BEAUTIFUL BROKEN MESS (Broken, Series #2)(110)

“Hey!” I quickly interrupt. “Don’t say I didn’t want her. I’ve always wanted that girl!” I pause and take a deep breath. “I just didn’t realize how much until it was too late.” Em shrugs her shoulders and snuggles in closer to Jax. He wraps her up in his arms and briefly kisses her lips.

“Wait...hold on, this is too much,” Jax rasps out. “First of all, what the f*ck, Jace? Why didn’t you say something that night at Cole’s party?”

“Because I thought she was mad at me about something. I thought she wanted you.”

“Cole said you messed it up. What does that mean? What did you do?” Jax questions harshly.

“I freaked out, okay? I hadn’t told anyone about us yet. You were in a damn coma! Mom was coming. I had so much to explain and I just needed to focus on you.”

“Why? I wasn’t going anywhere,” he smiles.

“Not funny, man,” I retort.

“So you chased her off?” he asks.

“Oh, more like threw a f*cking fit until she left,” Cole adds.

“Cut him some slack,” Quinn chimes in.

“I yelled at her to leave...” I finally admit.

“In front of all of her friends?” Jax asks, and I shamefully nod my head. “You didn’t learn from me?”

“Nope. I guess I needed to follow in your footsteps, big brother.” I try to give him a snarky smile.

“Jackass.” He lies back and seems to let me off the hook for a little while, but I have a feeling it won’t be for long. “Quinn, wake up! Geez, I thought you’d be more excited to see me,” he calls out.

She smiles lazily and gets up to hug him. “I did miss you. Don’t do that again. I don’t like the Em you leave behind,” she says to him.

“She was perfect. I wouldn’t have been able to pull through without her,” he says, smiling down at her. Slowly, he pushes her up so he can look in her eyes. “Babe, seriously. You were amazing. I can’t imagine going through this without you. Comas. Life. I want you to be mine.”

“I am yours,” she sniffles, showing him her palm.

Immediately, I can tell where this is going and I thank the stars that I thought ahead. As he starts to speak her name, I rush to interrupt, “Dude, I grabbed something from your room.”

“Freaky twin telepathy again,” Cole groans.

Jaxon holds out his hand as I dig around in his gym bag for what he wants. When he has a hold of it, I see him start to contemplate something and I jump to stop him.

“Don’t even think about getting up. Do it right there,” I assert, pointing at his bed and pushing him back by his shoulder. He groans, but then stops when he looks up into Em’s wide eyes. She cups his hand in between the two of hers and questions him with just a look.

“Beautiful, you charged into my life with barely any clothes on.” He stops to wink at her and she rolls her eyes in return. “I was hooked from day one. I couldn’t look at another girl from that point on. You ruined me, and I never want to be put back together. You molded yourself into my family so perfectly. I couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any better.” He stops and looks at the ground again, frustrated. “I wish I could do this on one knee, baby.”

She quickly swipes at her eyes and laughs through the tears. “It’s okay, it’s okay! Keep going.” She points to the box in his hand and he pops it open to show her the two-karat diamond I helped him pick out this past summer. Quinn and Em gasp at the same time when they see her ring.