Dawn of Forever (Jack & Jill #3) (12 page)

“I love you!” Ryn yelled.

He paused at the top of the stairs. The distant echo of her words brought back the flash of a memory from his childhood—his mother yelling downstairs “I love you” to her twins before they left for school. He still hated what she did. He hated his father for living a lie. He hated his sister’s circumstances that prevented him from ever telling her.

The entire Day family had to die so the man, who fell for the woman on the other side of the bedroom door, could find the ability to love again. And he did … Jackson loved Ryn.

“I love you too, hot pants!”

*

Light flurries swirled
in the breeze as Jackson made his way home. He inwardly grimaced at his overreaction to the first snow. He should have ventured out of San Francisco more in the winter months.

Stan waved from Greta’s driveway. He wore some sort of coveralls and expertly wielded a snow shovel. The guy was seventy and worked circles around men in their twenties.

“I thought our association dues covered snow removal,” Jackson called from his driveway.

“They do, but those idiots don’t know what they’re doing. If you don’t get all this snow cleared better and throw down some ice melt, it’s just going to get packed on the driveways slick as snot.”

“An ice melt guy.” Jackson grinned. “I hear ya. Lots of ice melt.”

He grabbed the small snow-covered box by the front door on his way inside then slipped off his boots.

It was a phone with a number on a small note. It had to be Jillian needing to contact him, but he had a phone, she didn’t. Why send him a burner phone?

Without hesitation, he called the number, eager to hear her voice.

“Where is she?”

Jackson closed his eyes with the immediate recognition of the voice on the other end of the line. “Do you really have such little regard for your life? Your family’s? Hang up. Destroy your phone. And forget about her.”

“Jude,” he whispered.

Jackson felt Luke’s pain, his desperation. Since meeting Ryn, he felt everything. Feelings had no discrimination. They were all or nothing. Humanity existed in the balance between the polarity of pain and pleasure.

“Where are you?”

“Home,” Luke answered.

“How did the phone get here?”

“A friend.”

“How did you get the address?”

“The hotel in Houston. Where is she?”

“Luke … you don’t—”

“So help me, if you try to tell me I don’t understand I’m going to fucking lose it. I know about Aric, I know he died, I know—”

“What? You know our parents were murdered? You know we faked our deaths? Bet you didn’t know she could have brought you too. She chose to leave you behind. It was
her
choice. Jess loved you, but she fell in love with another man and she’s mourning his loss. I don’t know where she’s at and that’s the truth. Her phone is sitting here on our table. She’s upset with me … she’s upset with life. I can’t bring her back until she’s ready. I respect you, Luke, I really do, but Jessica doesn’t want to be found. Not by you and not by me. If you love her, you’ll let her go.”

“I was an hour away from marrying her. I feel like my wife died. I feel like another man took my wife. I feel like my
wife
needs me now more than ever. I can’t let her go … I can’t fucking breathe. Let them kill me because I’m already dead.”

“I’m sure your parents and siblings would disagree.”

“Don’t make me feel like some selfish bastard for loving her. Long before the day of our wedding, I chose her—over
everyone
else.”

“But she didn’t choose you.”

Luke chuckled, it had a condescending tone. “You’re wrong. She left me because she didn’t choose herself. She’s never chosen herself because she’s never felt worthy of that kind of happiness. That was supposed to be my job. I was supposed to spend the rest of my life proving to my wife that she is worthy of every goddamn thing she could ever want.”

Jackson plopped down in the chair. Defeat crept into his conscience, a conscience that had been a sealed vault for over a decade. Ryn cracked that vault, infecting him with unwelcome feelings of empathy. With that empathy came accountability. He didn’t want to be accountable for Luke’s inability to breathe or his suicide mission to find Jessica.

“I’ll let her know you’re looking for her if she decides to come home.”

“Dammit! How can you be her fucking twin and not see that something’s wrong? She’s not like you, Jude. Holing up as a recluse has never been her thing. The strength on the outside masks the most fragile soul on the inside. She
needs
people, it’s why she clung to Kelly in college and had tea with your mom every weekend. It’s why she craved every minute in the garage working on cars with your dad and sparred with you. If she loved this Aric guy, then she has to be in so much pain, and whatever you did to piss her off has driven her away from the only person she has and now she’s alone. Jessica doesn’t do alone. We have to find her. Something’s wrong. I saw her that day in Houston, a hollow shell of the woman I knew. So whatever the hell you did, make it right and help me find her.”

Jackson,
Jude
, never saw the desperate, out-of-control side to Luke. The great Dr. Jones carried himself with control and authority. His analytical mind insisted he always think before speaking. Jessica got under his skin. She ran through his veins and infected his mind.

“I can’t make it right—
ever
.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you believe. You weren’t here. You didn’t see her dying right along with him. I had to put a stop to his pain. I had to save her.”

From one highly intelligent man to another, Jackson knew no further explanation would be necessary.

“I’ll find her.” Luke ended the call.

Jackson sent the phone flying across the room, crashing into the stone around the fireplace. “Goddammit!” Pressing the heels of his hands to his forehead, he gritted his teeth. “Fucking suicidal shrink.”

Luke’s total disregard for his own life would get him killed. Jillian would never
ever
take another breath if Luke died. Claire, their parents, and AJ seemed impossible to handle, but she did.

Luke? Never.

Jessica had what their parents never did. She had
everything
. If Luke died she would officially have
nothing.

Day

E
yes of desire
and complete
adoration
roved Jessica’s body.

“Never stop looking at me like that.” She lifted the floor-length skirt to her red strapless evening gown and crossed the bedroom to straighten the matching red tie of her handsome fiancé in his black suit and crisp white shirt.

