by Mia Carson
All the nausea made so much sense. I sat on the floor of the bathroom, staring at the three pregnancy tests, willing the results to change. I should have known this might happen. The natural result of unprotected sex was staring at me, in the forms of three different pregnancy tests.
How could I have been so stupid? The first onset of nausea should have been my first clue that something was wrong. I rubbed my belly, which was still flat. Except for the few pounds I had put on over the last few weeks, there was no other indication that my body was growing a baby. I was growing a real baby in me, something that should have brought me joy, but instead, it brought confusion and tension.
There were options for me, for us. There was no way I was going to have the baby, not just for my sake, but for Nick’s as well. He had his whole life ahead of him, and a baby would screw him big time. If the choice was totally mine, I could manage. I mean, I wouldn’t be the first person who had gotten pregnant in college, and I wouldn’t be the last. But the bigger problem was the fact that I was pregnant because I had slept with my stepbrother - that was the part that gave me pause.
And then there was also the bigger issue of our parents. There was no doubt my mother would kill me for even getting pregnant…and for getting pregnant with Nick? That was on a different level of trouble. I couldn’t hide a pregnancy for long, and like it or not, I had to do something about the baby. It wasn’t going to go away on its own, and regardless of how long I stayed in that bathroom, the problem would still be there when I walked out.
“Maddy?” I had forgotten Nick was impatiently waiting on the other side of the bathroom door.
“Be right out,” I called, cleaning up the mess on the floor and gathering the three sticks. I opened the door slowly. Nick was pacing the floor. One look at him, and I ran into his arms and burst into tears.
“You’re pregnant,” he surmised. I nodded. “Fuck,” he cursed. I sobbed. “You’re sure?”
“Uh-huh,” I said showing him the positive tests.
“Gosh, I feel so stupid,” he said. “Damn.”
“I should have been on the pill,” I sobbed.
“I guess it’s too late for that,” he said, releasing his hold on me. “It’s not all your fault.”
“What are we going to do? This is one big mess,” I said between sniffles.
“I honestly don’t know, Maddy. I really don’t.”
“We have to find a solution,” I said. “I’m so confused.”
“I need to go for a walk,” Nick said suddenly and started walking to the door.
“Right now? It’s almost midnight,” I replied, alarmed at his sudden change of attitude.
“I need space to think, Maddy. I feel suffocated. I’ll be back in a few.”
“Nick, hold on,” I said, pulling at his hand. “Tell me what you want.”
“Maddy, do you know what you want?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I really didn’t.
“I’ll be back, Maddy,” he said as he walked out of the house.
I wanted to go after him but decided he was right. I needed to think about what I wanted. At the end of the day, it was my body and it was my choice, not just Nick’s. My head was so muddled that I couldn’t think straight. I wanted Nick. I loved him. But now there was a baby to consider. How were we going to raise a child? How would that affect our relationship? How could we go from being young lovers to becoming young parents? How would Nick adjust? He still had another year before he graduated. I was still a freshman and had a long way to go. What I would do about college? I really wanted to graduate and had hopes of attending graduate school. How would I do it with a baby? What about our parents? How would they take the news that we were dating and in love? And even if they accepted the fact that they were together, how would they take the news about the baby?
My mind raced in a million directions. I rubbed my belly as I lay there on my bed. A real human was growing in me, a baby that could be a boy or girl, someone that would look like Nick or me, someone I’d love to know. Nick and I had made the baby out of love and would be a symbol of our love. I could see myself making things work. It would be too hard to give up the baby. I couldn’t, wouldn’t give up this baby. If Nick didn’t feel he could handle it, I’d let him off the hook. I didn’t have to tell our parents who was responsible for my pregnancy. After they got over the shock of my pregnancy, my mom would adjust to the situation. She had been a teen mom as well; she’d had me when she was nineteen. She of all people would understand.
I wasn’t sure how long Nick was gone; I lost track of time. When I finally heard the front door open, I jumped up from the couch.
“Maddy, can we talk?” he said as he walked in.
“Sure,” I shrugged.
“Can we sit?”
I sat back on the couch, expecting him to sit next to me. Instead, he sat across from me rather than next to me like he always did.
“You do know this is a big deal, right?” he started.
“Of course I do,” I snapped at him. I wasn’t a kid.
“I’m so sorry I freaked out. Even though I’d figured you could be pregnant, I wasn’t prepared for the actual news.”
I nodded. “You needed time and space to think about this…bad news.”
“No, Maddy. Don’t say that. It’s not bad news. It’s just unexpected news.”
“What’s the difference? It doesn’t matter. Either way, being pregnant is not good for either of us right now.”
“Right,” he agreed.
I was hoping he’d tell me something different, but this was reality. “I know I haven’t had time to think about what I really want to do, as I just found out…”
“Us…What we, me and you, are going to do,” he interrupted. “It’s not like you got yourself pregnant.”
