Fall Into Me (Into Me Series Book Three)

Chapter Forty - Afterglow

Jackson's POV

"Hey! Jackson!" Jet yells.

I sit up abruptly, awoken from my deep sleep. The world comes back into view as my senses return.

Me. My couch. My living room. The horrible taste in my mouth from sleeping with my mouth open. My aching neck from sleeping while sitting straight up. Rosie staring at me like I have seven heads. The severe lack of energy in my body.

Holy fuck, I'm exhausted.

The baby screams another cry, that high-pitched wail that only newborns are capable of. I groan silently to myself, flopping back into the couch cushions and allowing my eyes to flutter shut again.

Maybe I dreamed that she called for me.

"Jackson!" Jet shouts again, sounding a bit more desperate.

Well, there goes my last hope.

The baby screams even louder.

Fuck me, dude.

"Jackson, please!" Jet begs.
"Coming! I'm coming!" I reply, pushing myself up onto my feet and rushing toward the sound of them.

I rub the sleep from my eyes as I walk quickly, my heels pounding into the ground. Rosie walks along side of me, ears back. She hates it when the baby cries, she doesn't like it when she's upset. She has Rosie wrapped around her little finger just as badly as she has Jet and I. Actually, I take that back. Rosie is more protective of the baby than she ever was of me or Jet. It makes my heart feel full.

The crying is getting louder the closer I am to them. I bank around the corner into the kitchen, finding Jet in the middle of it, pacing and bouncing the baby in her arms. Her head snaps up to look at me, dark circles surrounding those emerald eyes.

"Were you... sleeping?" she all but snarls at me.
Shit.
"Uhhh..." I drag as I scratch the back of my neck, feeling a little guilty.
"Whatever," Jet grumbles, rolling her eyes. "Can you either grab a bottle and start warming it up or take her from me, please?"
"Yeah, sure, mon ange," I nod, walking over toward them.

I hold my arms out to Jet, focusing closely on how gently she puts the baby in my arms. Once the baby settles in and adjusts to me, she quiets, happy coos replacing the screaming. I smile at her, offering her my pinky to hold on to.

"Hi, sweetheart," I say to her in that high pitched baby voice that I usually only use with Rosie. "What's wrong? Tell me all about it. I wanna hear all about it, my love."
"So not fair..." Jet mutters, shaking her head and turning to the fridge.
"What's not fair?" I ask, looking up to her as I bounce on my toes.
"That I do literally everything to get her to stop crying and then you just show up here and she is happy as a clam," she accuses, raising her eyebrow at me.
"What can I say?" I shrug. "Babies like me."
"I very vividly remember a certain kid calling you 'scary' and you turning to literal stone the first time you picked her up," Jet counters, turning around with a bottle in her hand.
"Carson loves me now, and you know it," I argue.

Jet pops the bottle of breastmilk into the warmer and walks over to us, "Listen, Callie..." Her hand gently lands on Callie's head, rubbing it softly. "Auntie Jet loves you more than anything, but she's gonna fucking kill you if you don't get your shit together and start liking me."
"Fucking's a bad word, Aunt Jet," Carson calls from where he builds a lego set at the dining room table. "So is shit."
"Yes, thank you, Carson," Jet replies, rolling her eyes and glaring at me. "Brian fucking owes us."
I can't help but snicker, "Totally."

Jet inches her way closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder as she groans. Her hands land on our baby, still safely housed within her. Pregnancy is fucking wild, man. She literally has a whole ass human hanging out in her, growing and whatnot. If I think about it too hard, it makes my brain hurt.