Page 48 of Secret Baby for My Brother's Best Friends

I nod and open the door for her, closing it when she's situated. Then I walk around to my side and get in the car.

Most of the drive is quiet, with only the pop song on the radio to keep us company. Everything she just said rings in my mind, the news of the baby, and what that would mean for us.

"Stop thinking about it," she murmurs.

"I'm not thinking," I say.

"I can hear you doing it very loudly."

"Well then, you don't know me very well. My thoughts aren't loud. They're barely there at all."

She snorts and turns toward the window, and I watch her reflection, wistfully, a clenching feeling in my chest.

It doesn't stop until I drop her off at the office.

Then I return home.

Once there, I go straight for the bar and grab a drink. I don't bother with a glass, drinking the cognac straight from the bottle.

"What's up with you?" Adam emerges from his study.

I shake my head. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." I take another swig.

"You sure? Because you only day drink when you have a secret you're trying very hard not to spill."

"Pshhh," I wave my hand. "Secret? Me? I'm an open book."

"What is it?"

"I told you it's nothing."

We go back and forth like that for a while, and I hold out for as long as I possibly can.

But five swallows in, and it all comes pouring out.

15

CHELSEA

Iget back to my apartment later that evening, feeling like I just got run over by a Mack truck. Work was exhausting. Not the actual working part, but the part of having to focus on work, while my brain was shooting every which way.

I can’t believe I blurted out that I was pregnant to Jake of all people.

To his credit, he took it well, or at least as well as could be expected. A part of me thought that he would immediately jump into denial, trying to shirk all responsibility and putting it on me. Or, if that didn’t happen, he would pretend that I did it on purpose or get mad at me for being careless.

It was how Eric would have reacted.

I was on the defensive, waiting for that.

But that’s not what I got. On the contrary, Jake was so gentle and apologetic, even in his shock, he didn't throw accusations.

He was calm and understanding, supportive even, assuming some of the blame himself.

I don’t know why, but I didn’t think I would get that from him or from any of them. In fact, the thought of them taking this well had never even crossed my mind, which is partially why I didn’t feel as guilty for hiding it.

But now I do, because now I realize that I was letting my own fear dictate how I treated them.

This whole time, I've been acting like they were guilty of something they haven't even done yet, as though they were these assholes that took advantage of me, when that has never been the case.