Kiptyn

Son of a bitch, she fainted. I didn't expect that. I don’t know what to do. I gently lay her against the carpet and grab her cell from the counter. I’ve never dealt with a pregnant girl before. Is fainting normal? I have no fucking clue. Hitting the call button, I dial Lisa’s number. She answers on the first ring.

“You can thank me later, babe,” she laughs into the phone.

I need to remember to actually thank her when this is all said and done. If it hadn't been for her, then I doubt I'd be standing here now. She’d answered early this morning when I called to ask what kind of coffee Skila liked, and then she’d vacated the premises when I showed up so that I could work my magic. Of course, it had cost me a hundred bucks, but I wasn't complaining. I’d gladly pay ten times as much for just one minute with her.

“Lisa, it’s Kip. Skila fainted, and I don’t know what to do. Should I call an ambulance? Fuck.”

“Skila what? I’m almost there. Just wait.” She hangs up the phone, and not even a minute later, I hear her shutting the front door.

“Over here,” I call out to her. She rounds the corner and takes in the scene.

“What the hell happened?” she asks, bending down next to Skila and calling out her name.

“I don’t know. I mean, we were talking, and then all of a sudden, she hit the ground.”

“What the hell did you say to her? I swear to God, I don't care who the fuck you are or how much money you have, if you break her heart, I'll make you pay.”

“It wasn't like that. I . . .” I stumble over the words, not wanting to tell her how I fucked up. “She’s pregnant.”

Her gaze snaps to mine, and I watch as the words replay in her mind. “Pregnant?” For a second, I worry she’s going to faint too, but then she stands and walks to the kitchen. Grabbing a cloth from the drawer by the stove, she wets it and brings it back over, running it against Skila's forehead.

“That explains a lot,” she says, and I wonder what she’s referring to, but I don't ask because Skila is coming around.

She looks up at me, surprised. “Are you okay?” I ask her, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah, what happened?” she asks, and then she immediately remembers. I can tell. Her head snaps up. Her eyes question me. I nod my head.

“Pregnant?” she asks out loud, hoping that I misunderstood.

“Yes, baby. You’re going to be a mommy.” Tears fill her eyes, and I feel like shit. I should have known. She doesn't want this. She doesn't want a kid.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How the hell am I going to convince her to keep something she doesn't want? Should I? I don’t know what to do anymore. It seems every decision I make is the wrong one.

She tries to sit up, so I help her, pulling her to her feet. Lisa wraps her arms around her—consoling her, congratulating her, I have no fucking clue. Skila reaches for her phone, and I hand it to her. I watch as she puts it to her ear and plays the message for herself. Tears stream down her beautiful face, and my heart cracks open.

I can’t stand here and see this. I can’t watch her heart break because she’s pregnant with my nephew, the one and only thing left in this world that carries a part of my brother in him or her. I turn, and for the first time since meeting her, I walk away.

I don’t make it far before Lisa comes barreling out the door. She looks like a momma cat protecting her young the way she charges me. Her hand snakes out, slapping me across the side of the head.

“What the fuck is your problem?” she yells. Someone down the hall pops their head out the door and watches for a minute before losing interest and going back inside.

“MY PROBLEM?” I scream back at her. I can't believe this shit.

“Yeah, asshole, your problem. I thought you cared about her. I thought you wanted to be with her. What’s wrong? Find out she's knocked up and decide it ain't worth your time?” I swear, if she had been a man in that moment, I would have knocked the shit out of her.

“No one—and I mean no one—talks about her that way. I don't give a fuck if you are her best friend. She deserves better than that,” I yell into her face.

Temporarily stunned, she doesn't reply right away. “Then what the hell are you doing running away?” she asks.

My face is red. I can feel the blood rushing to the surface. “You saw her. She's upset. She's fucking crying. She doesn't want the baby,” I reply.

“Are you kidding me?” she asks, her voice a mixture of shock and incredulity, and for the first time, I wonder if maybe I was wrong.

Maybe I misinterpreted the way Skila was acting, but I saw her reaction. I saw her tears, and for fuck’s sake, she fainted, fucking flat out fainted when I told her. I'm not wrong. I can't be. Lisa isn’t done laying into me yet. I'd like to just walk away, but call me a sucker, because I want to hear what she has to say.

“Men are truly some of the most stupid, pigheaded bastards in the world,” she mumbles to herself, running her hands through her hair and walking in circles, pacing back and forth.

“She was CRYING because her emotions are running wild. How can you even think Skila wouldn't want the baby? Do you know her at all? All she's ever wanted is to be a mother, but the doctors told her she wouldn't ever be able to carry one. She had a bad accident horseback riding several years ago, and the surgery destroyed her insides. Of course she wants the baby.”

Every word she says hits me harder than the last. How many times am I going to fuck up before I learn my lesson, before I stop and think shit through instead of just acting out?

“Fuck.” I have nothing else to say. That one word completely covers it all. I feel like a complete ass. I wish I could rewind time fifteen minutes and do it all over again.

“Yeah, fuck. Now take your sorry ass back in there and try not to fuck up this time.”

Go back? I can’t go back. Can I? Will she even talk to me? I mean—I don't question it anymore, not that I can with her best friend standing here with her hands on her hips. She looks like a pit bull, ready to attack. I walk back into the apartment.

Skila is sitting on the kitchen counter with one hand over her belly, the other still holding onto the phone. She looks lost and afraid, yet the touch on her stomach is light and reverent. She holds her hand against her, almost like she’s afraid to move it, that if she did, the baby would disappear. Walking up to her, I wrap my arms around her and kiss her.

Slowly, she comes back to life in my arms and responds to my touch. I kiss her again and again, apologizing for every mistake I've made and every mistake I’m sure I’ll make in the future. I don't touch her anywhere but her mouth. I don't try to pull her sheet off or run my hands down her body. I just kiss her. Five minutes, twenty, two, I don't know how much time passes before she pulls back and lays her head against my chest.

“I’m going to be a Mommy,” she whispers into my shirt.

“I know, Sky. I know, and I have no doubt you will be fucking amazing, and I hope . . . if you’ll have me, that I’ll get to be a daddy. I know you haven’t known me long at all, and from what I know of you and Camryn, you have no reason to trust any of us Price fools, but I want to do right by you and the baby. I can’t explain why. Even before I knew you were pregnant, I was drawn to you. You’re different, baby. You make me want to be a better person than the mess of a man I have been these last few months—hell, these last few years. I’ve never felt this way before. I don’t know what it is or what to do with it right now, but I want to spend my days by your side trying to figure it out.” She tenses in my arms and lifts her head, searching my eyes for the truth. I gaze back at her and rub my hand against her small baby bump.

“Will you, Sky? Will you let me be this little bugger’s daddy?” I ask her. She nods her head, and the smile that crosses her face steals my breath away. I can’t believe how fucking lucky I am. I lift her, sheet and all, and carry her back to her room, where I spend the next hour making sweet love to her.