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“Thank God. Does Mom know?”

“I had to grab our insurance cards from the car, but she’s upstairs talking to the OB. She’ll be right down. Man, was that a scare, though.” Bennett ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Then he frowned. “But wait. What text did you send? Why are you here if you didn’t hear about Maggie?”

“Ren—” Jax’s voice broke. He cleared his throat, but his fear still stung the back of it. “Ren is here. He fell down by the creek, and the ambulance rushed him in.”

Bennett’s face fell. “Jesus. Is he gonna be okay?”

Jax shrugged, but this one felt heavy, like the burden of all his bad decisions were piled on his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “No one’s come out to talk to me since we got here.”

Tears fell before Jax could even register the heat behind his eyes, but then, that had been there since he heard the crack in the rock and sickening thud of Ren’s body hitting the ground. He shuddered, the sound reverberating against his skull like it was happening in real time again. What would it take to forget that sound? That moment?

Bennett grabbed Jax and wrapped him in a tight hug. They weren’t the most affectionate two guys on the planet, and it’d been a minute since they’d done more than nod or give the other a fist bump. The sudden and unexpected show of love shattered Jax’s resolve, and he openly sobbed against his brother’s shoulder.

“He’ll be okay. This hospital’s the best in the county.”

Neither of them said anything else.

Because Ren might not be okay. Jax read stories every morning in the news about kids being hit by drunk drivers, being shot at schools, or disappearing from their yards. Parents’ worst nightmares came true every day.

Jax needed Ren to be okay, so he had a chance of being okay, too. But that didn’t mean it would happen.

“What’s going on? I was just upstairs, and Maggie was fine,” their mother said, coming up behind them.

Jax wiped his eyes, but his voice was lodged in his swollen throat. “Ren fell and was brought here. I didn’t want to say anything when you were driving.”

“Oh my goodness. Is he okay? I thought you were calling about Maggie, too.”

Jax finally found the words to explain what had happened but made the fatal mistake of telling his mom how and why he’d been distracted at the creek.

“So where is Jill now?”

“She had to handle something for Maggie. She should be here later.”

If she’d forgiven him for his monumental mistake, anyway.

“The motor contract? Or the girl who showed up at the door claiming to be an intern?” Mom asked.

Jax nodded. “Both. I think the first is my fault, too. I—”

He stopped, unsure of how much to share.

“Let me venture a guess,” she said, crossing her arms. “You two have been seeing each other for a few weeks, and you convinced her to leave work behind to canoodle or whatever it is you wanted at the moment.”

Bennett chuckled but had the good sense to stop when Jax shot him a look.

“Um, yeah, that’s pretty much it.” He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, but it didn’t hide the shame he felt.

“And you apologized to her, I’m sure,” his mom said, raising her eyebrows at him.

“Not exactly.” Her sigh filled the austere space and rang off the tile walls. “Ren just fell and I—”

“There’s not an excuse for that, Jackson. You care about her, yes?”

He nodded. He more than cared about her. She was as important to him as the rest of his family, but how was he supposed to admit that? They’d barely scratched the surface of their relationship. Hell, they’d barely decided to call it a relationship when Ren had fallen.

“Then fix it. What happened to Ren is awful, and I’ll send up every prayer he recovers and heals well. But he isn’t the only thing in your life that needs attention. I’m not mad you sabotaged whatever deal Jill was supposed to make—”