Chapter 16
It had been two days since Blue had told him not to come to her house when she was telling her family. Told him she could handle it, and she was right. Jay knew that. Knew she’d been looking after herself for years, but he’d wanted to be there to support her.
She hadn’t answered any of his texts or calls. He’d waited for a knock on the door from her brothers, as he knew both of them were back in town now, but that hadn’t come either.
He paced the room. Had her family given her a hard time? Had she told them he was the father?
Jay liked control, and he knew that was because he hadn’t had any as a child.
He didn’t like change unless he implemented it, but this change was something he would have to deal with.
Everything he’d built around himself and made of his life had changed the day Blue had told him she was carrying his child.
His child.
He was also a problem solver. That was his job on an extreme level, but he went through life that way too. Preventing problems where he could and offering solutions where he couldn’t, but right now, this was beyond him.
Nothing had prepared—could prepare—him for finding out he was going to be a father.
He pulled on his sneakers and stepped outside. The walls of his house felt as though they were closing in on him. So he’d walk and think.
He headed into town, reached the main street, and turned right, stopping after only a few steps when he saw Bart, his sister, and LouJean stringing up a banner. As yet he couldn’t make out what it said.
“What are they getting us to do next?” the woman walking toward him said.
Nina worked at the Gnat as a beautician. Beautiful, sassy, and fun, she, like Jay, was still single.
“Not sure, but I’m tapping out,” Jay said, moving to hold the ladder LouJean was climbing. “You want me to get up there?”
“Hold her steady, Jay. I got this.”
“What is this?” Nina asked, moving into the middle of the street to look up at the banner that was slowly being raised.
“Dress up as your favorite superhero at the Levelers Leaders game and win a prize!” Bart called from up his ladder on the opposite side of the street. “The winner gets a day out fishing with Larry Limpet, dinner for two at the Circle Left, and a chocolate basket from Libby.”
“Not really sure that the fishing part of that prize is a win, if I’m honest, Bart,” Jay added.
“He’s changing his ways is our Larry,” Bart said.
“Bettering himself,” LouJean added. “Although he’s going to be a work in progress for some time.”
Jay snorted.
“All good now, thanks, Jay. I’m coming down,” she informed him.
When LouJean was safely on the ground, he collapsed the ladder for her and lowered it to the sidewalk.
Jay then moved to stand with Nina in the street, as there was still no traffic.
“I mean…” Her words fell away.
“Don’t look below Bart’s waist,” Jay warned her quietly.
“OMG.” She quickly looked away.
“I warned you not to look,” Jay whispered.
“It’s like when you see an accident. You know you shouldn’t look, but you still do,” she hissed back.
“You think we’d be used to it by now.”
“Can it be any superhero? And by that, I mean one that isn’t in a movie?
” Nina asked. “Because I love chocolate and eating. The fishing I can forgo,” Nina added, now squinting up at the bright white banner with red writing.
Someone had drawn Batman and Superman on it as well. “So I might participate.”
“Yes. As long as we can see you’ve made an effort with your costume, you will be considered,” June said, dusting her hands off.
“Plenty of time to make or order in a costume, Nina,” Jay said. “You could be Attitude Girl.”
“And you could be Elusive Man because you slip in and out of town without anyone realizing it.”
“Nice, but usually someone knows,” Jay said.
“Would either of you like to join the jogging club?” Bart asked. “We’re starting one on Sunday morning so those who work can come along.”
“Sorry, Bart, count me out. I don’t sweat unless the situation calls for it.”
“What situation?” Jay asked, knowing Nina meant sex.
“A sauna,” she fired back.
“Well, maybe it’s time you thought about how your body’s going to feel in a few years. Do a few stretches and some exercise now, Nina, and you’ll grow old better,” Bart said.
He’d always been determined to get everyone in Lyntacky fit. Most had simply agreed and then done nothing.
“I walk,” Nina muttered.
“You need some strengthening exercises too. A few weights, girl,” LouJean said lunging forward. “Stretches are important too.”
Nina raised her arm and flexed it. Bart dutifully tested the muscle.
“You have excellent muscle formation but could do with more,” he informed her. “What about you, Jay?” Bart asked. “What’s your exercise regime?”
“I do weights and have a rowing machine, plus I box,” he said quickly.
