Jace ran a hand down his face. “I’m trying to find words that don’t sound like bullshit. I guess I’m just trying to find the right thing to say to you, Winter.”
She stared him down as though hoping for more, but he had nothing more to give. “That’s not exactly comforting.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said finally. The words came out rough, like gravel. But they were true enough. “I didn’t know about him, Winter. But now that I do? That changes everything.”
Winter’s shoulders tensed, like she’d been bracing herself for him to walk away. Maybe every guy before him had. Hell, maybe he would have, if this were a different time in his life. But the world had already taken enough from him. It wasn’t taking this from him either.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “You don’t owe me anything, Jace. Or him.”
He gave a low, humorless laugh. “Yeah, I do. I owe him everything. My father took off on us when Rebel and I were just kids. It was only my sister, mom, and me. But then, my mom died, and Rebel finished raising me. I have no idea how to be a father, but I know that I don’t want to miss a single second more of my son’s life.”
Her dark eyes softened, and for a moment, the storm outside didn’t matter. The weight of the world didn’t matter. It was just the two of them, a flickering fire, and a life growing between them that they had created.
Jace reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Winter’s face. Her skin was soft and warm under his fingertips, and when she leaned into his touch, something deep in his chest ached. He’d missed this—he missed her. Jace missed the way she calmed his heart without even trying.
“You should try to get some rest,” he said quietly. “You look exhausted.”
She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You’re one to talk. When’s the last time you slept, Jace?”
He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “Long enough ago that I don’t remember what it feels like.” To be honest, it would feel pretty damn great to get more than just a few hours' sleep at a time. He couldn’t remember the last time that he slept through a whole night, but it was pretty sure that it was before he started undercover in the Dead Rabbits organization for the FBI. He had learned to sleep with one eye open when he took that job, and for good reason.
“Why don’t you come lie down with me, and hopefully, the three of us will all get some much-needed rest?” Winter asked. “Although I’m pretty sure that our son will be as stubborn as we both are and won’t settle down for anything. He’s already pretty active.” She rubbed her belly, and he longed to do the same, but hesitated, not knowing if Winter would welcome his intrusion or not. She had already built a relationship with their kid—one that he was quickly becoming envious of. Jace stood silently by her side, not knowing if he should take her up on her offer of a nap or not. He was bone tired, and all he could think about since finding Winter on his doorstep was holding her. But would she allow him to do that?
Outside, the wind screamed and clawed at the walls of that cabin as the snow thudded against the windows. Inside, the fire cracked and popped, throwing soft lights across the cabin walls. It wasn’t much, but for the first time in a long time, Jace feltsomething close to peace while he stood there and looked at Winter pregnant with his baby.
They stood there, looking at each other as though not knowing what to say, until Jace nodded his agreement. “I think a nap sounds like a good idea,” he agreed. Winter gifted him with her shy smile and held out her hand to him, leading the way back to the cabin’s only bedroom. “Are you good with sharing a bed?” he asked. “I mean, I can sleep on the sofa if you’re not.”
Winter stopped in the doorway, turning to face him. “I think you and I are past the point of worrying about sleeping in the same bed together,” she said, placing his hand on her belly and covering it with her own. His son squirmed and kicked his palm, and Jace couldn’t help his smile.
“You think it’s a boy?” he murmured, mesmerized by his son’s movements. Winter was right, he was a very active kid.
Jace glanced down at her belly, at the rise beneath the fabric of his old sweatshirt. He was pretty sure that the kid was trying to escape, and that thought both made him laugh and terrified him at the same time. “Yeah. I do,” Winter said. “I had a sonogram, and they told me that it’s a boy. I wanted to find out because I’m not really fond of surprises.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that irony. “Yeah, I guess that finding out that you were pregnant after one night with me was enough of a surprise to last you for a while,” he teased. “I mean, the news sure took me by surprise,” he said.
Winter exhaled shakily, and he could see the worry back on her beautiful face. “I wanted to tell you, Jace. I just?—”
“Didn’t know how to find me,” he finished for her. “I know. You did what you had to, but if you had told my sister, I’m sure that Rebel would have given you my location. At the very least, she would have let me know that I needed to reach out to you.”
She nodded slowly, guilt shadowing her eyes. That was the last thing he wanted her to feel—guilt over not telling him aboutthe baby sooner. Hell, even if Rebel knew and told him about the baby, he probably wouldn’t have been able to reach out to Winter. It just wasn’t safe for him to have contact with any of them.
“You were gone, and no matter how many times I asked, no one would tell me where you were. I had even heard rumors that you were dead, but I just couldn’t believe that they were right.”
He looked into the fire, his jaw tightening. Jace wasn’t sure if he should say what he was about to say next, but he at least owed her his honesty. “Might as well have been dead. Even if I had known that you were looking for me, Winter, I probably wouldn’t have let anyone tell you where I was. It just wasn’t safe—it still isn’t.” Before she could respond, his phone buzzed on the table. The sound sliced through the quiet like a blade. Jace’s gut went cold when he saw the name flash on the screen. Bolt only called him when things went sideways or it was time for one of their weekly check-ins. Since that wasn’t supposed to happen for two more days, he worried that something was wrong and his best friend was calling to break the bad news to him.
Winter looked up at him, concerned. “Everything okay?” She seemed to pick up on his anxiety, and that was the last thing he wanted for her or the baby.
He lifted a hand for her to hold off on her questioning and answered the call. “Yeah?”
Bolt’s voice came through rough and low. “You’re not gonna like this, brother.” Jace already knew that much was going to be true. Hell, he didn’t like anything about what had been happening around him lately. “The Dead Rabbits are crawling all over Savage Hell’s territory. Word is, they think you’re still alive—and they’re looking around to make sure.”
Jace’s muscles went rigid. “How close are they to figuring it out?”
“They’ve been circling the bar since sunset. Savage says they’re watching the roads too. You’re lucky as hell you’re snowed in up there. Cabin’s the safest place you could be right now.” He nodded, knowing that Bolt wouldn’t be able to see his agreement. Jace knew that he was safe at the cabin, but would he be able to keep Winter safe along with him?
Jace’s eyes flicked to Winter, to the way she instinctively rested a hand on her stomach. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “No one would be crazy enough to brave the storm out there right now.” He chuckled, and Winter rolled her eyes at him. “We’ll stay put.”
“Good. We’ll feed the Dead Rabbits a story, and make it look like you’re long gone. Maybe they’ll back off. But until I say otherwise, don’t you step outside that cabin, you hear me?” Bolt asked. His former partner and new brother-in-law was always a bit bossy, but since going into hiding, he felt the need to order Jace around more than necessary.
