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Chapter 7
Hailey
“It’s a serious issue, H… how could you be so lax?” Marissa’s chiding tone gyrated against my eardrums, and I ground my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut behind the cold, damp cloth that blocked out the light. “I expected you to panic more considering you had unprotected sex with a stranger. You could’ve gotten an STD, or worse…”
“Or worse, she could be pregnant? Seriously, M, you’re making a big deal of nothing. Hailey’s always careful.” Long, nimble fingers ran through my hair hanging off the armrest of the couch, and Kelly very gently eased through the knots that tangled the strands. “There’s nothing to worry about, okay?”
“I just still can’t believe you read the Plan B box wrong and took the pill after three days had passed…” Tracy spoke up for the first time since I began my story, and sniggers bounced around the living room of my apartment. Carefully lifting my compress, I winced when the light streaming in from the windows speared my brain. “I mean, how did you even manage that, Hailey?”
“I was freaking out, okay—” Cut off by a scoff, I grimaced at the pain that beat against my eye sockets. Embarrassment flooded my chest, but this little get-together wasn’t supposed to make me feel better about the whole situation.
“You should be freaking out now. How are you going to work and take care of a baby, H? I think you should call the guy and tell him.” My first youngest sister groaned harshly, and I didn’t need to look at her to know Marissa was raking her hands through her naturally bleach blonde hair. “Not to say you need help or whatever, but he deserves to know. Just like K said, you know how to pick ‘em, right? So, why can’t you just pick up the phone and call him?”
Expectant silence sat on my chest like an elephant, and I pushed past my headache to contemplate that question yet again. Anthony’s face flashed in my mind’s eye, set grim and unhappy and intense, and a harsh sigh burst from my throat.
“I can, I just won’t. It’s hard to explain…” The excuse was bad even to my own ears, and a chorus of disappointed groans filled the air. It’d been a week since Anthony left, but he’d circled around in my head every waking second. Maybe he was just having a bad week; maybe he was stressed about his trip, and we got off on the wrong foot. After all, he said it himself—we got off to a bad start, supposedly.
But I just couldn’t bring myself to call him and tell him that I was pregnant. Shame built up in my throat at the lingering, incredibly tense memories of that night and what had led up to it. The more I told myself to think of Anthony as nothing more than a passerby in my life, the more the idea infuriated me. Phantom muscles and words had kept me awake at night, and the glorious globs of makeup on my face was the only thing stopping him from noticing as I drove him around.
Because he would’ve definitely noticed.
The burning, throbbing desire I had for Anthony—I still had for him—was senseless, and even a week later, I couldn’t think of a time when I had been more gratified. I had never enjoyed being dominated; I never considered it part of my kink. The few times I’d attempted it, I was left feeling shamed and humiliated.
“Are you going to tell Mom?”
“No!” Jerking up to sit, my shout burst from my throat to join Marissa’s and Kelly’s equally harsh denials, and my cold rag fell from my face to plop in my lap. Tracy blushed bright red at her own, stupid question, and I couldn’t help but glare hotly at her.
“Fuck her- seriously. I don’t want her having anything to do with any of this. We can’t just poof and our relationship will be fixed because I got knocked up. If anything, it’ll make it worse.”
“She’s right, you know, Mom made a comment at my announcement trying to set H up with one of Sam’s cousins…” Twisting in disgust-tinged horror, my expression pulled a laugh from my youngest sister as she waved me off with a shake of her head. “Don’t worry, she got shut down real quick, H. No one wanted to entertain her fantastical matchmaking notions. Especially because Sam’s cousins are all kinda grimy and gross…”
“Yeah, we’re definitely not telling Mom.” Irritation laced my voice, and the conversation came to a stalemate as I stared at each of my sisters. Marissa was the only one of us that didn’t have a variant of light brown hair, but we all looked pretty much the same. Kelly was paler than the three of us, with freckles, and Tracy was the shortest. My blue eyes set me apart.
“You’ll help me out, right?” My sisters’ surprise thickened the atmosphere, and I nibbled furiously on my bottom lip before opening my mouth. “You know, I don’t want to expect it and put you out or anything. I just… was wondering.”
“As long as I get to design the nursery!” Tracy’s declaration pulled a strained smile from me, and I slowly pushed myself from the sofa to stretch my stiff muscles.
“Oh, oh, I want to help you get all your stuff—’
“I get to be in the delivery room ‘cause there’s no way I’m dealing with your hormonal self 8 months in.” Marissa smirked broadly, propping her fists on her hips and puffing out her swollen chest. “I called it! No takes-backs-sies.”
“What! That’s not fair!” Laughing at the argument that only grew louder and more intense, I sat down heavily and leaned into the sofa cushions to watch the scene. Even in our early to mid-20s, we acted like pre-teens when we were together. This was how it’d always been, and just because we were starting families—even unexpected ones—didn’t change anything. The worst thing about it was getting a babysitter, so these get-togethers didn’t happen often.
“Wait, what about your promotion, Hailey?” Pausing the argument loudly, Tracy locked worried eyes with me as I shrugged carelessly. I’d spent years working my way to where I was, including sucking up to the main brass. A little thing like a pregnancy wasn’t going to jeopardize my cushy desk job, and security lightened the load
weighing down my shoulders.
“I’m supposed to get the call this week, but I think I basically got it. I’m not going to get fired or anything for being pregnant—that’s illegal.” Tracy frowned, shuffling between the coffee table and the sofa to perch next to me with a slight inhale.
“No, but they could snuff your hours or something. I mean, you’re in this mess because they didn’t give you reproductive health care coverage on your company insurance.” My chest deflated a little at that, but I shook my head anyway as faith in my work ethic burned away the doubt.
“It’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. Even if I don’t get the promotion, I have job security. If I need to, I’ll just bring the baby to work. It’s not like it’ll do anything more than sleep and poop and eat for the first couple months, anyway.”
Smiling reassuringly, I reached for Tracy’s hand to squeeze. “I know it’s not the same, but I got this. I’ll be fine, T.”
“See, this is why I think Mom has such a problem with you, H. You don’t need a man like a cripple needs a crutch. You got your head on straight—you have a plan, and you can do it all by yourself. She could never do that.” Marissa’s sobering comments tightened my throat, and I reached to scratch my neck as heat rushed up the slender column. “Hell, we probably couldn’t do that. Don’t forget that we got your back, besides, I bet Mom will never even realize you’re pregnant because she never wants to interact with you. I think it’s great that you didn’t get pregnant to please her after everything she did to you.”
“Why are we talking about Mom when we can talk about this mystery guy, huh? So Hailey, was he hot? Muscular? Beanpole? We need to know!” My blush intensified at Kelly’s excited questions, and I ducked my head in a sharp nod. Her squeal resounded through my living room like a crackle of lightning, and she sat on the edge of my coffee table as Marissa took the spot on my other side. “Spill the beans, we know you’re into the bondage stuff, was he good at it?”
