Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(69)

Chapter Seventeen


Border stared at the door after it closed and grabbed Jake’s keys without looking at the other man.

“Are you following her?” Jake asked, his voice hollow.

“She needs space, and I’m not going to follow her when she clearly needs to be rid of us for a bit. But sitting here in her apartment when she’s gone? No thanks. We’ll go to her when she needs us. Because damn it, she will.”

Border stormed to Jake’s SUV and got into the driver’s side. His truck was fully out of commission, and it was too cold for him to get on the bike. Jake had driven them over, but he wasn’t in the mood to be a passenger right then. Everything was spiraling out of control, and he needed at least something he could command under his hands. The steering wheel would have to do.

Jake got into the passenger seat and slammed the door. “I couldn’t lock both locks on Maya’s door since you have my f*cking keys.”

Border closed his eyes as he started the SUV. “At least one is done.”

“Really? After all that shit you gave us about the people after you? You don’t care about her safety.”

Border growled, opened his eyes, and started on the drive back to Jake’s. “Fuck you, Jake. Of course, I care about her safety. She’s f*cking pregnant with our baby right now, and I don’t know where the f*ck she is. So, yeah, I’m worried.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jake spat. “She’s pregnant. How the hell did this happen?” Jake ran his hand through his hair that needed a cut and blew a breath out through his nose.

Border was silent for a bit as he navigated to Jake’s place. It wasn’t far from Maya’s, and he figured the two had done that on purpose. They were best friends, after all.

“You know how that happened,” Border said tightly as he pulled into Jake’s driveway.

Jake’s driveway. Jake’s house. Hell, he’d been living there for how long now, and he still thought of it as Jake’s. Maybe if they actually talked about the fact that he hadn’t even bothered to find another place to live, Maya wouldn’t have run so quickly when she’d found out she was pregnant.

Maya wasn’t the type of woman to run when things got scary.

They’d done that to her.

And now they would have to fix it.

But first, he needed to fix what was wrong with him and Jake.

He turned off the engine and made his way inside, Jake on his heels. He set the keys on the table by the door and ran a hand over his face.

“We f*cked up,” he said slowly.

Jake met his gaze. “Yeah, we did. She’s pregnant, Border.”

Annoyance slid over him. “That’s not what we f*cked up. Whatever happens, that baby is ours, Jake. Yours, mine, and Maya’s. I don’t care what the DNA says, that baby is ours.”

Jake threw up his hands. “Of course, *. I’m not saying anything like that. But this wasn’t in the plans. We were going to cement our relationship first, make Maya move in so she was with us all the time and we all knew we were committed. Then I was going to ask the both of you to marry me, though I know only one of them would be legal. After that and all the paperwork to make sure everything was legally taken care of in terms of power of attorneys and shit, we’d have kids. That was how it was supposed to work.”

Border stared at the other man, his jaw ticking. “Really. Really? That was the plan? So kind of you to share it with us, you prick. Maya f*cking left us just now because we couldn’t say the words she needed us to say, and yet you had everything worked out in your own head. Maybe you should have told us what you were thinking.”

Jake squeezed his eyes shut before running a hand over his jaw. “Apparently, I thought you both could read my mind. Yeah, I’m an idiot, but I was just coming up with the plan myself.”

“That’s the kind of plan the three of us were supposed to make together. And hell, Jake, everything is f*cked up anyway.”

“She left,” his lover whispered.

“And she’ll come back. Or we’ll get her and drag her back. Because we didn’t talk, and that’s on us.” Border paused. “It’s on her, too, but she has a freaking baby growing inside her so I think she’s allowed to freak out.”

Jake swallowed, the long lines of his throat working. “We’re going to have a baby.”

Border nodded and took a couple steps toward him. “Yeah, we are. And yet we haven’t said the important things. What are we doing, Jake?”

Jake narrowed his eyes at him. “You want to talk about this now? Without Maya?”

“She’s not here, and it’s not just the three of us, it’s the two of us, and each of us with Maya. So, yeah, we need to. What’s going to happen when we find her, Jake? Are we going to freak out and make her choose? Are we going to try to find a happily ever after? What’s in the cards, Jake?”

Jake met his gaze, pure terror in his eyes. “I f*cking love you, Border. Is that what you want to hear? I love you. And I love that woman, too. Just as much. I could be happy with just you, just Maya, but I’d never be who I truly need to be. I need the both of you. And now we’re bringing another life into the world, and I’m scared to death.”

Border moved closer, his hands clenched at his side. “I love you, too, Jake. I’ve always loved you. Even when I was gone, running because I needed to figure out who I was, I loved you. We’re so f*cked, you know that, don’t you?”