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"Understood. Well, I’ll let you go call Chas, but send a text to everyone first. They should know, even if it’s complicated."
A dry laugh from Raf didn’t sound at all pleasant. "I will." He didn’t bother saying goodbye, knowing that it would only sound rougher still. He did obediently type out a text to his circle of friends, telling them that his human girlfriend was pregnant but congrats should wait until it was less 'complicated'. He couldn’t find a better word than the one Kai had used, even if it fell woefully short.
Rafael pushed himself to shift back to fully human and locate his shirt before he picked up a little of his mess. He needed to fly, and he wasn’t going to be able to do that in downtown Denver. He tapped out an email requesting his lawyer friend Zach point him in the direction of someone he could trust who knew how to draw up a will and create a trust fund, and then the tired CEO made his way down to his car and turned west out of the city. Once he had made it into the traffic flow on the highway, he pushed a button on his steering wheel to use his hands-free bluetooth system. "Call Chas."
The dial tone buzzed for a moment before his friend picked up. "Hey Raf, I just got your text. Congratulations."
He’d been pretty clear about holding the congrats till later, but he didn’t have the energy to quibble about it now. "First she wasn’t going to tell me she was pregnant, so we argued, and then she caught me half-shifted and freaked. I’m not sure when she’s going to let me near her next," Raf explained as simply as he could. "Can you call her? I know you’re not an obstetrician, but I’d feel better if she knew she had a resource for any questions she’s going to have at some point."
It took Chas a moment to digest all of that. "Okay…" he drawled slowly. "Your argument aside, is she going to want to talk to a friend of yours if the reason she’s freaked is the reason I’m calling? I don’t have to tell her I’m a dragon, but if she asks, I’d rather not lie to her."
That halted Raf’s churning thoughts for a moment. She had freaked at the sight of him. "Um, it’s a good question, and one I don’t know the answer to. If it’s a phone call, I imagine she won’t have the same instant reaction as she did when confronted with the unexpected sight of me. I forgot to check if I had scales or not, but I know I’d released my wings. Had to, after she upset me so badly with keeping the pregnancy secret till earlier today. On my way to Michael’s now, in fact." Their friend had a large property that backed onto Windy Saddle Park, and after nightfall there wasn’t much out there which would catch sight of a dragon. It was the best access to the mountains that they had. That and Michael had some minor skill with clouds and fog to keep them hidden.
Chas sighed. "Oh good. I didn’t want to be alone tonight."
Raf blinked and then caught on. "You’re there already? I’ll see you in fifteen. Open a new bottle for me, will you?"
"That bad? Alright, will do. We’ll talk when you get here."
The call clicked off and Raf sighed. This was going to be a mess if she wouldn’t talk to him, but he couldn’t just call and ask whether she was okay. And he didn’t dare go see her in person if it would scare her further. For tonight at least, he needed to leave her alone, which meant making plans for best- and worst-case scenarios. If she wouldn’t move in with him, he wondered if he could get her to move into a house at least? Somewhere with some grass for little feet to run around and play.
For that matter, he should call his mother to ask if there was anything he needed to warn Ashley about. Rapid growth wasn’t necessarily an issue, but it would be if she had a toddler within six months. He realized he knew very little about dragon children, and he was going to have to do something to remedy that immediately.
He pulled into Michael’s wide driveway and into the extra-large garage before he’d realized the time had flown by. It was a good thing he’d made this drive so many times, because he couldn’t remember actually making any of the important turns or following road signs. Fog started rolling in as he closed the garage door behind his car, so Michael was home at least, making it easier for Chas and Raf to shift and get in the air. It wasn’t nearly dark enough for that yet, but they could hike into the park and find a quiet spot.
Rafael entered his friend’s luxurious home via the mudroom that connected to the garage, finding Chas on the couch watching TV and Michael in the kitchen with what smelled like steaks. "You don’t need to play host for us, Michael," he objected immediately. It wasn’t as though his friend was hurting for money—none of them were—but escaping into dragon form didn’t mean Michael had to go out of his way to do anything beyond opening his home to let them enter the park unseen.
His friend looked up to flash a quick smile, his reddish beard making his teeth stand out more. "From the sound of it, neither of you have had a great day. My day didn’t suck, so I don’t mind making dinner. You could probably use something healthy in your systems."
Since he wasn’t wrong, Raf couldn’t really argue. "I guess I didn’t get a chance to eat much of my lunch when shit hit the fan." It was said half to himself, but the other two dragons had hearing plenty sensitive enough to hear him clearly.
Chas turned off the television as soon as he spotted Rafael, rising and bringing his empty glass over to where a half-full bottle of scotch sat on the sidebar. Without waiting to ask, he poured himself another glass and found a fresh one for Raf, which he brought over. "We’ll finish this one and take more with us. I’m getting the impression it’s going to be one of those nights."
"I’ll say," Raf grumbled, taking the glass and tossing it back.
Chas’ nose wrinkled. The man had a sense of smell far better than any bloodhound’s. "Shit, Raf. You never drink like this. How much have you had?"
He shrugged, long since having lost track. "Enough to actually dull my senses some. Probably the reason I wasn’t as successful in locking my office door when I thought I did, thus allowing Ashley to barge in."
Michael looked up from the double-wide cast-iron grill pan on the stovetop. "Do you want to sit and wait for dinner, or shall I just make things for when you get back?"
Raf blinked at his friend, the steaks, the kitchen table, and then looked to where Chas was returning with the bottle of scotch. "I could eat first, as long as we’re drinking, too."
"I get that your girlfriend freaked out," Chas said slowly, seeming to choose his words carefully. "But that alone wouldn’t make you drink this much."
Raf moved to the kitchen table and slumped into a seat where he could sit and see Michael at the stove. "Did I ever tell you that I wanted to reveal myself to a human before?"
Two sets of blue eyes stared at him.
"Guess not." He fiddled with the glass in his hands, focusing on it rather than his friends. "College girlfriend and I got serious fast. We were living together by sophomore year, and I was ready to ask her to marry me." He swallowed, beckoning the frozen Chas to bring the bottle of liquor closer. He waited while Chas poured him another two fingers, sipping to ease the burning in his throat. It could have been bile, or it could have been the old broken heart. "I set up the proposal and told her I needed to show her something." He didn’t know how much retelling he could stomach tonight. Not with Ashley’s pregnancy and fear hanging over his head. "If it had gone well, I would have been married back in New York and I’d never have met you lot."
Chas sat heavily in the chair beside him. "Wow. I can’t believe it’s never come up before. Is that what led you out here? I never really bought your bullshit 'I needed a change' excuses, but you were good at changing the subject."
Raf laughed once. "I had to be. She broke my heart and I didn’t know how to pick up the pieces." He drank from his glass and made himself meet Michael’s eyes across at the stove. "When Ashley saw me earlier, I saw the same horrified look on her face that I saw the night I was going to propose."
"Damn," Michael murmured, shutting off the stovetop and pushing the pan off the heat so he could move to the table—he took the chair on Raf’s other side. "I’ve never had anyone get close enough to consider telling them, and I have you all, so I don’t have to hide all the time. That’s made all the difference for me, but I can’t even imagine. I’m sorry, man."
Raf swallowed and risked saying it aloud. "I’m scared she’ll do something like have an abortion now that she knows." The words lay heavy in the air between them, dark and depressing.
