“I hate living in the same town as him. I hate it so much. And Mom’s…Mom. The same level of crazy as always. One minute she’s gifting me a new bracelet and telling me she loves me, the next she’s accusing me of stealing her rings.”
“None of that sounds fun.” Callie tilted her head. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about what happened between you and Dylan?” She’d never told Callie the details. Which still felt really odd.
Aspen swallowed. “I broke up with him. That’s where the story starts and ends.”
“Aspen, I want to be there for you, but I can’t if you won’t let me in.” And therewasinformation she wasn’t sharing. She was starting to feel like she was nagging her friend about this, but she couldn’t help her if she didn’t have all the information.
Aspen frowned, and for a moment, Callie thought she might actually tell her something important. Then she blinked and shook her head. “You were almost kidnapped last night. I came to check onyou, not the other way around. You went to the hospital, for Christ’s sake. I’m assuming because they discharged you, you’re okay?”
Callie lowered her gaze to her hands, the little bomb of truth on the tip of her tongue.
“What is it?” Aspen asked, inching closer. “Oh my God, you’re not okay.”
“I’m fine. I’m actually…pregnant.”
Aspen gasped, and for a moment, she didn’t move. Her mouth remained open, her eyes plastered on Callie.
“Pregnant?” she finally said.
“Yep. The doctor showed me the test result and everything.”
Aspen nodded slowly. “Okay. And how do you feel about that?”
How did she feel? She felt a million things, but one word summed them all up. “Scared.”
“Oh, Cal.” Aspen pulled her into another hug. “You are strong and brave and loved. And you will make the best mother.”
Callie bit the inside of her mouth in an attempt to stop the emotion clogging her throat. “Really?”
“Absolutely.” Aspen pulled back and grabbed Callie’s hand. “The past is not going to repeat itself. And before you say I don’t know that, I do. Because the universe would not do that to you twice. I won’t let it.”
“You don’t control the universe, Aspen.”
“I absolutely do, and I’ve put in an order for only good things to come to you in your future.”
God, she loved this woman. “Thank you. I needed to hear that. What would I do without you?”
“Probably the same thing I’d do without you. Drown in a bout of misery.”
Despite everything, Callie laughed, because it was true, she probablywoulddrown in a bout of misery without her best friend.
He shouldn’t be here.He knew he shouldn’t be here. But the second he’d woken up, there’d been no keeping him away.
Lock climbed out of his truck and slammed the door before jogging up the couple steps to Hamish’s front door. He banged on the wood, blood roaring between his ears as he waited for the asshole.
Hamish had barely pulled the door open before Lock grabbed him and pulled him outside. He slammed the guy against the wood, getting so close that he could see every fucking pore on his skin.
“Was it you?” Lock growled.
Hamish’s eyes widened, fear turning them from brown to black. “W-what?”
“Don’t fuck with me. Did you try to kidnap Callie last night?”
Hamish’s mouth opened and closed, shock sweeping over his expression. “Someone tried to k-kidnap her?”
Was Hamish a really good fucking actor, or did he actually have no idea what had happened?
“It wasn’t me,” he gasped, almost sounding breathless. “I would never sc-scare her like that. I…I care about Callie.”
