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“I don’t believe that for a second. Tell me the truth,” I demand, knowing my friend a lot better than she’s giving me credit for right now. “You can tell me.” I soften my approach.
“I’m pregnant,” she blurts, fresh tears streaming down her face.
“What?”
I expected a lot of things, but this certainly wasn’t one of them.
“I was just telling him. That’s what set him off. He blames me. Said if I didn’t take care of it that he would.” She sobs, trying to pull herself together. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Tess.” The look she gives me damn near tears me in half.
“How long have you known?”
“About a month.” She shrugs helplessly.
“You should’ve told me. I could’ve been here for you. I could’ve helped you.” I’m pulling her back into my arms just as Courtney appears at the top of the stairs, her face flush and her breathing labored.
“Ant and Sebastian just dragged Blake outside. What the hell is going on?” she questions, dropping it the instant she gets at look at Bree’s tear stained face.
Without hesitation, she wraps her arms around Bree from behind, sandwiching herself between the two of us.
It isn’t until much later that everything calms down enough for Bree to tell us everything. The three of us are all sitting on Sebastian’s bed, me and Court listening to Bree recount when the abuse first started and how things have spiraled from there.
By the end of the conversation, we’re all mentally and physically exhausted. Bree falls asleep lying sideways across Sebastian’s bed and Courtney follows closely behind, lying right next to her. I, on the other hand, feel wide awake. My mind can’t shut out the image of Blake hovering over Bree while she cowered on the ground.
It makes me sick to my stomach to think that this has been going on right under my nose for weeks, and I was so preoccupied that I missed every single one of the warning signs. Guilt settles in my chest and wraps around my heart like a vice.
Even though I don’t deserve to feel better, I go in search of the one person I know will give it to me anyway.
I find Sebastian in the kitchen, throwing away bottles, a pair of gym shorts now covering his bottom half. He turns when he hears me enter, opening his arms for me the second he catches sight of me.
“Hey.” He pulls me against his chest, smoothing a hand over my unruly curls.
“Hey,” I speak into his chest, breathing in his scent.
“How is she?” he asks, pulling back just enough to look down at me, the pad of his thumb tracing lightly across my cheek.
“Sleeping.” I lean into his touch.
“And you?”
“I’m fine.” I let out a shaky breath. “A little shaken up and a lot confused, but I’ll be okay.” I shrug.
“That motherfucker is so lucky it was Ant who found you and not me.” He lets out a loud breath. “I swear to god, had Ant told me what happened prior to Blake leaving, he would’ve left in an ambulance instead of driving out of here himself.”
“I’m glad Anthony knows you well enough to know how to play his cards.” I smile sweetly. “Remind me to thank him later. The last thing I want is for you to end up in jail over someone like Blake. I still can’t believe Bree.” I shake my head slowly. “Out of all of us, she’s the tough one. I never thought she’d be the type to let a man beat on her.”
“Sometimes you don’t always know what people are capable of, both doing and enduring. I’m sure she had her reasons. But she’s done with him now, right?”
“As far as I know.” I let out an audible sigh. “I can’t see her going back to him after what happened tonight. Especially now that news of the baby is out.”
“Has she said what she’s going to do?”
“No, but I can’t see her getting rid of it either. Bree may be hard on the outside but on the inside, she’s one of the most loving people I know. I have no doubt she’ll do what’s right for her baby.”
“I’m sure she will.” Silence stretches between us for a long moment before he abruptly changes the subject. “We never did get to finish our bet.”
He must have sensed my need to talk about something else because just as I thought it, he’s offering me a much-needed distraction.
“We didn’t, did we?” I smile up at him.
“How about we call it a draw and we both win,” he offers, lowering his mouth to mine.
“Now that you mention it, I think you dancing around like Tom Cruise might just be the thing I need to erase this awful night from my brain.”
“I’m more than happy to do anything my girl wants.” He presses his lips to mine before speaking against them. “But that means you have to pay up, too.” My body instantly flushes at his words.
“I think I can manage that.” I slide my arms around his neck and let him pull me into his arms.
