I was pregnant... really pregnant.
Fuck me.
I cried harder than I ever had before and Keela held me the entire time. My thoughts were a mess, my stomach hurt, and my chest felt like it was about to cave in on itself. As much as I wanted to scream and let all my fear and shock out, I just couldn’t, so I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on breathing. If I freaked out and had a panic attack, it wouldn’t be good for anyone, especially Keela. She would have a heart attack if she thought there was something wrong with me. The guards, firemen, paramedics, and the Army would be at my door in minutes if she had the slightest inkling that I was about to lose it.
What felt like an hour later instead of just a few minutes, I peeled myself from Keela’s arms and wiped my tear-streaked face with the back of my hands. I knew it was a foolish attempt to wipe away the evidence of my mini break down—I could feel how swollen my eyes were from crying and I could only imagine what all the salty tears had done to my make-up and overall appearance, but I had to try to compose myself.
“I c-can’t believe th-this,” I stuttered.
Keela sat back on her heels and looked at me with her big eyes.
“Do you think it’s a false positive?” she asked, curiously.
My heart skipped a beat for a moment, but I knew the odds were stacked against me. Not only did this test come back positive, but so did the mixed-up one I took nine days ago in this very bathroom. I heard Ryder and Branna arguing about a positive test he found in their bathroom. Another test I took. My throwing up and feeling like utter crap throughout the past few days pointed towards pregnancy. So did the fact that I had unprotected sex a few months ago.
Reluctantly, I shook my head at my best friend.
Keela was stunned. “You’re really pregnant?”
That sentence churned my stomach.
I gently nodded my head and accepted this fuck-up like a woman.
A very emotionally unstable woman.
“For who?”
Oh, Jesus, the father.
I instantly began to sob again.
“For the Devil, th-that’s who.”
“Aideen... who is the father?” Keela pressed.
I had taken a few deep breaths before I whispered, “Kane Slater.”
A few minutes of silence passed by, but it might as well have been an eternity.
“WHAT!?”
I winced and hunched my shoulders forward at the volume of Keela’s screech. She was silent for a solid five minutes after I whispered my horrifying reality to her. I calmed down enough to speak during that time, but her delayed scream caught me off guard and freaked me out again.
“Kane Slater, as in me fiancé’s brother? That Kane Slater?”
I blinked my sore eyes. “How many lads named Kane Slater do you know?”
Keela slapped my shoulders. “This is not the time for sarcasm, you dick!”
She was right, I knew that, but I couldn’t help it; it slipped out.
“Sorry.”
Keela’s eyes were wide with shock. “You want to talk me through how Kane Slater came to be the father of your unborn child?”
My stomach churned at her choice of words. Pregnancy usually involved an unborn child, but hearing ‘Kane’ and my ‘unborn child’ in the same sentence made me feel physically ill. I never in my wildest nightmares thought I’d hear myself say anything even close to that sentence.
“If I have to talk you through how I got knocked up by Kane, then Alec is doin’ somethin’ seriously wrong in the bedroom.”
Keela looked like she was about to blow a fuse and jump on me so I held my hands up and said, “Sorry, sorry.”
She stared at me and patiently waited for me to speak. All that came out of my mouth was a loud groan though.
Keela dangerously pointed her finger at me. “Don’t even think about it, lady. I thought you didn’t like Kane. You can barely tolerate being in the same room as him without a world war eruptin’, so you can understand why I’m havin’ trouble wrappin’ me head around the fact that you’re pregnant by him.”
I winced and murmured, “It was an impulse. All the fightin’ and arguments over the past year just exploded. It was either murder one another or fuck each other’s brains out—we chose the latter.”
Keela face-palmed herself, which was exactly the reaction I deserved.
“You didn’t use protection?”
Evidently not.
“Wait, he was the one-night stand you had a few weeks ago?”
I groaned, again.
“You’re goin’ to ask me enough questions to make me relive that night, aren’t you?”
Keela folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, I am, so you might as well start your once-upon-a-time story because I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
Stubborn bitch.
“Okay, okay,” I muttered. “I’ll tell you.”
A smile stretched across Keela’s sadistic face as she jumped to her feet and grabbed my hand. She pulled me upright then all but dragged me out of her bedroom, down the stairs, and into her sitting room. I sat on the large settee while she dived onto the lounge chair and crisscrossed her legs over one another and stared at me expectantly.
“Where is Alec?” I asked, curiously.
“Takin’ Storm on a walk,” she replied with a wave of her hand.
“We don’t have much time then, he can’t walk very far.” I grinned.
“Aideen,” Keela said in warning tone. “Don’t pick on Storm.”
I winced. “My bad.”
Keela nodded her head giving me a rare pass then suddenly shouted, “Wait!”
I raised my eyebrows at her.
I wasn’t even speaking yet.
I watched as she jumped up and ran out of the sitting room. I sat and stared at the doorway for at least a minute until suddenly Keela reappeared with two mugs.
“We need tea for story time,” she chirped.
My one night-stand with my archenemy that resulted in my pregnancy meant story time?
This lass was all kinds of messed up.
“Pre-warnin’,” I said holding my hands up, “if I consume anythin’ right now I will puke.”
Keela placed both mugs on the coffee table next to her. “Okay fine, I’ll drink them while you talk. Go.”
I blinked my eyes and licked my suddenly dry lips.
“Okay.” I swallowed. “It was about three months ago that I fell into sin. Do you remember when I went out on that date with Skull—”
“You shagged Kane on the night you had a date with your ex? You slag!”
That wasn’t bloody helping.
I felt my eye twitch. “Do you want to hear the story or not?”
“Every. Dirty. Detail.” She grinned wickedly.
Every detail?
“Okay, you asked for it,” I said and exhaled a deep breath. “So like I said, it happened about three months ago in that stupid bloody nightclub, Darkness.”
About three months earlier...
“I can’t believe you’re givin’ Skull another chance,” Keela grumbled to me as she zipped up the zipper on the back of my skin-tight dress.
I grinned and turned to face her. “I’m not givin’ him another chance, but I haven’t had sex with him in over a month, and he gives me amazin’ orgasms... Need I say more?”
Keela deadpanned. “There is more to life than orgasms, Aideen.”
My girl had jokes.
I burst into laughter. “Good one.”
Keela rolled her pretty green eyes at me and it made me smile.
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist with me because you don’t get to date anymore. You chose to settle down with that fine hunk of American man-meat in the sittin’ room.”