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“Yes, son. The baby is yours,” Mack Sr. replied. “She’s yours.”
I vomited bile again. My stomach ached as I hurled and groaned at the same time. “Holy shit.” My heart hammered. My body shook. My stomach still roiled, and I was afraid to move. “What the fuck?”
“Jackson?” Ireland’s soft voice cut through my erratic thoughts. “What do you need from us?”
“Make everything stop spinning,” I mumbled, stumbling as though my feet had been tied together.
Chapter9
Jackson
“He’s going to drop.” My brother’s frantic shout was the last thing I heard as everything finally went quiet, and the darkness swallowed me whole.
The horrible scent of ammonia and something else assailed me as I sat on the curb. I jerked, backing away from the smell. I was tucked into someone’s embrace as they grasped me, keeping me upright.What the fuck?The hideous pungent odor returned, and I groaned. “Stop it. That’s gross.”
“There he is,” a man said. “My name is paramedic Lopez. How are you feeling?”
“Like I got run over,” I said. My face hurt, and my stomach ached. “What the fuck?”
“He should be okay.” The medic cracked open a cold pack and put it to my lip. “Keep this here. If anything changes, hit up your primary, man.”
“Thanks,” Mack Sr. said. “We appreciate the help.”
I groaned, trying to stretch and release some of the tension coiling within me. My stomach gratefully had settled the best it could. Hell, there couldn’t be anything left after I’d puked my guts up. “This sucks.”
“Son,” Mack Sr., stated, drawing my gaze to him. “We have a lot to apologize for. None of us knew about the baby.”
“I did,” Sarah Jane murmured. “When Waverly had her. She called me. I should have told you. But I believed the worst.”
“Of me?” I glanced up at her. “Because you thought I would just leave your daughter because she got pregnant?” Was I that bad of a person?
“I didn’t know what to think. Waverly wouldn’t talk about it much. She didn’t name you specifically. We didn’t have the father’s name for sure until today when the daycare called us and asked how to get ahold of you, Jackson. Alandria has your last name, and that was how Mack and I put two and two together.”
Alandria.My daughter’s name was Alandria. She couldn’t be more than four or five months old now. So… I mentally did the math in my mind, then dropped my head forward, running my fingers through my hair, tugging as I went. “She got pregnant our first time.”
“What did I tell you about condoms, asshole?” Hunter said from somewhere beside me. “You never have sex raw.”
Heat filled my face. I didn’t need to be having this conversation with Waverly’s parents next to me. “I didn’t have sex with Waverly without a condom.”
“Condoms fail,” Ireland whispered. “You know that, Hunter.”
“I swear we were careful,” I stated. “I knew better. We’re kids, right? Like, she’s in school. I’m working or well, was employed by Mack. I wouldn’t put her at risk. Ever. She was my everything.”
“We’re still assembling the pieces, Jackson,” Mack Sr., said. “Waverly cut all of us off. I can’t explain why or even understand her state of mind, but we wouldn’t have turned her out, nor would we have done anything against you. Shit happens. I don’t know that I’m happy she was having sex, but that’s on me. Not you or her.”
I scrubbed my face. “Where is my daughter?”
“Jackson,” Ireland started, “I need you to stay still and relaxed.”
I snorted. I was a long way from being relaxed, that was for sure. “Where is Alandria?”
“Inside the hospital daycare,” Macey said. “They’ve already called. She is safe. They’ll let her go when the situation is resolved.
“I hate to interrupt this heart to heart,” Cobi stated, stopping in front of them. “We are gathering the families for a small update. If you’ll follow me.”
The weight of the world sat on my chest as I stood on shaky legs. I wasn’t sure who followed behind me nor at that moment did I care. I had a daughter. A baby. The notion left me speechless and still filled with so many questions. I understood Waverly and I didn’t know each other very well, but we were getting there. Our siblings were together and had been well on their way to getting married when we met, which meant we’d have time too.
She could have told me.