He grabbed her hand. They both knew it was already straight. Messing with Luke’s tie had become the proverbial ruffling of his anal-retentive feathers.

“And how is it that I’m looking at you?”

Her eyes focused on his fingers adjusting her engagement ring. He did that a lot, as if he needed to reassure himself that she was still there—that she really said yes. It always made her smile.

“Like I’m a dream.”

“Are you?” His hand moved from her ring to her wrist, feathering up her arm until her skin prickled with goose bumps.

Twisting her red lips, she looked up through painted black lashes at the world’s most gorgeous face. “Hmm … maybe. But a wet dream? Yes.”

Luke smirked. “You strip me of all dignity and self-control with just one look. I’m pretty sure all that’s left is a walking erection in a suit.”

She laughed. “Let’s go. Rumor has it, this holiday party has an open bar. If you’re lucky I’ll get a little tipsy and you might score later.” Turning on silver, open-toed heels, she clacked down the hall to the front door.

“Ten bucks says you’ll be riding one of my legs on the ‘dance floor’ before you’ve finished your second glass of champagne.”

She narrowed her eyes, tossing her lipstick into her clutch purse. “Once. That happened once, and I’d had a lot to drink
and
nobody saw because the dance floor was so crowded.”

Luke opened the door as she kissed Jones on the head before sashaying to the elevator.

“It was an award ceremony and I was the guest of honor. There wasn’t a dance floor. You basically gave me a lap dance in front of my colleagues to background elevator music after downing an entire bottle of wine during my acceptance speech.”

The elevator door opened to the parking garage. Jessica held her head high as she made her way to the car.

“You were giving me bedroom eyes during the whole damn speech. It made me nervous like everyone could see what you were thinking, so I just kept drinking to numb my nerves.”

“I wasn’t giving you ‘bedroom eyes.’ I don’t love speaking in public and I was using you as a friendly face to calm
my nerves
.” He opened the car door for her, then walked to the driver’s side.

They drove to the party, exchanging flirty looks the whole way. Jessica loved Luke’s playful side. Not too many people got to see it, and that made it even sexier.

“Behave,” he whispered in her ear as they stepped into the hotel lobby. His deep voice elicited all kinds of deviant thoughts, not one falling under the heading of “behave.”

As they approached the entrance to the Grand Ball Room, Jude stepped around the corner from the women’s restroom, straightening his jacket and tie.

“Don’t,” he warned his sister before she had a chance to say the words that matched her scowl. “Luke.” Jude smirked, giving him an easy nod.

“He’s not going to give you a high five or fist bump or any other approval of your terribly inappropriate actions, so don’t
even
smile at him.”

Jude’s brows peaked, his attention focused on Luke. “Man, are you really going to let her speak for you? That’s kind of emasculating, if you asked me.”

Luke’s eyes flitted between the Day twins, both daring him to take the other’s side. “Was she married?” He gestured toward the restroom.

“No.”

“Condom?”

“Yes.” Jude smirked.

Luke shrugged. “Well, I believe my job here is done.”

“Holy fucking hell! What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well … well … well … I thought I heard my daughter out here.” Grant opened the door to the ballroom and stepped aside to let his children and the traitor inside. “I don’t know too many women that use ‘holy,’ ‘fucking,’ and ‘hell’ in the same sentence.” He kissed Jessica on the cheek then pulled her in for a bear hug, as if to let Luke know she still belonged to him.

“Hi, Dad. Sorry. It was Jude’s fault…” she narrowed her eyes at Luke while still in her father’s arms “…and Luke’s.”

“And why are you boys getting my little girl all riled up?”

Jude snagged a glass of champagne from the waiter passing by. “She doesn’t approve of my extracurricular activities or Luke’s freedom of speech and his right to think for himself.”

Jessica wriggled out of her father’s arms and lunged for Jude, but not before Luke hooked his arm around her waist to prevent a scene.

“Man whore!” she seethed.

“Jessica!” Grant warned.

Jude emptied his entire glass of champagne down his throat then merged into the throng of people, giving her a sly look over his shoulder, the proverbial sticking his tongue out at her.

“I don’t understand how he ended up that way. You and Mom have the perfect marriage. He should be settling down and starting a family, not sticking his dick in every open hole.”

The thoughtful look on her father’s face gave no reassurance. If anything, his expression held an air of sadness. Then he dismissed her without a single explanation or affirmation that what she said was true.

“You’re going to have your hands full, Doctor Jones.” Grant turned and walked away without giving Jessica a second look.

Her jaw dropped to the floor.

“Don’t.” Luke pressed two fingers below her chin to close her mouth.

She batted his hand away. “I’m tired of everyone saying ‘don’t’ before I have a chance to say anything, like I’m so fucking predictable. You don’t know what I was going to say.”

“True. But I know what you’re thinking and your words only have a two-second delay from your thoughts.”

Jessica planted her fists on her hips. “Funny, I thought you were a psychiatrist not a psychic. But please, by all means tell me what I was thinking.”

Luke waited to speak because
his
words had more than a two-second delay from his thoughts.

“And don’t you fucking smirk at me, Jones!”

His lips pulled tight, fighting said smirk. As only total-control Luke could do, he took a deep breath, composed himself, and channeled his inner shrink.

“I was in the middle of composing a speech to yet again reassure you that we are Luke and Jessica, not Grant and Sunny and not Jude and every woman he’s used to suppress what’s really going on inside him. But you’re so mad at me I now think this is not about you doubting our future, I think …”

She leaned in, dying to hear his brilliant explanation. “You think what?”

Then it appeared.
Fucking smirk
.