Author: Roni Loren
Andre frowned. “I don’t know if we have to spell that out. What if she doesn’t want to leave? What if we don’t? A lot of possibilities could open up.”
Jace stared at Andre as if he’d spoken in tongues. “Possibilities?”
He shrugged. “Maybe the three of us could work out something less . . . time limited.”
“Like be the guys she comes to on weekends to get her off so she can go back home to the good doctor with a smile on her face?” The thought made the muscles in his neck tighten. “I’m not some . . . concubine. Or whatever the dude version of that would be.”
Andre’s eyebrow arched in a way that rose Jace’s hackles. “Oh, right. ’Cause what? Having a woman use you just for sex makes you feel cheap? News flash: That’s your fucking MO, man.”
Jace crossed his arms over his chest, the dig landing squarely. He knew it was his method—no strings, no commitment, just a good time. But something about having only that tiny piece of Evan while knowing she’d be giving everything else to someone else would be too much to tolerate. “Not an option.”
“So maybe we can be the guys she comes to without Dr. Dan in the picture at all. We can offer her a lot more than he can.”
Jace scoffed. Now Andre was venturing into the ridiculous. “You’ve officially lost your mind, amigo. We can’t compete with all that fairy-tale shit—the dream wedding, the famous husband, the picture-perfect two and a half kids I’m sure she wants. All we are is good in bed. Women fuck around with guys like us, but they want forever with guys like him.”
“Don’t give me that pile of bullshit, Jace. You know that both of us are more than capable of giving her what she needs even if it’s not in the traditional way. And don’t pretend this is all about sex. What just happened between the three of us in there felt a hell of a lot different than some carefree fuck.”
“You really have been drinking tainted Kool-Aid. What little picture have you painted in your mind, dude? A cute little house in the suburbs where we live together and share Evan? Maybe give her a kid or two and figure out who the daddy is by the hue of their skin? Have the neighbors call us fags and Evan a whore? Yeah, that sounds like a lovely life for all of us.”
Andre paled a bit. “No, of course that wouldn’t work. And I have no clue where things could lead. But maybe one of us could be with her publicly. No one else has to know what’s going on behind closed doors.”
Jace gave a derisive laugh. “Right. Because God forbid your buddies on the force find out who you really are.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Sure it’s not. Those guys know that you share women with your roommate? Or that you like to fuck other dudes sometimes? Cane ’em on occasion?”
Andre winced. “Fuck you, Jace. Don’t be an asshole just because you don’t have the balls to open yourself up to something real for a change.”
Jace’s neck muscles tightened, his blood beginning to roar in his ears. “Last time I checked, learning from an utter failure was smart not chickenshit.”
The muscle in Andre’s jaw ticked, a sure sign his own anger was grabbing hold. “You did not fail your marriage, Jace. Diana used you. She manipulated you so well with that fake-ass victim, please-take-care-of-me act that she still has you thinking you’re the one who wasn’t good enough. She wanted your money and to control you. When those two perks went away, she found someone else to manipulate. End of story. You were just too smitten to see her for what she was—a well-groomed leech. Evan is not Diana.”
Jace ground his teeth, the images of the day he walked in on his wife packing her bags flooding his brain. Jace had been busting his ass trying to get Wicked off the ground, doing his best to prove to Diana—who’d been categorically against the venture—that leaving his father’s business wouldn’t alter the comfortable lifestyle she enjoyed. He’d had his first big day of sales and had come home with an armful of roses and her favorite bottle of wine only to find her preparing to leave. A total fucking blindside.
Without a lick of emotion in her voice, Diana had told him she’d been cheating on him with his former co-worker for months and that she was pregnant.
When Jace had asked if the baby was his, she’d shrugged and said, “How could I trust you to raise a child? You can’t even take care of me.”
The child had turned out not to be his, but he’d felt the loss as much as if it had been. He never wanted to feel like he had when she’d walked out his door that night. He’d rather be alone forever than experience that kind of emotional filleting ever again.
