Victory at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #5) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,25

tub, the medical boot making his walk just a bit lopsided. “I’m inclined to say fuck that and stay here anyway, but if you really want me to go …” He trails off and then tucks his hands into the pockets of the borrowed sweats he’s wearing. Second time getting arrested during senior year. Good for him. A Prescott boy through and through.

“Would you?” I ask, leaning my naked body against the wall of the shower. Aaron tries to be a gentleman, but his eyes make a sweep of my body just once before landing on my face again. “I mean, if I told you to go, would you really?”

He pauses for a long moment and then smiles tightly at me. A single dimple appears on his face, despite the gravity of the moment. Cal missing, the GMP on our asses, the feds with our phones. That’s how you really know you’re in love, when you’d rather face a crisis with your partner than an eternity of bliss alone.

“I …” I start, feeling the words get stuck in my throat. They’re suddenly sticky and strange, almost sharp as they scrape through to my lips. I may very well start bleeding from the mouth next. “The hospital …” Reaching up a hand, I press it against the side of my head and close my eyes again. As Shakespeare once said, Uneasy is the head that wears a crown. Nobody ever said this was going to be easy. My eyes open and I meet Aaron’s green-gold gaze. “I’m pregnant.”

There’s a moment there where he doesn’t move, doesn’t even blink. He looks down at the water which, at least for now, has started to run clear. Then back up at me again. His face betrays nothing, a façade of calm meant to help me keep my own feelings in check. When I look too deeply into his eyes, however, I can see every emotion he’s trying so hard to contain.

“Bernie,” Aaron begins, blinking at me as he takes my face between his hands. My stomach muscles seize, and I grimace against the pain. “Is that what the hospital called about?”

I just stare back at him and then reach my hands up to lay them over his. Our fingers intertwine, pretty HAVOC tatted knuckles on either side. His left, my left. He leans in and kisses my lips, a soft, easy kiss with no demands for more. Just a promise to listen.

“Was,” I correct, frowning hard. “Was pregnant. I’m pretty sure this is a chemical pregnancy—”

He cuts me off with another kiss, one that lingers just a tad longer. He only pulls back enough to talk, our mouths brushing together with each word.

“You don’t have to analyze every little thing. You don’t have to be Vic to be queen. Are you okay?”

“I …” I start, but I’m not sure what to say. How do I feel? I don’t know. I didn’t want to be pregnant, so I feel relieved. Also, a little bit sad. And maybe I want to kill every motherfucker in the GMP to make up for that beating I got on the lawn. “It’s not really that big of a deal, but it’s … weird.”

Aaron smiles at me and then reaches up to push wet hair back from my forehead. Me and him, we’re parents already. We have Heather and Ashley and Kara locked away in an ivy-covered tower known as Oak River Elementary. The last thing either of us needs or wants is a baby, but it still isn’t fair that I had to find out about this the same day I started bleeding and cramping.

“I’ll be okay,” I promise, sliding my palms along his arms until I get to his taut shoulders. “Just … bring me one of the reusable cups from the duffel I have in your room, make up a hot water bottle, and grab some ibuprofen?”

Aaron nods, but he doesn’t let go of me, pressing a kiss to either of my cheeks and one to my forehead. His breath feathers against me and I shiver, the water steaming around us as it finally reaches its maximum temperature, scalding me the way I want it to. I stare at the Bernadette tattoo on his right arm.

First chance I get, I’m tattooing all of their names on my skin. I don’t care where. I just want them somewhere. That, and I want my name on all of them. Does that make me a crazy person?

I lick some of