“Show-off,” Nina muttered.
“Gee, it’s great talking to you all, but I gotta pick up my pizza. You all continue teaching Nina more about exercise because I think she just needs a little more encouragement to join that jogging group,” Jay said.
“You’ll get yours,” Nina hissed as he walked away.
Jay didn’t feel better, exactly, but his head was clearer after the interactions.
He walked, looking in windows, and stopped before one of the new shops in Lyntacky, a gift shop that had most things, from smelly soaps to mugs with cute slogans on them.
But it was the set of booties, hat, and cardigan in yellow that caught his attention.
Is my child a boy or a girl? Will I be a good parent? How long does a child sleep in a crib?
Questions ran through his head, one after the other. He needed to talk to the parents he knew. Write down some questions they could answer, and then he’d feel better—more prepared.
But right now, he turned from the window. Pizza, Jay thought. Now he’d mentioned it, he actually wanted some for his dinner. He could call in to see if Ryder was still in the cafe while he waited.
After placing his order, he headed to the cafe, but a voice stopped him.
“Haddon!”
Jay turned to find Blue’s brothers behind him.
Both looked angry, and he couldn’t fault them. If he had a sister, he’d feel like that if she was in Blue’s situation. Hell, he’d wanted to go after JD alongside Zoe’s brothers when all that business between him and her had gone down.
He wondered if they were going to want a fight, because while he could look after himself, he was one to their two, and though he was their height, Finch had some size on him.
The rock star and the army boy. An odd combo, but there was no doubting they were brothers as they drew closer.
“Ordering pizza for the family?” Jay asked for some reason, when what he should’ve said was “Look, let’s talk this through.”
“My sister is having a baby and you’re the father.”
“I know that, Finch.”
“Well, what are you doing about it?” Lynx demanded. “What are your intentions?”
“Whatever we do, will be our decision,” Jay said calmly, because he knew these two, and they were usually rational, even as he knew this situation was making them the opposite.
“She’s scared.” The words exploded out of Finch’s mouth.
“Not only that, but she keeps telling us to back off and—”
“Maybe you should listen to her,” Jay cut Lynx off before he thought better of it.
“You don’t have a sister do you, Haddon?” Finch demanded.
Jay shook his head. He’d always wanted one though.
“You want to move heaven and earth when they’re hurting, to make their pain stop.”
“I didn’t hurt her,” Jay said. “We are both responsible for what happened in New York.”
The growl was low in Lynx’s throat.
“You think I wanted this?” Jay said as his anger climbed. “Think I planned to have a child with your sister?”
“What’s wrong with my sister?” Finch demanded.
Irrational, he thought again. “Fuck off,” Jay snapped. He was done talking.
“Go fuck yourself, Haddon,” Lynx said and swung at him.
Jay had excellent reflexes, but he hadn’t expected things to escalate that fast. He took the punch on the jaw, and it had him seeing stars. It also lit the fuse that had been smoldering for days. Jay launched himself at Lynx, and they both went down.
“Leave some for me,” he heard Finch say, and then the sound of running feet told him the cavalry was coming.
“You two fuckers better not have hurt him, or you’ll be facing me and my brothers!”
Ryder, Jay thought as he landed a blow in Lynx’s ribs.
Hands pulled at him as he and Lynx rolled around on the ground, trading blows.
“For fuck’s sake, Finch, pull your idiot brother off Jay!” Ryder roared. “Now!”
Jay was hauled upright. He shrugged out of the hold Ryder had on him to glare at the McAllisters.
“What would your adoring fans say if your pretty face was hurt,” Ryder said in a hard voice. “Now back the fuck off and behave like adults.”
“Fuck you, Duke,” Finch snapped.
Jay’s jaw ached, and he was fairly sure there was blood on his lip, but he wasn’t wiping it in front of them. Instead he got a good glare going on.
“I wanted to be with Blue when she told you, but she didn’t want that. I take responsibility for my actions,” Jay added, thumping his chest with his fist, “and I will support her and our child.”
“You got my sister pregnant,” Finch said again, jabbing a finger in his direction.
“Pretty sure she was involved,” Ryder said moving to stand at Jay’s side. “And it’s an insult to her that you two are behaving like cavemen, when this is 2026, not 1950!”
