Page 11 of On Thin Ice

“Well, yeah, and?”

She huffed out a breath. “It’s fine because I don’t need you to be involved.”

“Ally, I said that ages ago.” Not that I’d changed my mind since then, but even I was smart enough not to say that to her right now. I wasn’t cut out to be father material or really parental material at all. My parents were shitty examples. But now Ally was pregnant.

Fucking hell.

“Don’t try to tell me things you want me to hear. You have the information now, and you have to decide what to do about it. I’m twenty-six weeks pregnant, and she’s due a week before Christmas. Just decide what you want before she shows up, okay?”

Then she patted my shoulder like I was a fucking child and walked out of my condo.

I should’ve run after her. I should’ve called out. But I was frozen in place.

I was going to be a father.

I had no business being a father.

Of all the bombs she could’ve dropped on me, that was one I never would have expected. I stared at the closed front doorand then tipped my head back and cursed at the ceiling before I walked into my bedroom.

Pulling out the box of condoms from my nightstand, I looked at the fine print.

Fuck me.

They really should make that warning a lot fucking bigger on the damn box.

I tossed the box aside and sank down onto the bed, my head falling into my hands.

What the hell was I going to do? Twenty-fucking-six weeks. She’d known for months. And she’d just waited. Gotten used to the knowledge that she was going to have a baby.

My baby.

FUCK.

What the hell did I know about raising a kid, anyway? I was only twenty-five and had no plans to settle down.

But it wasn’t like she was asking me to settle down—or do anything, really.

And that pissed me off, too. Where did she get off just assuming I’d want nothing to do with my kid? Okay, yes. Because that’s what I’d told her. But I would bet that most twenty-year-olds would say the same thing. Fuck. At twenty, I was barely an adult. Not that I’d matured that much since.

“Dammit to fucking hell,” I shouted into my empty condo. I was all over the fucking place.

Guess I was just handy for a good fuck and nothing else. Why did that thought bother me?

Restless energy rocketed through me and I stood up, rolling my shoulders, and headed to my room to change into workout gear. I needed to hit something or go for a run or lift weights.

According to my phone, it wasn’t even ten in the morning—way too early for this shit—but staying alone in my condo and fucking driving myself crazy was not the answer, so I finishedchanging and stomped down the hall to the elevator for a quick ride up to the gym on the top floor.

What in the fucking hell just happened to my life?

Chapter 3

ALLY

Irolled my suitcase into my apartment two days later, feeling more accomplished, if nothing else. My trip to Denver had been a success. I’d made connections and a few friends and learned a lot at the conference. And, more importantly, I’d told Dom I was pregnant.

And then he freaked. I walked out of his condo and haven’t heard a word since. I hated how much that stung.

I placed my hand on my belly, smiling as I felt her move inside of me. We didn’t need him. It’s not like he and I’d ever really been together to begin with. I could tell myself all of that over and over again until I was blue in the face, but it still freaking hurt.

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