Sharing Their Nanny (The Nannies)

Why wouldn’t she tell them about being pregnant if it wasn’t all a lie?

“What the fuck is this?” he asked, holding the evidence up in his hand.

Dylan turned toward him, confused. Raine did the same, but her gaze shifted to the test in his hands, and she suddenly went pale.

“Max, man, what are you doing?”

“What am I doing? I want to know what our very pregnant nanny is doing.” He glared at her, seeing the tears in her eyes.

“It’s … I’m pregnant.”

“That I can see, but do you want to tell me why you haven’t told us? Or do you have a lie cooked up for that?”

“What? I haven’t lied to you. To either of you.”

“You didn’t tell us the truth. When did you take this?”

“Last night,” she said. “I had started to notice the signs, and after dropping Lake off at school, I decided to go and get a test. It was positive, and I don’t know why I didn’t say anything, I just … I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Bullshit. You were going to abort it, weren’t you?” Max didn’t know what was coming out of his mouth.

In the back of his mind, he knew deep down that he should stop. That his accusations were completely unfounded, but he hated the thought of Raine keeping anything from him and Dylan.

Successful relationships weren’t built like this.

“No!” Raine’s hands went to her chest. “How could you even think that?”

“What else can I think?”

“Max, that’s enough.”

“Do not defend this slut!”

Raine’s gasp echoed around the room, and Max knew he’d taken it too far.

“You think I’m a slut?” she asked. “Oh, my God.” She pushed past Dylan, shoving him out of the way. She grabbed her clothes, and he watched, still as a statue as his best friend tried to stop her, but she pushed him away. “Leave me alone!”

Max wanted to tell her to stop, but what he’d said surprised even him. This was … what the hell had he done?

Dylan moved toward him. “Fucking asshole.”

In the next second, he was on the floor with his face on fire from the punch his best friend had just clocked him with. The pregnancy test was on the floor, mocking him as he stared across the carpet at it.

He heard Raine’s laughter, but it wasn’t out loud. No, he’d reserved the sound so that whenever he wasn’t happy, he could think of her laugh and remember how beautiful she sounded.

It was a far cry from the pain he’d just seen in her gaze and heard in her voice.

He had truly fucked up.

Go after her.

He wanted to get to his feet. The punch Dylan had given him hurt. They’d never come to blows like that before.

You’d never fucked up before.

He had now, and he had a horrible feeling there was no going back.

****

Raine pulled on her shirt and sweatpants as she rushed across the room. Her hands shook as she went straight to her suitcase, which was already open.

After grabbing the few items from her wardrobe, she shoved them all into the case without even folding them. There was no time for her to be neat about this. She needed to get the hell out of there.

“Do not defend this slut!”

She didn’t know which accusation hurt her the most. The abortion or being called a slut. Both had stung so badly.

Tears fell down her cheeks. They filled her eyes, blurring her vision, and she swiped at them, wanting them gone.

Of course, that didn’t matter. The pain was too much to deal with. This was why she should never fall for any other guy again.

She couldn’t believe Max had thrown those insults her way. She had never given him any reason to believe she was like that. Did he think that since she slept with him and Dylan she was a slut? She was so confused.

Sliding the zipper around the case, she turned toward the door as Dylan stood there.

“Raine, please, don’t go.”

“I’m not staying here, Dylan. I’m sorry. But … I’m not.”

She had to make her escape. There was no plan. No way of knowing what she was going to do.

She had a small amount of savings left, but a baby was expensive. When she’d looked down at the white stick, showing her that she was indeed pregnant, she’d been so happy. More than happy. It was a dream come true. She had wanted a baby for so long. Being a nanny had made her realize how much she craved to be a mom. Even before she’d put the test down, she’d been imagining a life with both men, wondering if she would have a boy or girl. Teaching her how to sew and bake. Helping her or him to grow up.

Now, all those dreams were for naught.

Max’s anger shocked her.

Why was he so angry?