by Amy Brent
I shook my head. “You know what, I don’t care what you think you know. I’m never getting back together with you, Jason. Not only do I love Ian, but I’m pregnant—with his baby.”
Jason was silent for a moment. Then he started laughing. “Sure, I believe that,” he said. “You should have stuck with the fake engagement story; that at least was marginally believable.”
“I’m telling the truth,” I insisted. I took a deep breath. “I’m a week late on my period, so I finally bought a test yesterday, and I took it this morning. Three tests, actually, just to make sure. I’m pregnant.”
Jason stared at me for a moment, his face twisting in undeniable anger. “You little slut,” he said.
But before he could say anything else, the door to Zach and Mikayla’s apartment flew open. “You’re pregnant?” Zach practically shouted.
I shrank back. This wasn’t the reaction I had been hoping for. But then again, it also wasn’t the way that I had planned on telling him. I’d wanted to apologize to him first, to explain everything, to tell him that I hadn’t meant to fall in love with Ian, that it had just happened, that I didn’t know what to do and I needed him. Then I would tell him about the baby, once he’d forgiven me. I’d tell him he was going to be an uncle.
I hadn’t known he was there, lurking behind his door, that he could hear every word I said to Jason.
For a minute, I wanted to take it all back, to tell them both I’d been lying, that it had been another attempt to make Jason leave me alone. But Zach was going to have to know the truth soon enough.
Anyway, he wasn’t going to let me get a word in.
“You’re so fucking irresponsible,” he said, disgust dripping from his tone. “Losing your job, going broke, getting evicted. That was all one thing. But this? I can’t even believe you. Did you even try not to get pregnant, or did you think just hoping that it wouldn’t happen was enough?”
I bit my lower lip. “Zach, please, can we talk about this inside?” I asked, wishing Mikayla was home. But if she’d been there, she probably would have been out in the hall already, trying to calm Zach down. Instead, it seemed I was going to have to face my brother all on my own.
“Does Ian know?” Zach asked. “And if you tell me that he’s excited to be a daddy, I swear I’m going to march over there and castrate him. How dare he have sex with you? That bastard. He could have any fucking girl in this city, any girl in the world, and instead he decides to shack up with my little sister and get her pregnant? What a backstabbing asshole.”
“Please, Zach,” I pleaded, tears starting to spill down my cheeks. I went to him and caught his arm, trying to drag him back into his apartment. God, the whole building could probably hear us right now. We were the next big spectacle, the next soap opera.
I couldn’t believe what a mess my life had become.
“Oh no,” Zach said, wrenching his arm away. “Don’t you dare touch me. You know, Jason’s right. You’re a slut. A dirty, pregnant slut who slept with my best friend. You have no fucking concept of loyalty, do you? No idea of responsibility. You keep trying to tell me that you’re an adult? Well fucking grow up and act like one.”
I flinched away from him. I didn’t even know what to say. Fortunately, Jason, at least, had disappeared while my brother yelled at me. But I didn’t even care about Jason at the moment. All I wanted was for Zach to calm down, to let me explain.
“I haven’t told Ian yet,” I said. “I wanted to tell you first. Because I need you.”
“Yeah, you probably do,” Zach agreed. “You’ll need money and you’ll need a place to stay, and when the baby comes, you’ll need help taking care of it, won’t you? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
“No! Of course not!” I said, reaching for him.
Zach retreated into his apartment, shaking his head in disgust. “I don’t want to see you ever again. Either of you. You’re dead to me.”
“Zach, wait,” I pleaded even as he had his hand on the door, preparing to slam it shut.
“No,” Zach said.
When the door slammed, the sound of it echoed down the hallway. For a minute, I just stood there, my arms wrapped around myself as I sobbed. But it was clear he wasn’t going to listen to me. He had already made up his mind about me, about Ian, and about the baby.
We were dead to him.
I turned down the hallway and fled as quickly as I could.
Chapter 22
Ian
I glanced again toward Abigail’s bedroom door. We hadn’t really talked since Thursday morning, but I’d thought things were at least kind of okay between us. I could tell there was something she wasn’t telling me still. She kept shooting me guilty looks even after I assured her that it wasn’t her fault Zach wasn’t talking to me.
The previous evening, she’d been gone when I came back from work, and when she hadn’t shown up by almost ten at night, I’d decided to call Brittany. I didn’t want to be a worrywart, but I was also worried that Jason might have shown up and done something.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Jason, for all his creepiness, didn’t really seem like the kidnapping type. Otherwise, I had a feeling he would have done it by now. He still seemed to cling to the idea, though, that he could somehow win Abigail back.
Brittany had said she wasn’t with Abigail, though. That worried me even more. I stayed up half the night waiting for her to come home, and she finally had, creeping in just before midnight. She’d given me another of those guilty looks and then, without even saying anything, toed off her shoes and retreated to her room, locking the door behind her.
If she were any other girl, I would have thought she was out sleeping with someone else, but this was Abigail. She and I might have never truly said we were exclusive with one another, but she wasn’t the kind for one-night stands, not in all the time I’d known her.
