98

Adam

It's Yours

Everyone in the room turned over to look at Ryan, sitting in the loveseat. But he wasn't laughing and joking like he'd been only a couple of seconds before. His eyebrows were furrowed so low, they might as well have been part of his eyes and Kassie sat on his lap, her mouth hanging open. I couldn't understand why. Ryan had my envelope in his hand.

The envelope fell to his lap and I saw the card in his other hand.

That isn't the card I picked out .

On the front of the card were three words. Welcome to fatherhood!

Below that was a drawing of two storks fist-fighting and then…on the other side… ADAM in black marker.

What the fuck?

No one in the room dared to say anything at all, and if I thought it couldn't get quieter, I was wrong as shit when he turned the card over to reveal what it said on the card. Only two words were drawn inside.

IT'S YOURS.

My brain went to mush when Ryan held up the pregnancy test from the envelope.

Off the bat, I knew this was some hilarious joke from someone in the room. Which wasn't as funny as it could've been because of the murder in Ryan's eyes. But he had to know it was a joke. I hadn't gotten anybody knocked up. There was no way in hell. All I needed to do was explain.

"That's not mine," I said, all confidence. "Because I haven't slept with anyone except—"

The words died on my lips.

Piper.

My ice princess was the only one I slept with all semester. The same girl I stopped using condoms with. My blood ran cold and I jerked over to look at her.

Except, when I looked at Piper, she didn't look angry or disappointed or anything else I could've guessed. She looked horrified .

Why the fuck…?

"That's mine," Piper blurted out.

Everything went silent again. Not just the people in the room, with everyone's stunned faces, and not just my shallow breathing. But all the activity in my brain went down to a smooth zero percent, shutting off for the day.

Piper's pregnant.

Piper was pregnant and I knew she was on birth control but how many times had I brought her back to my bedroom? Even when we were using condoms? All those times I'd bent her over the kitchen counter…holy shit.

Piper was pregnant. My Piper was pregnant. With my child.

I stared at her, unable to look at anything else. I could've been floating - I wouldn't have noticed.

It was the best day of my life.

Suddenly, everything else seemed so fucking insignificant. How careful we were so nobody found out, all the times I purposely drove off campus to keep anybody from recognizing us, the stolen kisses I could've made public, all of that shit didn't matter . The only things in the world that mattered to me were the embarrassed blonde woman and the baby— my baby.

The happiness was overwhelming.

Until the fear crept in.

Piper was pregnant and my parents knew all about her. Holy shit. No doubt the book would be everywhere and they weren't people that shirked that spotlight. Book tours. Interviews. And now, impulsive, violet Adam had a pregnant girlfriend—the girl whose last relationship he ruined, the girl he elbowed into a pool, or whatever else they'd string together.

A cold hand gripped my throat. I couldn't breathe.

"Holy crap." One of the freshman football players laughed, the only sound in the room. "Damn, Adam. You got your RA pregnant?"

In a second, I leaped to my feet. "Shut the fuck up, you wipe my fucking shoes."

He blinked at me.

Another voice joined in, Piper's, and I could feel her hand on my arm. "Adam—no, no, no—"

I jabbed a finger at the dumbass who decided to speak. Anger was the only thing that pushed the fear away and I was all too ready to beat his ass outside. "Watch your fucking mouth when you talk to the mother of my child."

" Adam! " Piper yanked my arm and took a step in front of me, purposely getting my face. And there she was, the most beautiful woman in the world, her eyebrows knitted in concern, her lips pressed together. "Adam! It's a prank!"

"What?" I said, without understanding the words.

"It's a prank. The whole thing." She tried to laugh, even if her face was pale. "It's a joke!"

"You're not…pregnant," I said blankly.

"No," Piper choked out. "Of course not."

She might as well have stabbed me. It wouldn't have felt any different. A pain like I'd never known sank in me. Into my blood. Into my bones. I sat in the chair next to her, staring listlessly ahead.

Good—she wasn't pregnant, but bad. But good. But bad. She was working towards grad school and this would've messed up her plans. And she could've lost her housing if they found out I knocked her up and even though I could pay for it, she worked hard for it. But I wanted her to have my child and the loss of something that didn't even exist hit me like a train. Goodbye to the dizzying happiness but wasn't this the best possible solution to all of it because how could I tie Piper to my fucked-up family?

How fucking selfish are you, Adam?

Fifty things slammed into me at once. She didn't play a joke on me. I was the joke.

Kassie's voice was soft. "Adam…?"

Next to her, Ryan sucked in a breath. "Adam, if you ever —"

"He wouldn't," Piper hurried to say. "He's so careful with the—uh—the girls. All the girls. In—in fact, this is all a prank. He's in on it. Right, Adam?" She whirled around. "June? Zariah? "

"Uh—yeah," June replied. "We helped her make it."

Zariah confirmed it. "Just a prank from…holy shit, a long time ago."

I couldn't respond. My mouth was dry and I must've stopped breathing.

"We planned it out as a fun—um—birthday thing. Adam found out…and…he thought it'd be funny. Right, Adam?" Piper urged. "Right, Adam?"

She's lying to protect me.

Piper was telling a lie, not even one of the half-truths that she could carefully put together, but a lie, because she didn't want to get me in trouble for potentially messing around with my RA.

And then Piper leaned in next to me and held out a fist for me to pound. We had all eyes on the two of us at the birthday party. I had to look like I was an accomplice when all I wanted to do was throw up and maybe beat the shit out of the freshman football player who dared to call Piper just my RA, to take the nerves out.

Violent, impulsive Adam.

I fist-bumped her and the tension broke in the room. Awkward chuckles were exchanged. Everybody wanted to push past the worst prank in the world.

Numb, I finally found my voice. "Piper, I need to talk to you."

A response wasn't needed. I pressed my hand against her back and the two of us stood up. Without another word, I guided her off to the backyard.