Letting out a sigh, I head out of the pool house and walk back to the mansion. I find the keys on the kitchen counter waiting for me and it instantly brings a smile to my face. He is so damn thoughtful. How could I have ever thought that he was anything like Nic? Sure, he has some pretty dark secrets, but he’s also the most incredible guy I have ever known.
Making my way into the garage, I find the Audi and can’t help but take a shaky breath. Expensive cars and mansions are going to be my child’s life. He or she will never know the heartache and struggle of living day to day without food or electricity and while that’s the most I could ever ask for my child, it also scares the hell out of me. Am I doomed to raise an entitled heir or heiress who doesn’t understand me?
I am in way over my head here.
Diapers. Breastfeeding. Crying.
Can I handle that?
I start the engine and just as I knew it would, it purrs to life beneath me, reminding me just how good Colton has it. I press the button for the garage door and it instantly raises, opening up to the long driveway ahead and leaving me with endless options.
I hit the gas and before I know it, I’m flying up the road with absolutely no plan.
I just drive. Using the time to clear my mind but two hours later, I’m still just as lost while standing in front of a hardwood door.
I take a breath, wondering what the hell I'm even doing here and knock.
A minute passes and then finally, I hear the sound of the door handle jiggle. I should run. I should take my ass back home and go to school. I'm not ready to face this.
The door peels open and all too soon, a scowling Elijah is standing in front of me, opening my view up to the small apartment he shares with his older brother, but I don’t look past him as judging by the scowl that rests over his face, he sees me as the enemy.
“What are you doing here?” he demands, adjusting his position in the doorway to make it clear that I’m not welcome, but I don’t miss the twinge of regret that flashes in his eyes as he takes that harsh tone with me.
“Give it a rest, Eli. Nic clearly didn’t tell you the full story because if he did, you’d be on your knees begging me not to hand him in.”
His brows furrow as he leans a little closer. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he questions, glancing up and down the hallway to make sure none of his neighbors can overhear. “What did he do?”
I shake my head. “I’m not here to talk about Nic, Eli. I need your help.”
He takes my hand and gives me a hard tug, pulling me into his small apartment, the very same place that I’ve spent countless nights sleeping on the couch, the very same place that I lost my virginity all those years ago. “Why?” he demands, always the first to jump to my rescue and instantly trusting my word that there’s so much more to the story than what Nic would have shared. “What do you need?”
I swallow hard, glancing up and meeting his concerned stare, knowing that no matter what, I'll always be able to trust him. I hold up the positive pregnancy test. “I fucked up.”
Chapter 38
My hands shake as I lay back on the flimsy protective paper that lies against the doctor’s table. My knees are up and my underwear has been tossed carelessly on the ground. Why did I listen to Eli? I should have gone with my gut instinct to keep ignoring the problem. Maybe I could have made it the whole way through the pregnancy before actually admitting that something was going on.
Colton wouldn’t notice. He’s a guy, they hardly ever notice that kind of stuff.
“Would you just calm down?” Eli demands, standing up near my head and holding both of my hands in just one of his. “You’re going to be fine.”
“How do you know that?”
“Trust me, O. This isn’t my first visit to this particular doctor’s office.”
“Bullshit,” I gasp, wide-eyed as we wait for the doctor to come back to complete the dating ultrasound after confirming that I was definitely up the duff. “You knocked someone up?”
A laugh bubbles up his throat as a sick grin twists across his face. “Two someone’s,” he confirms, looking guilty as shit. “Scariest fucking days of my life.”
“You’re lying.”
“I swear,” he says. “Why do you think the doctor has been scowling at me since the second we walked in here?” he points to my stomach. “He thinks this is another one of my messes.”
“It doesn’t help that you told him you were the father.”
Eli shrugs his shoulder. “They wouldn’t have let me in if I was just some dude you picked up off the street. Though, I’m still kinda wondering how I ended up here in the first place. Sebastian would have been better at this.”
“I know,” I say, “But you owed me. You didn’t think you were going to get away with making me check out your diseased infected dick without any consequences, did you?”
Eli groans low and lets out a heavy sigh. “I was wondering when that bullshit was going to come back and bite me on the ass.”
“Well, today is your lucky day.”
The doctor walks back in and we both shut the hell up as my nerves skyrocket. I don't exactly know what a dating ultrasound consists of but from the position he’s got me in with my knees open and a blanket draped over my knees, covering the goodies, it can't be good.
“Alright, Oceania,” he says, powering up the ultrasound machine and pressing a few buttons. “We’re going to do an internal ultrasound to measure the fetus and find just how far along in your pregnancy you are. Now, what that means is,” he says, picking up a long, narrow wand that looks very suspicious, “That I’m going to insert this into your vagina which—”
“What?” I question, wide-eyed, gripping onto Eli’s hand as though it’s my only lifeline. “You’re going to stick that where?”
“There’s no need to fret. There will be a slight pressure and only mild discomfort. For the most part, you won’t even know it’s there.”
Wait. I’m only seventeen. Is this even legal without a parent or guardian by my side? Though, I guess he’s a doctor and it’s not as though he’s going to be fucking me with the thing … just inserting. But in the long run, I’m going to have to get used to my lady bits being overtaken for the next nine months.
Eli squeezes my hand. “I’ve seen it done before,” he tells me. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
I glare up at him as the doctor puts the wand back down and pulls on a pair of latex gloves. “You get an opinion when you grow a vagina,” I tell Eli, watching the doctor out of the corner of my eye and taking in the way that he takes the wand again and begins squeezing something onto the end of it, something that looks suspiciously like lube.
The doctor looks back at me. “This will help me measure the baby and make sure that everything is looking healthy in your womb.”
Well shit. This just got serious.
“Okay,” I nod, knowing there's no need to be nervous but feeling it anyway.
The doctor doesn’t hesitate and pushes the ultrasound wand inside of me and I can't help the slight gasp that comes bubbling out of me. “Geez,” Eli grumbles. “You didn’t sound that excited when it was me going in there.”