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“It’s fine.” The thing was, he understood why Adam had acted the way he had. Daniel would have done the same thing if he’d found one of his little cousins in the same position he and Hope had been in, and both Adam and Quinn viewed Hope as a little sister.
He scooped up Ollie and headed for the back door. “I’ll see you around.”
“Daniel.”
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her. “Yeah?”
She was actually still, her expression painfully serious. “I really do miss you. We all do.”
What could he say to that? He knew he was a miserable bastard, just like he knew that even being in the room with his friends was enough to bring them down. They tried to hide it, but it was the damn truth. For the longest time, he’d tried to fake being happy, but it hadn’t worked. Nothing worked.
So he’d done them all a favor and started withdrawing more and more. Being alone kind of sucked sometimes, but he was getting used to it. Since he didn’t see either himself or the circumstances changing anytime soon, he gave Jules a small smile and lied through his teeth. “I’ll try to come around more often.”
“No, you won’t.” She shook her head and waved him away. “Just don’t get pissed when I’m showing up on your doorstep and intruding in your life.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else.” He walked through the door and out into the August heat. He tilted his head back, letting the sun beat down on him, wishing it could burn away the sick feeling in his gut. Hope was gone. Again. He didn’t believe in second chances—not really—but if he’d been allotted one, it had slipped past him while he’d been stewing. He’d never see her again.
It’s for the best. She can do better than a man like me, and we both know it.
The truth didn’t make him feel a damn bit better, though.Chapter FiveHope pounded on the door for the third time, not caring that it was almost midnight or that all the lights were off or that no one knew she was back in Devil’s Falls. After her initial panic attack earlier today, she’d been eerily calm while she finished her work, cleared her schedule for the weekend, got in her car, and started driving west. But now that panic was back—with interest. Six weeks. It’s been six freaking weeks. Too long. Six weeks since her snafu with Daniel and the broken condom.
Six weeks and no period to show for it.
The dog started barking, and she pounded on the door harder, thankful that he lived out in the middle of nowhere, because she knew she was making a scene and she couldn’t stop. “Open the damn door, Daniel!” She shouldn’t have come back. She was an adult. She should have just put on her big-girl panties and taken every single pregnancy test in the three boxes she’d purchased earlier that day.
But the thought of facing the results alone in her Dallas apartment had nearly been enough to send her curling into a ball she might never crawl out of. It wasn’t right. She was the strong one, the woman who didn’t meet an obstacle that she wouldn’t find her way over, under, or around. She’d stopped leaning on anyone when she was eighteen and realized that the temptation to let the people around her carry the heavy weight was just another crutch that she refused to give in to.
All that didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t face this without him.
What if it’s positive? Hope paused in her knocking and shuddered. That wasn’t news that should be delivered over a phone call. Not to mention she didn’t even have his number anymore. It wasn’t like he’d been all that eager to give it to her after the way things had gone last time she was in town.
The door flew open to reveal Daniel, and she couldn’t even stop to appreciate the sight of him wearing a pair of low-slung sweats or the fact that he’d seriously filled out since he was twenty-one. Appreciating her ex’s hot body was what got her into this mess to begin with. Hope shouldered her way past him into the house, her heart beating too fast, her breath harsh in her throat.
“Hope?” He blinked and closed the door behind her. “What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”
She laughed, high and hysterical. “I’m in trouble. I think. Or, rather, we’re in trouble.” That truth had been solidifying all day in the back of her mind. She wasn’t late. Ever. There was only one reason she would be now.
Oh, God.
He stepped in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. “You’re not making any sense. Slow down.”
There was no slowing down. Not until she knew for sure. Hope ducked out of his hold, knowing she was acting crazy and unable to stop. She grabbed her purse and went to her knees to dig through it, coming up with all three boxes. She looked up in time to see Daniel register what they were, and the shock on his face would have been comical under any other circumstances.
