Afflicted (22 page)

My
biggest weakness my entire life is that I care too much about everyone else and not enough about myself. I made my way to the front door seeing Cole sitting on the couch through the window. He turned as soon as I walked in.

“You’re back early.” He stood when he saw me and made his way to where I was standing. “What happened? Is everything okay?”

“You’re probably going to want to sit down for this.” I told him, walking over to the couch. He took a seat next to me holding the hand that now held my engagement ring. “I’m pregnant.” I choked out.

Hearing an audible intake of breath his hand started shaking. “It’s his
, isn’t it?”

Nodding my head. “There’s no one else that it could be.”

“When?”

“While you were in the hospital. There was one night that I just wanted to forget
,
and
he came here and spent the night. That’s the only time that it could be.”

“How do expect me to sleep with you, let alone marry you
, knowing that you’re carrying another dude’s baby. I can’t do it.”

Sliding the ring off my finger I placed it in his hand
closing his fingers around it. “I wasn’t planning on asking you to.”

I went into the bedroom and debated what I was going to do. I heard Cole rummaging through the liquor bottles
, making things even worse than they already were. Putting my head on the pillow I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I woke up when I heard things falling over.
I turned to look at Cole stumbling into bed. He was beyond trashed. Looking me dead in the face he looked utterly disgusted with me.

“The amount of alcohol I wou
ld need to sleep with you again would kill me, go back to bed.” Sex was the last thing on my mind right now. After staring at the ceiling for hours with my hand absently placed on my stomach I managed to doze off again.

The next morning I
woke up feeling the worst I’ve ever felt. Cole was already out of bed,
and
the tension was oozing from the other room. I showered and dressed in comfortable clothes heading to the kitchen to make some toast. I didn’t want to eat anything, and chances are I was going to have to force the toast down my throat, but I knew I had to eat something.

Popping two pieces of wheat bread into the toaster I
grabbed the Nutella from the cabinet grabbing a spoonful and putting it in my mouth. Cole was in sitting on the couch watching TV ignoring me. I looked at what he was watching, it was that stupid CNT celebrity news gossip shit. They were talking about upcoming movies and records that were coming out. I was starting to ignore it when a familiar face flashed on the screen.

“We spotted Blake Potter, the lead bassist for Battlescars tearing up the town last night. We caught him catching a cab, leaving Peso around eleven last night.
But what we really want to know is who the blonde beauty on his arm is. Is it possible that he’ll be the next member of the band to settle down?”

“Hey
, isn’t that your baby daddy?” Cole snickered.

I dropped the jar of Nutella that I was holding
, watching in slow motion as it crashed to the floor splattering the cabinets. Running to the bathroom with my hands over my mouth I kneeled down in front of the toilet and threw up. After throwing up until my ribs hurt I managed to get up and brush my teeth before making a pallet with towels on the floor.

“Where is she?” Aubrey yelled.

“Who cares?”

“Listen dickwad
, I’ll break your ugly face if you don’t get out of the fucking doorway.”

I heard footsteps running down the hallway.

“Piper, we just saw. It’s not what you think.” She said helping me to my feet, pulling me toward the bedroom.

She went into the closet and started filling a suitcase full of clothes. I wanted to tell her not to bother now that Blake had perfect Rowan back in his life, but I couldn’t
find my voice. My bottom lip was trembling as I fought
back
tears, yet again. Jake came in grabbing the suitcase from Aubrey and putting his arm around me protectively.

“Remember what I said asshole!” Jake yelled at Cole as we walked out the front door.

Aubrey climbed into the backseat with me, and Jake drove us toward the airfield. Mark was there waiting on the tarmac, ready to go when we arrived. Jake tossed him the luggage as Aubrey led me up the stairs to a row of seats in the middle of the plane.

“
Everything
’s going to be fine. Trust me, Blake will understand.”

“And when he doesn’t
, what am I supposed to do then?”

“You have
me and Jake, plus you know my mom and Granny will help you too. Remember when we were little how we always wanted to get pregnant around the same time. It’s not exactly like planned, but it’s happening. Sometimes the weak become the strong. You’ll get through this. I think Cole has you so brainwashed just waiting for the next bad thing to happen that you can’t even experience the joy that a baby will bring you. It doesn’t matter if you have anyone, you can do this Piper.”

Jake took a seat across from us and pulled out his iPod as Mark taxied the runway
for takeoff. Once we were airborne I fell asleep again. I was catching bits and pieces of conversations that Aubrey and Jake were
having
, but didn’t care enough to pull myself to consciousness.

“Did you call the doctor?” It was Aubrey.

“Everything’s been taken care of.” Jake replied.

“Don’t you dare say anything to
Blake! They need to figure this out. I know he’s like a brother to you and all, but if I find out that you went behind my back I won’t put out,
indefinitely
.”

“Jeez woman, I’m not going to say anything. Calm your pregnant ass down before I take
you in the back for a quickie.” Aubrey’s chest shook with laughter as she pet my head.

When we touched down in LA Brett was waiting on the tarmac in the Escalade. I
actually missed the big lug. He came on board to collect luggage, packing it into the trunk before heading out into traffic heading to Jake’s. Driving down the road that Jake’s house was on Aubrey seemed hell bent on getting me to look at something on the other side of the road as we got closer.

