Page 197 of Sebastian's Baby

“Well, I’m sorry that you lot are always so damn sensitive about stuff. My friends can take a joke, at least.” Blake shrugs his shoulders casually.

“Oh, it wasn’t an ‘honest question,’ then. It was ‘just a joke,’ was it, Blake?” Ariana asks with an eyebrow raised at him.

“Yeah, it was,” Blake says.

“Aren’t jokes meant to be funny, though?” Ariana says in a cool voice.

“Whatever. I’m sorry if you guys were offended. I was just asking the question,” Blake says with a haughty look on his face that suggests he gives zero fucks about upsetting anyone at all.

I consider saying something, but Heather and Ariana seemed to have no problem putting him in his place for me. I don’t want to draw out the conversation and further upset Lita, so I just glare and shake my head at him before turning to look at Lita again. She’s still looking out the window and her jaw is tense. I turn back to the car and take a big swig of my drink as Lita finally looks away from the window.

Heather smiles at Lita and then frowns before asking, “Is that your shirt, Lita?”

“No, it’s one of Seb’s.” Lita flushes pink, but I smile as I look at her in my shirt and think again about how beautiful she looks wearing it.

“I thought I recognized it! How come you’re wearing one of Sebastian’s shirts?”

“None of my clothes fit, and I didn’t get a chance to go shopping for more maternity clothes yesterday.” Lita wrinkles her nose.

“Ooh, want to go together this week?” Heather asks. “Iloveclothes shopping.”

“Sure.” Lita smiles at her. “It’ll be nice to go with someone other than Ben.”

“I would’ve gone if you wanted me to,” I protest because I wouldn’t mind going along on a shopping trip where Lita is half-naked while trying on clothes.

“God, don’t trust Sebastian’s taste, darling,” Heather smirks at me. “I’m a much better clothes shopping partner.”

Lita laughs. “I can imagine, and, hey, I’m more than happy to have a literal fashion designer assisting me in choosing clothes.”

“Want to come with us, Ariana? Girls’ day?”

Ariana smiles. “If Lita’s happy to have me along, I’d love to come.”

“More than happy.” Lita smiles back at her.

It’s nice to see again that they’re welcoming her into their lives. Lita smiles at me, and I squeeze her hand and smile back at her. I’ve finished a third drink by the time we arrive at Six Flags half an hour later, and we all cheer as we pull up in front of the theme park.

“Time to get my party on,” I announce.

The door of the limousine is opened by Callum, and I can see the crowd of paparazzi hanging around at the entrance to the theme park.

As everyone else gets out of the car, I hold Lita’s arm to stop her from getting out. “Wait a sec, Lita. You guys go ahead,” I say to the others and then look at Lita. “There’s paparazzi here, obviously. We’re going to do some photos together before we go in, do you want to be in any? It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

“I’m fine to be in photos with you, Seb.” Lita smiles at me. “It’s not like there aren’t photos of me all over the internet anyway. Considering there’s going to be a photographer at the party, it doesn’t matter if I have my photo taken on the way in as well.”

I feel bad that I didn’t ask her this before we got here, and I hate that she’s having to make this decision here and now. I need to prepare her for what’s to come.

“What about answering questions? They’ll probably ask about Mirabella. Sorry, I shouldn’t be putting you on the spot; I didn’t even think about it until just now.”

Lita sighs. “I get it; it’s a normal part of your life. I don’t really want to tell them about her, it’s none of their business, but maybe we could just say there’s ‘pregnancy complications’ and leave it at that?”

“Sounds good, princess.”

I hug her quickly, squeezing her tight and taking comfort from the feeling of having her in my arms, before we get out of the limo. We’re escorted to the paparazzi by the five bodyguards belonging to my friends, and I assume that Daryl and Ben haven’t arrived yet.

We pose as a group for photographs together, then Lita and I have photos taken together. I put my arm around her and pull her close to me as the cameras flash almost constantly.

“What’s happening with your baby?” a reporter asks.

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