“I should have been more careful.”
“Maddy, I’m the older one here. I should have worn a condom, but I just got carried away.”
“We both did. The pregnancy is real, and we need to come up with a solution soon. Mom and Dad will be back in a few hours. I can’t hide this from them.”
“I guess we have to talk to them like adults. Let them know about us.”
“What?” I asked. “Are you trying to get us killed?
“What do you propose we do?” he asked.
“I don’t think talking to them is a good idea right now. What are you going to tell them? Mom, Dad, hope you had a great week together. Just so you know, we fucked and Maddy’s pregnant.”
“Yes, pretty much. Except I’ll also tell them how much we care for each other and how much we want to be together,” he said.
I looked at him with a confused look. Before the baby, he had wanted to be with me forever. With the announcement of the pregnancy, I expected he didn’t want much from me anymore.
“What are you saying? What’s the point of telling them we’re pregnant right before we get rid of the baby? It doesn’t …”
“Wait, wait…who said anything about getting rid of our baby?” Nick asked, coming closer to me. “Is that what you want?”
“No, but I thought that’s what you’d want. You aren’t pleased that I’m pregnant.”
“Maddy, I was shocked that you were pregnant. That doesn’t mean I love you any less or I want to get rid of our child. I mean, if that’s what you want to do, I’ll love you either way, but that’s not ultimately what I want.”
I looked at him. He was dead serious. “You want to keep the baby?”
“Yes, I really do. He’s a symbol of our love. Why would we destroy something so special? Don’t you think it’s a gift? Yes, a rather unusual gift, but a reason for us to define our relationship and make things work for us?”
“I guess,” I said.
“But Maddy, it’s your body and I’ll respect whatever decision you make. I hope you decide that we can have this baby. We can be a family.”
“I want to, but I don’t want to tie you down and destroy your future.”
> “Maddy, you already tied me to you when I fell in love with you.” He reached out to hold my hands and stroke them. I remained silent. He was still in love with me.
“You won’t be destroying my future. I’m almost done with college. I’m more worried about you than me. If you do decide to have the baby, it’ll be our child. We will love the baby, just like we love each other. Yes, it means we’ll be starting a family sooner than we planned, but it’s not impossible. As long as we do it together, and with love, understanding, and patience,” he said.
Nick was right. The baby might have been a mistake, just like some babies are, but a mistake can be a great gift, as well. This gift was worth keeping and nurturing, as long as Nick was by my side.
“How are we going to do it?” I asked
“Well, for starters, we’ll talk to Mom and Dad about our relationship. I think we’ll save the baby surprise for later so as not to give them a heart attack, but we can at least let them know how we feel about each other. We’re both adults, and I agree we’ve made some non-adult choices, but we have to move forward.”
“You’re forgetting one thing; we’re step-siblings. That’s the only thing that really makes this whole situation bad.”
“Unrelated adults whose parents are married,” he corrected me. “There is no law that says we can’t get married. Society may frown on our relationship, but you know what, that’s their business. I’ve always known I wanted you, from the first day I met you years ago, and our baby will cement our relationship. Now I know you’re truly mine.”
“You sound so confident, Nick. I almost want to believe everything will be okay. But there’s the issue of school, money, childcare, and other things we haven’t even thought about yet.”
“I can transfer to your school, and we’ll be closer. I already work during the semester and make enough money to take care of our basic needs. I’m graduating next summer before the baby comes, so it’ll only be a year of craziness before things settle down for us.”
“Or I could transfer and come back home. It’ll be nice to have the family support while I’m pregnant.”
“Anything you want. Anything that makes you happy, Maddy. I’m flexible. As long as you and our baby are comfortable,” he said, rubbing my belly with a smile.
“Anything I want?” I said, as a naughty thought came to me.
“Anything,” he said slowly. He looked at me and realized where my thoughts were going. “Woman, I just got you pregnant and you want another go?”
“You said anything that makes me happy.” I nuzzled close to him. “And fucking you always makes me happy.”
“That’s what got us into trouble in the first place,” he said, kissing me. “But since you can’t get pregnant twice, we might as well enjoy our natural contraceptive. Forget the pills and condoms.”
I kissed him back, holding him tightly as we allowed our emotions to take over our bodies. I knew this was just the beginning of our journey. We had to get our parents to buy into the fact that we were dating and pregnant with their first grandchild. We’d then have to deal with our friends thinking we’re weird for dating. Rumors would fly. We also had to figure out where to live, what to do about school, how to raise the baby, and a million other things. But Nick was by my side and he loved me; that was all the extra strength I needed to weather the worst of the approaching storm.
“What’s on your mind?” Nick asked, breaking off his kiss.
“You,” I said.
“Flattery won’t get you too far,” he said, smiling at me.
“But it’ll get me laid tonight, right?”
