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“Ugly as sin?” Leo teased from the doorway, and I glanced up to see my brother leaning there, legs crossed at the ankles, with that wide-ass grin his guy, Jason, thought was so sexy. Jason was a good guy, but how he thought my idiot brother was sexy was another thing altogether.
I showed him a middle finger.
He pretend-winced and clutched his chest. “Ouch, and there was me trying to make you smile.”
I knew that was what he was doing, but, I didn’t have it in me to smile. All I had was fear for my twin brother, who was out there doing something dangerous—heroic or criminal—and for the tiny baby in my arms.
“What do I do now?” I asked Leo, a little desperately.
He gave a slow shrug. “You need to look after Charlie and wait. That’s all I have right now from an official point of view, because if you ever get to the point where you need me or Reid to look into this, I don’t know what we’ll unravel.”
I understood that. “What do you think you’d find?”
Leo sighed and uncrossed his arms, forcing his hands into his pockets. “I don’t know.”
“Zachisone of the good guys,” I said in fierce defense. “I know that for sure.”
“You do?” Leo asked. Out of my siblings, I was closest to Leo, and I couldn’t lie to him even if I tried.
“I hope so,” I admitted after a pause, and Leo nodded. Curiosity about Zach was a constant companion, as were the shared emotions that flared in my chest since Charlie arrived. “I’ll call Lorna, then I guess, I’ll have to get Mama and Papa over here, but no one else, apart from Jason, of course, I wouldn’t expect you to keep secrets from Jason, or for Reid not to tell Abigail. She’d know something was up anyway because he can’t keep a secret from his wife to save his life.”
“Sure.” Leo considered me for a moment. “And keep me on speed dial, yeah?”
“Always.”
He turned to leave, but stopped at the last moment. “We love you, Jax. We always will, and by extension, your nephew,andhis dad. You know that, right?”
Of course, I did. My family had my back, and it was my turn to smile.
“Back at ya, Turt.”
“But you know you need to tell Mama right now, at this very moment? Not leave it another day?”
“I thought maybe you’d do it for me?” I sort of pleaded.
He huffed a laugh. “I value my life.” Then, he sketched a wave, and I heard soft murmurs in the kitchen as he chatted to Arlo, then he was gone.
What now?
Next were my parents. Next was facing the rest of this day with Charlie in my arms. Next was wondering what Zach was out there doing that meant he had to leave his child with me.
Selfishly, I hoped that whatever happened next could happen with Arlo at my side.
Talk of the devil… “Hey,” Arlo said from the doorway. “You want to go see your mom and dad? I’ll drive, then you can call Lorna from the car.”
Yeah. Right by my side.
ChapterEleven
Arlo
I grippedthe steering wheel as I navigated the bumpy winding road to Jax’s parents’ house up in Spring Valley. The journey, since Jax had connected with Lorna, had been quiet. Hearing him explain what had happened sounded as if it were a story made up for entertainment, but unlike her brothers, she was instantly supportive and said she couldn’t imagine any twin of Jax’s being a bad guy. She promised to visit as soon as she was home, demanded photos, and ,when the call ended, Jax stared out of the window and went super quiet. Charlie was sleeping in the car seat he’d arrived in, which had taken Jax only moments to fit in after I’d stared at it for a good ten minutes, and hadn’t stirred even when we hit the potholes. How would Jax’s parents react to Charlie’s arrival? Mama and Papa Byrne were all about family, creating their own by adopting all four of their kids, and their house was chaos and laughter and warmth.
“They’re not going to understand Zach for this,” Jax murmured.
“You need to stop worrying.”
“I can’t stop worrying.” Jax turned to look at me, and I caught the movement in my peripheral vision, still not taking my eyes off the bumpy narrow road. “I already missed so many special occasions trying to find Zach—last year’s Christmas when I was in Alaska, and Thanksgiving the year before that, and…” He scrubbed his eyes, and the tension in him was palpable. “They’ll think that Zach is the kind of guy who abandons his son and wasn’t worth me losing time with the family I did have.”
