Was I ready to go in? Well, that didn’t matter, I’d possibly knocked up a seventeen-year-old girl, I had to be ready.
I opened the door and felt like I’d been punched in the gut. Tegan sat against the bath, arms around her legs, staring at the test. Her eyes were full of fear, pure fear that made me feel like even more of a prick. Wrap it up, always wrap the fucker up!
I sat beside her. “Is it ready yet?” She had the test facing down.
“Should be,” she muttered.
“Okay, want me to look?”
“Seriously, why aren’t you freaking out? You say everything so casually, like this is a regular occurrence.” She frowned and I knew what she was thinking.
“No, this is the first time I’ve had this happen. Whatever that thing says we’ll get through it.”
“Are you trying to convince me or you?”
“Both,” I replied honestly.
“Ready to find out if it’s Kai junior or not?” she said, instantly catching herself and frowning.
“For the official record, if you are you just agreed to that name.” She rolled her eyes. “You want me to look?”
“No, it’s okay. You went and got it so I’ll look.” She picked it up and turned it over. I swear the world stopped moving and nothing existed but me, Tegan and a little stick that had the potential to change my entire life from here on out.
“Well?” I asked.
“It’s negative, Kai.”
Relief. That was all I felt. I could breathe easy again. “Thank fuck for that.”
Laughing, her shoulders sagged and colour returned to her face. “Yeah.”
“Alright, I don’t mean to brag but I told you it would be fine.”
She raised her blonde eyebrow. “You so did not know. Christ, you named it!”
Grinning from ear to ear, I wrapped her in a tight hug and seriously considered framing the negative test. Tegan got up and chucked it in the bin the second I let her go. Turning to face me, she held her hand out.
“Take me back to Holly’s, I definitely need a drink now.”
“So do I,” I replied, taking her hand. I towered over her petite frame as I stood. She hugged me again and it was so unexpected it took me a second to respond. Even though the top of her head barely reached my shoulders she still fit against my body in the most annoyingly perfect way. This bloody girl – someone else’s girl – was exactly what I wanted. Sometimes it really did suck to be me.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tegan
We arrived back at Holly’s an hour later and the only person that noticed we’d even been missing was Sophie. She raised her eyebrow and smirked. She could think what she liked, though. I wasn’t pregnant so that kind of trumped everything right now. Sophie assuming we’d been off having sex wasn’t going to bother me. Although the cow should know I wouldn’t do that.
“Drink, Tegan?” Kai asked, weaving us through a small crowd in the narrow hallway.
“I really need a vodka and lemonade.”
Smirking at me over his shoulder, he replied, “You need one, huh?”
I felt like I needed about ten of ‘em. Pregnancy scare was not a strong enough word. I was scared about having kids in the future, right now was downright petrifying. I knew the basics, change nappy and feed but beyond that I was clueless. Christ, I even sucked at looking after myself.
Kai poured me a small vodka but before he could move the bottle I tipped it up, adding more in. “You’re gonna be paralytic. I can see me spending the evening holding your hair back.”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t love it,” I joked.
“Yeah, but usually I’d get sex,” he said and shrugged.
My mouth hung open. “Are you serious?” I squealed. Now I knew our…relationship wasn’t based on anything deep when we were sleeping together but I assumed he cared on a more basic level and wasn’t just looking out for me to get sex. His dark eyes gleamed. He was joking, possibly.
“Oh, chill. You know I’m kiddin’,” he said and finally allowed himself to laugh. “Your face just then...”
“Payback is going to be a bitch, Kai,” I said, glaring.
He ran his hands through his black bed hair – it never looked like he’d bothered but it always looked pretty much sexy as hell.
“I’m terrified,” he replied sarcastically.
“And I’m going to ignore you.”
“Right, until you’re telling Holly to come find me because you feel ill.”
He had a point there. I’d lost count of the times he had looked after me when I was beyond drunk. After I first told Lucas we couldn’t be together, when we were at his house, I’d been drinking more and more and Kai always took care of me. I never really thought about it before but if it wasn’t for him I would have gotten myself in some really dangerous situations. I was never in any fit state to protect myself, say no or do anything really. I owed him a lot.
I threw my arms around his neck. He was still for about two seconds and then his strong arms had me pinned against him. “Thank you,” I whispered into his shoulder.
“For?”
“For not letting me get raped or murdered.”