“Certainly,” Nick said, pushing me down on the sofa and pressing his weight down on me. I felt his hardness pushing against me.
“You’re already hard,” I giggled.
“That’s what you do to me,” he smiled and kissed me.
This was the beginning of our new, crazy life. We would triumph through this challenging time together. We loved each other and that was all that mattered.
***
***
NICK
***
The midnight walk in the crisp cool air had done wonders for my thoughts and had allowed me to think clearly. Not like there was much to think about. I was very much in love with Maddy, and I had gotten her pregnant in the heat of passion. My baby was growing in her, and all I wanted was for us to grow together as a couple, and eventually, as a family. But I also loved her enough that I didn’t want to jeopardize her future by having a baby so young. I knew it was going to be challenging, but I was prepared to take on the responsibility of being a good dad for my child, our child, since Maddy was ready to keep the baby.
As much as I had wanted to keep the baby, I realized that Maddy had to make the final choice. It was her body and she would have to spend most of the year growing the baby. I would be by her side every step of the way. I was glad she’d chosen to give us a chance, give the baby a chance. I hope in the future she’ll agree to be my wife, but that would remain to be seen. For now, she was touching me in places that made me hot and there was only way to respond to that….take her again, and again, and again.
*** THE END ***
COCKY
(A Stepbrother
Romance)
By
Mia Carson
COPYRIGHT © 2015
All Rights Reserved
SARA
After forfeiting my day off from work, hopping on two buses, and hiking two miles uphill, I was seriously irritated as I finally approached Fox Wood Manor where I would be working as relief party hostess for six hours. The only thing that kept me going was the ten thousand dollar check I would collect at the end of the night. My car had broken down a few hours before I left my apartment, the reason I needed the money. I had no choice but to take public transport. Not that I wasn’t used to taking buses or trains, but I hadn’t planned to show up on foot, flustered and late, to one of the biggest gigs of all times.
The guests were already trickling in when the humongous building finally came in sight. The manor sat on many acres of green, lush, well-maintained lands, and the exterior was lit with a million sparkly lights.
“Nice,” I murmured to no one in particular. It must be nice to be rich and be able to afford to host extravagant parties in places like this. It was an annual gala held by the rich for the rich, and even though I didn’t know what the ball was for, I knew they raised a ton of money; at least the morning papers always described how successful those events were.
I looked on as cars of all sorts pulled up to the curb, all chauffeur-driven. Men impeccably dressed in suits alighted from the cars with their supermodel-couture-clad female passengers clinging to their arms. Most of the women wore flowing, expensive gowns, and I imagined they were perfect society ladies married to or dating the cream of the crop. I hadn’t even been inside, but I already knew I didn’t belong in that crowd.
I had been previously instructed to go into the building through a side entrance designated for employees. Technically I wasn’t an employee, but relief staff from a party staffing agency. But I wasn’t a guest either, so going through the main entrance wasn’t right. Besides, there was no way I could fool anyone into believing I was on the guest list, not with the plain black dress I had picked off the clearance rack in the outlet mall. It wasn’t so bad—at least it hugged my body in all the right places—but it did look as cheap as it cost and called me out as an imposter. My long hair, though, was nicely curled and probably looked better than most of those ladies'–thanks to my roommate, Elle, who was a hairdresser and never let me leave the apartment without making sure my hair looked great.
I had on two-inch heels, a little shorter than my preferred heels, but I was going to be standing all night and anything higher would have been pure torture for me. Of course, if I had known I was going to have to walk two miles, I would have worn my sneakers or flat shoes instead.
I found the side entrance easily and walked into a man who had a n
ame tag that said “Mr. Gordon, Floor manager.”
“Hello, I’m Sara Faye from Seaton Staffing,” I introduced myself to the man and reached out to shake his hand. He was probably in his late fifties, and dressed in a well-cut suit that might have made him easily pass for one of the rich moguls, if he wasn’t so old.
“Oh, yes, welcome. I’m Mr. Gordon. Thanks for coming on such short notice,” he said.
“I’m sorry I’m late. Car trouble, and I had to hike the golf course.”
“Yes, the famous walk. I’m sorry about that. I can certainly have someone give you a ride home when your shift is finished.”
“Oh, that would be fantastic. I’ve been worried about how to get home.” Truthfully, I had planned to ask for a ride since the bus services stop hours before the event was over. I couldn’t really afford a taxi home until I cashed my check and paid my share of my rent that was already two months late. But I didn’t let the man know any of this.
“I’ll make sure you get home safely.” He looked at me from head to toe. “But let’s get you into a decent outfit first.”
I suddenly felt self-conscious as I brushed off invisible specks of dust on my cheap dress. Either it looked so terrible he had to make me get rid of it, or they had a dress code which I had to abide by and my boss had not informed me. He started walking away, but I was still rooted to the spot, lost in thought.
