“He ate the cupcake,” Kristen said as she shifted her focus to Trevor.
“What?” Trevor asked, frowning in confusion, that is, until Kristen decided to elaborate.
“Fifteen years ago, you were at Dr. Bradford’s house for a barbecue. You asked me to hold the last cupcake for you so that you could run to your car and grab your wallet. As soon as you were gone, he bought the last cupcake and devoured it. He paid me a dollar to keep my mouth shut,” Kristen said, popping a chip in her mouth as she watched Trevor go still seconds before he leveled a murderous glare on Jason.
“You were the little girl that lived across the street who used to sell baked goods in her front yard every time we came over,” Trevor said, never taking his eyes off Jason as he slowly stood up.
“Notebooks are expensive,” Kristen said, making his lips twitch as she gestured for Trevor to get on with it. “He ate the brownies, too.”
“I want my dollar back,” Jason said, shooting her a glare only to curse when Trevor grabbed hold of him and-
“That was my cupcake, you greedy son of a bitch!” Trevor snapped, taking Jason down with an impressive headlock as every set of eyes focused on her.
“Now, where were we?” Kristen asked, reaching for her plate only to frown adorably when she realized that her plate was empty. “Those Rice Krispies treats were delicious,” she mumbled sadly.
“Rice Krispies treats?” his father said, immediately perking up at the mention of the tasty treat that had every Bradford glancing wistfully towards the food.
“Where did you find Rice Krispies treats?” his brother Aidan asked, moving to stand up to go find them when her next words took them all by surprise.
“Oh, they’re back there on the platter with the blue dot,” Kristen said, gesturing towards the table in the far back, the one with only one platter on it, as every Bradford suddenly went still as their gazes shot to Trevor’s wife Zoe and-
“They weren’t Rice Krispies treats. They’re double-fudge brownies,” she said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as he realized something really fucking important.
He forgot to warn her about the blue dot.
CHAPTER 37
“Make. It. Stop,” Kristen managed to get out as she rolled over onto her stomach and-
Nope.
Not a good idea.
With that, she happily rolled back onto her side, assumed the fetal position and closed her eyes while she willed her stomach to stop doing that thing that had forced her to spend the past two days becoming better acquainted with Garrett’s bathroom. She still couldn’t figure out what happened the other night. One minute, she was mumbling sadly at the loss of her delicious Rice Krispies treats and then, the next, she was helping herself to a celery stick that she swiped off Matt’s plate when everything suddenly went to hell.
She barely had a chance to slap her hand over her mouth and mutter the magical words when Garrett shoved his cousins out of the way so that he could sweep her off her feet and race towards the nearest bathroom, only to accept the fact that she wasn’t going to make it in time and brought her to the edge of the large backyard, where she was able to make a lasting impression on his family.
From there, his father and brother took over, searching her for hives, asking her if she was allergic to a variety of items that didn’t make sense, and inquiring about her last tetanus shot before they took pity on her and subscribed her anti-nausea medication to get her through the next forty-eight hours. She ran out of them last night, and unfortunately for her, her nausea was only getting worse.
She had no idea what was going on, but she’d really like it to stop now. She’d also really like to be able to write to get her mind off the fact that she couldn’t seem to hold anything down, Kristen thought as her gaze once again found her laptop sitting on the nightstand and-
There really was no point in torturing herself, Kristen decided as she turned over onto her other side, rethought that decision and quickly rolled back over so that she could stare at Garrett’s bedroom wall only to end up squeezing her eyes tightly shut and praying for a quick death when the move made everything worse.
This was not the best time ever.
Not even close, Kristen decided, grabbing hold of Garrett’s comforter when the nausea started getting worse only to end up turning her head and burying her face against his pillow, willing the nausea threatening to break her to take pity on her and-
“Got ‘em,” came the magical words that she’d been waiting all morning to hear that had her holding her hand out. When she felt two pills drop in her hand, she immediately shoved them in her mouth and waited for them to dissolve.
Once they did, Kristen released a shaky breath, mumbled, “You’re my everything,” and waited for them to kick in while she risked opening her eyes and watched Amber unload a grocery bag full of drinks and snacks that had her stomach turning, and a-
“Why are you holding a pregnancy test?” Kristen found herself asking only to have Amber shrug it off as she made her way to the bathroom and placed it on the counter, from the sounds of it.
“You never know,” Amber said, shrugging it off as she dug through the plastic grocery bag in her hand and pulled out a small bottle of chocolate milk only to rethink that decision when Kristen released a whimper and replaced it with a bottle of ginger ale instead.
“But I do because I’m a good girl that takes my birth control religiously,” Kristen said, nodding solemnly.
“Then, it wouldn’t hurt to take it and make sure,” Amber said, shrugging it off as she pulled her cellphone out of her bag and-
