My mother had left everything the same, even though I’d been going to college and living away from home for two years. The walls were still light purple, with the white furniture my parents had bought me for my sixteenth birthday, and the king-sized canopy bed with dark purple bedding. As a girl I loved spending my time here, reading, listening to music...hanging out with Reid.

Our parents were best friends - Reid’s father had gone to college with mine, and they played golf together every Sunday when they weren’t away on business, and our mothers were always in contact, whether it was at some social event, or afternoon lunches with girlfriends.

We’d been interwoven into each other’s lives from birth, and now the ties that kept us bound were coming undone. At least that’s how it felt.

I took out my phone, and saw several missed calls, and texts, most of which were from Reid. I couldn’t bring myself to return them, or call him back. I knew I’d have to see him soon, but until then I could pretend that I wasn’t scared of how things were going to change after I told him I was pregnant. I could pretend that I wasn’t going to feel guilty for altering the course of his life, and I could pretend that the fear of losing him wasn’t going to drown me.

** ** ** ** **

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep, but I woke up feeling better than I’d felt in weeks. It was a strange sense of calm, and I reveled in the lack of inner turmoil that had been plaguing me lately. A peel of laughter coming from downstairs caught my attention, and after slipping into a light silk robe, and freshening up in the bathroom, I made my way to the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the breakfast bar, a cup of coffee in her hands, smiling at my two friends. Kennedy smiled when I walked in, while Grady looked at me pointedly and huffed in disapproval.

“Took you long enough,” he said. His mouth tipped up into a half-grin, and he pushed away from the counter to envelope me in a hug. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for two hours already.”

“What are you even doing here?” I asked, looking between him and Kennedy. “You’re supposed to be in Cabo for the rest of the week.”

Kennedy stepped up to my other side, and rested her arm over my shoulders. “We go where you go,” she said happily. Her blonde hair was hanging loose over her shoulders, and her skin was perfectly sun-kissed.

“How are you feeling?” Asked my mother. She watched me from over the rim of her coffee cup, and I caught her meaning.

“Rested,” I replied, half-smiling. “Can I have some coffee, please?”

My mother stood, and went about making me some much needed java, while I took a seat. She placed it in front of me, and leaned in to kiss my temple. “Decaf,” she whispered. “Make sure you eat something, por favor.”

“Si, mama.”

“I’ll give you some time alone with your friends,” she added, speaking to all of us. “I’ll be in the study if you need me.” Her heels clicked on the tiled floor, and my nerves started thrumming in rhythm with her steps. Reid should be the first to hear, but I was bursting to tell someone, and I trusted that neither Kennedy nor Grady would spill. It was working up the courage to tell them that I was having difficulty with.

“So,” Grady sat down next to me, “before we get to the d-r-a-m-a that you missed in Cabo, are you feeling better? Did you see the doctor?”

Kennedy stood at my other side, and looking between them I realized I was safe. They weren’t going to judge me, or make me feel like a complete screw up.

I could tell them.

“I’m pregnant,” I blurted out.

Their eyes widened, and their mouths popped open.

“Jade...” Kennedy’s expression turned sympathetic, and that’s when I felt my chest crack.

“Oh baby girl.” Grady’s arms came around me, and then Kennedy’s. There in the comfort of my friends’ arms, I allowed myself a private moment to fall apart because I was terrified.

Terrified of not being ready for what came next.

Terrified of facing it alone.

Terrified of having Reid turn his back on me one last time and never looking back.

The thought of not having him in my life – even as things stood between us now – was paralyzing.

“Have you told him?” Asked Kennedy, her blue eyes filled with care.

“No,” I replied around the lump in my throat. “But I know I’ll have to do it soon. My next doctor’s appointment is in four weeks, when I find out whether it’s a girl or a boy, and I’d like to think he’d want to be there for that.”

“What do you think he’ll say?”

I looked at Grady as he rubbed up and down my back. “I’m not sure. I think that scares me more than actually telling him.”

His gaze drifted up to meet Kennedy’s and a strange unspoken message passed between them.

“What?”

With a sigh, Kennedy sat down next to me and said, “We have to tell you something.”

Grady shifted on my other side, but I kept my eyes trained on Kennedy. My stomach dropped before she said anything, and my body stiffened in response.

“After the...incident...with Stella,” she started, “Reid told Dane that Stella had a busted lip, and a bruise on the side of her face. Stella said you did it.”

“But you saw the whole thing,” I replied. “I didn’t put a hand on her.”

“I know, but I saw her face this morning, and he was telling the truth.”

“And he believed her?”

Kennedy dropped her head and I knew that Reid did in fact believe whatever bullshit Stella had told him.

“She also told him you threatened her,” added Grady. “But he wouldn’t repeat exactly what Stella told him. He said he wanted to talk to you first.”

I laughed bitterly, and the bile rising in my throat burned. “What’s the point? He already believes her.”

Grady reached over and covered my hand with his. “We know she’s lying, and we’ll find out exactly what the psycho bitch did to get her face to look like you’d pummeled her. You can’t get upset over this, okay? Right now you have to take care of yourself, and we’re gonna be with you all the way.”

As much as I appreciated their support, I’d reached a point where I was tired of feeling like some kind of victim of whatever Stella was doing. I’d decided to get back to being my old self, and there was no way some Psycho Hobbit was going to stop me. I was done fighting, and no matter what the outcome was going to be after I told Reid about my pregnancy, I was done with the stupid game we’d been playing. I was done dancing around him, the tatters of our friendship, and his bitch of a girlfriend. I had someone who mattered more than all of that.

I sat up straight, braced my shoulders, and inhaled.

“If he wants to talk, then we’ll talk, but if he thinks I’m fighting Stella for him any longer, he’s wrong.”

Chapter 7

Reid

Let Her Go

I checked my phone for the umpteenth time, noting that it was, in fact, quite late. It was already nightfall, and as I stepped out of my Range Rover I wondered if I was making a mistake. Jade had to have been sleeping, but after landing at the airport only a few hours ago, I had to speak to her.

Stella and I had stayed for the rest of our trip to Cabo, while Dane, Kennedy and Grady had left soon after Jade. Every instinct in my body told me to go with them, but like the idiot I was, I stayed behind with Stella instead. She seemed a little more relaxed once we were alone, and I couldn’t help but be bothered by how much she disliked my friends. I thought it would have taken her some time to get used to our group, so I never thought much of it, but I was starting to see things now, that hadn’t been so obvious before.

I crossed the dimly lit road, and up the familiar drive way leading up to Jade’s house. My parents lived right next door, but they weren’t home, and even if they were, it was too late to call on them now anyway.