Page 16 of Truck Up
Neither of my friends speak. They just stare at me like I spoke a foreign language. Their expressions are wrought with an equal mix of hurt, confusion, and shock.
“Did you hear me?” I ask.
“Um, yeah.” Nova says. Her eyes widen as confusion and shock take over. “But what exactly does that mean? Are you having sex with him?”
“Yes!” I hiss. “What else does sleeping with a man mean?”
“Christian Mutter?” Nova says his name like it’s laced with poison. “That doesn’t make sense. You hate him.”
Something must change on my face because Nova’s eyes widen and Hadley gasps.
“You don’t hate him.” Hadley says just before she hides a faint smile behind her hand.
“This is brilliant.” Nova’s entire body shakes with a silent laugh. Her head falls back against her chair as she struggles to regain her composure. “Your brothers are going to kill him if they ever find out.”
While I understand why she’s laughing, nothing about my circumstance is funny to me. My shoulders sag and I sigh. “Well, they might kill me first.”
“That is possible.” Nova snorts. “Sleeping with the enemy is not something I can see your brothers accepting. Especially Linden and Tanner. They’ll lose their shit.”
“And notjustbecause they hate the Mutters,” I mumble.
Hadley furrows her brow and tilts her head to the side like that will somehow help her find the hidden meaning behind my words. “What aren’t you telling us?”
I take another deep breath. This truth is even harder to admit. Saying the words out loud gives it a finality that I still don’t want to accept. “I think I’m pregnant.”
Nova chokes on the drink she was in the middle of taking and Hadley’s jaw drops. All I can do is shrug and slouch in my chair. I had hoped saying the words out loud would help calm my anxiety. But sadly, it’s had the opposite effect.
“You think?” Nova asks after she clears her throat. “Does that mean you haven’t taken a test yet?”
I shake my head. “I only just realized it this morning after the smell of coffee and bacon made me throw up. Then I realized I haven’t had a period in maybe two months. Seems like a logical conclusion.”
“Well, crap.” Hadley falls back in her chair and sighs.
Nova slaps her hand on the table and pushes to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”
“Wait. Where are you going?” I call after her. But she’s already halfway across the dining room and out the door before I get the question out. There’s a pharmacy on the other side of the parking lot, and even from this distance, I can see that’s where Nova is headed.
When I turn back around, Hadley is staring at me with a faint smile. Not a happy smile. But one of those pitying smiles that says she feels sorry for me. I hate that smile.
“Please don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you pity me. I hate pity.”
She sighs and shakes her head. “I don’t pity you. I’m just worried. But let’s not freak out until we know. Nova’s got your back.”
“Oh God.” I moan. “I don’t want to know. I’m not ready to be a mom. My family is going to hate me for this, and Christian is going to freak out.”
Hadley reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “Christian? Really?”
I jerk my hand away and frown. “Don’t. He’s not the person everyone thinks he is. He’s … actually really sweet.”
Her face contorts and she looks like I just said something far worse than I’m pregnant. “I have a hard time believing that.”
The anger that washes over me almost takes control of my emotions. I want to yell at her for judging him so harshly, but I stop myself. Her views of him are not unreasonable considering the feud between our families and his tainted history.
I take a deep breath and try to keep my voice calm. “Don’t judge him by his past or his hard exterior. It’s not who he really is.”