The Bull Rider's Baby Bombshell

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“Wes, it’s Jade. I know you have your phone in your hand because you posted a pic online less than five minutes ago. At least it was better than the tacky one of you in bed. Anyway, I’m calling to tell you Liv came back to the house sometime yesterday or during the night. I don’t know when or how long she stayed, but it may have been when you were here. Please call me as soon as you get this. I’m scared of how she may have reacted if she saw us together with the girls.”

* * *

WES TOOK THE front porch steps of Liv’s house two at a time. Jade opened the door and pulled him inside before he had a chance to knock. He told himself repeatedly on the drive over he was there only for Liv’s well-being. Any attachment to the girls was off-limits.

“Thank you for coming. I know this is the last place you want to be.”

Wes followed her into the small living room off the main hallway. He’d half expected to see Audra, Hadley and McKenzie when he turned the corner, instead the room looked exactly as it always had.

“It doesn’t even look like a baby, let alone three babies, lives here.”

“Exactly.” Jade paced the length of the small off-white area rug. “We were so busy feeding the girls yesterday I didn’t get a chance to show you this.” She grabbed his hand and led him down the hall to a narrow closet. The gesture was innocent enough, but her palm against his felt more intimate than a kiss. Within seconds she released him, and damned if he didn’t miss her touch already. He balled his fist, refusing to feel anything for the woman. “This is what I mean when I say Liv knew what she was doing.”

She swung the closet open and flipped on the overhead light. There were numerous neatly stacked, transparent lidded bins with index cards taped to the front of them listing each one’s contents. Baby toys, baby blankets, baby photo albums...all generically labeled.

“Why is everything in the closet?”

“These had all been in various rooms when I left a little over a month ago. Sometime between now and then, she ordered storage containers and packed everything away.”

Wes wandered around the first floor of the house, peering into each room. “I’ve never been upstairs, but nothing down here looks any different from before she got pregnant. The place was always spotless. Is it possible she took the bins out when she needed them?”

Jade shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense. Those photo albums used to be on the coffee table. She couldn’t wait to fill them. I looked inside and there are three, possibly four pages’ worth of photos. And the baby blankets...she was so proud that she’d learned how to crochet for her daughters. Those are shoved in a box too.”

“What about the nursery? Did she change anything in there?”

“No.” Jade started up the stairs, but Wes’s feet refused to follow. “Are you coming?”

“Aren’t the girls up there?”

Her shoulders sagged at the question. “So that’s it? Last night was a onetime deal and you’re never going to see them again.”

“I thought I already made that clear.” What part of not wanting to be a parent didn’t she understand? He had to set boundaries before she expected more from him. “I’m not here for them. I’m here because you said Liv came back to the house and you’re afraid she saw us together. I’m here because I’m worried about her. I’m not worried about the girls. I trust you with them.”

“How very big of you.” She closed the distance between them, her eyes blazing with anger and fear. “Hell, I’m surprised you haven’t snapped a picture of them and posted it all over the internet to see how many likes and follows you can get.”

Wes put a hand on her arm. “I know you’re upset, and I meant what I said yesterday. I’ll do whatever I can to help you find Liv. But please, don’t take it out on me. This isn’t my fault just like it isn’t your fault.”

Jade dropped her gaze. “It is our fault. We missed the signs. You taking off to Texas is no different from me flying back to LA as fast as I could. We both abandoned her.”

“We were only donors.” Wes bit back the bile he now associated with the word. “Those kids aren’t ours. And you didn’t abandon Liv. You were there when the babies were born. You helped bring them home. You’re caring for them night and day. You’re living in the same house with them. They’re the first thing you see in the morning and they’re the last thing you see at night. I don’t even have to be here to recognize you’re getting attached to them.”

“Of course I am.” Tears filled her eyes. “I never wanted to feel this way, but they’re our daughters. How can you not get attached?”

“They are your nieces, but they can’t ever be anything to me. That’s how Liv wanted it.”

Jade tried to pull from his grip, but he refused to let go. Not when she was in so much pain. Her heart beat wildly against him as he held her tight to his chest. Despite the past or the resentment he still felt toward her, he wanted nothing more than to ease the guilt she carried.

“It’s okay.” He smoothed her hair and rested his cheek against the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll find Liv, make sure she gets the help she needs and bring her home to her children.”

“I’m scared she’s not going to be okay or that she’ll do this again.” Jade sobbed against him. “She came back, Wes. She was here, and she left. She walked away twice. How could she do that?”

