Page 48 of Broken Daddy

I clamp my lips shut, annoyed that he’s right. I really shouldn’t be going out alone, not when someone is keeping an eye on me. If I go into the city this late in the evening and get my tires slashed, there’s no guarantee that I’ll make it back to Nate’s house.

“Okay. Fine. But you have to wait in the car for me.”

He looks suspicious as I skirt around him, clutching my purse close. But Nate turns and calls for Eva, explaining that she’s going to hang out at the neighbor’s house for a bit until we’re back.

* * *

The car rideis painfully tense.

It’s obvious Nate has questions, and I’m guessing my demeanor isn’t helping. I’m practically sweating through my T-shirt in the passenger seat, pharmacy bag held tightly in my lap.

I can’t let him see what’s inside. Two pregnancy test boxes, four tests total. That should give me a good spread of data, right?

Chewing my lip, I don’t realize it until Nate reaches over and bumps my chin with a knuckle.

“Hey. Calm down. I’m sure whatever is going on will be just fine.”

I scoff, then cross my arms, hiding the bag further. His gaze drops to my lap. He hasn’t asked, but I know he wants to.

We pull into the drive and I open my door quickly, stepping out. Overhead, the sky is so dark the stars look like tiny pinpricks of light in black fabric. I stare up in awe; you definitely don’t getthisview in the city. And for the past few weeks, I’ve been bundled up in bed or working on the menu for Saucer at this time of night.

“Alright?”

Nate’s low rumble startles me and I jump. The bag falls from my hands, rustling on the gravel. Before I can snatch it, Nate leans down and picks it up.

As well as the boxes of tests that fell out of it.

The pink is somehow obscene in this setting, a low-key summer night, amber light spilling out of the nearby houses and fireflies flashing out on the property.

My breathing stops.

Nate stares down at the boxes in his hands.

“Are you…?”

His voice is tight, strained, as our eyes meet.

Unable to speak, I only nod. So many emotions are rushing though my nervous system right now, I don’t know whether to fight or flee. Instead, the floodwaters break and I find myself rambling.

“Yes. Maybe. I think. I’ve been sick for about a week now,reallysick, and onion rings made me throw up, which theyneverdo, and I’ve been exhausted. I sleep all the time.” I wince here. Two days ago I was late getting up and Eva actually crept into my room to ask if I was okay or if she should make us cereal for breakfast. “And my boobs—”

Oh, God. I wish I could stop the rambling, but I can’t.

It hit me the other day after…well, after what happened in the barn.

The combination of getting sick, being exhausted, and then very happily opening my legs for Nate.

“You’re not on birth control?” His harsh tone brings me back to the present and, thankfully, erases my nerves.

Snatching the bag and tests out of his hands, I snap, “Of course I am. You’reold enoughto know that’s not one hundred percent effective.”

Nate’s face flushes, then goes pale. He must be feeling the same wave of emotions I am right now.

Disbelief, terror, self-loathing.

Walking around him, I head for the front door. He follows quickly. I can feel his presence just behind me, like a heavy cloud bearing down. It makes me grit my teeth.

“Genevieve.”

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