AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She snorted on a laugh. “You chicken. They’re going to be thrilled. You’ll see.”
I really hoped she was right. We rifled through racks of tiny clothes, and though it took forever to find the perfect items, I went to the register with a pink onesie, a blue pair of tiny shoes, and a soft, squeaky baby book. Hopefully that would make it obvious what was going on, even if I was too nervous to get the words out.
Bliss bought a few things too, and then we looked around the store.
“Where did Riva go?” I asked.
Bliss stepped back to peer around a display of diapers. “I’ve no idea. Maybe she’s waiting in the car?”
We both headed to the exit, noting Ice and Aloha sitting on their bikes at the end of the parking lot. They’d been sent by Fang and War to babysit us, the two of them unwilling to let us out without chaperones after what had happened at the concert.
I peered into the late afternoon sunshine, shielding my eyes with my hand so I could see into Riva’s car. “Yep, she’s already here.”
Bliss cringed. “I feel bad we took so long.”
But I couldn’t. I was too excited by the package in my arms. I nudged Bliss as we walked to Riva’s car, giving an employee on a smoke break a wide berth. “I don’t even know who I am right now. Am I seriously doing this?”
She gripped my hand. “We’redoing it.”
Tears welled in the backs of my eyes, which I totally blamed on the pregnancy hormones. But I said the words on the tip of my tongue anyway. “I never had a best friend until you came along.”
“And you don’t know how you lived without me?” She was smiling, her tone joking.
But it got me right in the feels. “Actually, yeah. I really don’t.”
She put her arm around me and squeezed me tight. “Let’s get you home so you can tell those men they’re going to have a little mini-Rebel wild child on their hands in nine months’ time.”
I actually couldn’t wait.
With a shout to Ice and Aloha that we were heading home, I opened the passenger-side door and slid in, Bliss maneuvering herself into the seat behind me.
Riva quickly finished a phone call and then glanced over at me. “You’re back. Sorry, I had to take a call, so I came out here where it was quieter. What did you buy?”
I eagerly showed her the things in the bag, pleased when she made clucking sounds of approval. She eventually pulled her seat belt on and turned on the car, checked her blind spot, and then steered the car out onto the road.
Aloha and Ice gave us a questioning thumbs-up as they drew equal with us, and I shooed them on with a smile.
Aloha nodded once, and the two men peeled away, their job for the day done now that they’d seen us safely into Riva’s vehicle and on our way home.
Nerves kicked up in my belly again, making me feel vaguely nauseated, though that might have been the morning sickness. Now that Bliss knew, I spent the drive back to the house twisted in my seat, peppering her with all the pregnancy questions I had.
I was so distracted with our conversation I didn’t notice for a long time that we weren’t heading back toward the house. In fact, we were driving in the exact opposite direction.
“Where are we going?” I asked Riva.
She put her blinker on and changed lanes. “Sorry, sweetheart. I just have something to drop off on the other side of town. You two don’t mind a little detour, right?”
Bliss shook her head politely. “Of course not. There’s no rush.”
She was right. There wasn’t. Except for the fact I was about to go tell the three men I loved that I was carrying one of their babies.
Holy fucking shit.
It didn’t matter how many times I thought about it, it just seemed to get more and more crazy.
I wildly seesawed between terrified and ecstatic. Maybe at some point I’d find a middle ground, but right now, it didn’t feel like it.
I blamed the fact I was half delirious with hormones and emotions for not noticing Riva pull into a familiar parking lot. It was the bumping of the unpaved road that drew my attention and when I looked out the window and recognized my surroundings. “This is Kian’s construction site.”
