Page 126 of Rules

Max’s question comes back in full force.Are you pregnant?I didn’t feel pregnant, but apparently, you can feel pregnant and not be pregnant, so couldn’t it be the other way around too?

You were careful.I try to reason with myself.There is no need to worry.

“They did the blood one when they admitted her.” Lia nibbles at her lip. “It didn’t show any signs of pregnancy.”

My thoughts go instantly to the day we took the tests. We couldn’t have swapped them, could we? One was positive; one was negative. Both the same. Both sitting on that damn bathroom counter waiting for three minutes to pass.

This can’t be happening.

My mind is going one hundred miles per hour, buzzing in my ears intensifying with every heartbeat, but even through all that haze, somewhere in the distance, I can hear Lia speak.

“Poor Jeanette. She really wanted that baby. I could see it in her eyes how crushed she was because of the news. She could barely even talk…”

“I have to go,” I rasp out, stopping her mid-sentence.

A small frown appears between her brows. “Right now?”

“Yes, right now.” I look around to see in which direction is the bus stop, and when I spot it, I can’t walk fast enough. “I have something to take care of. We’ll talk later.”

“Wait, Brook! Let me give you a…” But I’m not listening anymore.

Turning on the heels of my feet, I hurry toward the bus station. My heart is still beating frantically in my chest, my breathing labored.

What if I messed up? What if I switched the tests? What if the test wasn’t wrong at all?

When I get to the station, I see that the next bus is in fifteen minutes.

Too damn long. I can’t wait that long.

So without a second thought, I start to walk.

Pharmacy. I have to get to the pharmacy.

I have to find out the truth. And I have to find it now.

Chapter Forty-Seven

MAX

“Jeanette!” A panicked voice has me jumping in the chair as my eyes fly open. The bright light of the room blinds me temporarily, but I do get a glimpse of our mother running to Jeanette’s bedside.

“M-mom!” Jeanette protests. “You’re strangling me.”

Scratching the nape of my neck, I cover my yawn as I look at the two of them. Mom is sprawled over the bed, her arms wrapped tightly around Jeanette, her face burrowed in the crook of her neck.

“Don’t you dare scare me like that ever again!” she scolds but doesn’t let go.

With all the commotion, Andrew is awake too. He still looks like crap, not that I feel much better. Then again, a night spent in a hospital will do that to a guy.

Jeanette looks at us, pleading silently to do something. I chuckle but move closer.

“We want her to keep breathing, Mom,” I say. Placing my hands on Mom’s shoulder, I slowly tug backward until she disentangles her body from Jeanette, but not without a fight. “Maybe you should give her a little space.”

“Give her a little space!? All I did was give her space and look where that got her.”

“It was an accident, Mom,” Jeanette says quietly.

Was it really?I want to ask her. I really do. The words are on the tip of my tongue when the doctor and nurse, different from the ones last night, come inside.

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