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Chapter Fourteen
Callahan
Callahan paused with her hand on the door, her heart beating so hard she could see her shirt jump with the motion.Pregnant.She closed her eyes, swaying slightly at the suggestion, knowing deep down Jaspercould beright. Knowingin that instant that there was a possibility. The pizza smelled disgusting,butthe banana-peanut butter-chocolate thing had been delicious. Until Jasper’s PMS comment had made it turn to ash in her mouth. She was late, one day late. She never paid attention to her period, there wasn’t ever a reason. She didn’t have sex. Shedidn’t hook up with hot, cocky player types on a whim. Until Jasper.
“Callahan, look at me, please.”
His voice was soft, almost like he was apologizing with every word. She was afraid to meet his gaze, afraid of what she would find. Would he blame her? Would he be as terrified as she was?
She dropped her hand and let her bag fall off her shoulder. “I could be, maybe. Probably not though.” She was currently praying for a stomach bug. The worst stomach bug in the history of stomach bugs. She’d take days of feeling sick, of throwing up, if it meant that she wasn’t a pregnant college freshman. If it meant her life wasn’t about to be over before it ever really started. “We were careful.”
They were careful, they were responsible. Except… No,they weren’t. Responsible wasn’t hooking up witharandomguyyou barely knew. She’dbehavethecompleteopposite of the kind of responsible she’d been raised to be. When it came to Jasper, she’d been reckless.
Jasper’s smile was sad, and so very small. He stepped toward her, picking up her bag and then taking her hand in his. “One step at a time, okay?” For once she didn’t pull away from his attention, she welcomed the kind gesture. “We’ll go get a test, and then we’ll lock ourselves away in my bathroom. Away from offensive-smelling pizza and vomit-inducingbananacombinations.”
Despiteherself,she grinnedas she let him lead her out of the house into the cool dark night. It was summer in Colorado, which meant the temperature tended to drop with the sun. Thecoolair felt good against her heated skin. “Why are you being so calm?” She climbed into his truck after he opened her door, instantly enveloped in his yummy smoke and spice scent. “Why are you being so nice to me?” Jasper buckled her seatbelt and then shut her in the silent vehicle. He didn’t answer as he backed them out of the driveway. So she tried a third question. “Why aren’t you freaking out?”
“How do you know I’m not freaking out? And I’m being nice to you because neither one of us did anything wrong. We weren’t being irresponsible, or stupid,or careless.” Jasper seemed to read her thoughts as he used his blinker to turn out of the quaint neighborhood he lived in with Riley and Blake.
“Maybe it’s nothing.” She hoped it was nothing. She hoped that this was one of those scares you recall as a distant memory orasa cautionary tale. An anecdote from the one time in her life when she did something sexy and bold.
“Yeah, maybe.”
They rode the rest of the way in silence. Jasper told her to stay in the truck, that he would go get the test.Fromthe moment she’d thrown up in his bathroom, he’d been surprising her at every turn.He was no longer staring at her breasts or asking weird questions about her childhood. He’d taken on a quiet confidence she found entirelytooappealing. Jasper the fuck-boy was easy to ignore, but Jasper as the man he was currently showcasing? Wow.
She watched through the large picture windows as the young cashier giggled and made eyes at thepotentialfather of her possible baby. She was mildly annoyed and slightly jealous.Though she couldn’t blame the girl. Callahanknew how gorgeous he was, how his muscles looked in his t-shirt,andthe way his shorts sat on his hips. Jasper was magnificent; trying to deny it was futile.Shecouldn’t help but laugh when the girl went utterly still as Jasper placed a pregnancy test on the counter, all signs of flirting gone.
He paid andexitedthe store. She watched his face, trying to figure out how he was feeling.Why wasn’the freaking out like she was?Maybehis insideswerea tangled mess of butterflies and nervesand he was good at not showing it. She wondered ifhis handsshookas he picked out the test for her.
“Okay.I got the lines one because the internet said the digital ones can be glitchy.” He tossed a pink box into her lap before buckling up.
She looked down, wrinkling her nose at the offensive pink color. Not all females liked pink. This pregnancy test would forever change two people’s lives;therefore,it should be gender neutral. Or white. Blank. It was what you wanted it to be. Pink implied a hopeful woman, desperate to be pregnant.
Callahan would be praying for the opposite.
“Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me for buying you a pregnancy test.” Jasper veered right,making his way back to his home,only a few minutesaway.“It’s the least my dick can do. Hindsight, Ishould’vebought you the morning-after pill.”
The way he spoke was so foreign. The casual way he used crass words. She grew up surrounded by people who didn’t cuss, didn’t drink, gamble,or dance. They didn’t have sex with someone they weren’t married to,let alone dating. They certainly didn’t buy morning-after pills.
Shehadn’tevenrealizedshe’d been rebelling against her upbringing until that moment, sitting next to a hot guy with a pregnancy test sitting likean anvilin her lap. When had she become so oblivious to her own lifechoices?
Silly girl, moving forward like every day was guaranteed.
Jasper pulled the truck into the driveway, then shut off the engine. He didn’t make a move to get out, or rush her to do so either. He was calm, steady. So unlike the boy he’d been when they’d slept together.“Let me know when you’re ready.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.” She tapped the slender box against her open palm, sending him a sliver of a smile. “But maybe it’s nothing.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jasper
It wasn’t nothing. If, for another few minutes,allowing her to believe that helped get her through…Hell, why not? Jaspernodded in agreement. Whenshefinally found the courage to get out of the truck, he waited for her near the still-warm hood. He put his hand on the small of her back, leading her up the front steps. She was allowing him to touch her, which showed how freaked out she was. He’d texted Riley while he was inside the drugstore, askinghimand Blake to stay out of sight. Tonight was going to be tough enough without having anyone else bear witness.
He knew Callahan was pregnant.Rileywasn’twrong. He supposed a small part of him was holding out hope though, hope that maybe she’d say it wasn’t his. Admit that she’d been with someone else that weekend. He knew it was a long shot. Into casual hookups…Callahan was not. That’s what brains do though,right? Pushagainst logic until there is nothing else to put misguided hope in.
Jasper led her upstairs and into his room, shutting and locking the door behind him. He sat down on the edge of his bed, thankful that he’d made it for once. Neither one of them spoke asshewent into his bathroom, closing the door with a soft click.
