“You dealt with it alone for four weeks before you decided togive it up?” His tone was slightly harder, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” I broke the stare off, and I heard him snort.
“When did you tell my brother that you were giving away his baby?”
The world stopped turning. I froze in my seat, my eyes glued to the far wall, my chest tightened, and I realized it was because I wasn’t breathing.
“Breathe, Quinn,” Jett spoke, but his voice sounded far away.
My lungs rebelled, and I let out a loud cough before I started wheezing, and Jett handed me a glass of water. Standing up, I paced the room, avoiding his knowing stare, too chickenshit to meet his eyes.
“Ball’s still in play,” Jett said to me quietly from his spot on the couch.
“When did you know?”
“For real? Now. I suspected it for a while.”
“Did he tell you?” I asked.
“No, like I said, you confirmed it tonight. Gray, my twin, has never mentioned it to me.” Jett looked pissed off at that, and I wasn’t really in the mood to rub his shoulders over being excluded from his brother’s life. “When did you tell him?” Jett asked.
“Last night.” I sank onto the only chair in my living room and put my head in my hands.
Jett stood as I sat. I knew he was angry. “Jesus Christ, Quinn! It’s been over a year.”
“I’m well aware of how much time it’s been, Jett.” My voice was dry, my tone scathing, but I didn’t care.
“How could you keep this from him? From me?”
“What was I supposed to do?” I yelled at him. “We hooked up,we screwed, then he went and fucked someone else three days later. I went skiing with dad and Anne. When I came back, he was in a fucking relationship.”
“You tell him, and he ends the relationship!” Jett snapped at me. He stood looking at me, his fingers laced together at the back of his neck, his head tilted slightly back as he watched me. “What relationship? I can’t think of one girl my brother’s ever been in a relationship with. He had something with some girl from Onyx’s class, but it wasn’t a relationship.”
Onyx, the bastard. “Well, he looked pretty involved when I saw him fucking her in Dustin’s pool house.”
“Jesus, Quinn, if it was, it was sex. Nothing else. You were pregnant with his kid,myniece or nephew. Did you feel nothing for us?”
“I thought you weren’t going to judge?” I asked him angrily. “I thought I was in asafe placetelling you?”
“You are.” Jett swore some more as he resumed his pacing, and then he was in front of me, hauling me to my feet. His arms wrapped around me, and I welcomed the crushing embrace. “You are,” he repeated softly. “It just hurts that you couldn’t come to us.”
“I was scared,” I whispered into his shoulder. “I was eighteen years old and pregnant by my childhood best friend, who was cousin to my ex. It’s freaking complicated.”
I heard his huff of laughter as he hugged me close. “I would have helped you. I would have talked through your options. Jesus, Quinn, you shouldn’t have been alone.” Pulling back, Jett took my hand and led me to the couch. “Okay, I’m sorry I overreacted. Tell me it all.”
“Can I get a drink?” I asked him as I stood again. He nodded, and I pulled a bottle of bourbon down from the top shelf in my closet. Pouring two shots, I handed him his as I sat back down, wincing as I drank the room-temperature bourbon. “Needs ice.”
“It’ll do.” Jett downed his and placed his glass on the table.
So, we weren’t wasting time then? Right.
“I found out when I was seven weeks. I never even thought I could be, but see what “thought” did? I knew I couldn’t tell him.” I held my hand up to stave off Jett’s interruptions. “I say it all now, because I’ll never be this brave to do it again.” At his nod, I continued. “I never at any time wanted to take care of it by the way you mentioned earlier. However, I knew I couldn’t keep it. I was eighteen, my dad would have killed Gray and put me in a nunnery. I had my whole life ahead of me.” I turned my head and looked at the wall. I could still feel the weight of his stare, but it was easier this way. “I don’t even know how it happened. I was at the doctors, confirmed pregnancy, and I left without picking up any of the leaflets he had given me. I had a note of what vitamins I needed, and the woman came from nowhere.”
“What woman?” Jett asked me.
