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“Brielle?” I ask, my voice soft even though the panic is starting to rise.
She seemed fine when we were together last night. We had seen the movie and had that amazing sex marathon and when we finally fell asleep in each other’s arms, completely exhausted, she didn’t seem like she could have been more content.
“Brielle? Are you alright in there? Can I come in?”
She groans from inside the washroom. I open the door and step inside as she kneels beside the toilet and flushes it. When she leans back against the shower stall, she sighs and runs a hand down her face.
“Do you need me to get anything for you?” I ask as I crouch down beside her and brush strands of her red hair out of her face. “You look like you feel like shit.”
She gives me a wry smile. “You could have just told me that I look like shit.”
“Is everything okay?” I ask again, putting the back of my hand against her forehead.
Her eyes water and she shakes her head. When she takes a deep breath, a pit opens in the bottom of my stomach. Whatever she has to say can’t be good, not if she is looking at me like the world’s about to end.
“Whatever is going on, just tell me. Are you getting more threats? Are you scared of something? Do I need to deal with something?” My words come out in a panicked rush as she gets to her feet and brushes her teeth.
“There’s something that I should have told you yesterday, but I didn’t want to ruin the day. You went to so much effort and it was so nice and special. I didn’t want to ruin that for us.”
I sigh and stand up, crossing my arms and leaning against the shower’s glass walls. “Brielle, whatever it is, I doubt that you’re going to ruin the day with it. You know what really ruins the day? Having to kill people without being warned that they’re coming. If there’s something going on, I need to know.”
“Alright,” she says, her voice wavering. “Well, I don’t know where to start. As far as I know, there’s nobody coming after me right now, but what I have to tell you is probably going to make you run in the opposite direction.”
I walk over to her and cup her face in my hands. “Focus on me, Brielle, not whatever else is running through your mind right now.”
She nods and takes a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
The world feels like it’s fallen out from beneath me. I don’t know what to say or think at that moment. I swallow hard and link my hands together behind my head, walking out of the washroom and back into the bedroom.
“Salvatore,” she calls out, her voice soft and hesitant as she follows me. “I went to the doctor. I’m seven weeks along.”
While there is no doubt that the baby is mine, I don’t want to deal with this right now. Ican’tdeal with this right now. I have enough complications in my life. I was supposed to be backing away from her and now there’s something that ties me to her forever.
“You’re pregnant,” I say, my voice hollow as my gaze darts down to her stomach. “How is this even possible?”
“Sex would be my best guess.”
“Not funny right now, Brielle. I can’t fucking believe this. You know what? I need some space right now. I need you to go back to your house while I think about what the fuck this means for my life.”
She nods and heads to the door. When she pauses and turns back to me, it takes everything in me not to scream at her to get out.
The baby might be mine, and I might want a family of my own someday, but that doesn’t mean that I’m in any way ready to be a father. I don’t even know what being a good father looks like. While Tyson and Damien might be great with their kids, I don’t know if I will be.
I love my niece and nephews, but there isn’t room in my life for a child of my own right now.
“For what it’s worth,” Brielle says, her voice breaking as she looks at me. “If you don’t want to be part of the baby’s life, I’m not going to make you. I would rather the baby grow up without a father than with one who doesn’t want them.”
She takes off before I can form any other thought.
I stare at the place where she once stood, wondering what the hell I’m going to do.
What I want to do is run back to my family but I know that I can’t leave Brielle to fend for herself. Even if I don’t want to see her right now, I can’t leave her alone.
Instead, I grab my phone from the nightstand and call Aria.
“Hey,” she says, sounding exhausted as the call connects. “What’s going on? Why are you calling so early? Is everything okay?”
“Not really. I don’t know who else to call about this. I need to talk to someone and I’m freaking the fuck out.” I sigh and sit on the edge of the bed, running my hand down my face. “I don’t suppose you and the kids could come out here and visit? I could use something to get my mind off of the shit storm that’s going on here.”
