Irreplaceable (Underneath it All Series: Book Three) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Read Online Free

glimmer that was something beyond pain. It was something just as powerful and infinitely more compelling.
    It was love.
    Love for Rose, who was still shuddering from her attempts to suppress her laughter. Theirs was a bond forged in the flames; through a shared childhood filled with horrors that made me want to face their mother personally. Ask if she was blind or just ungrateful. Family was something that most took for granted. For a foster kid, family was one of two things. It was either something so fantastical that it was akin to a unicorn, or  it was something hidden behind impenetrable glass. Shoved in our faces when we were foisted on cruel foster parents who paraded their children around like royalty, while treating us like distant relations that had worn out their welcome the minute we walked through the door.
    The fact that families were all around us made the longing turn to resentment. The kids who had families who were invested and gave curfews and gave a damn were the kids that complained the loudest, not knowing how good they had it.
    The glass sheen in Sadie’s eye told me that she was well aware of what they didn’t have, and when she looked at me, I saw empathy for my story. My childhood. And she didn’t even know the half of it.
    But that wasn’t what had me sniffling and clearing my throat and struggling to think of pickup trucks, sports, and Budweiser. I had to channel every ounce of testosterone I had in me to not start crying when I saw a tenderness in Sadie’s eyes. A promise that not only could she do it differently and let me in, but she wanted to. Even from the backseat, without pursing her lips in the mirror and eliciting a fresh eye roll from Rose, I felt her lips on mine. I felt her arms winding around my neck as she pulled me close.
    I felt the thing I pretended I didn’t need, that I pushed aside every time I used The Tower, disengaging from past lovers who got too close. Underneath it all, I wanted love. I needed it. And Sadie did too.
    Emotion had seized control of me and no amount of choking the steering wheel or manly clearing of my throat could change that. I didn’t let anything fall, but a quick glance over at Rose confirmed that my efforts to keep my emotions under wraps were in vain.
    She had no hang ups with showing me the tears that glittered on her cheeks. “It’s all good. My allergies are acting up too.”
    “I thought I was the only one that forgot to take my Claritin this morning,” Sadie added, rubbing my eyes. “That and my Bitch-B-Gone.”
    I cut my eyes at the rearview mirror, sure that my Sadie hadn’t made a joke, and definitely not one about herself.
    “Geez, Jax,” Sadie let out an extra dramatic sigh. “It’s hard enough to admit it on the rare occasion that I’m wrong. You’re gonna make me repeat myself?”
    “I didn’t catch what you said,” Rose offered, not missing a beat. She offered something else too, a toothy grin that she turned directly on her sister. “What did you call it again? Bit-Sadie B Gone?”
    “Hey, I don’t want Sadie to go anywhere.” I winked at her in the mirror and expected her to stick out her tongue or flash me the bird. Instead, she twisted her mouth to one side, then scrubbed her hands over her face. Being open and vulnerable was difficult for me too and the navigation was chirping that I was close to my destination. I didn’t need to look at her to see that she was struggling. Trying her best. Jokes aside, she felt like the spotlight was on her.
    “After what I said, treating you like you’re every other-” She stopped talking and I wondered if she was going to say ‘client’ but caught herself. “It’s hard for me to trust people. And I know you’ve given me no reason not to trust you; you’ve been Jackson Colt from the start, but I’ve been hurt-”
    She stopped. As much as I longed to reach back and take her hand, I kept my grip on the wheel.
    “And that’s the problem,” she continued, after