Wes eased her onto the couch, summoning every ounce of strength he had not to panic. Between the abandoned triplets he’d never wanted to be involved with and Liv’s fragile emotional state, he felt the overwhelming need to protect the Scott women, even if that included Jade...the woman who had made his life pure hell.

“Tell me what happened.”

After Jade explained about the car seats she’d found earlier, he figured there was a fifty-fifty chance Liv had seen them together. Since she’d purposely kept their identities from the other, he understood how watching him and Jade with the girls might upset her.

“I’m not trying to belittle your concerns in any way, but why do you think seeing us together would push her over the edge?”

Jade shifted on the couch to face him and tucked her bare legs underneath her jean-short-covered bottom. Coupled with her deep V-neck white cotton T-shirt, she wore ultracasual extremely well. A little too well since his jeans felt snugger than they had a minute ago.

“I think my sister had a thing for you and maybe still does.”

Wes threw his head back and laughed, knocking his hat on the back of the couch. He removed it and set it brim side up on the coffee table while running his other hand through his hair.

“Trust me, your sister was not interested in me romantically.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because she’s still in love with Kevin. That’s one broken heart I don’t think she’ll ever get past.”

“She divorced him years ago.”

“He divorced her,” Wes corrected, surprised she didn’t know. “I was with her the night she was served. And she was served very publicly in the middle of the Iron Horse.”

Jade’s mouth hung open in disbelief. “Is she so afraid of failure that she has to hide her pain from me? Or am I that cold of a person she didn’t think I would understand?”

Wes couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. “Get over yourself. It isn’t about you. From the little she told me about both of your pasts, she was the one taking care of you while you did whatever you wanted.”

“That was hardly the case.”

“Really, because the Jade I remember was constantly getting into trouble. You were an angry kid. And mean. God, you were mean.”

“I’ll own up to having an attitude, but I was mean to only you and that’s because you said I’d slept with you. Your lie almost got me raped by your friend.”

“What?” His fists clenched. Wes couldn’t imagine any of his friends forcing themselves on a girl. “Who are you talking about?”

“Oh, come on. You know damn well I’m talking about your buddy Burke. Every time I saw you two together afterward you were laughing at me.”

“Burke tried to rape you?” A slow rage began to build in his chest. Burke had been more of a rival than a friend. They’d competed against each other in all aspects of their lives. From bull riding to girls. “When?”

“Our ninth-grade fall harvest dance. How can you not remember?” Jade jumped up from the couch as if it was on fire and faced him. “You two were sitting on the gym bleachers laughing and pointing at me. I’d had enough and decided to leave. Burke followed me into the hallway, threw me against the lockers and reached under my skirt. He tore off my underwear!” Her eyes filled with tears. “He told me he wanted what I gave you. I physically had to fight him to break free. He had his zipper down and was ready to go.”

Wes’s stomach churned. “He said you two had hooked up. He even showed me your underwear. I was crushed you chose him over me. Jade, I had no idea what really happened.”

“It wasn’t consensual! Torn underwear should have been your clue?” Jade shook her head in disgust. “It happened because you told everyone we had slept together. You told everyone I was easy. He assumed I was shareable when you and I had only kissed.”

“Yeah and we had dated for almost a month.” The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“So that meant I owed you sex?” Jade’s face reddened. “We started dating, like, my second week of ninth grade. Liv and I had just come out of another group home and had moved in with a new foster family. I hadn’t even told my sister about you. I was trying to learn everyone’s name and get acclimated to a new town. I was fourteen years old and you kept pushing me to go further than I was ready. And then you broke up with me because I wouldn’t. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”

“I’m sorry,” Wes whispered. He lifted his gaze to hers. “Everything was a competition to me back then. I was hurt that you didn’t like me as much as I liked you. I didn’t even know what sex was. I mean I did, but I hadn’t done it yet. Burke had. So I lied and said I had too. He was the only one I told.” He rose from the couch, torn between wanting to comfort her and beating the crap out of Burke. His old rival had moved to New Mexico after high school, but the next time they crossed paths on the rodeo circuit, he’d be damn sure to teach him a lesson.

“Burke taunted me every chance he could, and you were right there next to him. We had just been placed with a really nice foster family, and Liv and I finally believed we had a place to call home. As nice as it was, it was never easy. At least not for me. I felt like I had a scarlet letter emblazoned on my chest, thanks to you. And two years later, on Christmas Eve when my foster mom’s brother tried to force himself on me, I believed it was my fault, because it had happened to me once before.”