“I’m not.” Whitney grabs something from the pocket of her jeans, flinging it at Kent. The white and blue stick lands face up in front of us on the table, the word pregnant clearly visible in the digital display. My lungs compress, and my chest heaves. Beside me, Kent is a grenade ready to explode.
He jumps up, straining across the table, glaring at Whitney with his fists clenched at his sides. “All that proves is you let some other dumbass fuck you bare. I always use condoms.Always.” He jabs his finger in her direction. “You’re not pinning this on me,” he seethes.
“There’s been no one but you since that weekend at the beginning of March.” Whitney’s lower lip wobbles, and she bursts out crying. “I’m six weeks pregnant. This baby is yours.”
The pain in my heart is so intense it’s as if a million tiny pinpricks have been pushed into the organ all at once. Eva grabs my hand, squeezing tight, and I look at her, no doubt mirroring the anguish clear in her eyes.
“Bullshit,” Kent roars. “This is fucking bullshit.” He slams his fist down, and the table rattles.
“You fucking asshole! Don’t you dare speak to my daughter like that!” Adam jumps up, racing around the table, his eyes like laser beams shooting fiery rays at Kent as he advances. A muscle pops in Kent’s jaw as he crosses his arms, jutting his chin up defiantly as Adam reaches him.
Adam is fast for an old dude, thrusting his arm out, hitting Kent square on the jaw. Faye screams at her dad to stop, but he’s lost to his anger, raising his fist again. Kent has youth, strength, and rage on his side, and he recovers fast, retaliating with a firm punch to Adam’s nose.
Shouts ring out around the room, and chairs screech as some of the others stand.
Adam roars, briefly touching the blood pumping from his nose, before he fists Kent’s shirt, ready to inflict more damage.
Kaden intervenes, tugging him back while James similarly restrains Kent. Keanu appears at Kent’s side, folding his arms and leveling a glare at Adam. Across the table, Keaton looks upset as his gaze flickers between Whitney, Kent, and me. Austen has his arm around the back of Keaton’s chair, squeezing his shoulder.
A distraught-looking Faye is consoling an upset Whitney, running a hand up and down her back while her sister sobs into her shoulder.
“Get the fuck off me!” Kent roars, wriggling in his dad’s arms.
Keven approaches, planting himself in front of Kent. “You need to calm down.”
“Don’t fucking tell me what to do! This is fucking bullshit, and everyone knows it.”
“For once in your life, man up and accept responsibility for your actions,” Adam yells, still spitting fire.
“Excuse me?” Keanu narrows his eyes at Adam. “Who the hell do you think you are saying that to my brother?”
“Stop this right now.” Alex positions herself in between the men, her gaze bouncing between her son and Whitney and Faye’s father. “I know you’re upset, Adam, but you have no right to hit my son, and if you won’t calm down, you must leave.” She doesn’t wait for his reply, refocusing her attention on Kent. “Please calm down. We need to sit down and discuss this like adults.”
“There is nothing to discuss,” Kent barks. “It’s not fucking mine.”
“Kent.” James levels him with a stern look, refusing to let him go. “That kind of talk isn’t helping, and whether this baby is yours or not doesn’t change the fact Whitney is pregnant and this stress isn’t good for her.”
“Neither is drinking her fucking body weight in wine!” Kent yells. “Or are we just going to pretend she’s not fucking drunk.”
“Stop cursing,” Alex snaps, rubbing her temples. Thank God the kids are outside on the playground with the sitter and not here to witness this. “And stop shouting,” she adds, deliberately lowering her tone.
“Kent is right,” Faye says, holding Whitney by the upper arms, fixing her with an unhappy scowl. “What were you thinking?”
“I’m thinking he knocked me up and now he wants to play happy family with that gold-digging slut!” Her tears miraculously dry up as she sends daggers in my direction.
I want to tell her to fuck off. That I’m no gold digger or slut, but I seal my lips because this isn’t the time or place. Right now, I wish I had a time machine so I could go back to last week and never agree to come here today.
Alex drills a look at Adam, clearly wanting him to intervene, to call his daughter out on her disgusting behavior, but he says nothing. Does nothing, and I have zero respect for the man.
Memories float to the surface of my brain, and I squeeze my eyes shut, begging them to go away. This is too raw. Too real. And I haven’t even told Kent yet.
“There’s only one slut around here, and it’s not Presley,” Kent says, his voice composed but lethal.
Adam roars again, bucking against Kaden as he lunges for Kent, ready to kill him if the expression on his face is any indication.
“Okay. That is enough,” Kyler yells, getting up and stalking toward this end of the table. He stops in front of Whitney. “Grow up and stop acting like a brat. Presley has done nothing to you, and you will not insult her again.” He looks at his wife. “Please take Whitney to the game room. I’ll escort Kent when he’s ready.” He kisses Faye’s temple, and they exchange an intimate look. Faye nods before ushering her sister out of the room but not before Whitney levels me with one final sneer.
“Kent.” Kyler walks around to his brother. “I know you’re pissed, but the only way we’re going to get to the bottom of this is to talk to Whitney. Whether you want to accept it or not, you have been sleeping with that girl for years, and if she says it’s your baby, you need to at least hear what she has to say.”
