Red Shoes, Black Coffee (Red & Black #2)

24 | Breaking news

Jed

I measure my brother, who's got his eyes glued to the spot where Ada and Mia disappeared moments ago, with a glare. He's not a happy camper. The hand that has been wrapped around his girlfriend's waist before is now clenched into a fist.

"You know, you could just piss around her." I tell him. "I think that would be easier."

Daylen tears his gaze off the doorway and looks at me with a shit-eating grin on his face. "The same goes for you, brother." He fires back. "You might want to look up the definition of 'just friends' because I have a feeling that you won't find a photo of you and Ada there."

A muscle in my jaw ticks but I don't swallow the bait. Daylen and I haven't faught in a long time and I think he misses it. He's not gonna provoke me today, though. Not over Ada.

"At least I know where to draw the line." I snap. "Tell me, brother, is Mia's yet another heart you're going to break by leaving?"

The smirk immediately disappears from Day's lips. Cold, quiet fury replaces it at the same time his shoulders square. "Thread carefully, Jade." He warns. "I doubt it you want to crush Mom's birthday by losing a tooth or two."

"Right." I snort. "Because it'd be me who'd lose teeth."

"I'm serious, Jed." For what I think is the first time in Day's life, he doesn't sound amused. "Don't talk about things you know nothing about. My relationship with Mia is one of those things."

I laugh, but there is no humor in it. "I know plenty about broken hearts, thank you very much."

"I'm not going to break anyone's heart."

"Of course not." Sarcasm drips from my voice. "Because long-distance relationships are all shits and giggles."

"There will be no long-distance relationship."

"Because you're going to end it with her before you go?" I ask, incredulous. I can't believe it. "Sure, that makes it so much better. Good way to go, brother. Congratulations."

"There won't be because I'm not leaving."

I pause. Freeze. Blink. Look at Daylen. Blink again. "What?"

"I'm not leaving."

I think Daylen is going to have to repeat it six more times before those words get to me. I can't help staring at him. I think my brain just froze over.

"We were going to announce it during the dinner, but if you can't wait, then here you go. I'm not leaving. I'm not joining the army. Mia is pregnant. I'm staying with her."

Well, holy shit. I expected many things to happen today and many different scenarios of this dinner appeared in my head, but this one was not among them.

"Oh." I finally say, sounding like the last dumbass. "Well then. Congratulations again. This time for real." I clear my throat, embarrassed. I'm not acting like a good brother myself right now.

"Thanks." Day grins. He looks as happy as I've ever seen him. He glanced down at the floor, the tips of his cheekbones flushing slightly.

"Wow." I say again. I still haven't quite shaken off the shock. "Mom is going to flip."

"She'll be thrilled. I guess." Day replies. "Dad may say something about being responsible and settling down but I'll just remind him he and Mom were still in college when I was born."

I snort. Our parents did a remarkable job of trying the fact that Mom was already pregnant with Day when she and Dad got married. I think they were hoping we were never going to learn how to count because as soon as we did the maths, we realized something was off, considering that the wedding was in the late September, and Day was born on March 11th. Six month is a little too short a time to carry out pregnancy, and my brother is no preemie.