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“Come on. You’ve not gone to one party with me since we started the semester. We’re in college. It’s time to cut loose and be free.” Andi, my childhood bestie, and college roomie is giving me her saddest puppy dog pout.
“I don’t know.” I chew on my thumbnail. East has been out of town, but he said he might get back late tonight. He’s supposed to call so I can come stay the weekend with him. I haven’t seen him since last week.
“Please. Clay Motherfuckin’ Johns will be there.” He’s this hot basketball player she’s been lusting after since our orientation. John is here on a scholarship and rumor has it he will be going to the NBA by next year. The guy is a damn good center and like six foot five inches in height.
“I just need to make a quick phone call.”
“No. No way. You don’t have to tell East your every freaking move. You can’t go a few hours without being up his ass. I’m begging you. One night. Act like a normal college chick.” Andi is the one person I’ve told about East and me. I know she’s against the relationship, but she does try to be supportive most the time because she sees how happy he makes me.
“I’m not that bad.”
“Yeah you are, but I will forgive you if you put that phone down and go to this party with me.”
I glance at the time. “Fine. I will go for two hours and then I’m out.”
“Fuck yeah. Finally. This is going to be the best.” She pumps her fist in the air. “It’s going to be lit. You’ll see.”
I have my doubts but decide not to voice them. “Give me ten minutes to freshen up.”
She waves over her shoulder going straight to the closet to change.
The party is at a frat house a few blocks away from campus. I park my jeep on the street and wonder why I let Andi talk me into this. Red solo cups litter the front lawn. A dude is stumbling around with his jeans unzipped, swinging his dick around trying to take a piss but he’s urinating down his own pantleg. “Okay that’s disgustingly sad.”
“I’m sure his friends will take care of him. Come on. Forget him.”
“I guess,” I mutter under my breath and wonder if we should call someone or at least find someone to help the guy get somewhere safe. I follow Andi inside the two-story red brick home that has the fraternity banner hanging over the front entrance. Music blares so loudly that I can’t even hear myself think. It’s already giving me a headache and I’ve not gotten completely through the front door.
“Ladies, you look like you could use a drink.” A guy I don’t know drapes his arms across our shoulders shoving his way between us. He’s sweaty and gross. I shrug his arm away.
“Yes please,” Andi hisses.
“Nothing for me. But thanks.” Andi shoots me a what the hell look but East has beat it into my head since I was eight not to take drinks from anyone I don’t know. I’m not going to start doing it now. Especially not at some party where I don’t know anyone.
Andi goes to the kitchen with this guy leaving me no choice but to go with them. The room is small and it’s packed wall to wall of guys with red solo cups. I wait patiently for Andi to get her beer, feeling out of place. I’ve always had a bit of an old soul and had a hard time fitting in with my own age group.
I wish I had gotten one of the other girls from our floor at the dorm to come with us so I can leave. This isn’t fun for me. I know it’s supposed to be, but I prefer my nights spent watching a movie with East or watching him cook. Being back in the dorm doing a video chat with him would even suffice.
A loud cheer erupts from the living room and I look around the corner to see Clay Motherfuckin’ Johns walking through the front door. Everyone gathers around him like he’s a god. They all want a piece of him. He smiles then his gaze meets mine. I look away. Andi whisper shouts in my ear, “Told you he’d be here.”
Her excitement is adorable. I don’t want to be here but for her I can suffer a little bit longer.
“Why don’t I see a drink in your hand?” Clay says, coming over to us.
“She doesn’t drink,” Andi pipes in, grin stretching from ear to ear. “I’m Andi by the way.”
“Cool. Cool. And you are?” He looks at me expectantly. Shit. I can tell by the way he is looking at me the dude is trying to hit on me. Not good.
“Wylla, but um hey. Can you do me a favor?”
“Name it, but you’ll owe me.”
“Right. I need to make a phone call. Will you keep Andi company? It’d mean so much to me.”
“Who you calling? I’m right here, Wylla.” Clay rolls his tongue over his lips.
“I’ll be back in a few.” I wink at Andi and hurry outside. Pulling my cell phone out of my back pocket, I dial East. I know he said he’d call but I miss him.
It rings five times before going to voicemail. He’s probably on the road. I look around the yard. I’m not ready to go back inside and I don’t want that Clay guy to hit on me in front of Andi. She has been crushing hard on him. My phone vibrates. East is returning my call.