I wished she would just talk to me.
I had a feeling it was all because of the Zach thing. I wanted to give him a good knock on the head. He was being ridiculous, upsetting his sister like this. I understood that he was mad, but it had been a few days now, plenty of time for him to cool off. And I didn’t doubt for a second that Abigail was still trying to reach out to him.
Now it was Saturday afternoon, and Abigail hadn’t been out of her room for either breakfast or lunch. I sighed and went over to her bedroom door, knocking gently on it. “Abby? It’s me. Can you open up please?”
There was no sound from the other side of the door. I tried again.
“Look, I know you’re upset, but I was hoping we could talk. Even if we can’t figure out things with Zach, at least we can figure out things with one another.” I paused. “I really want to make sure you’re okay. You know I care about you.”
Slowly, the door opened. Abigail was a mess, her eyes red-rimmed and her hair tangled. But somehow, she was still so stunningly beautiful. She sighed and rubbed at her face. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to worry you,” she said wearily. “I just don’t feel good.”
“Are you sick?” I asked, automatically reaching up to feel her forehead, but she ducked away from me.
“No,” she said. “It’s just everything with Zach, and Jason.”
“Where were you last night?” I asked. “Jason didn’t come after you again, did he?”
“No.” Abigail gave a short laugh. “I think Jason’s finally through with me.”
“What did you do?” I asked in surprise.
“I went over to Zach’s yesterday. I thought I’d given him enough time and that maybe he’d be ready to talk. As I was getting off the elevator, there was Jason.”
“What was he doing there?” I asked in surprise. I hadn’t even realized he knew where Zach lived, but of course he did; he was a stalker. He knew everything about the things that were important to Abigail.
“Apparently, he moved in across the hall from Zach and Mikayla because he thought he could convince me to move back in with him there,” Abigail told me. She shook
her head. “Anyway, I told him, obviously, that I wasn’t going to move in with him and that he was crazy. And I told him you and I weren’t really engaged, that we were faking it, but that I was in love with you.”
I stared at her for a moment, shocked. I had suspected she had feelings for me, but for her to just say it like that was a whole different thing. Then I realized what she had actually said, and I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “So now we’re pretending to be in love with one another to get Jason to leave you alone?” I asked. “Do you really think that’ll work?”
Abigail gave me a look as though I were being deliberately dense. “I’m not pretending to be in love with you,” she said quietly. “I am in love with you.”
“Oh,” I said. I grinned and pulled her into my arms. “That’s good, since I’m in love with you, too.”
Abigail laughed, and I bent down to kiss her tenderly. There was something sad to the kiss, though, something in the way her lips moved against mine, almost as if she were saying good-bye to me. I pulled away, frowning at her, waiting for her to continue. She hadn’t said everything she had to say; I could tell.
Sure enough, she sighed. “Zach overheard me when I told Jason that I loved you,” she said. “And he wasn’t happy to put it nicely. Actually, he blew up at me.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Zach was a great guy, but he was kind of an ass sometimes, especially when his sister was concerned. He just wanted to look out for her. He wanted her to be strong and independent and able to do whatever she wanted. He especially didn’t want to see her hurt again, like she had been after she found out about Jason cheating on her. But she wasn’t a little kid anymore.
I wished I could say I would talk to Zach, that I would make him come around, but he still wasn’t answering my calls.
My phone rang. Speak of the devil. I stared down at my phone in disbelief as the caller ID popped up. “It’s Zach,” I said slowly.
“Answer it!” Abigail urged.
I lifted the phone to my ear. “Hey, man,” I said.
“Well, if it isn’t the daddy-to-be,” Zach said in a snarky voice.
I blinked in surprise. “What?” I asked. “What do you mean?” Daddy-to-be? I must have heard him wrong. Or he called me by mistake.
“Hasn’t Abigail told you yet?” Zach asked, his tone still hostile. “She’s pregnant, you fucking asshole.”
I nearly dropped the phone in surprise. I stared at Abigail, hardly daring to believe it. How long had she known? And why had she told Zach and not me? I tried to slot together all the pieces in my brain, but they didn’t seem to fit. Slowly, I lowered the phone from my ear, still staring at Abigail.
“What?” she asked. “What’s wrong? Did something happen to him?”
“When were you going to tell me?” I asked her.
“Tell you what?” Abigail asked as though she really had no clue.
“You know what,” I snapped. “When were you going to tell me that you’re pregnant?”
Abigail’s hand crept up over her mouth. “Zach told you?” she whispered.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. “How long have you known?”
“Just since yesterday,” Abigail said, looking like she might cry.
“And you went to Zach instead of me? Is it mine?”
“Yes, it’s yours,” Abigail said softly. “I was going to tell you. I just didn’t know how. I wasn’t ready. I was scared. And especially after Zach took it so badly, I was afraid you might hate me.” Her lower lip quivered.
I was torn between the desire to pull her into my arms and the desire to get out of there, now. I needed to clear my head, to think things through. For the first time, I could imagine how Zach must have felt when he’d seen Abigail and I kiss at the bar.
