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Quiet. The Loft was too quiet.

Sophie was home; her shoes were at the front door. She’d be dancing at this time of day but the upbeat tempo that normally rang through the flat was absent. I shoved the last of my Uni books onto the kitchen counter then walked down the hallway in search of her, bypassing my own room. I knocked quietly on her bedroom door in case she was sleeping. She’d been up late, finishing her coursework, I didn’t want to disturb her if she’d taken a nap. Standing for a minute, listening at the door, hearing nothing from the other side, I walked back up the hallway, stopping short at the dining room door.

It was closed but I could hear a distinct sniffle from beyond. Sophie. And it sounded like she was crying.

I didn’t knock before pushing the door open wide and walking in. I sighed when I saw her sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, knees up to her chin, head sideways. Her eyes met mine and tears dripped from her cheek, she made no attempt to wipe them away.

“I fucked up,” she whispered, her voice so quiet I barely heard.

I was there on the floor beside her before she’d taken another breath, wrapping my legs and arms around her sob wracked body. Sophie would share eventually, she looked to need some comfort in the meantime. Half an hour passed where we rocked with one another to and fro on the floor, a soothing movement which helped her soft cries to trail off. I could feel her body stiffening, she was getting ready to tell me why she was so upset.

“I fucked up,” she said again, this time with a tinge of anger.

“Whatever it is, we can deal with it,” I said.

Huffing, she rallied on. “I don’t believe in abortions, Ayden. How can I deal with something I don’t want? How is this okay?”

Her admission was a shock and a half, and I had nothing to offer in the way of words. I didn’t think anything I said would be the right thing, but she needed a response of some kind. “Okay,” I caged, “timeline? I mean, how far along are you?”

“Far enough to know I can’t do my last year at Uni. I won’t be getting my dance studio any time soon either. Not without qualification.”

There were answers, but if Sophie thought she’d just lost her chance at her dream there was no point telling her just now. She wasn’t going to be listening to anything logical while she was so upset, except the sound of her own bubble bursting.

“The father?” It was none of my business, but it felt pertinent to ask.

She laughed, a sardonic noise that said she found the question funny, and not in a good way. Oh yeah, it was a laugh until you cried kind of situation, all right. There’d be no shedding tears of joy for now.

“Well, Sophie. Regardless of what you believe in or not, you have some decisions to make.” It sounded harsh, and it probably was, but she’d had her pity party, she needed to get her head on straight. “You have people to help you.”

“Who? Shaun?” She threw her hands across her face. “God, he’s gonna kill me. He’s gonna fucking kill me.” Her brother hadn’t even crossed my mind by some scant miracle, but I understood what she was saying. He was an unknown in this kind of situation, any kind of situation really, only she knew how he would react. “What am I going to tell him?”

What was done was done. This was Sophie’s life, it was up to her how she dealt with it.

“We’ll help. Whatever you need. My dad and Laura will too. You know they love you to pieces and you’ve seen what Laura is like around Emily. Whatever you decide, okay, you have support.”

“I can’t have an abortion. It goes against everything I stand for, but I can’t have this baby. What do I do? How did I get myself into this mess?”

A snort erupted, it was inappropriate as hell but I’m sure she got the humour. “Oh, there are perks to being gay.”

“Ha, ha!” Her body unwound from against mine and we settled together on the floor, her predicament forgotten for the time being. “You want kids sometime?”

Shrugging, I confessed I had no idea. I was a twenty-one-year old bloke with my whole life ahead of me. Kids had never crossed my mind for even the blip of a second. Sure, I cooed over Emily, it was hard not to, she was so adorable but to have my own? Apart from the logistics around having a kid, the thought wasn’t even really a thought.

“You could do surrogacy,” she grinned up at me.

“Behave yourself.” I poked my finger into her ribs, then turned the conversation back to the serious nature it undoubtedly was. “This is not the end of the world. Don’t look at it that way, please? You’re just straying from your path a little while, is all. You can still have all the things you dreamed of.”

