Page 31 of Mind Blowing

Chapter Twenty

Callahan

She had Jasper tell her all about the people in his family, the people she would be meeting.As aspens gave way to pine, signaling they were getting closer and closer to the place and people he called home, she thought, she should’veasked him more about where they wereheading. Driving through the massive iron gates of his twin’s house was surreal. It was like driving into an alternate universe where everything was big and imposing. The estate washuge, cut into the side ofamountain. There was fencing and cameraseverywhere. Everything seemed to be totally hightech.She watched Jasper lean out his truck to an eyescanner to access the gateand then enter a longpasscode to open the garage.Jasper parked his truck, shadowing them in darkness.

“What does your brother do for a living?” She wasn’t sure the Pentagon would be any less secure.

“He’s,um, in charge of stuff.”

“In charge of stuff?” She blinked, her eyes trying to adjust. “That’s vague.”

Jasperstood attheback of his truck.“He has investments and companies, and he’s just, I don’t know, inchargeofstuff and people.” He waved his hand around, like he was knocking away his ambiguousanswerand herwanting more clarity. “To be honest,I don’t really know what he does all day.”

Hegrabbeda few of their bags andhoistedthem over this shoulder. Three bags, one shoulder and one rippling bicep.

She was overly invested in Jasper’s arms and the way they worked. She’d never ogled someone before, but she couldn’t seem to stop when it came to him.

Riley and Blake had inched in beside them a few minutes ago.Riley held all their bags as well, his hand resting on Blake’s lower back. Those two were a really pretty couple. They were doing her and Jasper a favor, pretending tospearheadthe summer mission project. She owed them a big thank you.

“Everyone is already here,” Rileysaid.

All his attention was focused on Jasper, their eyes lockedas if they werespeaking silently.They interacted with a familiarity she’d never experienced. She’d never had a best friend like that, and seeing them together made her realize there was yet another thing she’d missed out on.

“You ready for this?”Riley smiled at her.

She wantedtosaynope. She found out she was pregnant less than twenty-four hours ago. Now she was even farther from homeand wasabout to meet a bunch of people for the first timewhilelying about why she was here and who she was.

She wasn’t like this. She didn’t have an interesting life full of drama and lies. She was Callahan. Straight-A student, ideal daughter, quiet bookworm.

She went to church twice a week until she moved away for college. Now she was in a strange place with a gorgeousguywho’d seen her all the way nakedand done things to her body she didn’t know were possible.

“Callie?”

“Hm?” She glanced at Jasper to find him staring at her with a sad smile on his lips. He’d looked at her that way often since she’d thrown upthebananaconcoction. It was as if he was apologizing every single chance he got. She needed to talk to him about that. Shedidn’t need his pity or his sad smiles. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

He stepped forward, putting his huge hand on her shoulder, his palm dwarfing her small body. “When we goinside, you need to stick with Blake. As far as anyone knows, she’s the reason you’re here. You and I? We only know each other through her. Gotit?”

She nodded, letting him know she understood the way to play this. “Do they know I’m pregnant?”

“Axie and Jace do.” Jasper’s gaze cut to Riley, then back to her so quickly she almost missed it. “It’s up to you if you want to announce it to everyone else.”

“Do you?”shewhispered, her stomach rolling with nerves as she peered up at Jasper.

Over the last two days, she’dexperienced every emotiona person could have. Butright now, she was nervous.

She was meeting Jasper’s whole family.

It wasn’t lost on her that if she and Jasper chose to parent this baby, these people would be in her life for the next eighteen years. At the very least. Jasper’s family would be around her child when she wasn’t. Thiswould be where Jasper brought him or her for holidays and to play with cousins.

She wanted to make a good impression.

Butmore than that, she wanted tolikethese people.

“Callie.” Jasper winced, his hand resting casually on the small of her back, like she’d watch Riley do with Blake. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for them to know I’m the father. Not yet anyway.”

Meaning it was her decisionalonewhether she wanted to share the pregnancy news with anyone inside his brother’s home.

So far,Jasper had been right beside her every step of the way. Yet, she couldn’t help the loneliness gathering inside her, spreading through her veins and into her heart. She was suddenly so tired, exhausted from all the choices she needed to make.

---