Becoming Three Read Online Free PDF

his face twisted her stomach. “How many did you have?” She kept her voice soft.
“Five.” Jace rubbed at his jaw and grimaced. “Maybe six.”
“Oh, Jace.” Sarah closed her eyes for a moment as she absorbed the information. She knew Jace understood and accepted he had problems if he drank more than one beer or glass of wine or whatever. He had control over it most of the time. “What brought this on?” She suddenly sat up straight and grabbed his hand. “Did something happen to Hunter? Did he contact you?” Sarah had only received sporadic e-mails from her brother in the last year or so, and it sometimes felt like those came from a complete stranger. “Was it the army? Is he hurt?”
“No no no.” Jace grabbed Sarah's hand and clutched it tightly. “It's not Hunter.” He looked at her, and a deep sense of loss, as vivid as her own, reflected back at her. “I haven't heard from him since the last time you did.”
Sarah deflated, her heart aching without word from her brother. “Then what?”
“Shannon doesn't want to see me anymore,” he said, his voice flat. “We… She ended it last night.”
“I'm sorry.” Sarah pursed her lips, biting the edge of her lower one. “But I mean, I don't want to be tactless…”
Jace gave her a pointed look. “You can be worse than me sometimes, so just spit it out.”
“Fine, I'll say it. I always thought it was just about sex between you and Shannon. I didn't think you had deep feelings for her, at least not enough to make you drink more than your limit because she broke up with you.” Sarah's gaze dropped to her hand grasped so firmly in Jace's. Her palm tingled, disturbingly so. She always felt it all over whenever Jace accidentally or deliberately touched her. Right on top of that, her mind flashed with the incredible step she had taken in her relationship with Jasper last night, and she tugged her hand from Jace's hold.
Stop reacting to him.
“That's all I wanted to say,” she finished.
Jace stood and walked to the refrigerator. “I don't like that you gave any thought to my relationship with Shannon, in any context”—it sounded like he grumbled the words through a mouth full of gravel—“let alone that you figured out it was purely sexual.”
Sarah gritted her teeth. “You know, Jace, one of our biggest problems is that you refuse to see me as an adult. If you thought of me as your equal, then you could come to me when something happens instead of sitting in the dark drinking.”
Jace came back to the table, a tall glass of juice in hand. “Trust me”—he wrapped his hands around his glass in a very deliberate fashion—“it's really not a good idea for me to bring my problems to you.”
She snapped her focus to him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” Resting his elbows on the table, Jace pushed his hands through his hair and left them there, holding his head up. “It just means: don't worry. I slipped up, but I have everything back in control. You won't wake up or come home one night to find me drunk or fighting off a hangover again.” He laid a steady stare on her. “I promise you that.”
“Are you okay?” The sun started to shine in through the kitchen window, but Sarah held off getting up to go take her shower. “Do I need to tell the sheriff you caught a bug and won't be able to come into work today?”
Jace scratched his head and pushed himself into a straighter position. “No. I don't need to be in until ten; I'll be fine by then.” He picked up his juice, took a big drink of it, and Sarah watched the olive column of his throat move as he swallowed. “Let me drink about a gallon of this”—he lifted his glass in a salute—“have a long shower, and I'll be fine.”
“All right.” Sarah forced herself to stand but couldn't make herself leave. Instead, she leaned into Jace and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Take care of yourself, please.” With her lips still pressed in his hair, she closed her