Somebody's Lover: The Jackson Brothers, Book 1

moved, but he heard her muffled breath, hard and fast, beneath the mound of bedclothes. He knew. Her worst nightmare. That someone would find out. Too soon. She wasn’t his yet. They needed time.
    He wanted to howl or beat the shit of his brother. “Get out, David.”
    His brother fisted his hands and marched two paces into the room. “I didn’t come here to bust up your little screwfest.”
    He’d kill him for that, smash him face first into the dirt.
    “Jamey’s hurt. Connie and Mitch took him to the hospital over in Bentonville. And we’ve all been trying to call Taylor, but her damn phone was busy.” The last ended in a shout.
    Taylor shot from her hiding place. “Jamey?”
    “Yeah. Mom .” David fairly snarled the word at her.
    She didn’t even flinch, her whole concentration on Jamey. “Is he okay? What’s wrong? What happened?”
    “He fell out of the big oak in Mitch’s backyard. I don’t know if he’s okay.”
    She clambered from the bed. Naked. Whispering, “Oh my God. Oh my God,” as she slammed drawers looking for her clothes. Panties, shirt, no bra, jeans. She dressed in front of them both without a thought, even as she cried. “Oh Lord. Oh Lord.”
    Jace couldn’t stand it. “Wait in the family room, David.”
    “Sure thing. Brother .” The same snarl on his lips. “In fact, I’ll meet you in the emergency room. After you clean up.”
    Then he was gone, and the front door slammed. A moment later, his tires squealed in the road.
    “Oh my God, Jace. What if he’s dead?” She flopped on the side of the bed, her sandals in her hand.
    Jace threw aside the sheet and pulled her to his chest. “He’ll be fine. Kids fall out of trees all the time.”
    Lou fell out of a tree and bled to death when he sliced open his femoral artery.
    She jerked out of his arms as if she’d had the very same thought. “I have to get to the hospital.”
    “Wait a minute and I’ll take you.”
    “I can’t wait. I need my purse.” She was out the bedroom door before he made it out of the goddamn bed.
    “You can’t drive like this.”
    The front door slammed for the second time that morning while he was still in the freaking hallway. Naked.
    She hadn’t brushed her hair or her teeth or wiped away her own come from between her legs. And she hadn’t needed him.
    Her kids would always come first. He knew that, wouldn’t have had it any other way. But he wanted to offer his strength on the drive to the hospital, his arms to hold her.
    And he was a freaking pantywaist. Jamey was hurt. Damn David for not being able to tell her more. Jace tossed out the condom, yanked on his jeans and shirt, shoved into his shoes.
    On the end table in the family, the phone cradle was empty. He found the portable stuffed down between the cushions. Where he’d thrown it last night before he made love to her.
    Before he’d fucked her.
    She hadn’t pushed the end button when he took the phone away. No one could get hold of her because he hadn’t let her alone long enough to cut the connection.
    Out back, he rammed his truck in gear and backed up, barely missing the neighbor’s fence.
    He’d been idiotic all those years ago when he’d fallen in love with his brother’s wife. He’d been reckless when he’d drowned his misery by drinking himself into a stupor. He’d been criminal the day he’d overslept as his brother waited for him on a nine-acre property in the middle of freaking nowhere.
    Lou had died because Jace hadn’t been there to help him.
    This time, he’d separated Taylor from her son. He’d never forgive himself if anything happened to Jamey.

    * * * * *

    She’d been with Jace when her baby needed her. It was the only thought in her head. Her baby needed her, and she’d been thinking only of herself. Only of her needs.
    She shouted at Jace that night in his truck. I’m not just somebody’s mother.
    Oh yes, she was. That’s exactly what she was. And she hadn’t been there when her baby needed her.
    She did not drive like a crazy person. She did not cry, because she wouldn’t be able to see if she did. She needed to get to the hospital in one piece. That was her duty as a mother. And she wouldn’t shirk it. Not ever again. Jamey and Brian came first. Always. Please, God, let him be all right.
    She didn’t think about how Lou died falling out of a tree. If she did, she’d wreck the car, and let her baby down again. Nor did she question why she hadn’t heard her cell phone or why her