Page 73 of Claimed By the Cowboys

Maybe I’ll come back to my house before that, to get ready, and I’ll take the test and then see the guys in town.

That sounds right. I need a little space, once I take the test, to figure out what’s going on. Blaire’s right. I don’t need to focus on how to make it perfect between us.

There’s a lot going on. Managing a relationship with one person is hard. With three? Even three good friends, three people that I’ve known forever? It’s really, really hard.

I don’t want to constantly be trying to make it perfect, though. Not if it’s going to hurt them or get in the way of how I feel about them. I need to take the pregnancy test. I need to know what I’m dealing with.

Blaire is, in fact, annoyingly good at saying the right thing when it comes to stuff like this.

I know I shouldn’t be keeping my whole potential pregnancy from the guys, either. It’s something that I need to hold on to, though. Just for now.

I need to know first. I need to know so that I can either tell them, or just celebrate the fact that we’re here. We’re together. And we’re building a future for all of our work.

The pregnancy test is going to change things. I need to accept that. But either way, I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to tell the guys that I want this to be… more.

And I’m going to tell them tonight.

CHAPTER 20

Brent

When I get Piper’s text, I frown.

What the hell? We had all planned to go to dinner in town at the local bar. Tate even agreed to it, despite the fact that he can be a real pain in the ass about food. I’ve been looking forward to this all day, because we’re celebrating the video of Dalton working with the horses going viral. It also kind of felt like we were celebrating a little bit more, as well.

It’s been almost a month, and things are going so smoothly. The sex is good. Great. Fan-fucking-tastic. Piper seems happy. I’m happy. Tate and Dalton seem happy. Everything seems to be going really fucking well.

Except for the fact that in the past week or so, Piper has… withdrawn. A lot.

Physically, she’s still around. She hasn’t left, even though her water heater is working at her house again. She’s still with us, living in our house. We’re still, for all intents and purposes, kind of roleplaying as a family. But something seems… off.

I haven’t been able to figure out what it is, but it’s driving me absolutely fucking nuts. I can tell Dalton feels it, too. He’s been on edge, and he even started to lose his patience with one of the horses earlier.

Tate seems to be unaffected. I guess that’s what a happy childhood gets you. The inability to sense tension in a room. Lucky fucker.

Two seconds after getting her text, Dalton’s calling. I pick up.

“What the hell? She doesn’t want to ride into town together?”

“Guess not, man,” I answer, picking at a loose thread on my saddle.

“The fuck did we do?”

I shake my head. “Nothing, Dalton. We didn’t do anything wrong. Piper’s just… being herself.”

“No, she’s not. Piper being herself is happy. Piper lately isn’t happy,” he growls.

“I know. But what are we gonna do about it?”

Dalton’s silent. Yeah. Exactly.

I heave out a sigh. “At dinner, we’ll ask her what’s going on. Okay? Sound fair?”

“She gonna answer?”

I roll my eyes. “Dalton. We just have to ask. If she’s ready to answer, she’ll answer. If she’s not, she won’t. We’ll figure it out. Okay?”

“Her clothes are gone.”

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