“That one is cute,” Izzy says as she points at a red top that’s on sale. I love it, but I know it’s pointless to buy anything when I’m only going to get bigger. My bump seems to have grown in the last two weeks, and now, it’s no longer easy for me to wear tight dresses or tops. I saw the doctor and a midwife yesterday, who checked the baby’s heartbeat and booked me in for a scan. They think everything is going well, that I’m just one of those lucky women who doesn't show. In some ways, I’m glad I didn’t show till now. For two days, Harley has avoided me, making small talk and pretending like the moments we had together didn’t happen. I don’t know how we went from cuddling on the sofa to small talk over dinner. It’s gotten to the point where he walks out the door when I walk in a room sometimes. I’m so confused by him. I look at my friend, knowing that I’ve been avoiding her, myself, for the last week.

“We need to talk,” I tell Izzy, who stops moving some tops across a rack. I nod my head in the direction that leads of out of the store and go and sit by the fountain outside. I sit down on a bench, and Izzy sits next to me.

“Come on then, I’m worried,” she says, nudging my shoulder a little, and I take a deep breath.

“I’m pregnant,” I tell her quietly. She doesn’t move as she stares at me. Izzy pulls me into a tight hug after a long pause between us, and I wrap my arms around her. We don’t say anything for a while, just hold each other, and I’m sure she is working a few things out in her head.

“I’m happy for you, but I know there is more to this story. How far gone are you?” she asks me, guessing straight away that there’s a reason I’m scared to have this baby. Izzy has been asking questions every time I’ve seen her for the last two weeks, but I’ve just avoided them; wanting to try and figure out how to tell her. To be strong enough to. I’ve never thought of myself as a weak person but the idea of telling anyone my most vulnerable moment terrifies me. The idea of sharing that part of myself is scary.

“I’m five months,” I tell her.

“Wow . . . you look good. I’m kind of jealous, and I’m sure Maisy will be. She is huge and only four months,” she laughs, pulling my hands to her and holding them. “Wait . . . maybe don’t tell her that. Not like huge in a bad way, just in a pregnant way, you know?” she says, and I laugh with a nod.

“In fact, I’m just mumbling because I’m in shock, and this wasn’t what I expected you to say, today,” she finishes.

“What did you expect?” I ask.

“Erm . . . maybe something about you and Harley?” she asks, and I shake my head, not wanting to approach that subject. Thankfully, she asks another question after an awkward silence between us.

“Does your family know?” she asks.

“No, I left before I could tell them. Part of me didn’t want to because I knew they would never let me leave–” I tell her.

“Why did you leave? I know your parents would have supported you, and your brothers,” she says, and I know she is right. My family would have helped me, but I couldn’t risk them not believing me. I couldn’t risk them even believing me, and my dad or brothers attacking Daniel.

“The father. Well, he–” I go to say, and my voice cracks. Even now, I don’t know how to tell her. Even after preparing in my head for so long.

“Were you with him long? Does he know?” she asks me.

“We were together seven months, and no, I never told him about the baby,” I tell her. I hope he never finds out.

“Are you planning on telling him?” She asks me gently.

“Trust me, if I had my way he would never go near my baby or me again,” I say, my words firm.

“You ran from him,” she says gently, and I nod, leaning back on the bench and looking up at the clouds that I can see. It’s a nice day, but it looks like there will be rain later.

“I met Daniel at a normal party in France, and we instantly liked each other. He was hot, smart, and funny. What’s not to like, right?” I laugh a little, “So, we started dating, and he got close with my brothers, my family all loved him like another child. Daniel is a little older than me, and Devon became best friends with him practically overnight because Devon looked up to Daniel, in a way. The next thing I know, Devon has invited Daniel to move into our house, and somehow my parents were okay with this,” I say.

“That was how long into your relationship?” Izzy asks gently.

“About a month,” I say, and she nods, squeezing my hand, so I continue.

“At first, he was all lovely and stayed in the spare room. Then after a week, he moved his stuff into my room, and I just let him. He had this way of sweet talking you into anything, I can’t explain it, but my family loved him. I guess I thought I did, too. Then everything changed.”

“How?” she asks.

“The first time was at a party, I was dancing with a few girls when a strange man got too close and tried to dance with me. I pushed him away straight away, but Daniel saw and went crazy. I had to listen to him shout at me the whole way home about how I wanted to cheat on him and a load of stuff I wouldn’t ever do. When I tried to get out of the car, he stopped it outside the house, he grabbed my arm and wrapped his hand around my throat, telling me never to do that again. I had bruises and was terrified of him,” I admit. “Still, I let him take me into the house and sleep next to me in my bed like nothing happened. I lay there all night, just shaking and not saying a word.”

“Oh, Tilly,” Izzy says, squeezing my hand once more, but I continue speaking because I need to say this.

“The next morning, he said he was sorry and charmed my family into thinking some random guy gave me the bruises at a party,” I mutter, still annoyed with myself for not saying something. I should have then, but I didn’t.

“Why didn’t you just leave?” she asks me.

“I planned to, then things just got worse. After the party, he was only nice sometimes, sex became something he demanded, and I got to the point of just doing it to make him happy. We used protection every time, so the baby wasn’t planned,” I say, knowing how badly that plan went.

“Tell me, if you want to, and if you don’t . . . well, I’m just glad you’re here,” she tells me.

“I booked my tickets here and planned everything for a month’s time, and in that month, I found out I was pregnant, which only made me feel surer I had to get away. I knew my family had a holiday planned for a week, so that’s the only time I could get away from them. I tried to distract Daniel that night by getting him to see his mum. Only, he came back as I was leaving with my suitcase,” I say, a tremor in my voice.

