Page 34 of Amor Prohibido

“Shut the door, goddammit!” Jax yelled in his direction.

His reply was a loud laugh, then a gruff voice, “Neverrrr.”

“Yeah,neveruntil Callie gets home. Then you’ll be back under the thumb.”

I snickered. Darren liked to think he ran the show, but we all knew who wore the pants in this household. He was pussy-whipped to the max.

Speaking of pussy, I turned my attention to Jax, and I frowned when I noticed the extra space that she put between us.

“How are you doing, truly?” I murmured.

Unable to stop myself from touching her, I captured her wrist and drew lazy circles on the exposed skin with my thumb. She wasn’t quite as pale as yesterday, though still looked exhausted.

Her gaze dropped to my lips briefly before flicking back up. “Currently, not too bad. Even managed a couple of slices of cucumber this morning.”

“Walking on the wild side again, huh?” I teased, but glad to hear it.

“What are you two scheming about?” Daz demanded, returning to the living area.

My hand dropped from her skin like a lead balloon. J’s eyes flared, and she hastily stepped away, and Darren didn’t miss the undercurrents of tension.

“Guys? What’s going o—”

“I’m pregnant!”Jax yelled, so loud that I actually fuckingflinched.

I snorted. Highly inappropriate timing, but hey, I was already a dead man walking. “Way to ease him into it, sweetheart.”

“You,what?”Darren’s voice hit a prepubescent octave, and he reared back like she’d slapped him. He looked at me for confirmation and I nodded slowly.

His face rapidly transformed from astonished to murderous. “I’m assuming it wasn’t planned. So, who’s the asshole that’s gonna get his face broken?” he growled, focusing solely on his sister.

I attempted to ease the strain in the air with another dumbass joke. “Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve called me an asshole.”

Darren’s dark brows hit his hairline and he let out a whisper of a humourless laugh. “You?”

I gulped and cleared my throat. “Uh, yeah. Me.”

You know when you’d been best mates with someone for as long as you could remember and there wasn’t a thing in the world that would ever compromise that friendship? I just found the exception to the rule. If it were possible to instantaneously descend into Hell and meet a slow, agonising, well-deserved death from Darren’s glare alone, it would have happened within this moment.

A sheen of sweat broke out across my upper lip while I waited for my confession to sink in. A warm touch landed on my arm, and I looked down to see Jax’s fingers wrapped around my forearm, her neon-orange fingernails digging into my skin. The huge smirk on her face was nothing but a nervous reaction; the real freak-out swam near the surface of her dark-brown irises.

Darren paced the room before whirling on his sister. “Jax, do something for me,” he bit out through clenched teeth. It wasn’t a question, and we all knew it. He was absolutelylivid.

“Of course.”

“Go check the mailbox for me.And. Don’t. Rush.”

Her expression grew stricken as she glanced at me. Concern etched deep into the pucker between her eyebrows, and the seconds ticking down to Armageddon could be heard as she made for the door.

The outcome of this showdown wasn’t going to be good. Darren vibrated rage that I felt from across the room; he was way,waymore furious than last time I messed with Jax.

All I could do was draw up to my full height and steel myself for the impending fight. Neither of us moved or dared to breathe until the door clicked shut and J’s footsteps on the wooden deck turned into crunching gravel. I opened my mouth to get in an explanation before Darren started kicking my ass, but he beat me to the punch.

“What part ofdon’t fuck with my sisterdid you not understand?”

“Mate, if I could change things, I would. You know I’d never pull a stunt like this intentionally!”

“When?”

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