I looked across the street and saw Blake standing out front of a house that I assumed was his
,
since he lived near Jake. He was smoking a cigarette in just a pair of boxers with Rowan standing next to him wearing one of his t-shirts. My stomach started to lurch again. Aubrey rubbed my back reassuringly and Jake gave me an apologetic smile.

Was I turning into a charity case or something?

“Don’t you wish that you could order karma like flowers and have it delivered?” Aubrey asked. “I’d really like to order both Cole and Blake an extra large arrangement, including but not limited to, baldness, itchy balls, burning while peeing, and definitely impotence.”

I fought the urge not to smile and lost.
Brett pulled into the driveway of a blue house and put the car in park. He told us that standard safety precautions were in place and to wait in the car until he gave the all clear. The house had a row of palm trees spanning on either side of the entryway and a large, wood door with a wrought iron design. It was awkwardly silent as we waited for the okay.

Seeing Blake’s face
was harder than I thought it was going to be since the last time was pretty final. It hurt like hell. I wasn’t so sure that I was going to be able to face him on Saturday, especially since now Rowan was most likely going to be there, too. Aubrey made me an appointment to see Jake’s doctor tomorrow so we could have a better idea of how far along I was, and if the pregnancy was progressing normally.

When Brett finally came
back out Aubrey led me inside. The place was stunning. There was an all glass wall spanning the entire back wall facing the ocean. She set up the couch for me since they only had one bedroom here until they got the addition put on. Jake called and ordered us some Chinese take out for dinner and told Aubrey, and I to relax. She turned the TV on and ordered us a movie to watch. She asked if I wanted to do pedicures and facials like we used to when we were teenagers, but I wasn’t feeling it.

I was really fortunate to have
a best friend like her.

Around eight, which was really eleven our time, I told them I was ready to turn in for the night
,
and
they promised to try and keep it down. Groaning, I pulled a pillow over my head and shut the light off.

The next morning I woke up to the smell of bacon. Jake was standing at the stove flipping pancakes, piling them up on a plate.

“Good morning, sunshine.” He said, pouring a glass of orange juice and putting a bottle of vitamins next to it. “You need to start taking these. I took the liberty of picking them up for you this morning when I was at the store. We can’t have my future godchild deprived of vital nutrients.”

“Wha-, oh never
mind.” I blabbered.

Walking into the bathroom I showered and put some make-up on making an attempt to look presentable. When I was done I headed into the kitchen and whacked
back
the vitamins and tried to eat a pancake in an effort to appease Jake. He smiled and put his hand on mine.

“
Everything’s going to be fine. Just relax. Stress isn’t good for the baby.”

The rest of the morning
was pretty uneventful. I felt like an intruder watching the two of them in their lovefest. Aubrey already called home twice to check on the twins since this was the first time she was away from them. Around eleven,
we
packed up and got ready to go to the doctor. My stomach was in knots as we pulled out of the garage. I closed my eyes as we drove past Blake’s not wanting a repeat of yesterday. Thirty minutes later we pulled into the office building and went inside.

After filling out some paperwork I was led back to an exam room and given
a cup to pee in. A nurse took some blood and handed me a gown to put on saying the doctor would be in shortly. I looked at the pictures on the wall of babies in the womb. Fighting back tears I wondered
who
he or she would look like. Would the baby look more like me, or Blake, or be a mix of both of us? Would he want to be involved, or would he just cut a check every month? Was he going to be angry with me for getting pregnant, even though it was an accident? I just had so many unanswered questions.

The door opened
, and a young female doctor came in. She was wearing maroon scrubs with her blonde hair pulled into a messy bun.

“Hi Piper, I’m Dr. Suzy Scott. How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” I replied politely.

“T
he test confirmed that you are
definitely
pregnant. Judging by the blood work I would guess you’re about ten weeks, does that sound about right?”

I nodded. She pulled over an ultrasound machine and lifted the gown squirting some warm liquid
below my bellybutton.

“I’m going to see if we can get a look at the fetus
to determine an actual due date.” She took the wand and started going around before deciding that the only way to get a look was to do an in-utero one. Pressing a couple more buttons she determined that I was 10 weeks and 4 days along.

She printed out a
couple of ultrasound pictures, handing them to me. The baby looked like a kidney bean. She told me that once I was home I would need to find an OB to visit regularly and to make sure that I remembered to take my prenatal vitamins every day. I informed her that Jake already started that regimen earning a laugh from the good doctor. Obviously Jake, and his “balls to the wall” behavior are well known around here.

I thanked her and waited for her to leave before getting dressed. Walking back into the waiting room Aubrey held her hand out for the ultrasound pictures talking briefly with the doctor who didn’t seem at all surprised that Aubrey was
already pregnant again. Jake told the receptionist to send him the bill,
and
I started to protest, but he wasn’t hearing it.

“I can pay my own medical bills
, Jake. Please let me know how much it is so I can pay you back.”

“You’ll do no such thing. I told you I’m going to make sure my god
kid is taken care of. If you need anything all you have to do is ask. I’m thinking maybe you should think about moving into the guesthouse when we get back home. I’m sure Derek would be happy to have the company. He’s lonely there all by himself now that Blake and Kevin are back here in LA, plus then Aubrey would only be right across the lawn if you needed help with something. There’s room for you to set up a nursery too.”

“Too much, too fast.” I protested. “Let me just figure out what I’m doing
first. I don’t even know if I want to stay in Smithville. Once word gets out I’m going to be the pariah. No one’s going to want to have me around. I think I might be better off going somewhere where I can completely reinvent myself.”