“Maybe.”

“This is a shock, let it sink in first, then reassess. You’ll feel better, just see.”

“Let what sink in?”

I just about shit myself when Jake spoke from the doorway. Sophie scrambled away from me, getting to her feet, considering her escape from the room. She didn’t look at Jake as she tried to squeeze past him out into the hallway. He grabbed her arm and I raised my eyebrows as I stood, his forceful action not like him, and rubbing me the wrong way.

“What’s wrong?”

Sophie studied his hand on her arm then narrowed her eyes at him. Not uttering a word, she shrugged from his hold, running to her room.

Watching the exchange with much confusion, a random, unfeasible idea took root. It was an absurd thought and now I was left in an awkward position because I knew he was going to ask what we were talking about. We shared everything, and I had never lied to him, but I deemed perhaps the first untruth was about to come from my lips. I felt like a prick, because it wasn’t mine to tell.

“I can’t tell you, Jake. Please don’t ask me.” I let out a breath, thankful I wasn’t lying to my best friend.

A subtle tip of his head confirmed his acknowledgement of my request. He stared down the hall, the way Sophie had gone. “She okay?”

Approaching him, I said, “she will be, with our help.”

With worried features, he held eye contact, looking for his assurance. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Sophie’s door banged against the wall as she flung it open then flew past us and into the kitchen. “Shaun’s on his way,” she hollered.

My heart kicked up a nervous beat, the thought of seeing him again giving me mixed feelings. I pushed past Jake and followed to where Sophie was now banging kitchen cabinet doors.

“Now?”

“Yup.”

“You told him?”

“Ayden, I’m three months. No point putting it off. I told him, yes. He’s on his way.”

This was about Sophie, not me. His appearance would be fine, nobody would twig I’d had his cock in my mouth and vice versa if I just kept my fucking cool. Would they?

“You don’t have to stay. In fact, when he arrives, I’ll take him to the little café down the road.”

That snapped my attention back to the matter at hand. “Why would you do that? Don’t be daft. I meant what I said, you have my total support.”

“You’re pregnant?”

Jesus. I wished he’d stop sneaking into the room the way he does, shifty fucking ninja moves.

“Fuck’s sake, Jake!” I turned to shout, halting in my tracks when I caught his demeanour, his face visibly draining from colour right before my eyes. I cast a glance at Sophie, who was studying her nails awkwardly while Jake glared at her.

Yeah...that absurd thought? Not so absurd after all...

No. No way. No fucking way.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

Neither said a word. The more the idea rattled, and I put two and two together, there was no denying it. Everything fit, the pieces fell into place. Their silence was louder than the thud running through my temples.

Jake and Sophie.

Launching myself at Jake, my temper boiled over. “You couldn’t wrap your fucking dick up, dude?” Grabbing his jumper in my fists, I glared at him then lost all my logic. I did something I had never done in my life and lifted my hand to strike another person first.

I punched him.

I punched my best friend.

He staggered from my grip, clutching at his jaw, tears swimming in his eyes. Not hurt from the hit, but from the action. I was so angry over his irresponsibility, couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid and not protected someone as precious as Sophie. I shook my head in disappointment, at both, the dark cloud settling in my mind was shadowing my judgement. I couldn’t think straight.

“Ayden...” Sophie’s voice was quiet from behind.

“What?” I barked, annoyed at her deception. Annoyed at them both equally. “How long have you two been at it right under my nose? You couldn’t say anything? What? You think I’m a judgemental bastard?”

“He said you two were over.”

“It was, it is! That’s not what this is about, don’t turn it around, Sophie. He...” I pointed in Jake’s direction, who’d wisely not said a thing yet, “...treats his women like fuck toys. You’re better than that. He should have known better.”

Jake’s backbone made an appearance finally as he stepped closer to me and lowered his voice, a threat in his words. “This is different. That’s not what this is.”

