Page 15 of Keeping Promises

“Woah, Ben,” I choke out, wishing I had swallowed the bite of my apple before glancing down at the laptop resting on my brother’s lap. “Is there something you need to share with the class?” Once I catch my breath, I arch an eyebrow in his direction, not taking my eyes off the screen where there is a baby crib front and center.

Am I going to be an uncle? I know that I’ve been scarce lately from being around, but it has nothing to do with him or Lexi; I guess you could say I’ve been avoiding Hadley. I thought we would just have sex to get her out of my system, but now I have to bury myself in other women to get her off my mind, not that my cock minds. I never hear complaints from the other women either, but I don’t stick around long enough to hear them.

“Did you not take your own advice you’ve been giving me for years and wrap it up, man?” I tease. I sit on the love seat across from him and take another bite from my snack.

His gaze flicks upward from the screen, his brows bunched. “First of all, asshole, whether or not I wrap it up with my fiancée ismybusiness, not yours. And second of all, this isn’t for us. It’s for Hadley.”

I choke on air, thankful this time to have stopped midbite; otherwise, I may have choked to death on an apple slice. I must be hearing things because I swear he just said that this is for Hadley. “I’m sorry, say that again?” I ask, needing clarification.

“I said, it’s for Hadley. She’s pregnant. Crazy, right.” His eyes flick back down to the screen.

I grip the back of my neck tightly as I begin to do the math.No, it couldn’t be, could it? She would have told me.

Then I recall the night at Unwined a few weeks back when she tried to tell me something. “Yeah, crazy. Did she say who the father was?”

He shrugs. “Lexi was the one who told me the news. I asked the same thing, and she said just some one-night stand. I thought it would be nice to do something for her like make this big purchase. I need to run it by Lex still, but I was just doing some research. It’s wild that our group will be growing by one more in a matter of months.”

Ben’s attention goes back to the screen, and I’m glad that he’s not paying attention to my panic. The walls begin to crumble, and the world spins off its axis. I need to talk to her. I need to know.

I shoot up off the couch, racing to the kitchen to grab my keys from the counter, and drop my apple in the trash can. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite for food and am now starving for answers.

“I’m headed out,” I call out over my shoulder, taking two steps at a time.

“All right, see ya,” I hear as I close the front door behind me. Ben is used to my coming and going. Over the last year, I may have grown up working full-time, not partying as much, and especially learning more about who I spend time with to avoid another Dominic Jennings incident. But I still come and go as I please. Ben and Lexi are starting the next phase of their lives, and I don’t want to be the third wheel all the time. Maybe I should start looking for my own place soon.

I race over to Hadley’s apartment.Pregnant?

I’m in a complete haze, driving over there and parking my car. I don’t even bother looking to see if it’s a visitor’s space or not. They can fucking tow my car for all I care. I need answers, and I need themnow.

Ben must have heard wrong. Hadley can’t be pregnant? We used condoms, right? I try to replay the events of that night but come up short. Recalling having her in every way I did does nothing but send all the blood rushing to my cock. As the elevator dings on her floor, I remember exactly why I’m here, and it’s the easiest way to deflate my dick as I finally make it to her door.

I knock on the door with such a force, the wood rattles. “Hadley, open up,” I shout.

The door across the hall opens instead, and an older woman appears in the doorway. “Can I help you, son?”

“No,” I spit back and continue knocking. She mumbles something behind me. I can’t catch most of the words, but I recognize “asshole” before the door clicks shut.Yeah, well, she’d be in a mood, too, if she was in my situation.

Finally, I hear footsteps on the other side of the apartment door.

“Thank fuck,” I mutter. I don’t know if that makes me relieved that Hadley is home and I’ll get answers or more nervous that she is home and I’m about to get answers. Maybe it’s not even mine. She’s gorgeous—I’m sure my dick isn’t the only one she took for a spin lately.

The door swings open, revealing a flustered Hadley. “What the fuck?”

Her blonde curls are messy, as if she had just been sleeping. Her blue eyes widen in shock at me standing here at the door, out of breath and chest heaving up and down. Her eyes stay locked on my face while mine travels down her body, her chest flushed with light shades of pink from her annoyance. They continue to travel south until I drop to her stomach. I don’t know much about pregnancy as to when you start showing, but I can’t take my eyes off her belly. It wasn’t long ago that I had my hands all over her toned body. If I were to run my hands over her body now, would I find a small bump like maybe she ate her weight at the buffet? No, that is probably way too soon to start showing.

If this kid is mine, I guess that’s something I need to learn. My skin tingles with discomfort at our standoff.

“Shit,” she mutters when she realizes I’m here for a reason, and she quickly closes her sweater and folds her arms around her waist. While that covers her stomach, her arms crossed like this accentuates the bigger her tits have gotten.Woah, those were definitely not that large before.

I don’t wait for her to invite me in; I push right past her. “So, it’s true?” I ask, needing to hear her say the words.

“Is what true?” She closes the door behind me.

“Hadley, don’t play dumb.”

“Then don’t ask stupid questions.” This girl is so snarky. It was one of the things that attracted me to her in the first place.

“So, it’s true?” I repeat my earlier question and take a step closer while she takes a step back.

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