Then I know I’m screwed.
Several big tears start rolling down her cheeks.
Now that I’m looking more closely, I notice she must’ve been crying before she showed up today—her eyes are red-rimmed in a way that doesn’t happen instantly.
Then her face crumples.
“Ethan, I’m… I’m pregnant,” she sobs.
The world stops spinning.
Or maybe I’m the one who stops, so frozen I’m thrown off to the edge of the planet.
Pregnant.
She can’t be pregnant.
No fucking chance.
“You’re not,” I growl in disbelief, but she’s shaking her head, her lips trembling.
“It’s y-yours, Ethan. That’s why I’ve been trying to get in touch with you so much. It’s… it’s your baby.”
“No,” I say weakly.
The one word, the only word I can get out.
“Yes!Trust me, I checked. I checked three times and—” Her voice chokes off. “I’m definitely pregnant. And you’re the father. I haven’t been with anyone else.”
Shit!
Holy fucking shit this isbad.
“Please,” she whispers, but I don’t have the first clue what she wants.
Money? A ring?
What is she expecting?
I’m just a kid myself with no experience and too much life to figure out. Only, now it’s like my whole future just went up in a cloud of smoke.
This doesn’t happen to Blackthorns.
What the actualfuckam I supposed to do here?
It’s not like she’s my girlfriend.
I’m not remotely ready to be a dad.
Christ, I don’t want to settle down, especially not with this boring chick I used to get off and never expected to see again.
“We used protection. I know we did,” I say weakly.
But I’m not talking to Tay.
I’m trying to reason with the goddamned universe, bargaining to undo reality.
Maybe I’m setting up a cosmic kick in the nuts and I don’t even know it.
