Dean (Face-Off 6)

Will shrugs. “Just about. Don’t take it personally. It’s his way of breaking you in. He did it to us and look how long we’ve lasted.” He says the last part with a crooked grin and one eye open as the girl on his right grinds on his dick.

I drink the amber liquid in my glass and lean forward to set it on the table. “He has a funny way of showing it.”

“Most of the guys go along with whatever Kane says. Ignore them. Play hard, continue showing up to practice on time, and keep your head down. If you do that for a few months and throw in a few points in the process, he’ll stop giving you a hard time.”

Ethan nods in acknowledgment, his eyes on the girl on his lap, and downs a shot of whiskey.

The conversation with my teammates is a nice distraction from the girl dancing in front of me. I pretend to be interested. I’m not. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes and think of Kat. If only this long-distance shit were easier. Five more songs, I tell myself. Then, I need to get out of here and call Kat again before she falls asleep.

Chapter Eighteen

Kat

Silvia grabs a bunch of pregnancy tests and drops them onto the counter at the pharmacy. I was too afraid someone would see the boxes in my hands. So, Silvia has to do the dirty work for me. Even though my dad’s retired, he’s still in the limelight. We still have paparazzi trying to snap our pictures. I can never be too careful.

After throwing up on Mr. Hopper’s expensive dress shoes, I was reassigned to another editor. I thought for sure he was going to fire me on the spot. I apologized profusely and told him I have food poisoning. Then, he shipped me off to Mark Bollinger’s office. So far, despite being sick since this morning, this day wasn’t a total disaster. At least not yet.

After Silvia pays for the tests, we rush out of the store. We’re still in the city, our houses on the outskirts, which leaves us with an hour ride home in traffic. My heart hammers in my chest, pounding so hard it feels like it’s going to make a run for it. On the Uber ride home, my body trembles from the fear rocking through me. We drive in silence, with Silvia holding my hand the entire time. Dean always knows the right words to say, and Silvia knows when not to say them.

Silvia follows me up the long, wide driveway, paved with gray and black stone. We whip through the long marble halls and rush upstairs to my bedroom in a hurry. I lock the door behind us and step into the bathroom attached to my room. Silvia empties the contents of the bag and opens the first two tests.

She holds up the sticks wrapped in plastic. “Which one do you want to take first?”

“Whichever one is more accurate, I guess.” A wave of panic rocks through me, sucking the air from my lungs. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. We only had sex a handful of times. I’m sure my missed period is from stress.”

Silvia sets the tests on the counter in front of me. “It only takes one time to get pregnant, Kat. You should have been more careful.”

“I don’t need a lecture right now, Sil. Please, just be my friend. I know I messed up. I don’t need a reminder of it.”

She sighs and steps back from the sink. “Take the tops off the sticks, pee on them, and then set them on the counter for two to three minutes.”

“That’s it?”

She nods. “Yeah, it’s pretty simple.” Inching out of the room, she says, “Good luck, babe.”

I force a smile as she closes the door. Never in a million years did I think I would put myself in this position. I’m smarter than this. I got so caught up in the moment with Dean that I stopped thinking.

After I pee on the sticks, I place them on the counter and call her back in the bathroom.

She enters the room, a dark expression crossing her face. “Shit,” she mutters, her eyes falling to the first test that’s already showing two faint pink lines.

“Please tell me that means not pregnant.”

She shakes her head. “Sorry, babe, I wish I could.”

Chills roll down my arms. “No, it’s not possible.”

The other test now has two pink lines.

“I have to take the rest of them.” I rip open another box. “Maybe these are defective.”

Silvia cups my shoulder to comfort me, staring at me in the mirror. “Kat, you know they’re not defective. One maybe but not two.”

“What about false positives? I read about them online earlier.”

“Yeah, but…”

After I down a bottle of water, I take four more tests, all of them positive. I creep out from the bathroom, tears spilling down my cheeks, my eyes puffed from crying so much. Silvia wraps her arms around me and holds me until my body stops trembling.