“What happened?” Izzy encourages me gently.

“Let’s just say I was lucky to escape, Iz. I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I whisper, and she nods.

“If it helps, I believe you were right to run. A man like that would never be a good father. Not if he doesn’t respect the baby’s mother.”

“I was scared he would hurt me again, that he would hurt the baby. Daniel is not right,” I shake my head, wiping a few tears away. In some ways, it feels good to get some of the secrets off my chest and have her understand why I won’t let Daniel near my baby. I know I will have to tell my baby about their father. Eventually. It’s not something I want to hide from him or her.

“Does anyone else know about the baby?” she asks, thankfully changing the subject a little.

“Harley guessed,” I say.

“Is he still okay with you living there? I’m sure he would be, but if he isn’t, then we will figure something out, “she says, and I squeeze her hand.

“He is okay with it. He actually moved Jake’s old cot into my room and has been making me breakfast, making sure I eat in the day. He has been looking after me,” I say, thinking of him. My mind wanders back to seeing him in the garden. He was walking in the pouring rain, rainwater dripping all over his body and making his top stick to him, showing off his muscular chest. His hair was down, shaping his stern, handsome face and his bright-green eyes seemed to speak to me. They seem to call me to him, begging me to run out in the rain and press my lips to his once again. Then, he ignored me, so, clearly, he wasn’t thinking the same thing as my hormonal brain was thinking.

“Harley is a lot of things, but one of his best qualities is how protective he is. My brothers look after their own, and they know how you helped me when I lost mum. How you’re like a sister to me, and I’m damn well going to be there for you, now,” she tells me, wiping her own tears away. I look her over, remembering being there when she watched her mum die and begging my parents not to move away. My parents had no choice, and I never told Izzy of the problems my family had, but I know my mum never wanted to leave her.

“I love you, Iz, you know that? Like, I’m always going to be here for you, too,” I tell her, and she laughs, wiping more tears away before pulling me into a hug.

“Good, because there’s no way you’re getting rid of me,” she whispers.

“Izzy!” I hear a voice shout, and we pull away from the hug to see a blonde woman walking over. She has golden-blonde hair with brown tips, and she is gorgeous as she bounces over. She has a leather jacket, a white top, and black, skinny jeans on.

“Allie,” Izzy says and stands up, pulling Allie into a hug when she gets near.

“This is Tilly, and Tilly this is Allie,” Izzy introduces us as I stand up and I hold a hand out to Allie, who knocks it away and pulls me into a hug.

“None of that. I feel like we are friends, anyway, with how much Izzy has told me about you,” she tells me as she lets go.

“Nice to meet you, Allie. I’ve heard lovely things about you from Izzy,” I tell her, and she grins.

“I’ve heard from Luke that you and Harley have been sharing sexy looks for weeks. So . . . you fancy the oldest King brother?” Allie asks, making me a little speechless.

“Err . . .,” I say.

“It’s okay. The King brothers are the hottest men for miles. And, you’re living with one. I’m dating one, so I get it,” she tells me, with a cheeky look that makes me laugh.

“These are my brothers . . .,” Izzy groans, and I laugh a little with Allie.

“Damn, I wanted to tell you all about this thing Elliot did last night, and I swear I–” Allie starts saying.

“Lalalala . . .,” Izzy interrupts, and Allie winks at me.

“I’ll text you it later, Till’s,” she says, and I laugh. When Izzy told me about Allie, she did say she is really honest. Clearly, about everything, but something tells me I’m going to like her.

“I wish I could stay and catch up, but I’m in a rush to get to Tristan’s. He annoyed the nurse the other day, and she won’t come back, so until he gets both the casts off next week, I’m looking after him,” Allie tells us both.

“What did he say to the nurse? Tria was lovely, and I thought they were really getting along. I mean Luke told me that Tristian had actually been getting out of bed and trying,” Izzy comments.

“Urgh, I don’t know. Tris is a mess at the moment after everything that happened, and I doubt he meant whatever he said to Tria,” she says, and Izzy nods, a silence spreading between us all. What happened?

“He will be alright, but I will speak to my brothers and Blake, see if they can go over and cheer him up a little,” Izzy offers.

“Elliot’s been trying, but yeah, that may help,” she says, and Izzy nods, hugging her once more.

“I will see you on the weekend, okay?” Allie asks.

“Definitely. I need to tell you about this secret trip Blake has planned for us. He seems really nervous about it,” Izzy says with a frown.

“Ooh, I wonder what it is,” I comment.

“Me, too,” Allie replies, and her phone starts ringing in her pocket.

“Damn it, I need to go, but love ya both and see you soon,” she says and walks off, pulling her phone out of her jacket.

“Anything else you want to tell me before we go and shop for some maternity clothes? No wonder you didn’t want to buy any in the other stores,” Izzy comments.

“Not me, but I want you to explain the fighting, the Cage, and what the hell happened to your brothers,” I say, and she nods with a sigh and waves a hand to the bench.

“This is going to be a long story,” she starts off as I sit down and listen to her explain about Arthur and her father. How her brothers fight to pay off a debt and how they are close to being free. She tells me everything that happened since she moved here and why Tristian is in casts. By the time we leave the bench, I feel sorry for Harley and how he always protected them all. He is a good man, and I hope when he and his brothers are free of the debt, he can have a healthy life.

Only, I want to be in that life, too.