Page 13 of Somebody To Love

“You trying a new testing method I don’t know about?”

He jerked his head to the side. Attention called away from staring numbly at the drink to see Ace striding in from the front of Jacks. A large, gray tub full of empty bottles held in his arms.

“What?”

Ace placed the tub down on the table, the glass bottles clanked against each other as they jostled slightly in the container. “You’ve been sitting there staring at that damn glass since we closed. Just wondering if you had a new method for tasting the product that involved psychic connection or osmosis or some shit.”

His twin could be a real Jackasson, to quote his sister.

“Fuck off,” he grumbled, grabbing the glass and slamming down the contents. The alcohol ran down his throat, smooth as silk, but with a slight burn, warming his chest as it took its path down into his gut. “Good batch.”

Too bad it did nothing to solve the crisis going on in his head.

“You want to tell me what’s up?”

Ace grabbed another tumbler off the dish drying rack along the back wall before coming to sit across from him at the table. His brother poured them both another finger of whiskey before taking a small sip, looking as calm and collected as ever. Nothing new there. Ace was always calm and collected. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Ace riled by anything. Even when their father died. Ace stoically stood by their mother. Holding her when she fell apart, taking on the role of man of the house as if he’d always known he’d need to.

“Why would you assume something is up?”

A face identical to his in every way—except for a lack of facial hair—stared back at him with a knowing expression.

“Maybe because earlier this evening you got a text from Penny and took off like her damn house was burning to the ground. Then when you came back, you told us all jack shit and hid back here for the rest of the night.”

“I was working.”

“I know, so was I. But usually, I can’t get you to shut the hell up for five minutes when we’re back here. Tonight, you haven’t said more than five words. And most of those were barely grunted syllables.”

“What, you want me to talk your ear off all night long?”

“Hell no.” Ace shuddered, running a hand over his short hair. “I want you to tell me what’s wrong.”

Ace nudged the tumbler of whiskey closer. BJ grabbed it, taking a healthy sip. The alcohol burned a path down his throat, easing some of the tension. The current sip—on top of the previous glass he’d downed—mixed. It rose to his head, lessening the tight knot encased in his brain. Damn, Ace knew exactly what he needed. Annoying as hell how his twin always seemed to be right.

“It’s Penny.”

“Kind of figured that. She okay?”

There was a loaded question with an impossible answer.

“She…asked me for a favor.”

Ace raised a brow. “What kind of favor?”

Ace had never been big on favors. His older brother—older by five minutes and he’d never let BJ forget it—believed people had to earn what they wanted. He never asked for handouts and rarely granted them to others unless they had an excellent reason. But Ace loved Penny the same as the rest of the Jackson family. They were all protective of her. BJ more than the others.

“Shewantsmysperm.” He mumbled the request into his glass, all the words mashing together, and finished the whiskey in one large gulp.

Ace leaned forward, brow furrowed. “Come again?”

“She wants my sperm!” Damn he hadn’t meant to shout. Maybe he should slow down on the booze.

Pale blue eyes, Jackson family eyes, widened. Ace leaned back into his chair, tipping his tumbler to his lips, and finishing his own drink. “Say what now?”

The entire story poured out of him. Penny talking about wanting a baby a month ago and his offhanded offer. Rushing to Penny’s fearing something had gone horribly wrong. Her revelation of wanting a baby now. The request that he supply the donation. The entire. Wild. Story. When he finished, his brother poured them both two fingers. He happily accepted the invitation to get shitfaced.

“You offered to father her baby?” Ace’s brow rose.

BJ ran a hand through his hair. “It was an offhanded thing. One of those things you say because you’d totally do them for the people you love, but you never actually think they’re serious about it.”

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