Larkin didn’t wait for me to shut the door before he started yelling.

“What the fuck where you thinking? Do you know what the fuck you did? How could you fucking do this? I thought you were my best friend, fuck man. I would never do this shit to you.” Larkin stopped, taking a deep breath.

I took that moment to speak up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

I looked at Jenna. Jenna looked at Cobie. Cobie looked at Larkin. Larkin glared at me. He had murder in his eyes.

Jenna ran her hand down Larkin’s arm. “You promised it wouldn’t be like this. Either calm the hell down or we are leaving. This isn’t between us.”

“The hell it ain’t. That is my fucking baby sister.”

Shit.

Why the hell did Cobie tell her brother what we did?

I could see a tear roll down Cobie’s face. God dammit. I can’t take girls crying.

Taking a step toward Larkin I said, “Dude, calm down. You’re pissing your wife off and making your sister cry.”

Jenna moved away from Larkin and placed her arm on Cobie’s shoulder, whispering something. She shook her head before finally looking at me.

She looked like she was on the verge on vomiting and bursting into tears.

Larkin gritted his teeth and looked at Jenna. He slowly took a few deep breaths and shut his eyes.

Just when I was about to ask why we were having this lovely reunion Cobie choked out, “Gage, can we um…can we talk. Alone?”

Shifting my eyes from Larkin to Jenna they both nodded.

Dafuq is goin on?

Bringing my eyes to Cobie I said, “Sure. We can go to my room.” Turning I started walking back down the hall, not looking to see if she was following. Pushing my bedroom door open I took a few steps in before stopping to make sure Cobie was in the room with me. She was just inside my bedroom door. Her hands twisted in a knot in front of her. She looked like she could bolt at any minute. Or break into hysterics.

Trying to sound as nice as possible I asked, “What the hell was that about?” I motioned toward the way we had just come. The room holding Larkin, who at any minute, I was sure was going to come barreling down my hallway and beat the shit outta me.

Looking all around my room, looking everywhere but at me Cobie shrugged.

“Bullshit Cobie. You knew shit would hit the fan if your brother ever found out what happened. Why the fuck would you tell him?” I took a step toward her, wanting her to look at me.

Keeping her eyes from looking at me her voice cracked when she said, “I had to tell him.”

Feeling my temper rise. I angrily bit out, “What? Why the hell would you have to tell him? Are you fucking Catholic, did you have to repent your sins and he was the priest? There is not one goddamn reason he needed to know.”

Cobie finally looked me in the eyes. Her dark brown eyes filled with tears. Barely speaking she said, “I’m pregnant.”

I felt my throat tightening, it was hard to breath. I stared at her. She was pregnant? Just because she was pregnant doesn’t mean I’m the father. Right?

“What does that have to do with me?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

Letting a few tears escape she narrowed her eyes and venomously said, “You’re the fucking father, Gage. What the hell do you think? You really think I would tell my brother we fucked for the hell of it? That night I walked away with a little more than a sexy memory. I got pregnant. By you.”

I was the father? I was going to be a father. Talking more to myself than Cobie I said, “Holy shit. I’m having a baby?”

Blinking a few times I stared at Cobie’s stomach. My baby was in there. Without thinking I started reaching out to touch her stomach.

Cobie flinched as my hand rested on her still flat stomach. Her tears falling freely now she muttered, “We’re having a baby.”

Taking two steps so I was standing flush with her, I pulled her head into my chest and wrapped my arms around her tiny body.

Cobie cried, “It was supposed to be one night. One night just turned into eighteen years. How can we be parents, Gage? We’re not together, hell we’re not even friends.”

Rubbing her back I said, “We will get through it. No, we’re not together but we will make it work.”

“I always pictured myself being married before having a baby. Not getting pregnant by my brothers best friend while I was still in college. This isn’t how my life was supposed to be.” Cobie sobbed, soaking my shirt.

Sighing I mumbled, “Nothing in life is what we planned. Life is misery.”

She sniffed and wiped under her eyes. Using her hands she pushed away from me. “Gage, I never meant for this to happen. I swear. If this is going to make you miserable, you don’t have to do it. I can do this on my own.”

Gripping both her shoulders, I leaned down and looked her in the eyes. “Cobie, I helped put you in this mess. I won’t walk away from it. I’m in this with you. This baby is the furthest thing from misery. Hell, this baby is the first thing to happen in my life lately that isn’t miserable. This is you and me for the next eighteen years, got it?”

Taking a deep breath she nodded. A small smile forming on her face. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to jump in not thinking then turn and run. I want our baby to have a daddy but more than that I want you to want to be a daddy. I don’t want you to feel forced.”

“Shut up. Just shut up. I want to be her daddy.”

This time I got a full blown smile when Cobie asked, “Did you just say her?”

Laughing I said, “Yep, I sure did.”

Lifting her hands she wrapped them around my back. “This is crazy, but right now I feel like everything will be okay. In some weird way we will find our own and be a family.”

Kissing her forehead I placed my hands on her waist. “We won’t be the normal Jones family but we will be us. I want to buy a house in Ohio for our family. A place our baby can call home. Our little girl, yes it will be a girl, will know that we love her. That’s all that matters. Fuck the rest of the world.”

Resting my head on hers we both shut our eyes.

“So I guess this means I won’t kick your ass?” Larkin asked. I could still here the anger and hurt in his voice. Cracking my eyes open I saw the forced half smile on his face.

She and I broke apart. Both of us taking a few steps away from each other. Jenna was slowly walking down the hall keeping her eyes on Larkin who was still standing in the doorway.

Cobie cleared her throat and fixed her brother with a pointed stare. “You can stop with the big brother shit. I told you I could handle this. I’m not your six year old little sister anymore. I’m having a baby, I’m growing up. You have to let me handle my life now.”

Holy shit. Was that tears in Larkin Nayler’s eyes?

Larkin furrowed his brows and said, “Cobie, I will always see you as my baby sister. I will always want to protect you.” Letting out a sigh he shut his eyes before continuing, “Cobie, you should know by now that I would kill to protect you. I wanted you to have every option in the world open to you. I didn’t want you to have to let go of your dreams because of some sillyass mistake.”

Jenna was standing at Larkin’s side, her left hand resting on her swollen stomach, the light from my room reflecting off her diamond ring. The ring Larkin had given her to replace the one that I had at given her when I promised her my forever. And damn if it didn’t still hurt.

Cobie took a deep, shaky breath. “I know you want to protect me and I’m glad. And when I was fourteen I needed your protection. But I’ve grown up.” She took a step closer to me, brushing my hand. “What Gage and I did, I could never call that a mistake because out of that we created our baby. I’m not giving up my dreams. Simply creating new ones. When you found out about Evie a few years ago, weren’t you the one that told me you would do anything, even give up football to be her father. But look, you didn’t have to give up your dream to be a daddy. You created a new dream that included your family. That’s what I will do.”