Page 26 of Forged By Sacrifice

“Why is it awful?”

“That Truck thought that we were…you know…”

His hand went to my neck, caressing the back of it. “That sort of hurts,” he said, voice low and guttural like it had been two days before on the boat before he’d asked to kiss me. His eyes made a journey to my lips, down to the lace of my dress that was heaving over my breasts like I was a sixteen-year-old girl waiting for her first kiss, and then back to my lips before stopping once more at my eyes.

I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t meant it like it had sounded. Like I would be embarrassed to be caught being intimate with him. He was gorgeous and gentle, but as much as it stung, he was right that we couldn’t be together, and it would be awful if the others thought we were together when we weren’t.

My hand went to his arm, squeezing. “That isn’t what I meant,” I said quietly.

His head inclined ever so slightly, and I wasn’t sure if it was in acknowledgement, or if he was heading toward my lips with his own.

The door to the office banged open again, and Ava came running in, pushing between us as she hurled herself at the toilet, throwing up. Mac’s and my eyes went to her and then back to each other before he backed out of the tiny space.

“I’ll go get Eli.”

“No,” Ava said before heaving again into the toilet.

I reached under the sink to the washcloths she kept there. The public was never allowed in this bathroom, and Ava treated it like it was one at the house, full of nice-smelling soaps and pretty towels. I wet the cloth and bent to place it on the back of her neck.

Once she’d emptied everything that she could have possibly had in her tiny body after days of hardly eating, she sat back on her haunches and leaned her face into my leg.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the washcloth and rubbing it on her forehead, the makeup she’d worn rubbing off on it.

“What the hell, Ava?” Mac asked. “Should we take you to the doctor?”

She shook her head.

“No, it’ll pass. In about three months.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she pulled back in shock and frowned at both of us, hand to her mouth.

She was pregnant. Ava was pregnant. One of my very best friends was going to have a baby. With the man she loved. My heart jumped again, this time in joy, and I smiled. When I looked over at Mac, his face was going from shock to smiles as well.

“Oh my God. You can’t say anything. I haven’t told Eli,” she said.

I sank down next to her and hugged her. “Congratulations.”

“This is fu?frickin’ awesome!” Mac said, and he came up and hugged us both in this awkward position with us all near the floor.

“Get off,” Ava said, pushing us both away. “You’re crushing me.”

“And the baby!” I said, still smiling.

Ava put a hand to her forehead. “You two will never be able to keep this secret.”

Mac shook his head. “I’m a great secret keeper.”

“But not from Eli,” Ava said.

She stood up, and I hugged her again, a full hug, and said, “I’m so happy for both of you. And I can keep a secret.”

“We’re so stupid,” she said, but she was smiling. She was happy. “We didn’t think it would happen the first time out the shoot.”

“Wait! You were trying?” I asked.

She nodded with a blush that Ava rarely wore. “Well, the doctor said it could take three to six months for the pills to clear out of my system and for us to actually be able to conceive. I should have known better. Eli always has to be first at everything.”

Mac and I burst into laughter.

Mac

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