“Hey, honey.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, fine. I just missed you is all. Are you going to be back tonight?”
“Yeah, come downstairs.”
“You’re here?”
“Yup, thought I’d just pick you up on my way through.”
“Oh. Well I’m not at the dorm exactly.”
“Eat shit and die bro,” some dude shouts from behind me.
“Fuck you, man.”
I look behind me just as a shoving match starts.
“Who the fuck is that? Where are you?”
“A few blocks from campus. Andi was dying to come to this party.”
“Address.”
“What?”
“Want the address. I’m coming to you.”
“You don’t have to just give me a few minutes and I’ll grab Andi.”
“Baby, I said I’m on my way. Not gonna ask for that address again.”
I chew on my thumb and the fight is escalating. People are coming from inside to watch. One guy has the other on the ground and people are chanting for him to kick his ass.
I fire off the street and East hangs up. I tuck my phone in my pocket and go looking for Andi. I find her in the kitchen getting herself another beer.
“Hey, um East is on his way here to get me. Where’s your dude?”
“Oh. He’s a dickhead. He lost interest the moment I told him you were practically married to some old dude who would end his life if he so much as looked at you.”
“I’m sorry. You want me to drop you back at the dorms?”
“Pfft. What.” She waves her hand and chugs down the cup of beer. “No. I saw Ashley and Jillian here. I’m gonna hang with them. Don’t worry about me.”
“You sure? I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
“I’m not alone. I told you I’ll hang with Ashley. Now go.”
I glance around and see that Ashley is slow dancing with her boyfriend in the living room.
Outside, I walk to my jeep and lean against the front while I wait.
“There you are.” Clay jogs over to me. The fight has broken up and everyone is moving back inside.
“You found me. Just waiting on my boyfriend to get here.”
“So, your girl wasn’t lying?”
“Andi doesn’t lie. She’s great. And too good for you. So, stay away from her.”
“You’re a stuck-up little bitch, aren’t you? Probably think your shit doesn’t stink. Thinks your pussy is made of gold.”
East roars down the street on his motorcycle, rolling to a stop in front of us.
“That’s my boyfriend, so I’m going to give you a chance to say you’re sorry before I tell him what you just said to me because I don’t want to fuck you.”
Clay takes one look at East and holds his hands up. “Bet you’d be a lousy fuck anyway.” He backs up as East throws a leg off his bike.
In two long strides he’s on me. Hand on my ass, tongue in my mouth. I know what he’s doing and it’s incredibly adorable and sexy. My man is marking his territory, but he doesn’t need to. I belong to Easton Reed. I always have.
“Missed you, baby.”
“I missed you too.”
“Follow me home.”
“Always.”
**
I’m in denial. My period is over about two months’ late and I’m feeling sick all the time. I keep lying to myself and saying its college. I’m gaining the freshman fifteen. School has been going okay. I’ve been keeping up with my classes and doing great. I’m not stupid. East told me to go back on birth control and I went to the appointment and got the pills...I forgot to take them a few times. I should have gotten the shot but thought I could handle the responsibility of taking the pills. Clearly, I had been mistaken.
Mom is driving me crazy. Steve broke up with her a few weeks ago. She’s seeing some other guy that I didn’t bother to remember the name of because I’m sure he won’t be around for long. They never are. Though I am glad she has someone else to depend on besides me. Steve said she’s too needy. Which she is. My mother requires a lot of attention. I was worried she wouldn’t be able to take care of herself when I left for school. I don’t know who was sadder to see me go her or East. Her because all the cooking and cleaning I normally take care of would need to be maintained by her or him because I’m no longer warming his bed every night.
We’ve rarely seen each other the past month. He’s been busy with the MC and I always have homework. Which I can’t even focus on right now. I’m at the drug store a few blocks from campus starting at pregnancy tests on the shelf. I don’t know which brand is the best to buy. Though I suppose they all relatively work the same way.
East wants to take me to the Smokey Mountains. I plan to tell my mom that I am going with my roommate and bestie for life, Andi, and her family on their trip to Pigeon Forge. She’ll buy my lie easily enough as usual. Mom is fine as long as she has a man in her life. I suck in a breath and grab three tests. I’m planning to take them when we go on our trip. East will probably be happy. I’d be a liar if I said I was. I don’t want to be like my mother. Not that I don’t think East will be there, it’s just I’m eighteen. I’m not exactly ready for the responsibility. I can’t even remember to take my birth control pills let alone be responsible for a little person.
