“I wasn’t—” he started, but he still wasn’t having any luck about getting in a word edgewise this morning.
I talked right over him as I opened my apartment door. “You and I are friends, and we’re going to stay friends.” Silently excusing him, I stepped back to let him leave even as I looked him in the eye and murmured, “I’ll see you at two o’clock.”
When he stared back, I had to hold in the urge to hug him. He looked devastated. Unable to help myself, I popped forward, lifted up onto my tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, since we seemed to be cheek-kissing friends now. He turned his face in just enough to make our skin brush for a second longer than necessary, causing heat and affection to roar through me.
Neither of us spoke as I drew back. We stared at each other a moment, and then he nodded and left the apartment.
After closing the door behind him, I turned to Eva slowly, ready to do whatever was needed to protect Mason. “I swear to God, E., if you do anything to hurt him—”
Eva burst into tears. “Oh, shut up. I’m not going to hurt your precious gigolo. Jesus.” Burying her face into her hands, she sank onto my couch and began to rock herself back and forth. “I mean, I am worried about you, and I wanted to warn you away from him. But I was bullshitting. I just don’t want anything to happen to you, ReeRee. There’s still hope for you.”
A little thrown by the tears because Eva was by no means a crier, like ever, I neared her slowly, not sure what to think of her overly dramatic, out-of-character outburst.
With hesitant fingers, I reached out and touched her hair. “Eva?”
She looked up. I don’t think she’d washed off her club-hopping makeup yet because huge black trails of eyeliner leaked down her face. “I messed up,” she sobbed. “I messed up big. And I don’t want the same thing to happen to you too. Be careful around him. Promise me.”
Sitting beside her, I pulled her into my arms, “How did you mess up? What are you talking about?”
Shit, if she confessed that she’d had sex with Mason, I was going to lose it.
“I was…” She paused to sniff and wipe at her tears. “After seeing his Jeep here last night, I was going to come talk to you and warn you away from him anyway this morning. But I was going to wait until after he left. Then…then I woke up and was looking in my medicine cabinet for some aspirin when I spotted my tampons and realized…oh, God.”
She buried her face into my shoulder and sobbed anew. I smoothed her hair out of her face and gently asked, “You realized what?”
“I’m late.”
My fingers froze in her golden locks. “What?” Just as quickly, I asked, “Who?” Please, God, not Mason. “Alec?”
She sat up in order to glare at me. “Yes, Alec! I’m not that big of a slut. God.”
Thank the Lord.
I covered my mouth. “Oh, my God, Eva. Are you sure? Does Aunt Mads know? Are you—”
“Of course I’m not sure! I just told you, I saw my tampon box, realized I was late, and I freaked. I came running straight to you and forgot about the gigolo until he strutted out of your bedroom. I’m sorry I attacked him again, okay? I know you’re still pissed after the last time, and I swore I was going to ignore him altogether from here on out, so you’d forgive me. But then I saw him, and it just seemed…easier to strike out than confess.”
“Okay, okay.” I lifted my hands to stop her rambling. “Just…keep calm and think of Chris and Liam.”
“Okay,” Eva repeated. “Okay.” She panted a few times as if she was already prepared to go into labor. When an expression of shock lit her face, she straightened and gaped at me. “Hey. That actually worked.”
With a grin, I tossed my hair. “I know, right.”
No hetero female on the planet could panic with a mental image of the Hemsworth brother combo running through her head.
We laughed together, and suddenly I knew everything would be okay.
“I guess the first thing we need to do,” I said when it was time to get serious again, “is find out one way or another. So, let’s get to the pharmacy and buy you a test, little mama.”
Eva’s face blanched and she covered her stomach with both hands. “Oh, God. Don’t call me that. I’m so not ready for that.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Well, I was going to be an aunt. Or was it a second cousin?
Oh, who cared how the relationship worked; Eva was pregnant any way you looked at it. The world was coming to an end.
I spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon with her, soothing her frazzled nerves. I managed to make her laugh a few times, but mostly I handed her tissue after tissue. We talked about her future, about what she wanted to do with her situation, and how she was going to tell her parents and Alec.
I think she was more worried about telling Alec than Aunt Mads and Uncle Shaw.