Page 53 of Accidental Baby For My Brother’s Best Friend

“You motherfucker!” Jackson yells, and again, I can run. I can run and try to make it, but instead, I just stand there and stare at him.

He hits me right in my nose and it begins to spurt blood immediately. My eyes water, and I make a choking noise in the back of my throat. The pain wakes me up considerably, makes everything seem crystal clear, and I see Axel holding Jackson back by his arms as Jackson struggles and that’s when I say it.

“I’m in love with her.” It sounds nasally and thick but Jackson stops struggling and Axel slowly lets him go.

Then Jackson tackles me around the waist, and for a guy smaller than me, he sure is sturdy, because I go over like a sack of potatoes, whacking the back of my head on the hallway floor.

“Stop it!” Axel does his level best to keep Jackson away from me, but Jackson just growls and hits him from behind. “Gemma’s sick, we need to-” Jackson elbows him in the throat and Axel chokes, stepping away.

I don't even wrestle with Jackson, just repeat myself as if I'm coming to terms with it myself as he punches me in the ribs.

“Aw, jeez, you guys, we’re all gonna get arrested,” Axel complains, and sure enough, people are coming out of their rooms, watching the fight, some of them on their cell phones.

"I'm in love with Gemma," I say, almost in awe, and then it's lights out when Jackson hits me right on the cheekbone.

* * *

I come to being put into a squad car with Axel and he sighs heavily and rests the back of his head on the seat.

“I didn’t evengetany and I get thrown in jail,” he mumbles, I laugh and it sounds tinny to my own ears. I wonder if Jackson gave me a concussion.

If so, I deserve it, that’s for sure.

The right way to do things would have been to go to Jackson and tell him that I have feelings for Gemma, to tell him that I wanted to date her and confess that we’d been hooking up. Therightthing to do would be to talk to Gemma now, but I can’t exactly do that from a jail cell or with her in the hospital, and panic rises in my throat just from thinking about it. The cops have taken our phones, so of course, we can’t get updates. I can’t even think about it too much, it makes me feel like I can’t breathe, not knowing what’s happening, not knowing if they’re okay. I don’t know when I started thinking about Gemma as two, when I started thinking of her and the life inside her as mine, but now it’s like a part of me is missing.

After two fights and a night of barely sleeping, I’m in and out on the way to the county jail. They separate me from Jackson for obvious reasons, and he’s chomping at the bit to get to me even in a jail cell, close to the bars.

“Jack, calm down before they taze you or something,” Axel comments tiredly and Jackson gives him a death glare.

“That fucker knocked up my baby sister,” Jackson spits out.

“And I made out with her a couple of times, you gonna hang me up by my balls too?” Axel taunts, and I blink, surprised that he’s bolder than I am.

I swear, Jackson nearly shakes the bars like Donkey Kong, he’s so mad, his face red, his dirty blond hair mussed.

“Are there any of my friendsnotmaking a play for my sister?”

“I’m pretty sure Samuel isn’t,” Axel comments idly, and I can’t help but laugh.

I’ve been doing that a lot, lately. I’ve been laughing and having fun and enjoying my life

instead of just enjoying my music, and Gemma Arden is the one to thank.

“Not a single one of you is good enough for her, and you all kept this from me and now she might be hurt,” Jackson growls, and I find myself nodding.

“You’re right. I’m not good enough for her,” I’m not. And though I know how I feel about Gemma, but I have no idea how she feels about me.

“What you both seem to be forgetting is whatGemmawants,” Axel comments.

Jackson and I both fall silent at that, and in what feels like half a day but is probably only a couple of hours, an officer comes in to tell us that we’ve made bail.

“Five grand,” Gemma rages the second we pile onto the tour bus. I can’t stop staring at her. She looks a bit pale but otherwise okay. ”Five grand and now we have to cancel the show, all because you three can’t keep from trying to kill each other!”

I whisper to Samuel to find out what happened, and he gives me a sympathetic smile.

“She’s okay,” Samuel assures me, and when I keep staring at him, my brow furrowed, he adds, “and so is the baby.”

I let out a big sigh of relief. I know that I should have asked Gemma about it, but given our last conversation, I don’t feel like she’s interested.

---