I’m supposed to drive over to East’s later tonight. He wants to leave early in the morning so we can get checked into our cabin. There’s been this distance between us lately that I can’t explain. It’s like he wants me to be here at school and yet I feel like he gets jealous whenever I go out with my friends. I make my way to the cash register and avoid the judgmental stare of the old woman behind it as she rings up my items.
I hurry to pay and rush out to my jeep. Tossing my bag in the passenger side I lay my head back on the seat rest and close my eyes. My stomach lurches and I count to ten before putting my keys in the ignition.
My cell phone rings with a call from my mother. I don’t want to answer it, but I might as well get this conversation over with and let her down gently with the news I’m not coming home for the holiday.
“Hey. What’s up?”
“Hi, Sweetpea. What time are you leaving? I thought we could hit some sales together and get some Christmas shopping in.”
“Oh. I meant to call sooner. Andi invited me to go to Pigeon Forge with her and I accepted the invitation.”
“I wish you had said something. I bought a huge bird. I wanted us to cook together.” By cook together she means I’ll cook while she gets drunk and watches Lifetime movies. “You’ll never guess who I bumped into at the store.”
“Who?”
“I ran into East and Lynn. I had no idea they were expecting. Why didn’t you tell me she’s pregnant?”
All color drains from my face and my stomach drops. My phone falls to the floorboard.
“You there?” I hear my mom call out as I scramble to pick up the phone and remember to breathe.
“I didn’t know.” I swallow hard. “I didn’t know they were back together.” A lump forms in my throat as bile churns in the pit of my stomach threatening to make an appearance any second now.
“Well I didn’t talk long with them, but she looks to be close to her third trimester if not ready to pop any day now.”
“I haven’t really talked to East lately,” I lie. My head swims.
They can’t be. She can’t...East and Lynn. No way. No freaking way. This isn’t happening. She’s lying.
“Well I wish you’d reconsider coming home.”
“Yeah. I don’t know. I’ll think about it, but I don’t want to hurt Andi’s feelings.”
“Well call me later. Love you.”
“Love you too.” I end the call and drop my phone into my lap and start up my jeep. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I mean my mom wouldn’t just make that shit up. She has no reason to lie. Not about that. I know Lynn and East have history, but I thought what we have is unbreakable.
I should talk to East myself but not over the phone.
My bags are already packed and in the back. Guess I will surprise him early and see for myself what he has to say.
I drive to his house. His motorcycle is in the garage and the truck is gone.
He might be at the clubhouse. I’ve not been there with him since we started whatever it is we’ve been doing.
I pull up to the gate and Link recognizes me. With a voice so deep and gruff that would make any man cower, he asks, “What brings you here, darlin’?” Link is big with tats on his face that make me think he’s spent some time in jail. I wouldn’t want to meet him alone in a dark alley or piss him off.
“I’m looking for East. Is he here?”
“Yeah. Is he expecting you?”
“Mhmm,” I lie.
“Well go on through.” He opens the gate and I pull up next to East’s truck in the lot. I shut off the ignition and stare at the clubhouse. I can already hear the loud music blaring. There’s a lot of motorcycles and vehicles here. Maybe I should have sent a text and asked if this would be okay. I’m already here though. No one would find it strange if I came looking for him. Most people here have known me since I was a kid. I exit the jeep before I turn into a complete chicken shit and lose all my nerve.
I bite back the tears that have been burning in my throat the whole way here. Strutting through the front door, I push my shoulders back and scan the bar for East. I immediately see him at the bar downing shots. That’s unusual for him. He’s not a heavy drinker and he’s more of a beer man.
“Hey there, sweet thing.” Some guy I don’t know grips my elbow and pinches me on the ass.
“Hey,” I shriek and slap at him as he laughs.
“Back the fuck up,” I hear a familiar voice growl.
“This one belong to you? Thought you were a married man.” The man looks to Roane.
“You could say that. This girl is off limits.”
“I don’t see a property patch on her,” he grunts.
I jerk my wrist out of his hold and Roane shoves him back. “Not up for debate, Viking.”
“Easy, big guy. I’m here to see East.” I hurry past him and make my way to the bar. I look back over my shoulder and that guy Viking is staring after me. I admit he’s hot and I can see where he gets his name from with his lighter colored hair and beard that gives him the look of a warrior. Not to mention his tribal tattoos and large stature.
