BEAUTIFUL BROKEN MESS (Broken, Series #2)(95)

“Oh, Jaxon...” she whispers with deep sadness.

“He looks perfectly fine, like he’s just napping,” I tell her. The nurse squeezes past us and I try to stop her before she leaves. “Excuse me, when can they see him? We’ve been here for hours, and I’m sure you can imagine how painful this is for his family not being able to be by his side.”

She shucks off her gloves and cleans her hands with the sanitizer that’s mounted outside of his door. “Well...technically I’m supposed to check a few more things, but I guess I can do that with them in here. I’m sure they’re hurting.”

“Thank you, we really appreciate it,” I say with a smile.

“Thanks.” Quinn squeezes my arm. “He’ll realize what he just did. He needs you here.” She points with her thumb back toward the room. I shake my head back and forth, not wanting to talk about the way Jace just delivered my shattered heart back to me on a silver platter.

“When do you plan on telling Cole he’s going to be a daddy?” I ask, rubbing her stomach.

She sighs and replaces my hand with hers when I move away. “I was going to do it tonight after we went to bed, but I can’t do it now. Hopefully this guy,” she points at Jaxon, “plans on waking up soon so I can tell everyone.”

“Understandable. Just know that I’m happy for you. You guys are going to be wonderful parents.”

“Don’t talk like that, Audrey. You’re speaking as if we aren’t going to see each other again. You aren’t going anywhere. You two aren’t done,” she states adamantly, grabbing a hold of my hand.

I don’t know what is going to happen anymore. A few hours ago, I was so sure of everything. Now the wind has been taken out my sails and my feet have been knocked out from under me. I can understand worrying and being in pain, but this was a side of Jace I’ve never seen before. And I hate that at the first sign of distress, he shoved me away. I squeeze Quinn’s hand with a sad smirk and walk away without a word. There is nothing left to be said. Now all I can do is hope Jaxon makes it through this.

I race to the emergency room waiting area to try and beat the tears that are threatening to come. I just need to find Lane so I can go home. When I hit the double doors, I stumble out in my haste. Moving farther away from Jace is physically excruciating. I know he’s in pain. All I want to do is hold his hand and that’s the last thing he wants from me. I can hardly breathe by the time I see Lane, who is sitting in a chair facing the doors. When he finally spots me, he charges toward me and catches me before I can crash to my knees.

“Doll?” he gasps. “No...no...is it Jaxon?”

“No, yes. No. He’s alive. I just need to get out of here,” I blurt out.

“I need you to tell me what’s wrong first, love.”

“Jace doesn’t want me here.”

His voice flattens and in a deadly calm tone he asks, “Why do you say that?”

“I just want to go home, Lane.”

He wraps his arm around my shoulders and half leads, half carries me out of the ER. As we exit the sliding doors, I hear him mumble under his breath, “I’m going to kill that *...”



JACE -

When Quinn leaves the room shortly after Audrey, no one speaks to me. I don’t blame them. But right now I could give a f*ck because all I can think about right now is my brother. In the corner of my eye, I see Cole get up to comfort Em and ask if she needs anything. Em isn’t talking to any of us though, not unless it’s about Jax.