sessions to be covered, though he won’t say where he’s going.”

  I sit back into the seat as a million things start going through my head. I mean, where the hell is he disappearing to? And why’s he not telling the boys? Is he…. No. He wouldn’t be seeing someone. It must be something else.

  Whatever it is, not knowing is going to kill me.

  Cole pulls up to my apartment building and I lean across to say goodbye to Isaac, only the little guy is fast asleep, so I settle for just looking a little while longer. “Thanks for taking me home,” I say to Cole and Rylee in the front seat.

  “No problem,” Cole says. “Do you need me to walk you up?”

  “No,” I smile. “I’ll be fine.”

  I unbuckle my seatbelt and slip out the door, though I don’t miss the way they sat right there until the door of the building closes behind me.

  I make my way up to level three and walk down to my door, completely lost in my own world, so it’s not until I’m about to jam my key into the lock when I see a note taped to my door and a bottle of my favorite wine sitting at my feet.

  I reach up and pull it off the door before scanning my eyes across the torn paper.

  ‘Congratulations, baby. Your store looks incredible, but you looked better, especially in that red dress.’

  I hold the note to my chest and close my eyes as the emotion takes over. He didn’t sign his name, but he didn’t have to. I’d recognize his handwriting anywhere.

  I let out a sigh. All night I was thinking about Jace sneaking off to sleep with some random skank, yet he was there. He must have stopped by at some point to have a look around or at least peeked through the window. I would have known if he walked through the doors, though, I would have felt it. I always feel it.

  I bend down and grab the bottle of wine off the floor before unlocking the door and dumping my crap inside. With the bottle in my hand, I pull the door closed and walk down the hallway until I’m standing before Kelly’s door.

  I knock before remembering that it’s the middle of the night and she’s probably fast asleep, so I start backing away from her door while trying to be as quiet as possible. Only, her door opens and a chirpy Kelly gives me a wide smile. “Oh, hey stranger,” she says before noticing the bottle in my hands. “Where have you been all my life?”

  I walk in and she instantly takes the bottle and goes about her kitchen getting us both a glass. “I hope it’s alright that I just pop in like this,” I tell her. “But I just got home from my re-launch and I’m not nearly ready to go to bed.”

  “It’s fine,” she says. “I literally just kicked my one-night stand out. You probably walked right by him in the hall.”

  I scrunch up my face as I think back to my walk in. I certainly don’t remember passing anyone, but then, the second I received Jace’s note, I was no longer aware of a damn thing other than that tiny slip of paper which I have to admit, is safely tucked away in my bra. “Sorry,” I say. “I think I was daydreaming on my way in.”

  She shakes her head and laughs as she comes to join me on her couch. She hands me a glass of wine and pulls her feet up under her. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be at your party,” she says. “How’d it go?”

  With that, I launch into my run down of my night. I go through all the details and even tell her about the note I found on my way home. As soon as I’m done, she refills our glasses and gives me her rundown on the lousy one-night stand who just walked out of her door.

  Two hours later, I push my way back through my door and make sure I lock it behind me. Kelly has been a great friend to me over the past few months. The only downfall is that we have a habit of showing up at each other’s door with a bottle of wine before staying up all night talking about all sorts of shit when we should be sleeping.

  Though, luckily for me, I’ll have the whole weekend to sleep before officially opening the store on Monday morning.

  I stop in my bathroom and strip out of my red dress before washing all the makeup off my face. Once I’m done, I grab my phone and walk down to my bedroom in my underwear before crashing straight down into my bed.

  I lean across and plug my phone into the charger before remembering the note from Jace tucked away in my bra. I dig in and grab it before sliding my arms under my pillow and rubbing the paper between my fingers.

  I lay awake in bed wondering what the hell is going on with him at the moment. I want nothing more than to go over there and demand answers, but it’s not my right, and besides, he’s the kind of guy who would tell you something if he wanted you to know, so for now, I guess I’ll be left in the dark.

  I don’t know what makes me do it. Maybe it’s the tone Cole had used when telling me Jace had been sneaking off or maybe it’s just the pure concern I have for him. I don’t know, but for some reason, I reach for my phone and pull up a new text.

  Cami – I hope you’re ok. You know I’m here if you need to talk.

  Shit. Delete.

  Cami – What’s going on? I heard you’ve been MIA lately. Is everything ok?

  Delete.

  Cami – I love you.

  Delete. Delete. Delete.

  Jesus. What the hell am I doing? I let out a deep breath and try one more time.

  Cami – I miss you.

  Send.

  Chapter 18

  Jace

  I stand in Luke’s kitchen beside Lexi who’s looking down at the chopping board in absolute concern. “Are you sure?” she questions.

  “Yes, I’m sure,” I groan with a roll of my eyes. “Just cut the damn thing.”