I’m almost to East when he turns around, gaze burning through me. He shifts and slides off the stool stumbling toward me. “You shouldn’t be here,” he snarls at me.
“You weren’t at home. I thought I’d find you here.”
“You can’t be here right now.”
“What? Why is that?”
“We should t-talk,” he slurs.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t want to talk about this here, Wylla Mae.” He shakes his head then pinches his nose.
“Discuss what, East? You’re freaking me out.” I can feel eyes on us and know we need to go somewhere private to talk.
“Upstairs, now.” His voice is so cold it slices straight through my heart. Grabbing hold of my arm he tugs me toward the stairs, and I go with him. A feeling of dread consumes me. A brick is sitting in my stomach.
In the stairwell the music fades away and Easts turns into me pushing me against the wall. “I fucked up,” he says.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve missed you, baby.” He leans into me, pressing his mouth to mine tasting of liquor. My stomach burns and I push against his chest.
“You’re drunk.”
“Had a rough day, but you can make it better.” His hot and cold is giving me whiplash. Those firm hands cups my ass, his torturous lips drag along my neck. It’s easy to get lost in him. To submit to his will. His kisses turn urgent almost desperate. “Need you, baby.” Sliding a hand up the back of my sweater he tries to unhook my bra.
“Stop. We need to talk. I had an interesting phone call today.”
“Fuck,” he mutters. His head drops and moisture gathers in the corners of my eyes.
“So, is it true, East?”
“What did Alexa say to you?”
“Oh. My God.” My tears break free. “It’s true,” I croak, and he doesn’t deny the accusation. I shake my head back and forth. This isn’t real. It can’t be.
“None of this was planned.” He strokes my cheek, wiping my tears as quickly as they fall, and I want to die right here on the spot. “I never wanted to tell you like this.”
“Lynn’s having your baby,” I say the words, each one cutting me deep.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Stop talking. I don’t want to hear anything else.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Okay, East. I can’t wait to hear this. Tell me what it’s like then because from where I’m standing it sounds like you got your ex-girlfriend knocked up.”
“Never loved her. Never wanted anything serious with her. She knew that. You know that. You know how I feel about you.”
“Do I? Lately, all you do is call me up to come fuck you when it’s convenient for you.”
His face sobers. “Now wait a goddamn minute. Never...not once have I treated you like an easy fuck. Don’t pull that shit with me. Not with me.”
“Because everyone knows about us, right? Everyone knows you’re my man.” I laugh humorlessly, wiping at my tears.
“Not once have I treated you like a whore.”
“East?” A female voice calls. We both turn our heads and there she is. Lynn, her belly sticking out, her hands rubbing the watermelon shaped bump. Blonde hair cut to frame her face. God I fucking hate her. “What’s she doing here? Wylla Mae, does your mother know you’re here?”
“It’s none of your business. I’m an adult.”
“I think anything involving the father of my child is my business. I’m not sure why he keeps taking care of you. It’s time for you to move on, little girl, so he can take care of his real family.” I blink and let out a huff. I don’t even know how to respond to her right now. She has no clue that he’s been with me for months. That it’s me he loves. That I’m more than likely carrying his child as well. I should tell her so I can see the look on her face but that’s not me. As much as I’d love to wipe that smug look off her face, I know I need to get out of here.
“That’s enough, Lynn. You have no business speaking for me,” East cuts in and I shake my head.
“Coward,” I mutter under my breath.
“What is it about her that has you always running, East?”
I look her and laugh. “You legitimately want to know?”
“Wylla Mae, not now,” he snaps at me.
“I’m out of here.” I go to leave and East grabs my arm, fingers biting into my skin. “Don’t touch me, East. You just lost every right. Enjoy your life with your real family.”
“Have you been fucking her?” Lynn shrieks and East lets me go. I run past her. Fuck this. Fuck Lynn and fuck Easton Reed. I hear them arguing behind me, but I can’t be here right now. I can’t listen to him try to placate her and lie about us. He said he’s my man but he’s still a coward.
Downstairs I run straight into a wall of muscle. Viking chuckles and smirks at me. “Where’s the fire?”
“I need to get out of here. Excuse me.” His arms lock around me, caging me in.
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“Maybe some other time.” I gaze up into the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. They remind me of aqua sea glass.
“What’s your name?”
“Wylla Mae.”
“Wylla Mae, East is a dumbass if he had you and lost you.”
“I was the fool. I need to get going.”
“One drink.”
