Jamie's Revenge (19 page)

“You know darlin’, I’m going to have to punish you for making me rush,” Brodie growled in her ear, feeling her snorted response. “You just don’t understand.
We
set the pace, and in about a minute, I’m going to be proving that point to you, so you better take a breath now.”

That had her tensing.

“
Brodie! Caelen!”
Linc’s roared demand pounded through the door right along with the fist he hammered into it. “You better stop screwing around with Jamie and come help me. Bridgette’s gone into labor.”

Ah, hell.
Fate really did hate him.

Chapter 14

Jamie paced around the living room, cracking her knuckles as she went. Overhead, the muted sounds of men talking were punctuated by the high pitched screams of her sister and thumps of the bed frame against the floor. It sounded like she was dying, and Jamie worried that she actually might.

Being forced to wait downstairs, not knowing what was going on or able to offer any help or advice, really ate at Jamie. Never one to sit on the side while all the action went down, her last attempt to get in the room had resulted in Caelen shoving her back out and slamming the door in her face, a rudeness she’d have taken him to task for on any other occasion.

Tonight, though, she feared she might be worse than no help. After the wringer Brodie and Caelen had put her through, Jamie felt scattered and disoriented, unable to truly think clearly.

Even being capable of rational thought wouldn’t have gotten around the fact that Jamie knew absolutely nothing about giving birth. Until three hours ago, she hadn’t even had any firsthand experience on how to
make
one. Jamie blocked those thoughts every time they entered her mind.

The last thing she needed to add to her list of worries was what had happened upstairs with Brodie and Caelen, or worse yet, the ramifications of it all. Not that she could stop her mind from drifting there every time it took a break from obsessing over her sister’s well being.

Agitated and circling, she wore her hands sore with all the cracking. Every second felt like she wouldn’t survive the next one coming, so when a new sound broke through the air, Jamie also most fell over with relief.

The shrill cry of a baby broke over even his mother’s screams. Like a burning iron to the flank, the sound jolted Jamie out of her pacing and into a run as she made for the bedroom. Caelen wouldn’t keep her out this time. With the baby delivered, she could surely be of some help. Maybe some comfort to her sister or an extra set of…

With the bedroom door bouncing against the wall, Jamie came to a horrified stop. Bridgette was sobbing as Linc held a blood covered baby.
So much blood…
it slimed over the baby and down some demonic looking cord that disappeared back in between her sister’s splayed legs.

It looked like her life’s supply had already gushed out from her legs to soil the sheets. In that moment, Jamie realized her worst nightmares had come true. Brodie and Caelen didn’t know what they were doing, and surely by sunrise, they’d be digging holes for the bodies. The overwhelming boil of emotion popped out of her in a scream that outdid both mother and child.

With no bottom to the swell, there was no stop to the sound until Caelen blocked it out with his hand. Cursing and muttering, he slapped a hand over her mouth and wrapped the arm right around her shoulders.

Using that hold, he dragged her right across the hall and back into the other bedroom. The door being kicked closed behind them finally triggered a different response from her. With no sanity to it, Jamie attacked Caelen in a desperate attempt to get back to her sister.

“
Let me go!
”

 
“Damnit, Jamie! ...Ow! You
bit me!
”

She kicked him next in an attempt to make it pass him to the door. She even got it open by about an inch before it slammed back hard into its frame. “That is
enough
.”

That growl preceded her world being spun all around. Before Jamie could even grasp what Caelen did, he had her flying in through the air to flatten out the mattress as she landed. A second later she got flattened by Caelen’s weight.

Not that it deterred her from fighting him with everything she had. Unfortunately, it turned out to be half of what he had, pure muscle. Grunting out obscenities with each breath, Caelen brought her to a still by caging in her wrist and splitting her thighs with his. Pushing the very breath out of her with the massive weight of his chest, Caelen couldn’t exorcise the demon riding her that easy.

Compiled by the hopelessness of her situation, it welled up stronger than before, unleashing itself in tears as she looked up into Caelen’s tired-hardened features. “Please, Caelen, let me go. I got to get to Bridgette.”

His harsh sigh blew her tears to the side. With a scowl, he lifted his free hand to try and rub the rest away, but more just kept falling. “I don’t know what is going on in that crazy head of yours, Jamie, but the last thing Bridgette needs is you screaming down the rafters.”

“
Please, Caelen
.”

“And just what are you going to do for her other than get in the way?”

“I don’t know.” Jamie honestly didn’t, but she had to do, “something, anything. I can’t just let me sister die.”

“Die?” Over a moment of shock, he rolled his eyes and gave another sigh. This one pointedly exasperated. “Your sister ain’t dying, Jamie.”

“Don’t lie to me.” Not the least bit assured by his attitude, Jamie’s emotions started to condense into a single one—anger, at his ass. “I saw all the blood.”

“That ain’t blood, dummy.”

“Then what the hell is it?”

That had his nose flaring as his gaze narrowed. “Well, I don’t know what they call it, but it’s what comes out with birth.”

“
Liar!
”

“I’m about to tan your ass for that one.”

“And I’ll do worse than tan yours if my sister dies.”

“
She’s not dying
. Jesus, Jamie, ain’t you ever seen a calf being born or pups or something?”

“Good heavens, no!” Just the idea had her shivering. All that ruckus made it sound like the gates of hell were opening. Anytime she could, she escaped as far out as it took to find silence. “Daddy and my brothers always handled that.”

“Well, I have, and trust me, that’s what comes out during birth. Be it a heifer, a dog, a horse, or your sister.”

Caelen’s tone dared her to call him a liar now, but that wasn’t what stopped her. It was the seriousness in his gaze and the sure knowledge that if Bridgette had been dying, he wouldn’t have wasted time arguing with her but just hogtied her to the bed.

