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“Stop! Oh my God! Stop it!” Raven yells somewhere in the background. “Please,” she begs. She sounds like she’s hysterical. “Baxter, Aljaž, do something.”
Her anguish makes me pause and loosen my hold for a second. Jax gasps for breath and pushes me off, but that’s the opening Thorn seems to need, because as soon as I move, he’s swinging at Jax and landing a punch to his cheek, then raining down a flurry of blows.
“Tell them Raven!” Jax gasps between blows. “Tell them what they’re too blind to see!”
“Shut up,” she screams and I hear the absolute desperation in her voice.
“Tell them or I will!” He threatens.
“Okay! Okay!” she cries.
The room falls silent and I don’t know where to turn. Jax is nursing a bloody nose - evidently Thorn got a few more good hits in - and Thorn is breathing hard. Raven has tears streaming down her face but she’s not allowing Ace or Baxter to comfort her. She opens her mouth to speak but Ace interrupts.
“Father Baxter?” He sounds so puzzled. “You said he wasn’t?”
“No,” she whispers. “I said he didn’t hurt me.”
“Raven,” Baxter warns. “Don’t make out that I’m Phoenix’s father…”
“Hold on, back up!” I insist, turning to Ace. “When did she tell you Baxter didn’t hurt her?”
“At airport,” he replies. Before Raven even gasps, his eyes go wide with horror and he slaps a hand over his mouth in disbelief. “Jebemti! Oprosti!”
He reaches out for Raven but she pulls back from him and turns away from us all.
“What the fuck?” I growl.
“Explain,” comes Jax’s tight voice.
“Shit! Sorry! Fuck!” Ace panics.
“EXPLAIN!” Jax roars, making everyone jump.
“Raven, tell them,” Baxter says softly.
“Ace found me at the airport, the day I returned to the UK four years ago.” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
“You said it was a false alarm!” I accuse Ace.
“Why didn’t you say?” Thorn exclaims.
“I begged him not to,” she cuts in. “I begged him not to tell you that he had seen me, and I pleaded with him to keep my secret.”
“That you were pregnant,” Jax says in a low tone. She nods.
“Why would you do that, man?” Thorn asks Ace.
“She asked.” Ace shrugs.
“So? We’re your brothers!” I shout.
“Love her,” comes his simple reply. Everything is always so black and white with Ace. In the past I envied his simple outlook on life, right now I want to curse him for it.
“So when…” I begin.
“When I left West Prep, I knew I was pregnant,” she blurts out.
Fuck. It’s like she’s just pulled a pin from a grenade and launched it. There’s that moment of slow motion as it sails through the air, lands, and lies innocuously before everything explodes into chaos and pain.