“Buddy, I’m barely legal and I don’t drink.”
“One dance then.”
“Not tonight.”
“One kiss then.” He grins at me and my belly clenches at the thought of kissing anyone but Easton Reed, but he’s not mine anymore. I can’t help but wonder if he ever was.
“You’re persistent, but that is a bad idea.”
“Phone number then? Come on, sweetheart, you’re killing me here. You’re beautiful.”
“No way. My momma told me all about motorcycle men. I gotta go, but it was nice to meet you.”
“At least let me walk you out. It isn’t safe for such a pretty lady to be on her own.”
“Fine. You can walk me to my jeep.”
Viking drops his arms from my sides but leaves one at my lower back, guiding me toward the exit. Some club bunny shoots me a dirty look.
“I’ve got her from here,” I hear East growling. For three whole minutes Viking had managed to get my mind off my fucked-up situation.
“You good to go with him?” Viking asks and I can sense he’s sincere.
“Yeah. Thanks anyway. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
“Like hell you will.” East grabs my arm and shoves me out the door and into the parking lot. “The hell you think you’re doing?”
“Does it matter? You obviously have new plans for the holiday.”
“I can’t do this with you right now, Wylla Mae.”
“Can’t what? Tell me that you’re going to be a father and that you gotta do what’s right. I know you, Easton Reed. You’re a decent man. Probably the best I’ll ever have known, but we both know how this ends. You’ll go running back to Lynn like you always have and you’ll make her your Old Lady because that’s who you are.”
“Baby.” His arms come around me and I don’t push him away. I need him to tell me I’m wrong. That he chooses me like I always dreamed he would. “I need time to process this shit. Nothing has changed between us.”
“Everything has changed. She’s having your baby. Where are you sleeping tonight, East?”
“Next to you. I told Lynn the truth. Told her that I’m with you, Wylla Mae.”
I swallow. “You told her about us?” I stare at him, seeing the welts forming on his cheek. “She smacked you.” I stroke his jaw unable to keep from touching him.
“I’m your man. You’re my Lady. Don’t give a fuck what anyone else has to say about it.”
“What if I were pregnant too, East? What if that’s why I came here tonight?”
“You know how I feel about that. Timing would be bad, but I’d be happy.”
I nod. Now isn’t the time for me to hit him with the possibility that I could be pregnant. “So now what?”
“You’re gonna drive us home. And I’m going to spend the rest of the night reminding you how perfect we are together.”
“East...”
“Don’t use this as an excuse to give up on me.”
“I don’t know how to be okay with any of this. I can’t just push the thought of her having your baby aside. I can’t forget it. I saw her. She’s obviously heavily pregnant.”
“I wish she wasn’t. I’d take it back if I could. But I can’t.”
“No, you can’t, but you also can’t expect me to just roll over on this.”
“Shit won’t always be easy, Lady, but I promise you, I’ll never make you fuckin’ question where you stand with me. You’re everything to me. Don’t you ever forget that. But when are you gonna tell Alexa the truth? How long you gonna hide me? You call me a coward but you’re the one that’s scared. I love you, Wylla Mae. You have me. I’m all in with you. Are you with me? You ready to tell your mom the truth?”
“That’s different.”
“No, it’s not. Either I’m your man or I’m not. So, what’s it going to be?”
“You’re having a baby with another woman, East...”
“There’s a possibility of it, but it changes nothing. None of that changes the way I feel about you.”
“I can’t share you with her. I hate her and maybe I hate her baby too.”
“Don’t be a brat.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “A brat. You’re calling me a brat right now. How am I supposed to react? Am I supposed to be happy? Is it supposed to make me feel marvelous that another woman is giving you what you want?”
“Fuck no. I want you to be pissed. You feel whatever you need to, you just don’t leave me because of it. It’s you and me, baby. No one else. You. And. Me.”
“I don’t know if I can handle this. I’m not strong enough to accept another woman’s child, East.”
“C’mere,” he grits through his teeth.
“You’re drunk. How am I to know you mean what you’re saying?”
East grabs my hips and pulls me flush against his front. Lacing his fingers with mine he says, “Because you feel me in every fiber of your being. I’m in you, Wylla Mae. I possess every fucking cell...every goddamned inch of you. Baby, you’re in me too. You always have been.”
“I’m scared.”
“When you’re in my arms you never have to worry.”
“And when I’m not?”
“I’m always right here.” East’s splays his big hand over my heart. “Let’s go home.”