Page 50 of Might as Well

“About sums it up,” Ian agrees.

“Will you ask?” I say to Sydney, who nods and disappears.

“I don’t know what the hell happened, but they’ve been cursing you for the last half hour loud enough to be heard in the living room. Be prepared to beg, grovel, and plead if she’s really the one you want.”

Before I can respond, Sydney reappears. “She doesn’t want to talk to you right now, but I’d suggest you be home when she gets there and be on your knees to beg forgiveness.”

“She didn’t sleep with Luke.”

Sydney rolls her eyes while Ian’s widen. “No, jackass.”

“Jesus, Z,” Ian breathes with surprise.

I groan. My gut was right. I should’ve trusted it. I should’ve trusted Violet. “Okay. I’ll come back another time. I need to replace my phone again, so I’ll just go.”

Numbly, I replay the disaster of that day wondering if I missed key signs. When I replace my phone, it blows up with missed call notifications from Violet, missed texts from her, and a few from Luukas who relays what Sydney confirmed. I jumped to conclusions. To thewrongconclusion.

But what the hell happened then?

When I get to Violet’s house, she hasn’t returned home yet. I unpack my things, start a load of laundry, and am putting my few toiletries away when my eye catches sight of something in the trash can.

A box for a pregnancy test?

Is Violet pregnant?

The front door slams and voices murmur from the other room. My feet carry me to Violet before I can think to hesitate. Cassie stands next to her with her arms crossed and a glare fixed on me. Violet has her gaze down, refusing to meet mine.

“Are you sure?” Cassie asks.

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Thanks.” Violet wraps her friend in a long hug and within another minute or so, it’s just the two of us. She rounds the couch and takes a seat. After a moment, I follow, but decide to give her some space and sit at the opposite end. “Come to get your things?” she asks after a long beat of silence.

“No.” I clear my throat. “Can you tell me what happened so I can appropriately apologize and grovel?”

Violet glances at me before fixing her gaze back on the TV. “Do you really think I would do that to you?” she asks instead.

“No,” I answer honestly. “But the waitress said you left with some guy and she looked so sad to tell me that, and then I show up and Luke is here. And I guess all those times someone has trampled on me rose up and swallowed me whole.

“Deanna isn’t the first to sleep around on me. She was just the only one up front about the fact she would. I’ve seen my fair share of women who wanted to sleep with as many players as possible or wanted me for whatever status they think it’ll bring them. Or for me to use my money to take care of them. I just…” I run a hand over my face. “I overreacted and was hurt to think what I thought happened might have actually happened.”

“All you had to do was ask,” she points out.

“Luke had his shirt off and you were half naked in bed, Violet,” I defend.

She clenches her jaw. “Yeah because I threw up on the two of us and there was vomit on our clothes. I had a migraine, Zane. One of the worst in a while. Luke was checking on me, realized who I was, and thought it was better to get me home than wait on you because I was going downhill so fast. He was going to text you when he left.”

Fuck. “Violet,” I whisper.

“I’m so hurt you would accuse me of that. That you would just walk away without even letting me speak. And then you didn’t talk to me nearly the entire time you were gone.”

“I had my phone off at first and then it got damaged again,” I interrupt to explain that part away.

“I don’t care,” she replies softly. “You know what it means to me to have you and the people you bring into my life and you were ready to rip it all away from me without hesitation. That hurts, Zane.”

Her eyes water and her arms fold over her chest. She finally looks at me, but the depth of pain in her eyes almost makes me wish she didn’t.

“I’m pregnant. It’s my fault.” I frown at this but she powers on before I can ask what she means. “I haven’t been taking any of my pills like I should with everything going on. At first, I panicked. My first thought was that here I am, pregnant, and I’malone. I kept thinking life would give me this baby and then rip us apart to leave the baby alone.

“I managed to walk myself back into sanity and then, you want to know what my first thought was? That you were going to blame me and say I trapped you because of what you accused me of.” Her voice shakes as tears fall. “This should have been a happy moment for me, Zane. And I don’t even know if I’m all that upset that it wasn’t because while I did panic at first, I was able to realize I was being ridiculous and irrational. I don’t think I would’ve done that before you.”

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