Page 185 of The Virgin Romance Novelist Chronicles
“Yeah, but my dad is a gynecologist. I know way too much about the female body; things no man should know. Your girl is knocked up. You’re a baby daddy.”
Anger boiled inside me. There was no way Rosie was pregnant. Yes, she was acting weird, and maybe her boobs seemed a little bigger than normal, but that could go hand in hand with her weight gain. We’d used condomseverytime and none of them had ever broken. I checked.
“She’s not pregnant.” I shook my head in denial, even though there was a voice in the back of my head agreeing with Derk.
“Okay, but don’t tell me I didn’t tell you so.”
We sat in silence as I thought about the bomb Derk just dropped on me. Rosie . . . pregnant. Shit, we weren’t ready for a baby. Could we even afford a baby right now? Our Broadway apartment would be leased out to someone else, especially if I didn’t get that promotion. Would we even want to raise a kid in the city?
Fuck, did she want a kid with me? What if she didn’t want kids? What if she didn’t want to have a future with me? Having kids with another person pretty much cements them in your life forever. Would she want to be my forever? Would she want to be my forever? She loved me, and knew I loved her, but what if . . .Fuck.
“You’re sweating, a lot.”
I felt the sweat dripping down my back. In a matter of seconds, my life was flipped upside down. Was she really pregnant? I tried to think of the last time she had her period. Had she even had her period since we’d been together?
“Holy shit,” I breathed out heavily.
“What?” Derk asked, his body completely turned to mine, concern laced in his eyes.
“This is going to be a really stupid question, but women get their period every month, right?”
“Yeah. Menstruation comes like clockwork every month . . . unless they’re pregnant.”
I gulped.
“Maybe sometimes you don’t notice when they’re on their period?” I asked, hoping this was the truth.
“Well, according to the number of times you have sex a week, there is no way you wouldn’t notice. That shit would be bloody man. Plus, if Rosie is anything like Delaney when she’s going through that bloody cycle shit, then she would be spitting fire every time you looked at her.”
“Fuck . . .” My head fell in my hands as I leaned against the bar. Derk patted me on the back.
“Congrats, dude, you got your girlfriend pregnant. And judging by your timeline, I’m guessing you planted your seed on your first try. Did you condom it up?”
“Of course I did, Christ.” I shook my head, shock shaking my entire core. “Fucking condoms, what good are they anyway?”
“They really aren’t. My dad always told me the best form of birth control is abstinence.”
“I hate you right now.”
I wanted to plow my head through the wooden bar, anything to help me forget this moment. Anything to erase the knowledge that my girlfriend was pregnant.
“Hey, it’s not that bad. You want to marry her, right?”
“Of course, I do.” Have for a long time. “I want nothing more then to make her my wife and start a family with her, but I wanted time. We’ve been together for a few months. We’re still figuring each other out. I don’t want her to think I want to marry her just because she’s having my baby. I’m not financially ready for this. Babies cost a lot.”
“That they do, but it’s the risk you take when having sex.”
“Fuck you.” I laughed. “Shit, and I’m up for a promotion; I need to get that job now. If I have any hope of making a good life for us, I need to get that job.”
“A promotion?. You’ll get it.”
I snorted, straight-up snorted, and couldn’t believe my damn luck. “Yeah, guess what I have to do in order to get the job?”
“Don’t say suck your boss off or anything. I would lose all respect for you, man. Not because it would be some guy-on-guy action, but because you don’t have to get ahead by performing sexual favors.”
I held up my hand to stop Derk. “I have to come up with a brilliant campaign for Legacy.”
“Legacy?” Derk thought about it for a second and then threw his head back and laughed. “The condom company? Oh, fuck, that’s great. How perfect. How’s that going for you?”
