Epilogue
Jameson
“ T -minus two hours until the ball drops—hope you’re all ready to party!” When we entered the packed bar, Ryan, the owner of McQuade’s, greeted us with a smile. “Your brothers and the rest of the crew are in the back.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate it.” I said, stepping further inside.
“Jeez, nice of you to finally show up,” Ford said, grinning as we made our way toward the back, Boden and Lakelyn right behind us after catching an Uber together.
“Good to see you too, brother.” We slapped our palms together, slid them back halfway, curled our fingers, twisted our wrists, and finished with a sharp finger snap, like we’d done a thousand times before. “Maxim at Mom and Dad’s?”
“Yeah, Mom insisted, and Maxim was super excited once he heard all that Mom had planned.”
“Fifty bucks says the only one who actually makes it until midnight is Maxim,” Jaxon chimed in from behind us and draped an arm over our shoulders, pulling us in close, turning us into a three-man bro-sandwich.
“I’ll take that bet. Shake on it?” Ford held his hand out.
“Man, I love taking your money.” Jaxon smirked, shaking his hand before melting back into the crowd.
“You really shouldn’t encourage him.”
“He’s too easy to mess with. Mom turned the clocks back three hours and streamed a YouTube video from last year. They’ve already celebrated New Year’s, and Maxim,” he held up his phone with a photo of him in the spare bedroom at our parents, “is already fast asleep. Mom knew it would throw his sleep schedule off, and trust me, you don’t want to mess with the endless energy levels of a four-year-old. She and Dad are currently playing Yahtzee, and you know their competitive sides come out strong, so it will likely be the best of three, which means they’ll be up for the ball drop.”
“Shit, I’d forgotten how dirty you play.” I looked past him to where my girl was playing pool with Lakelyn, and damn, if it wasn’t a sight to behold. “I’ll catch up with you in a bit; I suddenly need to go see my girl.”
I snuck up behind Arizona while she was busy eyeing her next shot. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve watched this luscious apple bottom of yours bend over this pool table?” I purred in her ear, loving the hitch in her breathing, when my grip on her hip tightened.
She bent over and lined up the pool cue with the ball before she wiggled her ass against my groin. “How’s it from this angle?” she asked over her shoulder with a seductive glimmer in her eyes.
“Fucking. Perfect.”
I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, made a note that we still had an hour until midnight, and wondered how I could convince my sexier-then-hell wife to leave and start the new year with me buried deep inside her. I placed my phone on the high-top table beside me and grabbed her beer.
“What the hell?” I spluttered as I swallowed the liquid.
“What’s wrong?” Ari asked as her eyes darted back and forth between the drink in my hand and my expression.
“Are you drinking apple juice, Ari?” I asked, trying to understand why. Had I grabbed the wrong glass?
Her mouth opened, then promptly snapped shut.
“Are you okay? Is something wrong?”
“I, ah . . . I don’t know.” She stammered, her voice faltering as she searched for the right words.
“Ari, just say it. You’re scaring me.” I pleaded, my breath catching in my throat.
“Let’s move over here.” She tugged on my arm, and we took a few steps toward the corner. “Don’t freak out, okay?”
“I can’t promise that, Red, not when it comes to your health and safety. Now, please, tell me what’s going on.”
“I was sick this morning.” As she started to explain, my heart raced with a mix of anxiety and anticipation about where this conversation might lead. “At first, I didn’t think anything of it, then as the day went on, I noticed my breasts were tender.” She glanced down at where our hands were joined, and I noticed her bottom lip tremble before she locked eyes with me once more. “I’m drinking apple juice because, one, it resembles beer, and no one will suspect or ask me why I’m not drinking, and two, I can’t help but wonder if I might be pregnant. I wanted to?—”
“P-pregnant, you’re p-pregnant?” My words stuttered as if I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. Yet, the enormity of her news had me feeling a surge of unbelievable happiness.
“I don’t know, to be honest.” She raised her shoulders in a silent gesture of uncertainty. “The signs are there though, along with my period being late. I planned to tell you tomorrow so we could take a test together. I’m sorry, Jameson. I hope you’re not mad.”
“Ari, why on earth would I be mad? This is incredible news; we’re going to be parents.”
“We might be. Nothing’s confirmed yet. I wanted us to find out either way together.” She said, tilting her head slightly with a soft, hopeful smile.
“It’s just a matter of time, but fuck, the thought of seeing your belly swell with our baby,” I wrapped her tightly in my arms, making sure she felt the effect she was having on me, “I need to be inside you so badly, can we please ditch this place and go home already?” I leaned my forehead against hers, plotting to throw her over my shoulder if she didn’t say yes.
“Welcoming the new year in bed with you definitely sounds like a better plan.”
I licked across the seam of her lips before I slid my tongue inside her mouth and claimed my wife in a manner that made the outside world disappear. I loved her so damn much, and I planned to prove that love every day for the rest of our lives.
“Jameson,” she breathed across my lips. “We should go.”
“Right, of course.” God, I was so infatuated I could have easily taken her against the wall, entirely oblivious to the scene it would have created. I took her hand in mine and started to leave when my brother, Jaxon, looking absolutely furious, stepped in front of us.
“You good?” I asked, knowing full well that he wasn’t.
“You’re my brother, my fucking twin, the one person who truly knows the pain I’ve gone through, and yet you completely fucking betrayed me.”
“Jaxon, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“No clue?” He let out a laugh, though it was bitter. “That’s rich. You have no fucking clue, and yet, the love of my fucking life just called you.” He shoved me in the chest with both hands, and I staggered back, barely keeping my balance.
“Shit, Jaxon. Let me explain.” With everything that had gone on as of late, I had forgotten entirely about Lily’s return.
“The time for explaining has passed.” He reacted in fury and landed a punch square on my nose. Ari screamed, and I felt the sharp pop as it broke. “I’ll never forgive you for this.”
In the span of a few minutes, I had gone from my heart soaring high with excitement to having it plummet into the depths of despair. The intensity of his pain was catastrophic as it resonated within me from the connection that was uniquely ours. It was as if his anguish was an extension of my own, blurring the lines that defied all logic but only we understood in bond, and it left me reeling as I watched him run out of McQuade’s, not knowing how I could fix the damage that seemed beyond repair.