“So, who are they playing tonight?” I ask, hoping to distract her from my imploding life.
Of course, I already know. I may or may not have been doing some research.
The Vipers have reached the playoffs for the first time in a while. Everyone is super excited about it, and word on the street is that they’ve got potential to go all the way.
Sienna chats away about the structure of the playoffs as our car pulls up and whisks us away.
Our driver happily joins in. I’m hardly surprised. He’s got a Vipers’ snake hanging from his rearview mirror, and he’s wearing a team hoodie.
I quickly find myself tuning them out as my thoughts return to what I might say should I bump into Everett tonight. Like Sienna says, it’s unlikely. I looked at where our seats are, and he won’t know we’re there. But fate brought us together once; maybe it will again.
I press my hand to my stomach as nerves erupt. The thought of standing before him and confessing my secret makes me feel physically sick.
“Bea?” Sienna asks, noticing my panic.
“I’m okay,” I whisper.
“Here’s fine,” she instructs the driver, and when I look up, I find that we’re just a little down the street from the sports bar.
The second I’m out of the car, I gulp in fresh lungfuls of air.
“What the hell is going on?” Sienna demands to know. “Are you sick? Do you need to go home?”
It would be so easy to lie. To tell her I have a migraine and climb back into a car and then my bed. But I don’t want to be at home. It isn’t my home anymore. It’s just a place I’m existing until I’m kicked out.
“No, I’m fine.”
Her eyes narrow. “You are not fine,” she accuses.
“Please, can we just go in and get a drink?”
She continues to stand there, waiting for the truth to spill from my lips.
“Fine,” she finally says, throwing her hands up in defeat. “You find a table; I’ll get the drinks. What do you want?”
“Soda, please.”
She freezes. “Soda?”
“Yeah.”
“Just soda?”
Her eyes burn into the side of my face.
My heart hammers against my ribs.
She knows. She’s guessed. She’s?—
“You’re pregnant.”
9
BEATRICE
My heart jumps into my throat and tears burn my eyes as I stare at my best friend.
The urge to lie burns through me. But I can’t.
