Kristel
The day after everything went wrong with Andre. I sit in my dorm room at 6 a.m., and I know I should still be asleep. The entire night has been absolutely wretched, however, and I’ve maybe gotten three hours of solid rest. I feel like a real-life zombie. Across from me and looking just as tired is Danielle. She won’t stop yawning, and her hands rub almost continuously at her eyes.
“I haven’t seen you in forever, girl, and I totally love you. But what’s so important that you need to wake me up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday?”
I hold my breath and bite down on my bottom lip. “I’m pregnant.”
Her eyes snap open wide; I’m pretty sure I just woke her up more than any coffee brand ever could. “You’rewhat?! Kristel! What?!”
“Shh, keep it down! I don’t want everyone in the whole college to know!”
She claps a hand over her mouth for a moment and nods, and it almost looks like she’s going to hyperventilate. “Kristel,” she whispers in a softer voice. It’s muffled because her hand is covering her mouth. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.” I pull her hand away from her mouth. “I’m completely serious.”
“Who? How? When? Where? What the hell?”
“Andre… the biker guy from the club. You remember him? You and Wendy went off with Will and I… yeah…”
Her eyes widen like dinner plates. “Holy crap! Kristel! I know you had sex with him, but ababy? What the hell are you going to do with a baby? You’re just starting college and he’s… well… he’s…”
“Andre. I know. Not exactly ‘dad’ material. And I’m definitely not ‘mom’ material. I’m supposed to be spending the weekend at his place to talk about it, but we got into this giant fight when I told him about the baby. Not that I really blame him, but he should have some say, too, right? He’s part of this as much as I am.”
Danielle snorts. “Hardly. Who’s going to go through all the morning sickness and all the mood swings and all the cravings and all the labor? If you keep this baby, it’s going to be nine months of absolute hell. That’s what my mom told me anyway. But hey… I turned out okay.” She lets out a laugh and touches one of my arms. “But in all seriousness, you shouldn’t let him chase you off like that. Maybe he thinks he’s a big, bad manly man, but you’re Kristel Bryce, damn it!”
“It’s not that he chased me off. I actually walked away from him.” I sigh and lean against my headboard. “It’s just… I don’t know if I want him to be a part of this or not.”
“Then why do you think you told him about the baby in the first place?”
I watch my best friend carefully. Deep down I know the truth, but I can’t tell her about the Black Knights. Even though I’m not sure where I stand with Andre, I still feel the need to protect him and the rest of the group. They’ve become more than just a way to get back at my parents for being so overbearing. In a lot of ways, they’ve become my new family.
“I have no idea.” My answer is a lie, but I even convince myself that it’s true. “I think I got freaked out by the whole thing and he’s the closest one to it.” I shrug and take one of her hands. “I should have come to you first, though. I’m sorry.”
Danielle gives me an encouraging smile and gives me a quick, but warm hug. “It’s okay. Really, I totally understand. But now you need to buck up.” She taps under my chin and flashes me a grin. “And get your butt over to his place.”
“Right now?”
“Yep, right now! At 6 in the morning! Don’t you think he deserves it for being an ass?”
I giggle softly. “What makes you think he’s an ass?”
“Because I know you. And I know you never would have gotten into it with Andre unless he’d done something inappropriate.”
“Thank you.” My voice softens, and I lean closer to her so I can wrap her up in a tight hug. “He was kind of an ass. Shouting and yelling at me in front of everyone. I think he scared the waitress pretty bad. You know the little one at the Pony Brooke Café?”
Danielle lets out a chuckle. “Oh, man. She must have thought she was under attack by Sasquatch or something!”
We both burst into laughter. “The image! Oh my God, the image! Danielle, you are simply amazing, you have no idea. Now I reallydo have to get over to his house. Like, right now!” With a sensation of determination in my mind, I hop off the bed and dress quickly. I pack a small overnight bag with some essentials and tie my hair into a bun. There’s no time for make-up, but I doubt Andre will care. We’re probably just going to end up in another fight again anyway.
“Okay!” I nod to myself and reach for the phone. Danielle grins.
“I already called a cab while you were busy packing. They said they’ll be here in about five minutes.”
“Thank you. You’re the best!” I give her another hug. “When I get home, I’ll tell youeverything, I promise!” I flash her a quick smile before I turn and leave the dorm room. The walk down the hall and out the door takes me less than 30 seconds. By the time I get outside, there’s a cab waiting for me.
“Okay…” I open the door and slide into the passenger seat. “I can do this…”
Andre’s house is different from what I imagined. It’s small and simple on more land than I can fathom. As I listen to the cab rolling away from me, I just stare at the expanse of grass and trees that spread outward from the cabin-like home. There are no fences anywhere that I can see, but I think I hear the sound of bells in the near distance. Does he have cows? After I give my head a shake, I walk up the wooden steps and stop in front of the door. “Hello?” I rap my knuckles on the door and strain my ears to listen for anyone inside.
All I hear are the bells.
I square my shoulders and knock on the door again. “Hello? It’s Kristel.” I knock harder. “Andre!”
The sound of feet shuffling comes from inside. I hear a mutter, but I can’t make out what has just been said. Locks on the door click and clack, and then it opens. The Black Knights leader is standing there in his boxers with tousled black hair and unshaved scruff on his face. His eyes are narrowed, and they squint at me as though I’m some mysterious stranger he’s never seen before.
“Kristel? The fuck are you doing here?”
“You know why I’m here. You invited me, remember?”
“Your dad’s a fucking cop.”
“Stop fucking swearing at me.” I make sure to add some steel into my voice. He might have that quiet authority thing going, but I know I can hold my own.
He stares at me and goes quiet. “Yourdad… is acop.”
“You said that already. In fact, you said that a whole bunch of times yesterday at the café, too.” I take a step closer to him; there’s no way I can back down now. “I want to be honest with you, Andre, but if you’re going to throw a tantrum every time you hear something you don’t like, then what’s the point? How did you become the leader of the Black Knights if you can’t control yourself? Huh?”
“Kristel…” There’s a dangerous edge in his voice. “You’re really starting to piss me off.”
“Well maybe you’re pissing me off, too. This is important, Andre, and you’re all caught up on the fact that my dad is a cop.”
“Fuck, I wonder why? I’m a fucking criminal! And now, so are you! You put everyone, yourself included, in danger. And all of that could have been avoided if you’d been honest from the start.”
He’s trying to drag me around in circles, always going back to the cop thing. I can’t let him. “I came here for the baby. Forour baby. You said we would come here, and we would talk about it. Remember that? Or does my dad being a cop trump the fact that there’s a life growing inside of me? How much does it matter that you’re half responsible for that life?”
He goes so quiet that I can hear the bells in the distance again; they’re getting farther away. Without a word, he turns from me and walks inside. I ease out a slow breath and can’t help but feel as though I’m walking into the den of a beast.
Everything inside is very clean. There are neat piles of laundry on a couch, and the kitchen looks spotless from where I’m standing. A set of wooden stairs leads up into what looks like a loft, and behind the stairs I see two closed doors. The floors are wood, and so are the walls, but I can’t tell if this place is a real cabin or if it’s just made to look like one. The lights are simple and beautiful, and they cast a warm glow across nearly every space.
I kick my shoes off and drop my bag down on a small table close to the door. My eyes shift to Andre and watch him as he walks up the stairs. He vanishes into the shadows; there aren’t any lights on up there. My gut tells me I should stay down here and wait for him to come down; part of me, though, doesn’t think he’s going to.
With a small swallow, I find the steel I used against him at the Pony Brooke Café and walk toward the stairs.