Change of Heart (Fostering Love 2)

“Now go get it,” Bram ordered, his gaze roaming up my body and pausing at my hard nipples beneath the thin cotton.

“Are you serious?”

“I wanna feel that ring tonight,” he said huskily, making my stomach clench in need.

“Okay,” I whispered back.

I took a deep breath and opened my bedroom door as Bram started unbuttoning his jeans. Jesus, he was hot.

As quietly as I could, I walked out into the living room, where Alex and Henry were spread out on the sofa bed drinking my beer and chatting. I was hoping to make it to the entryway where I’d left my purse without notice, but Alex caught me sneaking by and a wicked grin spread over his face.

“Nice shirt,” Alex called out, catching Henry’s attention.

“Good color on you,” Henry said, nodding his head.

“The white T-shirt is ‘in’ this season,” Alex agreed, tilting his head to the side like he was trying to get the perfect angle.

“Is this an invitation?” Henry asked with a completely straight face. “I’ll come to the party.”

I gritted my teeth at their teasing and crouched down carefully at my purse, fishing through the side pocket for my tongue ring. As soon as it was in my hand, I raised it to my mouth and secured it on my tongue.

“No,” I said huskily, rising as I turned back toward them. “Bram just asked me to put in my tongue ring.” I shrugged and stuck out my tongue, making their eyes widen. “He likes it on his dick.”

Both guys groaned as I laughed.

“I think she just schooled us,” I heard Alex say from the living room as I got to my bedroom doorway.

“I think I just came,” Henry bitched back.

I giggled, glancing behind me as a strong hand reached through the doorway and pulled me inside.

* * *

“Shit,” I murmured groggily the next morning as my phone rang on the nightstand table.

“Whose phone is that?” A voice startled me from the floor, making me jerk back into Bram’s warm body.

“What the hell?” I asked, leaning over the bed to find Alex and Henry asleep on my floor.

“It was cold in your living room,” Alex mumbled, turning his head away from my glare. “You need new windows.”

I just got new windows. Ugh. My phone stopped ringing, then started up again.

“Hello?” I answered quietly. I didn’t want to wake Bram up, but I was naked under the blankets. There was no way I was going to get out of bed before Thing One and Thing Two left the room.

“Anita?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Yep. This is her. Who’s this?”

“Hey, um, it’s Beth. Bethy. Your sister?”

I stopped breathing.

“Yeah, Bethy. I know who you are, kid. What’s up?”

I hadn’t talked to her since my birth mom had called to tell me Bethy was pregnant, and I so badly wanted to rip her a new one for being so stupid—but I didn’t. The milk was spilled at that point. The only thing left to do was try and clean it up.

Bram’s hand slid around my waist as he sleepily curled closer, his palm resting on my stomach.

“Well, um, Mom told you that I’m pregnant, right?” she asked tentatively.

“Yeah, dude. She did.” Why the fuck didn’t you make him put on a condom?

“Well, I’m almost due. You know, with the baby.” Her last words were sort of muffled, and in that moment, I fully understood how very young and immature my fifteen-year-old sister was.

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, wondering where she was going with the conversation. I sent presents to her and my brothers on their birthdays and Christmas, and I tried to call at least once every couple months but none of them had ever called me.

“I-was-wondering-if-you-could-take-it,” she rushed out.

She said it so fast that, for a moment, I didn’t understand the words, but when I did, my world narrowed down to just me and the phone in my hand.

“What?” I rasped out.

“I was hoping you could adopt it.”

“What?”

“Stop saying ‘what.’ Just tell me no if you don’t want to,” she snapped. “I can find someone else.”

“I—” I swallowed hard. “You dropped a bomb here. Can I have a second to process?”

“I need to know soon. I’m due in two weeks so it could be coming out at any time. Someone needs to be here to take it home.” She sounded so detached from the whole thing that it made my stomach churn with nausea. It? She kept calling the baby it.

“Can I call you back?” I asked, pressing my fingertips to my forehead as my head started to ache.

“Yeah, let me know.”

She hung up without saying good-bye and before I could ask any more questions.

“Who was that?” Bram asked, his beard brushing my shoulder as he kissed it softly.

“My little sister,” I replied, relaxing as he pulled me tighter against him.

“The one that’s having a baby?”