“This discussion is over,” Jace said, going cold at the memory. “Two months . . . if Evan agrees. We’ll be exclusive with her during that time. Then we all wash our hands of it. That’s the only way I’m in.”
Andre’s eyes burned with all the things Jace could tell he wanted to say, but finally he nodded, his jaw tight. “Fine. Two months.”
“Thank you,” he said, the fight draining from his voice. As insane as Andre was, he couldn’t blame the guy for considering more with Evan. She’d opened up an ache a mile wide inside of him, too. But clearly they hadn’t had the same effect on her. She hadn’t given them any indication she wanted anything more than sex. She was in love with someone else, and they needed to keep that vital fact at the forefront of their minds.
Andre gave a weary sigh and crooked a thumb in the direction of the dining area. “That’s the third phone call you’ve gotten in ten minutes. You may want to get it.”
Jace stalked across the room, his mind still spinning from the argument, and grabbed the phone. “Hello.”
“Finally! Where the hell are you?” his sister demanded. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning.”
“I’m out of town . . . at a client’s. What’s wrong?”
“Mom’s in the hospital. They think she had a heart attack.”
“Oh, God.” All the air whooshed from Jace, and his grip tightened on the phone.
“She’s okay,” she added quickly. “They’ve stabilized her, but they’re doing a lot of tests to see what the problem is. She may need surgery.”
He headed toward his bedroom. “Which hospital?”
“The Baylor in Southlake.”
“I’m about an hour outside of the city. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thanks,” she said, relief in her voice. “And fair warning, Dad’s on a rampage about everything—the ambulance response time, the nurse, you name it. He even snapped at Wyatt.”
“Jesus, the apocalypse must be near.” Jace couldn’t even recall his dad throwing a firm word in his oldest brother’s direction. Wyatt, with his genius IQ and oh-so-responsible nature, had never been able to do any wrong in his father’s eyes. Jace had been half-convinced his brother had come out of the womb a grownup. “Tell Mom I’m thinking of her and will be there in a little while.”
Jace exchanged good-byes with his sister, tossed the phone on the bed, and grabbed his bag off the floor to start packing his clothes.
“What’s going on?” Andre asked from the doorway.
“I’ve got to head back.” Jace explained the situation as quickly as he could while gathering his things and stuffing him into his duffel bag. “Can you tell Evan what’s going on? I hate running out like this.”
“I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Jace sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Evan behind after all that had happened in the last day and a half, but he had to see for himself that his mom was okay. At least he knew Andre would take good care of Evan for the rest of the weekend. “If Evan agrees to the deal, tell her that I want her back here next weekend. No excuses. She has two months before she gets married. I plan to help her make the most of it.”
Andre smirked. “And I plan to show her why she shouldn’t walk away.”
Jace slung his bag over his shoulder and pushed past Andre to go back into the living room. “We’re not that good, Andre. Don’t make this into something it can never be.”
Something Jace could never be.
Good enough for Evan.
EIGHTEEN
Jace climbed out of his Dodge Viper, the only luxury item he hadn’t been able to part with when he gave up his financial gig, and checked his watch. He’d made it to the hospital in half the time it would’ve taken a normal person to complete the trip. Sometimes a fast car and a roommate who could get you out of speeding tickets came in handy.
He hurried up to the floor his older sister, Leila, had told him their mom was on and found her and Wyatt talking quietly in the waiting area. Leila stood when she saw Jace approaching, pushing her hair behind her ears—something she did nonstop when she was stressed. She gave him a tight hug when he reached her. “I don’t even want to know how fast you drove to get here.”
“Don’t ask,” he mumbled.
She huffed as she pulled back from the embrace. “Thank God you finally answered your phone. You had me freaking out this morning that something had happened to you, too. Where the hell were you?”
“I had some business outside of town.”
Wyatt sniffed. “Yeah, right. Was the business blonde or brunette this week? Or maybe both?”
“Fuck off, Wy,” Jace said, shooting his brother an annoyed glance. “Not all of us want to spend our time jerking off to Excel spreadsheets.”
