Page 12 of There Are No Words

I turned to face her, still looking down at my sub and contemplated whether I should ask her to elaborate on her shitty day. I wanted to know, don’t get me wrong. But my sub. . . it was looking like I was never going to get to enjoy this sub. Not that I would enjoy it now that I knew something was going on with Allegra.Fine, that does it.“I have the day off,” I answered. “Now what’s going on? Why areyouhome?”

I watched her throat bob as she swallowed. On a scale of one to ten, how weird would it be if I told you I wanted to lick the column of her neck right now, but only after nipping at the sensitive skin?

She placed her water on the counter and gave me a weary smile.

My body was practically humming.Not the time.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Okay,” I said, uncertain where this was going.

She pointed a finger in my direction. “That looks really good. Would you mind if I have a bite? I’m starving and really don’t want to make something for myself.”

I looked from my sub to her and then back again. My sub? She wanted my sub? “Um,” I said, my eyes still fleeting between both. “Sure.”

Walking to me, she exhaled. “Thank you. I love subs.”

You and me both.But I was never going to get to enjoy it, and someone should, right? “No problem.”

I handed it over, and she took it, her mouth coming around the sub as she took a bite. A big bite. I was torn. It was both hot and upsetting. Hot because, well, this was Allegra so everything she did was hot. Upsetting because it was my sub, my delicious sub that was made to perfection at the hands of the sandwich artist. It had applewood smoked bacon, crisp vegetables, and fresh baked bread. Don’t start drooling, this wasmysub, all right?

I swallowed. “Allegra, what did you have to tell me?”

“Oh, right, that,” she replied in between bites. Then she stopped and angled her head. “Why do you always call me Allegra and not Allie? Most everyone calls me Allie.”

I narrowed my eyes as I regarded her closely.Is this what she wanted to talk about?“I don’t know. I like your name.”

“You don’t like Allie?” she asked, her brows coming together. “It was actually a nickname my sisters gave me. Then it kind of stuck.”

Shaking my head, I tried to dig myself out of the giant hole I’d just gotten myself into. “It’s not that. Allie’s a fine name. I don’t know. It just feels more natural for me to call you Allegra. Do you want me to stop?”

She sat down and took another bite.

Goodbye, Sub.

“No. Is it weird if I say I like it? I just wanted to know why you call me by my real name.”

Weirdest conversation of my life.And to think that was what I’d stopped eating my sub over. “No, not at all.” I stood up and accepted my fate of being back in the kitchen, preparing food. It wouldn’t be the same, but it’d have to do. “So what’s going on? Because something tells me this isn’t what you wantedto talk about. Unless it was. . .” I said, trying it from another angle, wondering if this time she’d spit it out—her words, not my sub, that’d just be a travesty.

Her shoulders slumped, and she licked her lips. She looked more relaxed and for that I was glad. Maybe it was because she’d polished off my sub. She reached for my drink next and, after a few sips, swallowed.

Clearly answering me wasn’t high on her list of priorities, so I moved on, taking a knife from the block and cutting into the head of lettuce we had in the fridge. I looked up from what I was doing and watched her set the drink down.

She looked me square in the eye. “About that. . . yeah, I’m pregnant.”

“What?”Son of a bitch.The knife slipped and I nearly chopped off a finger. Who said that to a person when they had a knife in their hand? One that was dangerously close to fingers. With no warning at all. “You’re pregnant?”

“Mmhmm,” Allegra answered coolly as I put the knife down and stared at her, waiting. Why the hell was she so calm about this? Wasn’t this something women usually freaked out about, especially when they weren’t married or. . . or dating. Because I knew with one hundred percent certainty that she wasn’t dating anyone. Not when she came to me not long ago looking for me to fuck her.

“Why are you tellingme?” I practically shouted. What were the odds that she was just sharing this information? I prayed that was what this was. Nothing more than her wanting to share the news that she was going to be carrying and growing a baby inside of her for the next nine months. It certainly couldn’t be because—

“It’s yours.”

And in that moment, in thatverymoment, I finally understood what people meant when they said their life flashedbefore their eyes. Yeah, that happened before my vision blurred and my stomach churned over half a dozen times.

Maybe I hadn’t heard her right. Yeah, that was it. I could feel the blood pumping in my ears and suddenly felt the urge to wipe my sweaty palms on the dish towel. I braced my palms on the counter and squared my shoulders. That was all this was—a case of me not hearing her correctly. She hadn’t said it was mine. She had said something else. What that could have been, I wasn’t quite sure, but just go with it, okay? Because I was freaking out over here.

But I was bullshitting myself, wasn’t I?

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