AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grabbed her around the neck, not hard enough to hurt her, but with just a little pressure to make her look at me. She didn’t even flinch, my touch grounding her. “This shit ends here, River. You don’t ever keep anything from me again. No matter what it is, we face everything together.” She opened her mouth to argue, but I tightened my hold. “Am I clear?”
After a small hesitation, she gave a nod. “I’m sorry.”
I pulled her onto my lap. “If you’re saying sorry because you kept this from me, I forgive you. If you’re sorry for anything else, you don’t need to be.” Stroking her hair back from her damp face, I tilted her face up and kissed her lips. “I don’t want you worrying about anything. I’ll take care of it.”
“H-how?”
“I don’t know yet,” I told her honestly. “But I promise you, baby, we’ll figure it out.”
Five
River
“Are you eighteen or eight?” Nova muttered beside me as we stood in the middle of Hannigans’, watching all the dads put up frilly pink decorations.
Dad and Uncle Jet were standing on ladders, hanging a banner that read “Happy Birthday, Princess” in glittery pink and purple lettering.
“Huh, I did have one just like that at my eighth birthday party.” Shaking my head, I glanced down at my baby cousin. With her blond hair and eyes the same shade of green as my own, she could have passed for my sister. Only where my features came from my mom, Nova’s were all our aunt Raven. “Dad always goes a little overboard on my birthday. I blame it on him having only one kid.”
“Please. It’s a Hannigan thing,” she grumbled. “Did you see my dad at my last birthday party back in November? They got a bouncy castle. I turned thirteen, not six.”
“Hey, I had a blast bouncing around in that huge thing,” I told her with a grin.
“Because you were the only one in there jumping. None of the kids from school who came would even go near the thing.” She pressed her lips into a tight line. “All the girls were too busy drooling over Ryan.”
I draped an arm over her shoulders. “Like he would ever give any of them two seconds of his precious time.” Which was the truth. Ryan Vitucci hadn’t even seen all those girls practically begging for his attention as they stood around him like he was a celebrity. His entire focus had been on Nova and making sure she was happy.
Ryan and Nova’s relationship was…weird to me. From the time she was three and he was eight, they had been best friends. There was a connection there that not even the distance from Creswell Springs to New York City could interfere with. But I always figured that once Ryan started getting older, things would change.
Oddly, they hadn’t.
When he got to the age when it was normal for a boy to start noticing girls, he’d seemed immune. Everyone began to wonder if maybe Ryan was gay, but he didn’t seem to be into guys either. No, it was more like that part of himself was being suppressed.
As if he was waiting…
For Nova to grow up.
Which was adorable, but Nova was only thirteen to his nearly nineteen. He was going to be waiting for a long, long time if that was the case. But I figured that if anyone could do it, it was Ryan. I’d never met anyone as stubborn or as determined as he was, which was saying a hell of a lot considering who my family was.
“River, Nova,” Aunt Raven called from behind the bar. “Girls, can you finish getting the food out of the back of my SUV, please?”
“No problem, Aunt Raven,” Nova assured her as we headed for the door.
Outside, there were only a few other cars and a couple motorcycles. Raven’s black SUV was parked right beside the entrance with the trunk open. There were enough boxes of food platters to feed an entire army, but probably would barely put a dent in the appetites of everyone coming to my birthday party.
I reached the trunk first and picked up the first box, but as I lifted it and turned, a wave of dizziness hit me so hard, I dropped the box.
“Whoa!” Nova caught me around the waist when I began to sway. She was a tiny little thing, but oddly strong as she half picked me up and leaned me against our aunt’s vehicle.
Sweat began to bead on my forehead and upper lip. The world was still dim around the edges, and my heart was pounding hard against my ribs.
“Are you okay?” she demanded, touching her hand to my forehead. “You’re ice-cold, River, but sweat is pouring off you.”
I shook my head, trying to clear it, but that only made my dizziness worse. “Fuck,” I whispered, frantically glancing around, but thankfully no one was outside but the two of us.
“Why do you look so freaked out?” my cousin demanded.
“Because…” My eyes went to the front entrance of the bar and stayed there, praying my dad stayed inside until the world stopped spinning. Only one other person knew about my condition and that was Maverick, but I knew Nova would keep my secret. “I’m pregnant.”
