Page 70 of Claimed By the Cowboys

“With the guys?”

“Yes, Blaire!” She gives a little triumphant whoop, and I shake my head. “Hush!”

“Why? The only people who are going to hear are my guys, and they don’t care.”

“Blaire. Seriously. I…” I pause. I don’t know how to tell her I might be pregnant. Because then I have to admit that I’m too scared to go to the store and get a pregnancy test. And then I have to tell her why I’m too scared, and I don’t know the answer to that yet.

“Piper. Hello? Are you there?”

“I’m here,” I say.

“So did they knock you up yet or what?”

“It’s not that easy, you know,” I say defensively.

Blaire chuckles. “Statistically no, it’s not that easy, but somehow it is, actually, still weirdly easy to get pregnant.”

“I…” My mouth goes dry.

Her voice changes. “Piper. Are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did you take a test?”

“No,” I moan.

“Are you late?”

I suck in a breath. “Yes.”

“PIPER!”

I hold the phone away from my ear before bringing it back. “Hush, Blaire!”

“What the hell! Why aren’t you out there peeing on every stick you can find?”

I pick at my nails. “First of all, gross. Second, it’s not?—”

“Don’t you start with me,” she cuts me off. “It very much literally is that easy. They make it easy on purpose. Some of the tests explicitly advertise how easy they are.”

“Stop,” I say. Loudly.

Blaire makes that little humming noise that makes me shiver, because it means she’s disappointed in me. “Piper. Seriously. You’ve wanted this for so long. What’s holding you back?”

And there it is.

“I’m not sure,” I say slowly.

“Spitball something with me. Give me your best idea.”

I shake my head. “Okay, Detective Blaire. I just…”

I sigh. There’s silence for a minute. I can only hear the sound of Blaire breathing on the phone, and the bubble of the pot on the stove.

“Are they mean to you? Is something wrong? Because I’ll fucking end every single one of them,” she growls.

“No, Blaire. Nothing like that,” I say. “It’s just… I want this.”

---