Leila raised a palm to each of them. “Can it, boys. This is not the time. Here comes Dad.”
Jace glanced over his shoulder to find his father stalking toward them. How the man managed to be in a full suit even though it was a weekend and his mother had supposedly been rushed to the ER in the wee hours of the morning was a wonder. Perhaps he’d taken to sleeping in them.
Jace knew the second his father registered his presence because his lip curled in that derisive way that seemed especially reserved for his youngest son. “Well, look who decided to show up.”
Jace ignored the remark, as he did most of the things his father said to him.
Wyatt rose from his chair when their father stopped in front of them. “How’s Mom?”
“She’s tired. Said they’ve poked and prodded her so much she feels like a head of cattle. They haven’t determined what the exact problem is yet, but I’m not sure if that doctor would know an ass from an elbow. I’ve requested a specialist.”
Leila sighed. “Daddy, that doctor was the specialist. One of the top in the field from what the nurse said.”
“Yeah, I wonder how much he paid her to say that,” his father muttered.
“Can I see mom?” Jace asked.
“Oh, so now you’re concerned?” his dad asked. “Seems she ranks pretty low on your list since you couldn’t even bother to get here until lunchtime. Wyatt’s been here since five and even Leila got here by seven and she had to drop the kids off at a babysitter.”
Jace clenched his teeth. “I got here as soon as I found out.”
Leila touched Jace’s arm. “She’s in room three thirty-three.”
Jace stepped around his father, trying to keep his smartass gene in check, and headed toward his mother’s room. He was here for her. Not to spar with his dad.
When he tapped on the door and peeked into the room, he was met with a view of his mother linked up to a tangle of beeping machines. Her skin was paler than he’d ever seen it and her light hair, always perfectly coiffed, was sticking up on end. The whole scene made his chest hurt. She looked like she’d aged ten years since he’d seen her.
Reid had told him how rundown his mom was looking, but Jace still hadn’t rushed over there to see her. He’d been a damn coward. Thank God she was okay. If she had . . .
Andre frowned. “I don’t know if we have to spell that out. What if she doesn’t want to leave? What if we don’t? A lot of possibilities could open up.”
Jace stared at Andre as if he’d spoken in tongues. “Possibilities?”
He shrugged. “Maybe the three of us could work out something less . . . time limited.”
“Like be the guys she comes to on weekends to get her off so she can go back home to the good doctor with a smile on her face?” The thought made the muscles in his neck tighten. “I’m not some . . . concubine. Or whatever the dude version of that would be.”
Andre’s eyebrow arched in a way that rose Jace’s hackles. “Oh, right. ’Cause what? Having a woman use you just for sex makes you feel cheap? News flash: That’s your fucking MO, man.”
Jace crossed his arms over his chest, the dig landing squarely. He knew it was his method—no strings, no commitment, just a good time. But something about having only that tiny piece of Evan while knowing she’d be giving everything else to someone else would be too much to tolerate. “Not an option.”
“So maybe we can be the guys she comes to without Dr. Dan in the picture at all. We can offer her a lot more than he can.”
Jace scoffed. Now Andre was venturing into the ridiculous. “You’ve officially lost your mind, amigo. We can’t compete with all that fairy-tale shit—the dream wedding, the famous husband, the picture-perfect two and a half kids I’m sure she wants. All we are is good in bed. Women fuck around with guys like us, but they want forever with guys like him.”
“Don’t give me that pile of bullshit, Jace. You know that both of us are more than capable of giving her what she needs even if it’s not in the traditional way. And don’t pretend this is all about sex. What just happened between the three of us in there felt a hell of a lot different than some carefree fuck.”
“You really have been drinking tainted Kool-Aid. What little picture have you painted in your mind, dude? A cute little house in the suburbs where we live together and share Evan? Maybe give her a kid or two and figure out who the daddy is by the hue of their skin? Have the neighbors call us fags and Evan a whore? Yeah, that sounds like a lovely life for all of us.”
