Shatter

“Jaymeson, you don’t know the full story—”

“—Would it really matter? I mean, in the end?” Jaymeson swore violently. “A picture of my step-mom in the same hotel room with Alec just went into the Twitterverse! There were drugs in that picture, Demetri! What? You her supplier? Her own flesh and blood.”

And too far. A person can only take so much yelling until they snap and try to kill someone.

I punched him on the other side of the face, the one part of his skin that wasn’t already bruised by my fist. I didn’t stop until someone pulled me off of him.

Alec.

He jerked me away from Jaymeson. “You don’t want to kill him, Demetri.”

“What the hell?” Jaymeson roared. “You guys are freaking insane!” He stumbled to the door and flipped us off as the screen slammed behind him.

My breathing was so heavy I knew I was going to explode. I was shaking and Alec still wasn’t letting me go.

“Brothers,” Alec said, voice hoarse. “It doesn’t matter if it’s flesh and blood or not, we’re brothers.”

“We stick together,” I agreed, as he released me.

It didn’t matter that the cameras caught everything or that our secret was out. All that mattered was that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had one person I could count on. The one person who had protected me my entire life — had literally given up his so I could learn from my mistakes. And he’d been paying for his own for too long.

“Alec.”

“What?” He walked to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack.

“There’s something else.”

“Dude, I don’t know if I can take it.”

I cleared my throat and looked at the camera crew. “Give us a minute, guys. Pretty sure you just got primetime TV right now. You can afford five minutes.”

Ruben nodded slowly and led the crew out the front door.

“What?” Alec placed the ice pack on his face and scowled.

“Nat’s—”

“—I’m pregnant,” came Nat’s watery voice from the hallway.

The ice pack hit the floor first.

And then Alec.

Chapter Thirty-one

Alec

“What the hell?” I blinked once, twice, and saw Nat, Alyssa, and Demetri standing over me. Demetri was busy spraying me with something that smelled like rotten cabbage. “What is that?”

“Hairspray.” He shrugged. “It’s Angelica’s. It makes Jaymeson sneeze, so we thought it would either wake you up or cause a seizure.”

“I voted for seizure.” This from Alyssa. Damn protective women sticking together through thick and thin.

“I bet you did,” I grumbled as Demetri helped me to my feet and over to the couch. “Did I pass out?”

“Yup.” Demetri grinned. “You hit the floor hard. It was freaking hilarious.”

I glared.

“Or, uh…” He cleared his throat. “It would have been had you not hit your head so hard. P.S. Make sure to stay awake for at least six hours, and try not to crap your pants.” He gave me a thumbs up and put his arm around Alyssa. “Right, so we’re going to go… you guys… have fun and…” his voice trailed off as he dragged Alyssa out of the house, leaving me alone with Nat.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Nat was pregnant? Forget being excited. It scared the hell out of me! I couldn’t even take care of Nat, let alone a tiny human being. I felt like throwing up. “How far along are you?” My voice sounded foreign to my own ears.

“After admitting to using sex to numb your own guilt, after keeping Demetri’s adoption from him, after leaving me sobbing on the ground last night — that’s the first thing you ask?” Nat’s voice rose in pitch the longer she talked, and the more she said, the more I wanted someone to smack me.

Her glare was murderous, so I decided that instead of answering right away, I should probably think before I said anything else.

Nat sighed and joined me on the floor. My body and mind waged war against one another. Part of me needed her closer, yet my conscience wouldn’t allow it. Guilt forced me to push away the need I had for her — maybe love wasn’t strong enough to combat what was wrong with me.

I finally decided on saying the one thing I knew people always said when they did something stupid. I hated even saying it, because by saying it I was being like every other person out there that said it over and over again but kept repeating the same shitty behavior. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” She huffed. “Do you even know what you’re sorry about?”

“Everything.” I swallowed. “Every damn thing.”

“The baby? Are you sorry about that?”

“No! Hell, no.” I reached for her hand and held it, even though I wanted to tug her into my arms. “Nat, listen to me. I’m scared as hell, but I would never take back what we’ve shared.”

Her face fell. “Shared?”

I released her hand. “Nat, you have to know—”

“—No.” She jumped to her feet and turned to glare at me. “No, you don’t get to play that part. Get your head out of your ass, Alec Daniels, or so help me God I’m going to punch you again.”

“What—”

“—No.” Nat licked her lips and pointed her finger in my face. “You’re the only person who doesn’t see it, Alec. And I’m sick and tired of your martyr attitude. You think everyone would be better off without you, am I right? Oh poor me, I make so many mistakes, I need to go sulk in private and fix my shit before I can even hope to deserve happiness, blah, blah, blah.”