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“I’m, um, back in town.”
“I see that,” I mock her, then kick myself internally. Why am I such a prick?
“I needed to talk to you. Can I come in?”
Jess appears beside me, sliding her arms around my waist in a possessive way I’ve never seen on here before, and I throw my arm over her shoulder, happy to find a place for my limbs.
All the colour from Nova’s cheeks drains instantly, and her whole body shakes. The reaction triggers my curiosity and drives realization deeper into my gut. There’s a reason she’s here. This visit is not a catch-up. Or an offer of round two.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” she glances at Jess with a tilted expression and then spins around and jogs down the steps.
I pry Jess from my body. “I’ll be right back.”
I have to run to catch Nova before she reaches her van.
“Hey,” I call, lunging for her. I touch her elbow, and my universe tilts the moment my fingers touch her skin. God, her skin. “Wait, Nova.”
She whips around. Big tears flood the edges of her lashes, throwing my thoughts around my head as I try to figure out what’s happening.
“I’m so sorry. I should have never come here. I should have called. Or text. I should have kept going.”
“What are you talking about? Whyareyou here?”
When she blinks, the tears unleash themselves, and she swipes at them viciously. My body turns cold, and dread hardens in me like cement in the sun. My thoughts are the only thing moving, and my imagination runs wild as I watch the fear morph her beautiful features.
I had no idea I knew the names of as many venereal diseases as each one whips through my brain. Why else would she be afraid to be here? But we used a condom. The confusion is overwhelming, and then she places both hands on her stomach, and my brain shatters as the unspoken truth torpedoes through my consciousness.
“I’m,” she says through a heaving breath, and I start shaking my head involuntarily.
“No,” I say, cutting her off, but the way she cradles her belly and her lip trembles, it’s very muchyes.
“Zeke, I’m—” Her word burns up in the sun, and I collapse in on myself, bracing myself on my knees as gravity sucks every bit of strength into the ground. Stars burst behind my eyes at the lack of oxygen. All of my systems overload and shut down in a single word.
“Pregnant.”