Andre paled a bit. “No, of course that wouldn’t work. And I have no clue where things could lead. But maybe one of us could be with her publicly. No one else has to know what’s going on behind closed doors.”
Jace gave a derisive laugh. “Right. Because God forbid your buddies on the force find out who you really are.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Sure it’s not. Those guys know that you share women with your roommate? Or that you like to fuck other dudes sometimes? Cane ’em on occasion?”
Andre winced. “Fuck you, Jace. Don’t be an asshole just because you don’t have the balls to open yourself up to something real for a change.”
Jace’s neck muscles tightened, his blood beginning to roar in his ears. “Last time I checked, learning from an utter failure was smart not chickenshit.”
The muscle in Andre’s jaw ticked, a sure sign his own anger was grabbing hold. “You did not fail your marriage, Jace. Diana used you. She manipulated you so well with that fake-ass victim, please-take-care-of-me act that she still has you thinking you’re the one who wasn’t good enough. She wanted your money and to control you. When those two perks went away, she found someone else to manipulate. End of story. You were just too smitten to see her for what she was—a well-groomed leech. Evan is not Diana.”
Jace ground his teeth, the images of the day he walked in on his wife packing her bags flooding his brain. Jace had been busting his ass trying to get Wicked off the ground, doing his best to prove to Diana—who’d been categorically against the venture—that leaving his father’s business wouldn’t alter the comfortable lifestyle she enjoyed. He’d had his first big day of sales and had come home with an armful of roses and her favorite bottle of wine only to find her preparing to leave. A total fucking blindside.
Without a lick of emotion in her voice, Diana had told him she’d been cheating on him with his former co-worker for months and that she was pregnant.
When Jace had asked if the baby was his, she’d shrugged and said, “How could I trust you to raise a child? You can’t even take care of me.”
The child had turned out not to be his, but he’d felt the loss as much as if it had been. He never wanted to feel like he had when she’d walked out his door that night. He’d rather be alone forever than experience that kind of emotional filleting ever again.
“This discussion is over,” Jace said, going cold at the memory. “Two months . . . if Evan agrees. We’ll be exclusive with her during that time. Then we all wash our hands of it. That’s the only way I’m in.”
Andre’s eyes burned with all the things Jace could tell he wanted to say, but finally he nodded, his jaw tight. “Fine. Two months.”
“Thank you,” he said, the fight draining from his voice. As insane as Andre was, he couldn’t blame the guy for considering more with Evan. She’d opened up an ache a mile wide inside of him, too. But clearly they hadn’t had the same effect on her. She hadn’t given them any indication she wanted anything more than sex. She was in love with someone else, and they needed to keep that vital fact at the forefront of their minds.
Andre gave a weary sigh and crooked a thumb in the direction of the dining area. “That’s the third phone call you’ve gotten in ten minutes. You may want to get it.”
Jace stalked across the room, his mind still spinning from the argument, and grabbed the phone. “Hello.”
“Finally! Where the hell are you?” his sister demanded. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning.”
“I’m out of town . . . at a client’s. What’s wrong?”
“Mom’s in the hospital. They think she had a heart attack.”
“Oh, God.” All the air whooshed from Jace, and his grip tightened on the phone.
“She’s okay,” she added quickly. “They’ve stabilized her, but they’re doing a lot of tests to see what the problem is. She may need surgery.”
He headed toward his bedroom. “Which hospital?”
“The Baylor in Southlake.”
“I’m about an hour outside of the city. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thanks,” she said, relief in her voice. “And fair warning, Dad’s on a rampage about everything—the ambulance response time, the nurse, you name it. He even snapped at Wyatt.”
“Jesus, the apocalypse must be near.” Jace couldn’t even recall his dad throwing a firm word in his oldest brother’s direction. Wyatt, with his genius IQ and oh-so-responsible nature, had never been able to do any wrong in his father’s eyes. Jace had been half-convinced his brother had come out of the womb a grownup. “Tell Mom I’m thinking of her and will be there in a little while.”
