“None of that,” I said, “let’s go and get this done.”

“After you, Mother,” Kane growled.

I smiled to myself as I climbed off his bed, slipped my shoes back on, and walked out of Kane’s room with him lazily following behind me. We made it to the bottom of the stairs but instantly slowed our pace down as we approached the kitchen door. I could hear raised voices from inside the kitchen and it made me a little nervous.

“Is that—”

“Bran and Ry?” Kane sighed. “Yeah.”

“Wow,” I whispered. “I didn’t think Branna and Ryder argued—not like this anyway.”

Kane quietly grunted. “The last few months it’s been getting worse and worse. They argue over the smallest things. It’s different than when the others argue because you can feel the anger between them.”

I frowned. “That sucks.”

Kane nodded his head and frowned when the yelling from the kitchen intensified.

“I can’t stand the sight of you anymore. I just have to look at you to get annoyed!” Branna’s voice bellowed.

“You think the sight of you makes me happy?” Ryder asked then humourlessly laughed.

I widened my eyes.

“Why are they being so hurtful?” I asked. “I don’t like this.”

“Couples fight,” Kane said and shrugged like it was nothing.

I knew it was something more than that though. Ryder and Branna fighting wasn’t shocking. But screaming horrible things at one another? That was extremely shocking.

“I can’t even stand being in here with you. You’re a fucking liar!” Ryder snapped.

“How am I a liar?” Branna screamed. “What the fuck have I kept from you?”

Kane and I stood idly by the kitchen door. I felt too awkward to do anything. I didn’t want to leave because it would have been obvious we were listening if they heard us walk away, but I also didn’t want to hang around and listen to my friends fight with one another.

I couldn’t even intervene to help calm things down because Branna and Ryder were in a relationship. They have been together for years and seeing them treat one another so badly was a little bit of a shock to my system. It just went to show that even people who were clearly meant to be together didn’t have it easy.

“How about the fucking positive pregnancy test I found in the bathroom last week?” Ryder snarled. “I found it the day Kane came home, but I decided to wait until he was settled in before I brought it up. Then I figured I’d wait until you were ready to tell me you were pregnant. But. You. Never. Did.”

I widened my eyes and felt my heart jump.

“Pregnant? Pregnancy test? What the hell are you talkin’ about, Ryder?” Branna snapped.

“Don’t bullshit me. I found the test and I want to know the truth from you. We haven’t had sex in months, so it’s not my fucking kid.”

“You… You think I would cheat on you?” Branna asked, her voice filled with hurt.

I gripped onto Kane’s hand and pulled him down the hallway. “We need to give them privacy,” I breathed.

Kane was looking at me, but his eyes were distant.

“Branna is the one who is pregnant?” he murmured.

I felt like I was about to throw up but forced my feelings aside to notice Kane looked... sad. Really sad.

“Thanks for today, it was fun,” he murmured. “I’m going to go back to bed. I don’t feel so good.”

“But your injection—”

“One will be enough for me today. See you later.”

He turned and walked down the hallway then up the stairs. I was frozen to my spot as I watched him go. I couldn’t open my mouth to say anything because if I did, I was going to vomit everywhere.

“Ryder,” I heard Branna’s voice say from the kitchen, her voice not raised anymore. “I am not pregnant. Me and the girls are meant to take tests tomorrow, but I couldn’t wait until then. I took one a few days ago and it was negative. I didn’t tell you because you were so focused on Kane.”

Silence.

Oh. Christ.

Oh. Fuck.

“You aren’t pregnant?” Ryder repeated. “The test I found was positive though. If you’re not then who took it in our house? Who is pregnant?”

“Bronagh or Aideen. It’s one of them.”

Oh.

It wasn’t Bronagh who took the test Ryder found, it was me... and he said it was positive!

I couldn’t breathe.

I literally couldn’t breathe.

I had to get out of the hallway because it felt like it was closing in on me.

I all but ran out of the house, closing the door behind me. I bent forward and pressed my hands on my knees and sucked in huge gulps of air.

Calm down.

I repeated the thought over and over in my mind then stood upright and looked directly across the road to the lights of the Jeep that were pulling into Keela and Alec’s driveway. She was home.

Thank God!

I took off out of the garden, ran straight across the road, and up their driveway.

“Aideen!” Alec snapped when he got out of his car. “You scared the shit out of me. It’s dark out. Don’t do that again, I could have reacted out of reflex and hit you.”

“Sorry, flower,” I said, breathing heavily. “Open your door.”

Keela walked around the car and frowned. “Where did you come from?” she asked.

I pointed to the house across the road.

“Have you been there since I left hours ago?” she asked, wide-eyed. “It’s nearly seven.”

She didn’t need to know that Kane and I watched the entire first season of Sons of Anarchy in his bedroom all day. Nobody needed to know that.

“I gave him his second injection,” I lied, avoiding answering her question directly.

Keela watched me for a moment then nodded at me. “Okay, so why are you here, breathin’ like you just ran a marathon?”

Uh.

“I need... to use your bathroom,” I said, then smiled.

Alec sighed as he walked forward and opened the front door of his house. He entered and turned off the beeping of the alarm by entering the alarm code onto the keypad.

“Why didn’t you use the toilet in Branna’s place?” Keela asked as we went inside.

Because I know you recently stocked up on pregnancy tests, and I couldn’t stay over there because everyone was seconds away from finding out who was really pregnant.

I knew deep down it wasn’t Bronagh who was pregnant like Branna suggested, but I refused to believe it was me who was pregnant until I saw the proof for myself.

“Go on then,” Keela said, waving me up the stairs when I didn’t give her a reply.

“Thank you!” I shouted as I ran for the stairs.

“Turn on the fan if you have a shite!” Keela bellowed up the stairs after me.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay!”

“Is that what you came here for? Next time take a crap in Ryder’s place!” Alec’s voice hollered up the stairs after me.

I heard Keela’s laughter and Alec’s bickering, but both of them faded away when I entered their bedroom and ran into their bathroom. I knew I could have used the bathroom on the first floor, but I knew Keela’s master bathroom was the one with the pregnancy tests. She wasn’t planning on getting pregnant anytime soon—she had an implant in her arm to prevent pregnancy—but she had to stock up on tests because the girls and myself used up the ones she had last week.

When I closed the door of the bathroom, everything became deathly silent. Even my breathing slowed down. It was like my body knew I was about to do something huge, and it wasn’t taking a crap like Alec thought it was.

I took slow, deep breaths and walked over to the his-and-hers set up. I placed my hand on the marble counter and looked into the mirror at myself. I didn’t look like the twenty-eight-year-old woman I was. I saw a scared little girl who was at a loss. I frowned at myself then shook my head.

You can do this.

I believed I could, but hell, it was still terrifying. I reached up to the medicine cabinet above the sink and opened the door. I spotted the un-opened box of the digital Clearblue pregnancy tests. I reached up and took the box in my hand, quickly undid the wrapping, and pulled out a covered pregnancy test. I removed the packaging on it and stared at the test.