Lost Love (Cowboys & Angels 1)

We spun around and rushed to the tests. My eyes glanced over them. What in the hell? Why were there so many different brands? And why in the hell did our small-town pharmacy carry them all?

“Which one?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“I don’t care. Grab one of each! Let’s just go before someone else see us,” Paxton replied in a hushed tone as she reached for the First Response. She grabbed two.

I grabbed six of Clearblue brand only to have Paxton gawk at me.

“Six?”

“Well, we want to be sure.”

She giggled. “I think two is enough.”

Shrugging, I put four back and then reached for two of the EPT tests. Paxton grabbed one that simply read Pregnancy Test. The last one was Fact Plus. I grabbed two of those and added it to the pile of tests in my hands.

“That should be good,” Paxton stated with a smile.

“You sure? What if they don’t work?”

“Whatcha doing?” The voice came from behind, causing both of us to let out a scream. My first instinct was to discard the six boxes of pregnancy tests I had in my hand. I watched as they all dropped at our feet.

My sister Amelia peered at the boxes and then snapped her head back up to us. Her look of shock quickly turned to pure excitement.

“Oh! My! Freaking! Hell!” she shouted.

Paxton and I both replied with a quick, “Shh!”

Dropping down, I gathered the tests back up.

“You’re pregnant?” Amelia asked. Then she screamed. Loudly. “Holy fuck! And you’re engaged?” She grabbed Paxton’s left hand, causing her to drop two of her tests.

Paxton giggled, beaming with happiness. “Yes! Steed asked me earlier today in the most romantic way ever.”

Amelia’s eyes landed on me, and she wiped a tear away. “I’m so happy. Does Chloe know?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

Covering her mouth with her hands, Amelia shook her head. “I’m so happy, y’all… I think I’m going to cry!”

I rolled my eyes. “I love you, sis, but we really need to get the fuck out of here before someone else walks up and—”

“Jesus, is it national buy your condoms day?”

Groaning, I dropped my head at the sound of my brother Cord’s voice.

“Why the hell are you in this aisle, Amelia?” he asked in an angry voice.

“Oh fuck off, Cord. I’m an adult and if I want to buy condoms, I’ll buy condoms.”

Paxton turned to me. I knew she wanted out of there just as much as I did, and here we were, listening to Cord and Amelia argue whether she was allowed to have sex or not.

“I’m twenty-two years old, Cord. I’ve been fucking guys for a few years now.”

“Oh, come on!” I said. Cord looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

“Meli, so help me God, if I ever find out who you’ve slept with I’m going to beat their ass so bad…”

“Listen, as much as I’d love to stay here and listen to y’all, we need to leave,” I said as I started to push between the two of them.

Cord’s hand grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. He stared down at the tests, then back at me. “Why do you have pregnancy tests in your arms?”

His eyes swung over to Paxton, and it dawned on him. “Holy. Shit. Are y’all?”

“They don’t know yet! That’s why they’re here, Cord!” Amelia said as she jumped up and down and pretended to clap her hands.

Cord looked back at me. “Dude! This is fucking amazing. Come on, let’s go!”

Both him and Amelia turned on their heels and headed down the aisle. “Oh wait!” Amelia said as she rushed back and grabbed a box of condoms.

I wanted to throw up in my mouth when she held up the extra-large and said, “Here’s to hoping!”

“Grab me a box of those, Meli!” Cord said.

Amelia laughed. “Are you sure you don’t need extra small?”

“Just get me the extra-large. Super extra if they have them,” he said tossing his head back in laughter.

“Is this really happening right now?” Paxton asked.

“I don’t know what bothers me more. The fact that they think they’re going with us or that my brother just asked my baby sister to grab him a box of condoms.”

Paxton laughed as we followed Amelia and Cord to the check out, both of them still arguing about whether Amelia was old enough for sex.

Somehow Cord and Amelia were standing in the middle of Steed’s living room, staring at me with wide hopeful eyes.

“Y’all, not to sound like a total ass, but we were kind of thinking this would be a private moment,” Steed said, his arms crossed over his chest and one brow lifted.

Amelia and Cord turned to each other with questioning looks, then lost it laughing. Turning back to us, Amelia stated, “Seriously? We see you with boxes of pregnancy tests, and you expect us to walk away and pretend like we don’t know. Not happening, Parker.”