“Her brother is gonna crucify you.” Real panic erupted as I eyed the pair of them. “You can’t be here.”

“Nope,” he disagreed. “Whatever he throws, I’ll take.”

“It will be more than a punch, Jake.” I warned.

“Stop,” Sophie intervened. “This is my fault. I told Jake I was covered, obviously I wasn’t. Any consequences are mine, not his. Shaun won’t touch him, I swear.” She jumped when the intercom sounded loud through the flat, like a death sentence was mere seconds from being handed down. “Shit.” She marched from the room toward the front door.

I tugged Jake by the arm through to the living room, pushing him onto the sofa. “You don’t move, okay?”

“Ayden...”

“Later. We’ll talk about this later.”

“I’m sorry. Really, I’m sorry.”

He sat on the corner of the couch, a ball of rigid nerves. Whether from Shaun’s imminent arrival or the situation at hand, I wasn’t sure. This was a shock for us all. Leaning forward, I got down to eye level with him, pulling his jumper so his face was less than an inch from mine.

“Whatever she needs, whatever she wants, you do it. You don’t get to walk away from this. Not now, not ever. This is Sophie. You make her want her baby, I don’t care how fucking miserable you are doing it, but you will do it with a goddamned smile on your face. You will never make your kid or her feel unwanted or unloved, you hear me?”

“There’s more here than you’re seeing. I swear, I hear you. Please, trust me?”

“I love you, Jake. But you fucked up big time, and as much as I’d like to kick your arse up and down this Loft, you have bigger fish to fry. Her brother is a fucking psycho. I have your back, always, you know I do, but he is something else. Just remember, you have support too, don’t let him intimidate you.”

Letting go of him, he didn’t move away, just blinked, a stray tear escaping. “Thank you,” he whispered. In a role reversal he grabbed at my t-shirt and pulled me until there was no space between us, kissing my lips and lingering.

A throat clearing from behind had me tearing from Jake and raising to my full height, Jake slouching back on the couch. Gripp, Sophie and another bloke stood at the entrance to the room. When I fixed my eyes on Gripp, I cringed. He looked just about ready to murder someone if the thunderous look on his face was anything to go by.

He eyed me shrewdly. “Interrupting something?” His voice was cold and snarky, sending chills through me.

Sophie slapped his chest, but he didn’t cover his blatant disgust at what he’d walked into. “Shaun, that’s Ayden.” She pointed in my direction.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and met his eyes in a dare. “Hi.”

“Yeah, we’ve met already.”

“You have?” Sophie gawped between us, puzzled. Here we fucking go. The bastard was gonna do it.

“Yes.” His answer was clipped and offered nothing more.

“Oh, right. Jake, this is Shaun.” She then turned to the stranger in my living room, his attention no longer on me and taking in every inch of Sophie as she waved in his direction. I smelled trouble from him a mile away as far as she was concerned. His affection for her shone like a beacon above his head. This guy loved her, and not like a friend either. “This is Boomer, my brother’s best friend.”

Fucking fantastic.

I could see the volatile situation barrelling fast toward us. Confident I could give Shaun a run for his money and protect Jake had he went over the top, but the two of them? Not a chance. These were blokes from the street, and I didn’t like my odds any more than Gripp had liked what he’d seen when he walked in.

“You okay, Fly?” he asked her, sniffing and running a hand under his nose. “You feeling all right?” His eyes flitted down to her belly and I watched him clench his teeth.

“I’m fine, Boomer. Honestly.”

“So, whose arse do I have to go beat?”

“Stop it. Nobody’s and if you don’t behave you can just leave. Same goes for you, Shaun.”

He had come farther into the room and was now eyeballing Jake in a way I really didn’t find comfortable. Jake had noticed too and sat up straighter on the couch, awaiting the inevitable confrontation. Shaun already knew, and he was gearing up for a fight if his balled fists were any indication.

We were so screwed.