Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 97275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
He must have mustered up the courage, because suddenly he blurted, “We had unprotected sex three weeks ago; she thought she was pregnant, but we haven’t done a thingy yet.”
We watched him in silence for a few minutes. Jack looked like he was struggling to hold in his laughter. James was doing the fish thing himself now, so I guess that left me being the grownup.
“Well, by thingy you mean pregnancy test, right?” I clarified.
He nodded, so I continued. “Well, then she needs to see a doctor even more than ever. Payton will convince her though, don’t worry. Do you love her?” I asked bluntly.
“Yeah, like crazy.” Bennett insisted.
I didn’t have anything else grown up to say, so I stayed silent for a while, trying to think of what to say next. The thought of “you’re fucked” kept crossing my mind, but I couldn’t do that to him. He was so young; there was no way he was going to be able to do this on his own. His sister was going to fucking flip. Let alone his father. Hell, I haven’t even met him yet and I knew he was going to flip.
Jesus. Sometimes I felt like I lived in a fucking soap opera. Secret babies. Secret marriages. Hasty marriages because you knocked up your girl. Lies. Back stabbing. Killing. Murder. Teenage pregnancy. I’m pretty sure I’m the only normal one in this bunch, and that’s not saying much. I’d just gone through my own amnesia, near death experience, and forgetting the woman I loved.
“What are you guys whispering about in here?” Payton asked from the doorway that led to the back bedrooms and hallway.
“Ugh, well, um, you see, well…” Bennett sputtered.
“Your brother knocked his girl up, and now he’s not sure if he wants to tell you or not. I told him he needed to since she needed to go to the hospital. Yelling later, hospital now. Shake a leg.” I said as I marched to the front door and held it open.
No one moved, not that that surprised me much. Payton took over the fish expression. Bennett had his head buried in his hands. James was burying his head into the pillow on the couch, and Jack was still silently laughing.
Payton was the first to overcome her surprise. “Jesus Christ, Bennett! How many times did I go out and buy you fucking condoms? I even got you the flavored, lubed, ribbed for her pleasure ones! I showed you pictures of STDs! What the fuck?” She finished on a yell.
“Bennett sunk deeper into himself, his head between his knees now.
“Now, Payton. We didn’t wear condoms our first time either. Sometimes shit just happens.” I said from the open doorway.
Shit really didn’t just happen. We’d had the talk a couple of weeks ago. She’d asked about my sexual history, and we had the “talk,” you know, the one where you list out all your sexual conquests? Which rather sucked for me, since I had not the slightest idea how many I’d slept with in my twenty-eight years of life. I did know that I had a clean bill of health as soon as I was released from the hospital when I was hurt in Iraq the first time.
“That is not the point! I’m twenty fucking four years old. If I have a baby, I can raise it. If he has a baby, he has to have mom raise it while he finishes high school!” She screeched.
“Do you want children?” I questioned.
She looked at me as if I was dumb. “Well, yeah. Why do you think I work with babies?”
“Your biological clock is ticking?” I teased.
“You’re such a schlong jockey. Bennett, get into my car. Luke’s got the girl. Max, have fun babysitting.” She sneered before following Bennett out the door, Alpha trotting close to her heels.
Luke followed with the girl, and nodded his thanks at me before leaving out the door I still held open. Shifting Katerina in my arms, I headed to the spare bedroom and laid her down in the portable crib that Ember kept at my place for when Cora or LG stayed over. LG was a nickname for Gabriel Luca Maldonado, III. Since there was already a Gabe in the family, we started calling him Little Gabe, which was shortened again to LG.
Covering Kat with the blanket that was in the crib, I closed the door quietly before going to my own bed and getting comfortable. I was sure that they wouldn’t be returning for a while, so there was no reason I couldn’t be comfortable in the meantime.
ɸ
Payton
“Night, Luke. Thanks for everything.” I said to him before closing the door.
I turned and regarded Bennett. He’d had a rough night. As the night wore on, and more information was uncovered, we found out that Corinne might not have been as innocent as we were led to believe.
When I was with her by myself, she kept asking me to call one of her friends so she could leave, and I had a sinking suspicion that something wasn’t right. When Luke had shown, she’d clammed up even more when he’d mentioned that he was a police officer. When she’d finally gotten to the hospital, and away from Bennett, she had to tell the officers that came to take her statement that she was actually a part of what went on.
My baby brother, the big-hearted bear of a man, was devastated. He’d been telling me about this girl for a long time now, and I thought that they had a wonderful connection when I’d met her a few weeks ago. Seeing how everything turned out today, I realize that I have a shitty judge of people.
Two bad mistakes I’ve made in the past couple of years have made me think I’m not the best judge of character. The first was trusting Rory. That was the single biggest mistake of my life. I thought I loved him, but he singlehandedly stole all the innocence I had. He may not have committed the actual crime, but he did leave me there to suffer that fate.