“Zach’s my brother, so I had to tell him,” Abigail pleaded. “And I didn’t mean to tell him like I did; he overheard me telling Jason.”
I laughed bitterly. “Oh, so Jason knows, too? And I suppose Brittany and your parents do as well? You told everyone else, but you weren’t going to tell me?”
“I was going to,” Abigail insisted. “I told Jason because I thought it would get him to stop bothering me. But like I said, I didn’t expect to see him there, and I didn’t know Zach was listening. I just wanted to tell Zach that I was sorry but that I loved you. Then I was going to figure out everything about breaking the news about the baby. I wanted to tell you.”
“Sure,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “What? Six months from now when you finally started to show, that’s when you were going to tell me?”
“Ian, please,” Abigail said, and by now she was actually crying. I felt bad, but I also just felt overwhelmed. A baby. We didn’t even have a label on what we were, nothing more than roomies with benefits. And yet in one afternoon, she and I had both said “I love you,” and now we were having a baby. I didn’t know how to handle that.
“I need some air,” I said, heading toward the door, barely pausing to grab a jacket. I could hear Abigail sobbing behind me, but I forced myself to leave. I had to figure out what all of this could mean.
I went straight to Zach’s and pounded on the door. “Zach, open up, you little shit,” I called through the door. “I don’t care if you want to see me or not. You’re my best friend, and I need to talk to you.”
Zach opened the door, looking unsurprised to see me. He wordlessly held out a beer.
“God, I need something stronger than a beer right now,” I muttered, taking a hearty sip.
Zach cracked a smile, leading me out to the balcony. “So, you and Abigail, huh?”
“I guess so,” I said cautiously. “I know you’re not thrilled with the idea, but I really love her.”
“I know,” Zach said, taking a sip of his own beer as he looked out over the city. “I’ve known that for a while. Since college at least.”
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“Oh, come on,” Zach said, rolling his eyes, but he didn’t elaborate on how he had known.
I didn’t want to argue about it either. I just shrugged. “Does this mean we can’t be friends anymore?” I finally asked.
“Nah. We’ll still be friends,” Zach said. “Best friends even.” He grinned at me. “Too much blackmail between us otherwise.”
I laughed, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted off my chest. But there was another weight there. “I am so not ready to be a father.”
“Of course you are,” Zach said. “You’ll do great. Anyway, I think she said she just found out about it, so you probably have at least six months to figure things out if not.”
I gave him a look. “Thanks,” I said dryly.
“You’ll do great,” Zach said. “You were always a great brother to me.”
I shook my head. “I can’t just fight things out with my kid, though. The whole size disadvantage thing.”
“True,” Zach said, looking amused. “But between you and Abigail, you’ll figure out some way to make it work.” He paused. “You are going to get engaged to her for real, right? Because she’s still my baby sister, and if you hurt her, I swear I’m going to kill you.”
I stared out over the city and took a sip of beer. Everything was moving so fast, but when I thought about it, I knew I loved Abigail. Like Zach had said, I had liked her for a while now. I wasn’t ready to propose to her just yet, but I wanted to be with her and to take care of her and our baby—and whatever else might come.
Chapter 23
Abigail
I stared at the front door, willing Ian to return. He’d been gone all day, and I was upset and worried about him. I just wanted to talk to him. I wanted him to listen to me, to let me explain. I’d wanted to tell him about the baby, but I’d just found out about it, and I hadn’t meant to tell everyone else before him. It had just happened that way.
I needed a drink, but I was pregnant. There were a lot of things I was going to have to get used to over the coming months.
I had spent half the previous night and the whole morning searching the internet, reading through all the information about the pregnancy itself and about life with a baby. I’d read up on working mothers and how they managed to both spend time with their kids and stay on top of their careers. I’d scheduled an appointment with my gynecologist even though the idea of confirming this for real—as if this wasn’t already for real—was terrifying.
I wished Ian were here for me to talk to. But instead, he was mad at me.
I felt a fresh bout of tears roll down my cheeks. “Oh, girl,” Brittany said, handing me another tissue, my hundredth of the night. I appreciated having her here, but I’d never felt so alone in my life. She couldn’t possibly know all the things I was feeling right now. The only person who could possibly come close was Ian, but Ian wasn’t here.
I’d thought about calling my mom even, just to talk to someone who had been through this before, who’d had a kid. But I knew I was just going to get another lecture on irresponsibility—the same one Zach had given me. I didn’t want to hear it, not right now.
“You know, you’re going to be a great mom,” Brittany said, not for the first time. She’d been shocked when I’d first told her I was pregnant, and then she’d given me the biggest hug. I was glad to have one person in my life who was excited for me, but unfortunately, it just didn’t outweigh the things Zach and Ian had said to me.
I felt more tears roll down my face. “How do you know that, though?” I asked.
“Because you studied to be a child therapist, silly,” Brittany said, wiping away a couple of my tears. “You’ve always been great with children.”