  She cringes before getting on with it.

  It’s Luke and Lexi’s anniversary from when they first kissed or fucked or… I don’t fucking know. It’s a reason for them to celebrate them. But you’d think after living with a guy like Luke for so long, the woman would know a thing or two about getting around in the kitchen, but no. She has no fucking clue what she’s doing.

  Hence, why I’m here.

  She wants to do something special for him today as he’s the big fancy chef of the house. So, in other words, she somehow has talked me into cooking their anniversary dinner so she can take all the credit when he gets home.

  I don’t mind th
ough, Luke is my best friend and I’d prefer to do the cooking for them, rather than have Lexi do it and get them both sick with food poisoning. Besides, she’s eight months pregnant now, so it’s the least I can do to help her out.

  “This is so gross,” she groans to herself as her knife slices through the chicken breast.

  I look across to see her face all scrunched up with her fingers barely touching the chicken. “Are you kidding?” I laugh. “It’s just chicken.”

  “I know,” she says. “I just didn’t expect it to be so damn… squishy.”

  Jesus Christ. “Get on with it,” I laugh as I pull out another chopping board to get started on all the vegetables. “And be sure to cut off all the fat. Luke would die if there was fat on his chicken.”

  “Don’t I know it,” she scoffs.

  I can’t help but grin as I start peeling the carrots. “Why can’t I do that job?” Lexi sulks.

  “Because if you’re going to take credit for my cooking, then you’re at least going to get your hands dirty.”

  She doesn’t respond, but she doesn’t have to for me to know that she’s currently rolling her eyes at me. “So, how're things going with this baby? Have you got the nursery put together yet?”

  “No,” she groans, and from the tone of her voice, I get that this has been a bit of a touchy subject. “I want to get it all done, but Luke doesn’t want to put the stuff in the room until we paint it.”

  “Sounds fair,” I grunt.

  “How on earth is that fair?” she argues as the knife in her hand goes flying around the room with her dramatic hand gestures. “We don’t know what gender the baby is, so I have no idea what color to paint the room, therefore this little bubby won’t have a room set up until after it’s born.”

  “Ok…,” I say slowly, not really getting it. Maybe it’s a mommy thing.

  “Are you serious?” she grunts as she turns to fully face me. “You can’t bring a baby into the world without having its room already set up.”

  “Oh… is that some kind of rule?” I say in confusion, hoping I’m not about to get my head chopped off by the knife in her hand. I mean, you hear stories about pregnant women all the time.

  “No,” she groans. “It’s just my rule.”

  “Ok, well why don’t you just paint it yellow or one of those gender-neutral colors, or just find out the sex,” I say, trying to be helpful as I turn back to the chopping board and get back to peeling the carrots.

  She lets out a low groan as she shakes her head at the chicken. “First off, my baby is not having a yellow room, and secondly, I want the sex to be a surprise,” she says. “Can you imagine how good it will be pushing it out and then being told if it’s a girl or a boy? It would be the biggest possible reward after going through all that pain,” she tells me with stars in her eyes.

  I nod along, not really understanding it at all. I mean, maybe if it was my own child I’d get it, but it goes straight over my head, so I nod along and just go with it. “What do you think it is?” I question.

  At that, the softest, dreamy expression crosses her face before she turns and looks at me. “I don’t know, but I have this feeling it’s a little girl.”

  “Oh yeah,” I smile. “I can imagine Luke with a girl.”

  “Me too, he’d have to buy a gun.”

  “Fuck that,” I laugh. “I’ll be buying one too.”

  She shakes her head and laughs with absolute joy in her eyes, making it clear that she loves the fact that her child will have all these protective men surrounding it, whether it’s a boy or a girl, this child will always have someone right there for it. No matter what.

  I finish up with the carrots and am just about done with everything else when I look over to see Lexi completely doing a hack job on the chicken. “For fuck’s sake,” I groan as I place my hand over hers and take the knife away from her. “Go and sit your ass down before you destroy it.”

  She gives up the knife without a fight and walks around the counter with a smug as fuck grin on her face before sitting down at the dining table to watch the show.

  I get on with fixing the mess she’s just made when she pipes up. “I think we should do some potatoes too. He likes those little bastards.”

  I let out a huff and resist telling her ‘your wish is my command’ as I know she’ll take it way too literally. I finish up with the chicken and get them in the pan before stopping by the fridge and pulling out the stupid potatoes. “Do you want them mashed, steamed, or roasted?”

  She gives me a blank expression. “Um… mashed?” she says.

  Fuck that. I’m roasting.

  I put the spuds out on the chopping board and get started. Once the first one is out of the way, I look up at Lex and start ordering her around again. “Could you find a tray and then pre-heat the oven?”

