Page 41 of Agony of Our Regret

Sky was watching me. I could feel the weight of his stare, but I wouldn’t meet it.

“Come on,” Vince pressed. “We all care about her. If something’s going on––”

“Then she gets to decide if she includes you in it,” Luca finished.

I wanted to run. Not just from the room, but from this house. The city. I wanted to be at home. I wanted the life I’d created with Luca and Gavin.

The emotional tug-of-war in my chest was exhausting and painful.

I couldn’t keep this to myself for much longer. Was it worth the battle?

But if I told them, they’d want all the answers. They’d want to know who the father was. Gavin and Luca were fine not knowing. It didn’t matter to them.

But the other three? Could they live without knowing?

Would finding out destroy us even more?

Noah and Sky were staying. They decided on their own.

Did that change things?

It didn’t have to.

I still controlled my life and relationships. They never said they were coming back for me. For us.

But they assumed they could move in with us.

What did that mean?

There was too much to figure out. More pressing issues.

But they wouldn’t let this go.

They cared about me and my well-being enough to be concerned.

Did that mean anything?

No, anyone with a heart would ask if they thought someone was sick.

My head was going to explode.

“Ave?” Noah’s voice was soft.

I couldn’t meet his eyes.

I didn’t know what to do.

I’d wished for this exact moment, all of us together again, for years. Now it was here, and I wanted to disappear.

NINE

The pleain Vince’s eyes nearly undid me. “I’m starting to think the worst. What’s going on?”

It was one thing to keep my news from them until I was ready, but another to make them panic. It wasn’t fair, but it also wasn’t fair to rush me into telling.

Nothing about this pregnancy had gone how I wanted or expected. It wasn’t planned. Telling the parents wasn’t planned. The guys showing up now wasn’t planned.

Who was I fooling, thinking I could change that now?

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