That didn’t stop her from needing reassurance. “You’re sure she’s all right?”

“Can’t you hear her?” Caelen paused to let Bridgette’s shouts, along with the baby’s continued cries, to answer that question. “Do either one of them sound like they’re dying?”

“No.” The begrudging concession reflected the pent-up emotions still rolling through her.

Caelen eased his weight slowly off her. “No, so there is nothing for you to worry about. Now I got to get back there and help them clean everything up. I’m going to trust you to stay here and out of the way until I come to get you. All right?”

He asked that from above her, and his answer only came from the fact that she didn’t flex an inch. Washed out by fear and worry, Jamie just laid there as Caelen disappeared. Her mind took almost no note of him at all, as it flashed back to the horrific scene she’d rushed into.

If Caelen had it right, and Bridgette and the baby did sound just fine, that meant what she’d seen had been a normal birth.
Normal…
If she got pregnant that would be…
her?
Jamie almost collapsed under the horror as her mind latched onto the fact that Brodie had already pumped his seed into her body.

She could
already
be pregnant. If not then, it would only be because of luck. That kind of luck didn’t last forever, especially not with two men in her bed. The problem absorbed her attention, and she laid there staring right through the ceiling into the future disaster she’d created.

Time slipped pass without notice, so, too, did the renewed mayhem down the hall as another round of shouting ended in a second shrill voice lending its complaints to the first.

All of it went unnoticed by Jamie as she tried desperately to figure a way out of the mess she’d made.

So consumed in her own concerns, Jamie didn’t even hear the door open or the sluggish steps of the weary man lumber over toward her. Only Caelen’s voice had her realizing that she’d been lost for some time.

“I didn’t mean for you to stay perfectly still, darlin’.” Caelen’s weary attempt at humor matched the pull on her arm that dragged Jamie to a sit even as Caelen took the spot next to her on the edge of the bed.

“I ain’t doing it.” That reservation materialized itself over the very fact that she’d worried herself to being afraid of what Caelen’s intentions were sitting there on the bed.

“Doing what?” Caelen yawned out that question. “Moving? I know how you feel. I am worn out, Jamie. I don’t think—”

“I’m not having sex with you.”

He took that as a spontaneous declaration and looked around as if to find an explanation for its sudden appearance. “Okay. I wasn’t honestly planning on making a move on you right now, darlin’. I hate to say it, but I think I’m actually too tired—”

“Not ever, Caelen.” Jamie needed him to understand. “I can’t…do that.”

“What? Give birth?” He got it then, but his smile failed to reassure. “You’re just letting the emotions of the night get to you. Once—”

“No, Caelen.
Not ever
. I’m not doing
that again
.”

Caelen drew in a patient breath. “I am not in the mood, Jamie.”

“I won’t marry you, either.”

That earned her a groan and got his eyes a hard rub by his finger tips before his chin fell toward his chest and rolled to let him look at her. “Fine. Whatever. I am tired beyond measure, and I just came in here to reassure you that Bridgette and the babies are—”

“Babies?”

“Yeah,” Caelen drew the word out as if it hurt. “You Traynor women seem intent on punishing us MacAuley’s, so Bridgette decided to give Angus and Linc twin girls.”

That bit of news brought a real smile finally to Jamie’s night, even if it gave Caelen a cynically twisted one. “Twin girls….they’re all right?”

“And sleeping right alongside their worn out mama and dad, but that won’t last long.” Caelen shoved off the bed to cast a pitting look. “Soon enough you’ll be begging to sleep anywhere those babes aren’t. When you’re looking for a quiet place to get a full night’s sleep, I’ll be waiting to talk to you about that no-sex idea you’ve come up with.”

With that he headed for the door. It just took him longer to get there than normal.

“I ain’t going to change my mind, Caelen,” Jamie hollered after him.

“Whatever you say, darlin’.” Caelen paused with the door open to shoot her a smirk. “But I was here earlier. I know you’re weakness, darlin’. As Brodie would say, you need dick, darlin’.”

Before she could get a response out to that pearl, he shut the door on the conversation.

* * * *

“If you’re quoting me, she must have really pissed you off.” Brodie got in the response Jamie hadn’t, fortunate enough to actually catch his brother in the act. Closing Linc and Bridgette’s door behind him, Brodie waited for his brother to explain why he hadn’t collected their woman the way they’d agreed he would.

“Eh,” Caelen reached back to rub his neck. “Jamie’s in a mood.”

“Aren’t we all right about now?” Brodie knew he sure as hell was. As tired as his body felt, his spirit had been too riled up over the past few hours to submit back into a peaceful state.

“All that worry about Bridgette dying has gotten to her. She decided she ain’t going to have sex anymore.”

Brodie shared his brother’s smirk at that idea. “Did you tell her that it wasn’t her decision to make?”

“I ain’t in the mood to argue it. If you are, be my guest.” Caelen stretched and started down the stairs. “I’m going to bed, like a sane person would.”

Caelen threw that shot over his shoulder as he disappeared around the turn in the stairs. If he meant to imply that Brodie wasn’t right in the head, Caelen wouldn’t get an argument from him. Normally Brodie considered himself to be quite practical and reasonable, but add Jamie to the mix and…well, her insanity spread.

Just like now, because he couldn’t simply let go of his objection to her idea. They would be having sex and quite a lot of it. Maybe even some more tonight if she pissed him off enough. That sounded like an idea. It was never too hard to annoy Jamie into pissing him off.

Pushing in the door with every intention of confronting her, Jamie hit him first with her declaration of war. As if they’d been having some kind of conversation, Jamie started speaking before he even got through the door.