1
Jaxon “Jax” Bell
Pregnancy: What a Mother Needs to Know When She’s Expecting.As far as I was concerned, the only thing she needed to know was that her life was about to go to hell. I snorted as I dropped the book back on the shelf.
“Do you think my tits will get bigger?” Elsie grabbed her breasts, staring at the right one, then the left, before looking up at me, clearly expecting an answer. Her blonde curls were extra bouncy today and she wore her favorite black skull-dotted fifties-style dress, complete with big black boots. It was her typical sparkle-punk look, along with dark violet lipstick. I couldn’t imagine her knocked up, yet here we were at a bookstore looking for pregnancy self-helps.
“What?” I frowned and refused to look at her boobs. She was my best friend and I didnotwant to look at them. They also weren’t the type of body parts that attracted me. “How would I know?”
“Andy says they will. He says he can’t wait until he can get a handful.” She glared over my shoulder, almost like she was imagining it was her fiancé there. “Apparently I have mosquito bites for tits. What do you think?”
“I think I’m not going to look at your boobs,” I grumbled, turning my back on her and focusing on the shelves in front of me. I waved at the wide array of nonfiction paperbacks. “Can you just choose one so we can go?”
Elsie rolled her eyes and huffed, grabbing the book I’d been looking at and flipping it open. She hummed and scanned over the pages before she shrugged and closed it again. “This’ll do. Come on.”
I headed outside the bookstore while she went to pay. Sighing, I stared around the outdoor plaza, not far from Bar Row in the city. Jovey’s Bookshop was one of the few bookstores left in the city of New Gothenburg, rather than the mall, and it was my favorite. It kept up with the times and included indie books, with a large range of romance. Not that I’d had time to read many books since starting an internship at city hall. I’d decided to get some practical experience instead of going directly to a master’s program because I still wasn’t sure what degree would be most useful for the career track I had in my head, and I hated wasting money.
Pigeons clumped together near an older lady who threw bird seed out toward them. She always sat on the same seat every day and the birds had grown used to her being there. I was used to seeing her, too. Every lunchtime when I was sent out to pick up food, she’d give me a joyful wave and say hello. At first I thought she was homeless, before deciding she was just lonely and the birds gave her company. Shivering, I stuffed my hands in my coat pockets.
The door to the bookstore opened and Elsie stepped out with a white plastic bag in her hand. “Are you ready to go?”
I nodded and we headed in the direction of Subway, our go-to food whenever we got the chance to have lunch together. Elsie worked for an engineering firm close by and we tried to meet up whenever we could. She had off today and had specifically come into the city to meet with me.
“So, how’s the flirting going?” she teased.
It took me a second to realize what she was talking about, and I rolled my eyes when I did. “Fine.”
“Fine? That’s all you’re going to give me? Come on, who caught your eye?”
I deserved this for telling her my secrets. I grinned and shrugged. “Whoever can help me work my way up the career ladder.”
She snorted and swung the bag in front of her. “There are rumors that the mayor might be gay. You could try to sleep with him.”
“He’s too much of a risk,” I said, eyeing two gentlemen who stalked past us like men on a mission. They were both good-looking and I had an appetite. It was hardnotto peruse them. “And he’s not my direct boss.”
“Who is?” she asked. Her boots clomped on the cement like they weighed a ton, and they were big and bulky enough they probably did.
A man caught my attention as he typed on his phone—handsome, with short dark hair and strong shoulders. I’d seen him around city hall more than once, which wasn’t a surprise considering his position. I’d also heard a lot of rumors about him, too.
“Him.” I nodded and Elsie spun, staring at the man I carefully pointed out.
“He’s hot. Who is he?” She’d stopped walking, so I had to stop as well. I didn’t bother hiding the fact we were looking because he was too busy with whatever he was doing on his phone.
“That’s Mr. Vane Elwood, Deputy Mayor.”
She whistled. “He’sreallyhot. I bet he has a big cock, too.”
I rolled my eyes. People thought I was obsessed with sex, but I had nothing on Elsie. I was pretty sure she’d slept with more men than I had, which is why it was surprising that she not only got engaged but was on her way to being a mother. “No idea, but he’s an asshole. Good at his job, though.”
She nodded. “He’d have to be, in order to be the deputy mayor. Mayor Midberry wouldn’t let just anyone be his right-hand man.”
“You act as though you know the mayor.”
“I don’t, but I voted for him. That counts, right?” She grinned at me and winked.
“Not really.” I laughed and glanced at him again. He’d stopped typing on his phone at some point and had finally looked at us. He stared back, a smirk curling on his mouth and his head cocking to the side, as though he realized we were talking about him and was curious.
“You should go introduce yourself. If you’re going to sleep your way to the top of this internship, who’s a better person to start with than the deputy mayor?” She patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll meet you at Subway.” With a kiss on my cheek, she was off, nearly skipping her way toward the sandwich shop.