Jace exchanged good-byes with his sister, tossed the phone on the bed, and grabbed his bag off the floor to start packing his clothes.
“What’s going on?” Andre asked from the doorway.
“I’ve got to head back.” Jace explained the situation as quickly as he could while gathering his things and stuffing him into his duffel bag. “Can you tell Evan what’s going on? I hate running out like this.”
“I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Jace sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Evan behind after all that had happened in the last day and a half, but he had to see for himself that his mom was okay. At least he knew Andre would take good care of Evan for the rest of the weekend. “If Evan agrees to the deal, tell her that I want her back here next weekend. No excuses. She has two months before she gets married. I plan to help her make the most of it.”
Andre smirked. “And I plan to show her why she shouldn’t walk away.”
Jace slung his bag over his shoulder and pushed past Andre to go back into the living room. “We’re not that good, Andre. Don’t make this into something it can never be.”
Something Jace could never be.
Good enough for Evan.
EIGHTEEN
Jace climbed out of his Dodge Viper, the only luxury item he hadn’t been able to part with when he gave up his financial gig, and checked his watch. He’d made it to the hospital in half the time it would’ve taken a normal person to complete the trip. Sometimes a fast car and a roommate who could get you out of speeding tickets came in handy.
He hurried up to the floor his older sister, Leila, had told him their mom was on and found her and Wyatt talking quietly in the waiting area. Leila stood when she saw Jace approaching, pushing her hair behind her ears—something she did nonstop when she was stressed. She gave him a tight hug when he reached her. “I don’t even want to know how fast you drove to get here.”
“Don’t ask,” he mumbled.
She huffed as she pulled back from the embrace. “Thank God you finally answered your phone. You had me freaking out this morning that something had happened to you, too. Where the hell were you?”
“I had some business outside of town.”
Wyatt sniffed. “Yeah, right. Was the business blonde or brunette this week? Or maybe both?”
“Fuck off, Wy,” Jace said, shooting his brother an annoyed glance. “Not all of us want to spend our time jerking off to Excel spreadsheets.”
Leila raised a palm to each of them. “Can it, boys. This is not the time. Here comes Dad.”
Jace glanced over his shoulder to find his father stalking toward them. How the man managed to be in a full suit even though it was a weekend and his mother had supposedly been rushed to the ER in the wee hours of the morning was a wonder. Perhaps he’d taken to sleeping in them.
Jace knew the second his father registered his presence because his lip curled in that derisive way that seemed especially reserved for his youngest son. “Well, look who decided to show up.”
Jace ignored the remark, as he did most of the things his father said to him.
Wyatt rose from his chair when their father stopped in front of them. “How’s Mom?”
“She’s tired. Said they’ve poked and prodded her so much she feels like a head of cattle. They haven’t determined what the exact problem is yet, but I’m not sure if that doctor would know an ass from an elbow. I’ve requested a specialist.”
Leila sighed. “Daddy, that doctor was the specialist. One of the top in the field from what the nurse said.”
“Yeah, I wonder how much he paid her to say that,” his father muttered.
“Can I see mom?” Jace asked.
“Oh, so now you’re concerned?” his dad asked. “Seems she ranks pretty low on your list since you couldn’t even bother to get here until lunchtime. Wyatt’s been here since five and even Leila got here by seven and she had to drop the kids off at a babysitter.”
Jace clenched his teeth. “I got here as soon as I found out.”
Leila touched Jace’s arm. “She’s in room three thirty-three.”
Jace stepped around his father, trying to keep his smartass gene in check, and headed toward his mother’s room. He was here for her. Not to spar with his dad.
When he tapped on the door and peeked into the room, he was met with a view of his mother linked up to a tangle of beeping machines. Her skin was paler than he’d ever seen it and her light hair, always perfectly coiffed, was sticking up on end. The whole scene made his chest hurt. She looked like she’d aged ten years since he’d seen her.
Reid had told him how rundown his mom was looking, but Jace still hadn’t rushed over there to see her. He’d been a damn coward. Thank God she was okay. If she had . . .
