Page 23 of Yes, Love

“Not at all, babe. Do you want me to drop you off back at the bar or your apartment?”

“The bar. I need to give Evan his keys before I head home.”

Oh, joy. I was about to have another awkward encounter with my ex-boyfriend and his sisters. “No problem. Let’s go. We can catch up next week. Well, no. Next week I’ll be in Florida, but the week after.”

“That sounds great. Hopefully, I’ll be feeling better by then.” Sienna’s smile melted into a wince, and she wrapped her arms around her stomach. “Uh oh. I think I’m going to puke.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a few deep breaths. “Nevermind. It passed. Let’s get out of here.”

I drove her back to ‘69, and she stayed hunched over and quiet in my passenger seat for the entire ride. Should I be worried about her? I was worried about her.

When we walked into the bar, Evan looked up and gave me a polite nod, then his eyes settled on Sienna, filled with concern. “Babe, you okay? You look really pale.”

Sienna rested her forehead on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. “No, I feel like shit,” she mumbled.

Charlie sat on her boyfriend’s lap at a table near the bar. I did a subtle double-take of Burke, careful not to let Charlie see. I didn’t doubt for a moment that she would mess up my face for looking too long. I had no interest in trying to steal the guy, but he was fun to look at with the beard and the hair and all those tats.

I wondered how my fake boyfriend would feel about me checking out other men. Would he even care? Did I care if he cared? Did he care if I cared if he cared… Wait, what?

I was about to hug Sienna and say my goodbyes when Charlie snorted and coughed into her hand. “Sienna’s pregnant.”

Evan and Sienna’s heads both shot up, and they looked at Charlie with wide eyes, then each other. “No.” Sienna shook her head. “There’s no way.” She and Evan locked eyes again. “Unless…”

“Oh my god.” Evan’s facial expression was a perfect mix of worry and excitement. “Babe, let’s go get a test. Burke,” he called over to Charlie’s boyfriend. “Can you run things for like an hour until we get back?”

Burke gave Evan a knowing smirk. “Sure.”

Sienna covered her mouth with her shaking hands. “Evan, what if I am? It’s too soon! I’m not ready!”

Aaaannd I was officially intruding on a very private family moment. Five years ago, it would have been perfectly normal for me to discover Sienna’s pregnancy with her. Now though, we were still miles away from that bestie closeness. Plus, my ex-boyfriend just possibly knocked up my best friend. I used to ride that dick. I’d probably get over this weirdness in the next twenty years, but for now, AWKWARD.

I cleared my throat and slowly started backing away. “Um, I’m gonna head out and let you guys have this moment. Congrats if you’re having a little Cox baby! And um, feel better if you just have the flu!” I laughed. It was all high and cringeworthy. Shit.

Sienna gave me a half-smile and waved as I walked out. “Thanks, Aves!” she called after me.

I drove home to my big, empty house as my phone dinged and dinged with notifications. Sometimes I just wanted to take the damn thing out back and toss it in the pool. But if I did that, I couldn’t afford the pool in the first place.

What pretty golden handcuffs I wore.

I let out a deep breath and headed straight for my makeup room — yes, I had an entire room in my house dedicated to makeup and shooting content for my various social media pages. I had three tutorials to shoot and one promo for Urban Decay Cosmetics. Then I needed to spend a couple of hours replying to comments. Jeanie was right. My engagement increased when I was more personable.

But did I want more engagement, or did I want a nap?

***

Later that night, I was about to wash off my makeup when a loud knock sounded at my front door. Who in the hell? This was too late for Jeanie to be in my space. I picked up my phone and viewed the doorbell camera. Two men stood on my front porch, both clearly drunk.

Was that Dominic?

I hurried downstairs and pulled open the door.

“Ava, love! Aw, you look well fit!” Dominic laughed and leaned against his friend.

“Oh, lover boy. You are hammered.” I smiled and folded my arms across my chest.

“Mmm, Ava. Your tits look fantastic when you do that. Can I touch them? I want to touch them.” Dom turned to his friend. “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? Didn’t I tell you she’s even better looking in real life?”

His friend laughed and patted Dominic’s shoulder. He was clearly in better shape than my fake boyfriend. “You did tell me, mate.” Then he turned to me and held out his hand to shake mine. “Noah. Nice to meet you.” Noah’s accent was subtle, and I couldn’t quite place it. “Listen, he’s pissed, and I tried to take him home to sleep it off, but he wouldn’t stop talking about you. Says he wants you and you won’t mind.” Noah shrugged. “Can I leave him?”

Dom laughed. “Can he, Ava?”

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