"I don't deserve you." I whisper.
"Why's that?" he asks.
"Because you've saved my life so many times."
"I got you out of a fire and brought you back to life. I wouldn't say that I've saved your life so many times. I've hurt you a lot."
"You're the reason I got Charlotte, too, Jace. Give yourself more credit."
"I guess so."
We're laying in the hotel on separate beds, but facing each other.
Him carrying me today was the most I've been touched by him in a long time.
It's midnight.
"We need to have a serious talk." I say, sitting up.
"About what?" he sits up too.
"About us."
He gulps.
"I just want you to listen to a song for me, okay?"
He nods, confused.
I open Youtube in my phone and type in remind me by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.
I press play and skip the ad, and then we're both silent, listening to the song.
We listen to it in silence.
"I do love you, you know that right?" he whispers.
"I know. I love you too." I whisper. "But it's almost like I'm married to a friend, not a partner. We don't do anything, we just talk and kiss sometimes."
"So you want sex?" he asks.
"Yes!" I say. "That's a big part of relationships. I want cuddling. To others, it doesn't even seem like we're in love."
He's quiet for a long time. "I don't know how to fix it."
"You know if you made a move, I would go along with it, right?" I whisper.
"Yes." He says. "I miss cuddling. I miss holding you when you sleep. Hell, I miss sleeping in the same bed. I know this sounds horrible, but holding you today felt so good."
"Well..." I get up and climb onto his bed.
"Let's take it slow, okay?"
"Okay." He agrees.
"And one more thing." I say.
"Hmm?" he asks.
"Let's build our house."
****
We cuddled all night and got the boys in the morning. My phone starts to ring.
I pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey fire."
"Hey Sabrina." I say.
"How are you?" she asks.
"I'm okay, you?"
"I'm good." She says.
We talk for a while and then he just invite her over. I
I'm working on the blueprints for the house.
Jace and I are talking about it.
"Uh, some lady with red hair and a guy with brown hair and another guy with brown hair and a blonde and some kid are outside asking for you, Rylee." Sabrina says.
"Uh, okay."
"Just tell them to come in." Aubrey shrugs.
She does.
"Mom!" a familiar girl says.
I turn around.
Charlotte?
I hug her.
She slips up all the time. I miss her. No matter what anyone says, she's my kid.
Even Nikki admitted it.
"Hey kiddo."
"I want you to be my Mom." She says.
She tells me every time she sees me.
"I know you do." I sigh.
"What are you drawing?" she asks.
"Blueprints for our house we're building."
"Can I help?" she asks.
"Sure." I shrug.
"Rylee, what happened to you? Your all over the news."
"You flew all the way out here to ask me what happened?" I ask.
"Of course!"
Marcus explains while I do the blueprints with Jace and Charlotte.
"Can I move in with my Mom and Dad?" Charlotte asks Nikki and Adam.
We already know the answer.
"No." Nikki says.
She's changed a lot and I actually don't like her.
My phone vibrates.
Unknown: come out front and don't freak out when you see me
I frown and stand up.
"I've gotta get something from the car."
Jace hands me the keys and kisses my hand.
I go outside and see my step mother as the end of the driveway.
I think about running but decide to tell her off insitead.
I shut the door and walk over to her, out of sight of the house.
"I have some legal files I stole that I really want you to have."
"Okay. Why?"
"Because I'm trying to fix my mess."
I sigh.
"You might get mad at Jace. Remember, you love him, okay?"
I nod, confused.
She leaves.
I go in the house, holding the manila folder.
"What's that?"
"I didn't go to the car. I met my ex step mother outside."
"Why?" Jace asks.
I shrug.
"She gave you that?"
"Yeah." I say.
"And?"
"She told me it's files she stole and that I'll be mad at you."
His eyes widen slightly. I study him.
"Wait!" he says when I go to open them.
"What?" I ask.
"We've met before." He whispers.
"What?" I ask.
We met before you worked at the bar, but you don't remember it."
"Okay..." I trail off.
Adam and Nikki exchange a nervous look.
"I wouldn't believe anything that she gave you." Nikki says.
"Well I still want to read it." I shrug.
I open it.
The first one says that I was in a coma for eleven months when I was eighteen.
"Well that's true." I say, pushing it aside.
"What is it?" Jace reads it over my shoulder.
"I was in a coma for eleven months." I shrug. "I already knew that. I was eighteen."
"Do you know why?" he asks.
"No." I frown. "Do you know why?"
"Yes." He mumbles. "I was the one that put you in the coma." He says.
I look at him. "What?"
"I didn't hurt you! Not intentionally."
I frown.
I go to the next one.
At the second month of my coma, they found out I was two months pregnant pregnant."
"What?" Jace asks.
I shrug. "I don't have anymore kids that the four boys over there, so that's fake. Plus, I was a virgin till I was nineteen."
He snatches the paper from my hand and reads it, and then rests his hands on the table.
"Keep going." He says.
I go to the next one. "It was a girl." I say.
"Hmm." He says.
I go to the next page.
"At month nine, I gave birth via C-Section. That's impossible. I don't have anymore kids."
"You have the scar." Jace whispers.
"What?"
"The scar from the c-section." He says.
I stand up and pull the hem of my jeans down a bit.
Sure enough, I do have a scar.
"I always thought that was there because of the period I don't' remember before the coma."
I grab the next page.
"She was seven pound, six ounces."
"Well that was, what, ten years ago?" Jace asks.
"Yeah." I frown. "I have a kid, but with who?"
I grab the next page. "She was given to Adam and after a DNA Test, the father is-" I cut off. "Jace." I say.
"What?" he asks.
"You're the father!" I shriek. "How the fuck are you the father?"
He runs his fingers through his hair. "How much do you remember of the time before the coma?"
"I remember texting Sabrina that I was going out alone."
He nods. "You went out to a bar called Abe's Pub."
I stare at him. "I worked there!"
"I know you did." He whispers.
"But...but..."
"You got drunk. I was there that night. Some guy was buying you beer. I got drunk too, but I remember. I was watching you from across the bar and the guy kept trying to get you to have sex with him. The place was packed that night and the only other open seat was next to me, so you took it. You said you best friend just left and you were upset. You started crying, so I took you to my car to take you home, but you made me stop the car, and then we had sex in the backseat. On the way home, a semi slammed into the right side of the car. I was thrown in jail because I was drunk and they thought it was my fault. I never saw you again."
I'm silent.
"And?" I whisper.
"The day we met I had just gotten out of jail and week earlier. I got a job as a mechanic, which was at my Uncle John's place. I got a new wardrobe and turned into the guy I was. I went to that bar looking for you. When I found you. I wasn't planning on being a bitch, but I guess I blamed you for getting me arrested. That's all I knew. I didn't know you were in a coma and I didn't know you got pregnant."
I'm silent for the longest time.
"So where the fuck is our daughter?" I snatch the last paper up.
Adam was jacked up on heroin and gave her up for adoption.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask Adam, pissed.
"I don't know." He says.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Jace says.
I rest my hands on the table and sigh.
"It's fine." I sigh.
"I'm going to find her, Rylee."
"While I'm prepared for the worst, is there anything else anyone wants to tell me?" I snap.
"I ate the last cookie and got you grounded for it!" Sabrina blurts.