I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. I'd gotten so used to always having the right answers for everything. It was strange, being back here, getting a pep talk from my older brother. But he wasn't wrong either. I did need to talk to Jade. The two of us needed to be open and honest with each other. There were too many secrets.
"I guess I should go talk to here, huh?" When Nick patted me on the knee again, I stood, handing him my empty glass. "If you're wrong about this, you know I'm coming to your room and smothering you with a pillow tonight, right?"
Nick winked at me, then finished the rest of his own glass of Scotch. "Just knock before you come in. I'm the only one who gets to see Gabrielle naked!"
Laughing, I stood and left him there, shaking my head. As much as I loved Gabrielle, I still thought of her as my little sister, and I most certainly did not want to see her naked. I especially didn't want to see the two of them in bed together.
If Nick's plan backfired, he untimely demise would have to wait until morning, when I could be sure the both of them were fully clothed.
When I got down to the kitchen though, it was empty. I frowned, but then I figured the conversation we were going to have was probably best suited for somewhere private anyway, so I headed upstairs to Jade's room. The door was closed, but there was light shining from beneath it, and I found myself holding my breath.
We needed to talk, but that didn't stop me from being scared shitless about it. Once again, I was back to feeling like a nervous preteen, about to confess his love to the girl three lockers down. Mentally, I kicked myself for being such an idiot. It was time to act like an adult, not a child.
Refusing to give in and run away, I knocked on Jade's door. The entire world seemed to stand still as I waited for her to answer. What was probably only a couple seconds seemed to stretch on for hours before the door slowly opened to reveal Jade standing there in a long t-shirt, with more skin on display than I'd ever seen from her.
Her eyes went wide when she saw me standing there, and she shifted uncomfortably. It looked like she wanted to cover herself up but was resisting that urge. "Mr. Frost? What are you doing here?" Her eyes glanced in both directions down the hall, but no one else was around.
"Call me Christian, please," I said, hoping my voice sounded calmer than I felt. "I was hoping we could talk. I know it's fairly late, but there's some stuff we need to talk about."
Jade took a deep breath, then nodded and stepped away from the door, letting me step inside. She shut it behind me, then shifted nervously again. "I guess we didn't get much done on the plane, did we? Let me get my laptop out of my bag."
I stopped her with a shake of my head. "It's not about work. Well, not directly anyway."
She turned to look at me with an odd expression on her face. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and backed away a couple of steps as she watched me. Immediately, I wanted to turn tail and run away, but I stood my ground anyway.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment, trying to figure out where to begin. There wasn't any good way to start a conversation like this. The best way was to just get straight to the point. "I know about the baby."
"What?" was all Jade managed to stammer out as she stumbled backward. She looked like I'd just hit her. Her entire body started shaking as her eyes darted around the room. This time, I wanted to rush over and wrap my arms around her, to assure her everything would be fine, but I still didn't dare move. As much as I wanted to be the one to comfort her, I wasn't sure that was what she wanted.
"I heard you and Mom talking," I admitted, my face heating up a bit. Eavesdropping wasn't exactly the mature thing to do. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. "I know it's why you want to quit."
Tears stream down Jade's cheeks, and I can't stay away from her anymore. I rush over and wrap my arms around her. She stiffens for a moment, then buries her head against my chest, crying as I hold her tight. It felt like she'd been bottling everything up for so long, and I wanted her to just get it all out. She had to be under an insane amount of stress.
By the time she started to calm down, I knew one thing for sure. I loved this woman more than anything in the world, and I vowed to do whatever I could to never see her cry like that again. I wanted her to be happy, to feel safe and comfortable. Even if she wasn't in love with me, I would do everything I could to protect her.
"Please, don't leave," I whispered in her ear. "Stay. You don't have to leave just because of the baby. It won't affect your job, I promise."
Jade nodded but still didn't speak. She just stayed there in my arms, like she never wanted to leave. And that was just fine with me. There was nowhere I'd rather be.
14
Jade
Once the tears had started flowing, I couldn't stop them until I'd finished. I felt like such an idiot, just standing there crying, but Christian held me the entire time. After all the trouble I'd gone through to hide the baby from him, it'd all come out in the stupidest way possible. I couldn't believe he'd found out from overhearing a conversation
