Chapter Eighty One

Raleigh

After spending the day in bed all day yesterday feeling like complete and total crap, I woke up this morning feeling much better.
Morning sickness is weird, that’s for sure and it certainly isn’t just something that happens in the morning and then you're good for the rest of the day.
I’m afraid of getting sick again while I’m at school today but I can’t miss again, I’ve missed too much as it is already. 
Serenity pulls into the parking lot, going on about something but I’m honestly not paying attention.
Instead, I’m too focused on trying to figure out why there’s a massive crowd of people at the edge of the lot, next to a truck that looks an awful lot like…
*No! There’s no way! He’s supposed to still be in the hospital.* 
“What do you think that’s all about?” I ask Serenity, interrupting whatever she’s saying as I point at the crowd of people.
“Who knows? Feel up to finding out?”
“No,” I say with a sigh as I shake my head. “Someone’s Daddy probably just bought them a new vehicle or we got a new student or something but I’m too far behind to waste my time with finding out.” I watch as Ser’s face drops and I immediately feel bad. “But, you should still go and be nosy and report back what you find out!” I say as cheerfully as I can manage.
“Are you sure?” She places her hand over mine letting me know she means whatever it is that she’s fixing to say. “I can come with and help you catch up instead.” 
Covering her hand with my free one, I give in a squeeze and give her a genuine smile before saying, “I really appreciate it, I do. But so much of this year has been effed up for you because of me and it’s your senior year. You deserve to be free, be wild, be nosy with the rest of the school and just have fun! I promise, I’ll be okay.”
“Rayleigh Grace,” the way she says my full name tells me that she means business but it takes everything in me not to grin because she hasn’t called me by my full name unless she’s mad at me in *forever*. 
“Everything that’s happened this year, the ups and the downs, the good and the bad, do I wish the bad didn’t happen to you? Hell yes, but they did and I wouldn’t change a single minute of how I spent my time while you were gone. There’s no way I could have gone out and partied, not knowing if you were alive or dead. I couldn't have gone out chasing boys or anything else because you were what mattered to me, not any of that other stuff. Okay?”
I’m barely holding back my tears and if I try to talk, I know I’ll break. So, instead of answering, I sniffle and nod my head yes.
“Now, let’s get out of this car. You’ve got catching up to do and I’ve got some dirt to dig up and dish out,” she shots me a wink before wrapping her arms around em and pulling me into a hug and murmurs against my hair, “If it isn’t obvious, I love you hoe!”
And that does it, I completely lose it, barely managing to force out the words, “I love you too, bish,” between happy sobs.
See pulls back, snorts a laugh and then helps me fix my makeup before opening her door.
“Lets go, hoe.” She shoots me a grin as she says, "We've got stuff to do and not a whole lot of time to do it in.”

I managed to get a little bit of studying done but my thoughts kept going to the crowd in the parking lot, the vehicle that looked an awful lot like Lincoln’s and what it could all mean.
Finally giving up, I pack all of my things back in my bag and throw it over my shoulder, knowing the first bell is going to ring soon and I’ve got quite a walk between here and my first class.
I exit the library and take in my surroundings as I head down the steps, the same steps that changed so much just two days ago.
There’s no longer a bunch of people gathered in the parking lot but Ser never messaged me. 
At least, I don't think she did. 
I pull my phone from my back pocket to check if I have any missed messages but find none from her.
Frowning, I pull up our messages and type out…

**Rayleigh: so, did you find out what was going on in the parking lot?**

Just as I hit send, someone comes up behind me and then something covers my eyes. Immediately, I begin to panic, thinking that it’s *him* and that he’s come back to get me again already.
I begin fighting against the person that has hold of me, not realizing when they release me.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay,” I turn around and gasp before running and jumping into his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck and lowering my mouth to his for a kiss that I have dreamed of since the moment that he left me in the hospital.
Before my lips make contact with his, he turns his face, giving me his cheek. Hurt slams into me and unwrapping my legs from around his waist and my arms from around his neck, I slide down his body before dropping to my feet.
Lincoln reaches out and grasps hold of my hand as he leans down and whispers, “I’m Jax, not Lincoln. I’ll explain everything, just not here. But we need to act as normal for you two as possible, okay?”
I nod, not understanding what’s going on but willing to hear him out.
Jax threads his fingers through mine and leads me through the courtyard, “What class do you have first?”
“Umm… Calculus?”
Chuckling, he looks down at me and says, “Are you asking me or telling me?” And although I know they are identical quads, I hadn’t realized until just that moment how alike they were, Jax even laughs the same as Lincoln for Christ sake.
“Telling.” I say hastily, feeling my cheeks heat with embarrassment. “I’m telling you that I have calculus.”
“Alright,” Jax says with a nod before he begins leading the way again, “let’s get to Cal then.”
“Wait, you’re going to be in my class? Why?” I can’t help but ask, wanting answers sooner rather than later.
“I go to school here now, at least for the time being.” He says it as if transferring schools at the end of the your Senior year is no big deal.
“But why? I don’t understand.” When he won’t answer me I stop and tug on his hand, refusing to go any further until he talks to me. “Jax, it’s your Senior year.”
“Lincoln, Rayleigh. You have to call me Lincoln.” He whispers through clenched teeth, glancing around as if checking to make sure no one overheard me calling him Jax.
“But why? And it’s not like anyone heard or would care anyway.” I say and glide my hand across the expanse of the courtyard, indicating that it’s emptying save for us standing here.
Sighing, he shaking his head back and forth as he pitched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and closed his eyes. After a moment he opens them and then leads me to a secluded nook between the library and the main building.
“Look I’m here to help, okay?” He says by way of explanation, as if that little bit should be enough to make me understand but instead it just makes me have even more questions.
“Here to help? By why? It's not like your like a cop or something. So why would *you* be helping instead of some who knows what their actually doing?" I shoot off question after question in rapid fire succession, not giving him a chance to answer.
“Look, I can't really explain it other than to say that Morris thought that with my background I should be the one that's here, not someone else."
“But...I just…I don’t understand. *Why* are you here to protect me?” The entire time we’ve been talking, Jax has been surveying our surroundings, not taking any chances of being caught off guard.
“After Brody left that note in your book, Morris thought it would be best to have someone close to you at all times that can keep an eye on you and protect you. Being Lincs quad and with my wrestling and boxing background, he thought I was the most logical and less suspicious option.”
"Does Lincoln know...about the note and everything." I ask, half hoping he does because he's supposed to be healing but also wishing he did because I really wish it were *him* here with me, not his look-a-like.
I just want him to hold me and reassure me that everything is going to be okay.
Speaking of which...
“And what about the whole…” I hesitate, trying to think of the best way to phase what I’m trying to say. “Trying to act how *Lincoln and I normally act?*” I raise a brow when his cheeks and ears redden just a bit. “We’re not supposed to like kiss and stuff, are we?”
“Are y’all usually big on PDA?” He asks, sounding unsure all of the sudden as she scratches at the back of his neck, it’s the same nervous tick that his brother has.
“Umm…maybe…” I say, biting my bottom lip. Then with a sigh, I nod, “okay, yes. We don’t hold back our feelings. To be honest, we’re a lot like Boston and Aspen.”
“Shit.”
“So what do we do?” I ask, my heart beating wildly on my chest at the thought of having to kiss my boyfriend's brother, even if it is for the sake of my own safety.
“I guess pretend I’m Linc.” He says, pacing up and down the short grassy area. Then he stops and points his finger at me and says, “But I draw the line at kissing. I can’t go past that, you’re my brother's girl and job or not, I can’t do that to him.”