Jay hated the thought of Blue being vulnerable too.
They often called Jay the fifth Duke brother, and because he had no family, he’d always loved it. But he could fight his own battles, and this one was one of his making. He wasn’t having anyone else getting involved or hurt.
“Are we going to just keep beating the shit out of each other?” Jay asked. His jaw was throbbing now.
“Works for me,” Lynx snapped.
“And then what? Because that solves nothing, from where I’m standing. It’s done. Blue and I are going to be parents, and we need to deal with that,” Jay said.
The muscles bunched in the McAllister brothers’ jaws.
“I know enough about Blue that she’s going to be really pissed when she hears what you did and that you hurt him,” Ryder said.
“He didn’t hurt me,” Jay’s wounded pride lied. His jaw was on fire.
“You leave our sister to us,” Finch snapped.
“So if I tell Birdie, and she in turn tells Blue, you won’t mind?” Ryder asked.
The brothers didn’t look happy about that.
Lyntacks had always said that the timing of Tripp’s music, depending on what you were doing, had always been off. It was fair to say that was the case right now.
Jay wasn’t a rebel by nature. He usually conformed where he could, and when he couldn’t, he had a really good reason. Right then, he was done.
He had been thrown a huge curveball that had the power to change the trajectory of his life. He did not want to dance with the two men who wanted to beat him senseless because of it.
“Fuck this,” he muttered and started walking.
“What the hell are you doing, Jay?” Ryder asked.
“Rebelling,” he said and kept walking.
“Get back here, Haddon. We’re not done with you!” Finch called after him.
Jay raised both middle fingers over his head and kept walking.
It took ten minutes for Dan to find him in his cruiser, lights and sirens working to annoy Jay even more.
“What the hell are you doing?” his best friend said when he got out of his vehicle in uniform.
“Sirens and lights, Dan? Really?”
“You break the law, that’s what happens, Jay. You know I have to take you in.”
“It’s a stupid fucking law, anyway,” Jay muttered. “Who arrests people because they don’t want to dance in memory of a woman who should have known better than to dance through the streets anyway?”
“Amen, so let’s go.”
Jay sighed.
“I got your pizza in the cruiser, so you won’t go hungry in the cell.”
He sighed again and got into the passenger’s seat.
“That face looks like it hurts,” Dan added.
He didn’t reply.
“I told those McAllisters, because I had to dance with them, if they come at you again, they’ll answer to me. But I managed to squeeze Lynx’s shoulder really hard. Couldn’t do more because too many others were watching.”
“I can handle myself, Dan, and you’d be no different if it was Zoe who was in Blue’s condition.”
“I’d kill you, but I’m big enough to know that you’re not someone who is usually reckless, so, actually, I’d probably only maim you.”
“Real good of you. Are you really going to lock me up?”
“Them’s the rules, bud.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Parts of it I’m enjoying and other parts I’m not. Like how you’ve got all this shit going on inside you that’s making you crazy and you’re not talking to me about it.”
“I’m not really the talk it out type, Dan, and I’d think you’d know that about me by now.” Jay put his head back on the rest, suddenly exhausted. He felt his friend’s eyes briefly turn to him.
“I thought we didn’t hide things from each other?”
He snorted because he’d been hiding shit from Dan for years. “Dan, no one knows everything that’s going on inside people, even if they are close friends.”
“Yeah, I guess I knew that about you.”
Jay heard the hurt in his friend’s voice and didn’t know how to explain. He’d deliberately locked the dark stuff away inside himself. Yes, Dan knew that his childhood had been rough, but not how rough.
Not the nights he’d spent with his pillow over his head, shutting out noises.
Or how on hot days, he’d worn long sleeves to hide the bruises.
Yes, he was a child then, and that was years ago, but some things just left a stain on your soul that could never be erased no matter how much you talked it out.
“Okay, here’s how this is going to go. I’m locking you in a cell, and then you’re telling me all the shit you haven’t.”
“Not happening,” Jay said.
“I have my ways of getting shit out of people, and I know you better than most,” Dan added.
Jay didn’t speak because they were slowing down outside the station, but then he didn’t have anything to add. No one could make Jay speak if he didn’t want to. Many had tried and failed.