Page 73 of Hard Hitter

“Sorry.” She reached out to touch my stomach again, and I swatted her away.

“Would you stop that? I don’t know if I’m pregnant. I missed my last period, and I’ve been nauseous a lot. And tired. And my nipples are sore, but that might be Noah’s fault.”

Eva’s smile got bigger the longer I talked, so I forced myself to stop with the verbal diarrhea. “Did you take a test?”

“Not yet. I only realized today at the game.”

She pushed me back to the couch just like D had. No wonder they were friends. “What did Noah say?”

My gaze dropped down to my toes as I sat. “I haven’t told him. We were interrupted by D’s spectacular timing.”

“Okay, well walk across the landing and tell that man he’s going to be your baby daddy. Or we can go get a test to confirm first. I’m fine with either course of action.”

I pulled my hair away from my face into a tight ponytail, then remembered I didn’t have any elastics on me. When I let it go, the strands fell around me, hiding my face. “Do we have to do this tonight?”

Eva tilted to look through my hair. “Why would you wait?”

Might as well tell her the truth, I’d already bared myself once in the last hour to D. “Because I’m afraid Noah will be done with me if he finds out. I’m the queen of fuckups, and so far, he’s been into it. But this isn’t a runaway duck or a little fire. This is a baby—a lifetime commitment.”

She opened her mouth, but I held up a hand. “Not done. We both still have a year of college, and Noah knows exactly what he wants to do when he graduates. How am I supposed to tell him there’s been a change of plans? And how am I supposed to keep him from resenting me if hedoesstay?”

She laughed so hard she nearly fell off the couch. Rude. “Oh, honey. No. First of all, it takes two people to make a baby. This fuckup, and I’m going on record to state I disagree with the assessment that any child is a mistake, is shared equally by both of you. Noah knew what he was getting into, literally. He stuck his dick in you—he needs to be ready for the consequences.”

The low-level panic I’d been living with all day abated slightly with her logic. “I agree with you, but—”

“No buts. Noah has his hang-ups, but being with you isn’t one of them. He’s not built for casual, remember.”

Strangely, I didn’t doubt Noah’s feelings for me. He’d shown me in a million ways he cared—maybe more than cared—but Eva didn’t have all the information for once.

She didn’t know about his uncle’s insistence that having Noah had ruined his dad’s life or Noah’s determination to prove he was better than his father. Out of all the things I could do to drive him away from me, an unplanned baby felt like it would be at the top of the list.

Eva tapped my arm. “Stop whatever disastrous thing you’re thinking. I have more. Second of all, waiting wouldn’t solve any of those problems anyway. If Noah leaves you for this, which he won’t, he was never worthy of you in the first place.”

“What if I’m not worthy of him?” I asked in a small voice.

She pointed at me. “No. I know you’ve crowned yourself the queen of fuckups, but you’re not. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone makes bad choices sometimes, you are not unworthy of love because of that or any other reason that has to do with D. You need to say it until you believe it. Say ‘I’m worthy of love’.”

Eva stared at me until I mumbled out, “I’m worthy of love.”

“Louder,” she demanded. “With confidence.”

“I’m worthy of love.” Something eased in my chest, so I said it again.

Eva grinned. “Yes girl. Now we have to make sure the neighbors hear us.”

I repeated the phrase with her, increasing in volume until we shouted it to the universe and collapsed laughing next to each other.

Eva wrapped an arm around me, squeezing me hard against her side. “Better?”

I rubbed my temple. “Yeah. Not sure if it’ll stick, but I’m spent. I don’t think I can handle another emotional conversation tonight. Can we put on a movie or something? I miss spending time with only the two of us.” Eva glanced at the door, and I narrowed my eyes. “Unless you have something pressing to do at the other apartment?”

She gave me a tight smile. “Nope. Nothing pressing.”

In a flash of insight worthy of Eva, I realized she’d come out of Mac’s room without him. With sex hair. Mac never missed a chance to get involved in drama. Either he wasn’t home, unlikely since Eva had no reason to spend time in his room alone, or he was indisposed for the couple of minutes we spent yelling at each other in the hallway.

I gasped. “You and Mac—”

She didn’t let me get any farther, clapping a hand over my mouth. “We’re not talking about me.”

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