Shift Happens (Providence Family Ties 2)

If I thought explaining my accident to my dads would be hard, trying to reassure them I wasn’t pregnant with Jackson’s baby after this would be hell on earth.

That’s why I looked frantically at Jackson and mouthed, “Do something, you asshole!”

Did he jump up to explain it? Did he hell.

The big bastard just smiled smugly at me and said, “Hey, Mom. You remember Sasha Adams-DeWitt, don’t you?”

And that’s when it all went to hell, and Marcus—the big shithead—put his hand over my mouth to stop me saying a word.

Chapter Seven

Jackson

Oh, she was going to kill me. I could see it every time her eyes moved in my direction.

But I’d take that death, because damn if this wasn’t one of the most amusing situations I’d ever been in.

“Of course I remember her,” Mom huffed, walking over and hugging Sasha. “It’s great to see you, sweet girl.”

Standing back up again, she glared at me the same way Sasha was—although my brothers were earning their own thanks to how hard they were laughing. “Now, I’m going to start by saying, I totally saw this happening.”

Her words almost stole my humor.

Almost.

“Huh?”

“Oh,” she sighed, sitting down next to Sasha on the couch. “You guys were always staring at each other when the other one wasn’t looking. It was adorable until you started avoiding each other.

“Sam and Ryan didn’t believe me when I pointed it out to them, but when I heard she was transferring to Arizona—which was my idea, by the way. You’re welcome—I decided to push you together.” She motioned it out with her hands like we didn’t know what it entailed.

“I have to say, this pregnancy, engagement, and whatever’s going on here,”—she swept her hand in the air up and down Sasha— “is a bit of shock.”

Smirking at me, Marcus sat on the arm of the chair next to Sasha. “I always thought it was me you liked. I’m hurt.”

“It was always you,” Sasha deadpanned. “I think I prefer the younger model.”

Scowling at both of them, I turned my glare onto Milkshake, who was happily lying in my brother’s arms. The traitor.

“Children,” Mom clapped her hands, pulling my attention away from the shit-eating grin Marcus was flashing at me.

For a man who was usually quiet and serious, he was enjoying this way too much.

“Let’s discuss the baby. And the wedding.” She looked at Dad like she was trying to check if she’d forgotten anything. When he motioned to Sasha’s arm and leg, she added, “And what the hell’s happened.”

“Right, so you see, Sasha was apparently feeling poorly with the flu, so she crawled out of bed to go and get some Tylenol,” Sadie began recounting the tale, and I gave up and sat down on the only spare chair available, dropping my head back and waiting for the explosion.

“She dragged on whatever clothes she could find—which unfortunately turned out to all be colored black—and went outside. As she was crossing the road, Jackson was driving along, looking for a parking spot, and instead of driving over one of those speed bumps that make you slow down, he drove over—”

Mom’s horrified gasp would have had me lifting my head if I hadn’t been expecting it, and I just knew she was glaring at me. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”

I either didn’t, or she wanted me to say I didn’t. There was no correct answer to that. I technically hadn’t driven over Sasha, but she’d definitely cut my speed down like the speed bumps did.

“He did,” Marcus confirmed for me.

Had I mentioned he was an asshole yet?

“Your dads must be going insane. I’ve got to call them.”

“No,” Sasha shrieked. “You can’t tell them.”

“What about the baby? Is it okay?”

Lifting my head now, I rolled my eyes. “There isn’t a baby—”

“Yet,” Elijah interjected smugly. “No matter what you do, it’ll come along when you least expect it. Who knows, you could have made once since you tried to kill her with your truck.”

“So who’s pregnant?” Mom asked, sounding confused until she looked at Sadie. “Again? Already? You’ve only just had one.”

Glaring at Elijah, she growled, “Would you get some control. I swear, I raised you all better than this.”

Holding both hands out in front of him, Elijah shook his head. “No, there’s isn’t another baby. Is there?” This last bit was to Sadie, who burst out laughing.

“Not if you want to keep your balls there isn’t.”

Rubbing her forehead, Mom groaned. “This is all so confusing. What about the wedding?”

Putting Milkshake on the ground, Marcus moved his arms in a large circle. “It’s going to be huge. Jackson was just saying he wants a horse-drawn carriage, big hats, and for the beautiful Sasha here to be wearing one of those over-the-top fluffy princess dresses.”

Sasha burst out laughing at the way he described it like it was a fairytale.