Page 79 of Cruel Devotion

“I just said?—”

“I know you said nothing is wrong, but you only get a look like that when you think your whole world has been upended.”

I opened and closed my mouth. “You’re good.”

“See? Now cut it out and tell me what’s wrong. Is it Eli? Did he do something to you?”

Again, I opened and closed my mouth, unsure how to word it. I refused to be a guppy. “It’s more like somethingwedid.” Because it took two to tango, after all.

“Something you—” Her eyes opened wide. “You… Are you…?”

I loved that she didn’t ask me if he’d knocked me up. It wouldn’t be like that, and she knew it. We’d texted and called. She was aware of how I was struggling with my feelings for him, getting closer and closer every day.

This wasn’t something that Eli didtome, like that asshole did to her when he drugged her and raped her.

The new life inside me was a product of love. Consensual, mutual affection that had taken root and survived despite Eli being my former bully.

“I’m pregnant.”

She stared at me, her mouth hanging open.

“I woke up sick to my stomach, and when I realized I was only sick to my stomach, I kind of wondered. I remembered how you felt when you figured it out. So I took a test and it was positive, and?—”

“Oh, my God!” She grinned, laughing happily like she couldn’t believe it. “Stop rambling and catch your breath. Haley! You’re pregnant?”

I nodded, smiling right back with her.

“And you’re happy?” she asked.

“Obviously!”

A baby was wonderful news. No matter our ages, no matter the circumstances, Nat and I were the same like that. We loved children, and I knew I could count on her to rejoice in this news with me. But she was also practical.

“What did Aunt Cindy say?” she asked with a cringe.

“I haven’t told her yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”

She laughed once. “I’m honored. And I’m happy for you, Sis, but Aunt Cindy needs to know?—”

“I know. I know. I’ll tell her. But it’s not only good news that I’m calling about.”

She furrowed her brow. “Why? What’s wrong?”

I filled her in on the rest. All of it. I’d already told her a little about Eli’s dare and the pending trouble he could face, but I shared all the details now. How he risked expulsion and paying back his scholarship. I added the newer things too, what happened in the aftermath of Mrs. Young coming to the house and telling him that she and Mr. Young were disowning him.

“My God, she’s unhinged,” Nat replied. “I bet you can’t wait to get out of there.”

I nodded. “Well, yeah. Eli too.” I licked my lips that were getting dry from all this talking nonstop. “We have to figure out a plan, but we’ll both be getting out of here as soon as we graduate. Or I guess as soon as I graduate, if Mr. West manages to get the college to deny him that honor.”

“What’s the scholarship that he got?” She pulled a pen close and was jotting things down as she sat in what looked like a staff lunch room, her phone propped on a table for the video call.

I told her, and she followed up with a few more questions about Eli, like his field of study, his grades, and other academic and financial things.

“Nat, are you asking out of worry that we’ll be screwed financially?” I was aware of how expensive it was to have a baby. I knew through her what it was like to be a single parent. But I wouldn’t be one. Eli would be with me. I’d graduate and be able to get a teaching job in the city. They were always in demand there. And if Eli didn’t graduate, he’d get whatever job he could to help our little family.

“No, no. It’s just…” She shrugged, furrowing her brow at what she jotted down. “It’s just that I might happen to be connected to someone high up at the college. Not directly, but well, someone who might know someone. Like a six-degree thing.”

“Oh. Wow! Through work?” I asked.

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