  She jumps up out of her spot and I grin to myself as she does the awkward pregnant walk. After searching through nearly every cupboard, she finally finds a tray and comes over to start putting the potatoes in.

  I grab another potato and get back to work. The knife comes down as I pay attention to what Lex is doing when I misjudge and slice the knife straight through the palm of my hand. “Fuck,” I roar as the sharp stinging instantly begins to burn.

  Blood spills out over my hand and the countertop. I slap my other hand over the top to try and stop some of the bleeding while Lex stares at my hand with wide eyes. “Holy shit,” she shrieks before getting into gear and racing around the kitchen. I make my way over to the sink as she finds some paper towel and thrusts it into my face. “How bad is it?” she questions as she turns on the tap.

  I run my hand under the water and it instantly turns to a sea of blood. “Shit,” I groan as the sting continues. “I think it’s bad,” I say sucking air in through my teeth while not really wanting to raise my other hand off it. Though, I have no choice I need to see the damage done in order to fix it.

  With a cringe, I slowly peel my hand off the cut and take a look while the water continues to wash away the stream of blood pouring from my hand. “Fuck,” Lex says with wide eyes. “That’s a good one. You’re going to need stitches.”

  “Yep,” I agree.

  “Hurry up and cover that shit up,” she says. “My stomach’s getting queasy.”

  I do as she says and put my hand back over the top before applying pressure. “Don’t you have some weird blood disorder. Shouldn’t you be used to this shit?”

  “I do, but I’m used to seeing my blood. Not other peoples,” she tells me before finding a first aid kit and pulling out a shit load of bandages and gauze. “Here,” she says as she grabs some more paper towel.

  I thrust my hand her way and she quickly dries it off before grabbing the gauze. “We’re going to have to do this quick,” she warns.

  I cringe as the blood loss is starting to make me feel a little light headed. “Just do it,” I say.

  “Alright,” she says. “On three. One. Two. Three.”

  I rip my hand off the cut and she instantly replaces it with a shitload of gauze. It’s only been there a second and it’s already starting to soak through with blood. “Here,” she says, adding a little more and holding it down tightly while she reaches for the bandages.

  I hold the gauze down while she starts to bandage up my hand and before we know it, our botch first aid job is complete. “Keep your hand in the air,” she tells me. “Let gravity do its thing. You won’t lose as much blood this way.”

  I do as she says and watch as she grabs her keys off the dining table. I grab some more paper towel and try to clean away some of the blood spilled all over the bench. “Don’t worry about it,” Lex says. “I’ll clean it up when I get back. You need to get stitches first.”

  I let out a sigh as I look at the mess in the kitchen. I don’t like leaving it this way, but I don’t think I have a choice. I walk over to the forgotten stove and turn it off before flicking the nobs on the oven as well. “Sorry,” I cringe. “I kind of ruined your dinne
r.”

  “Don’t stress,” she says. “Shit happens.”

  With that, we walk out the door and get up into her truck. The engine is running and she’s backing out of her spot in the blink of an eye. As she races towards the ER, I can’t help but think that I’ve ruined their night. I promise myself that I’ll make it up to them, I just don’t know how yet.

  We get to the hospital and I walk in with Lexi pulling at my arm to hurry me up as though she thinks I’m about to die. Though I get it, if our roles were reversed right now, she’d have to go fast as her blood condition would have her completely bleeding out, but for me, the bandage is doing pretty good.

  Lexi finds a seat in the waiting area as I go up to the nurse’s desk and give them my information. There are heaps of people here so it could be a bit of a wait, so with a sigh, I go back over to Lex and take a seat beside her, only to hear the end of the message she’s leaving for Luke.

  “You have to hurry,” she says with urgency. “Jace got hurt. There was blood everywhere. We’re at the hospital.” With that, she hangs up the call and I stare at her blankly.

  “You forget to tell him that I’m not dying,” I tell her. Her eyebrows furrow as she looks to me in confusion. “Your message,” I clarify. “You made it sound like an emergency. The poor guy will freak out when he gets that.”

  Her mouth pops open. “Are you kidding?” she questions. “This is an emergency. You could have died in my house and I would have had to deal with it.”

  “I wasn’t going to die. I cut my hand a bit.”

  “A bit?” she gasps. “Any deeper and you would have severed your whole hand. My kitchen looks like a bloodbath.”

  I roll my eyes at her dramatics and lean back in my chair to get comfortable for the long wait. “You don’t have to stay,” I tell her. “I’ll be fine if you wanted to salvage what’s left of your anniversary.”

  “No thanks,” she says as she makes a show of getting comfortable. “I’m good here.”

  Precisely an hour later, Luke comes storming through the doors of the Emergency Room and looks around in pure panic. His eyes come to a stop on me before traveling from my head, down to my toes, and back up again. “Oh,” Lexi murmurs beside me. “I see what you mean.”