Page 157 of Rules

“I’ll talk to a PI. There has to be a way to find her. She couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air. If the test is true, she must have gone to a doctor or something, right?”

Jeanette pulls back, her throat bobbing as she swallows. “We have to tell Max.”

“Maybe it’s not him.”

She shakes her head stubbornly. “It’s him. If she’s pregnant, it’s Max’s baby.”

“Dammit.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, the headache growing by the second. “Fine, we’ll tell him, but not before the game.”

“Andrew, I can’t hide it from him!”

“He’s a bomb that’s about to explode. Tomorrow is the second round of the playoffs. We’re two games away from winning it all, and no matter what he says, this is important to him. Scouts will be there, and that’s his chance to secure his spot on one of the division one teams.” I try to reason.

I don’t like it any more than she does, and I already know he’ll go ballistic when he finds out, and hewillfind out, but right now we needed to prioritize.

“Besides, maybe if we wait, we’ll be able to give him something useful, like where the hell Brook went in the first place.”

“Fine.” Jeanette puffs out her cheeks. “I don’t like it one bit, but fine. We’ll wait until after the game.”

Chapter Fifty-Six

BROOK

I look around myself, the smell of antiseptic making my stomach turn. It’s not even about the smell—so far I’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to nausea—it’s the nerves that don’t leave me alone.

I’ve been putting off this moment for as long as I possibly could—after all, if there is no doctor confirmation, it’s not real, or so I kept telling myself anyway—but there was no sane reason to yet again postpone the doctor appointment. I couldn’t afford to be careless like that, so I set my appointment at Planned Parenthood as soon as I got to my destination.

As it turns out, Mrs. Brown has a sister in Virginia, and she agreed to let me stay with her for the time being. After our conversation, Mrs. Brown didn’t want to hear a word in protest when she suggested it. I tried to tell her no, I really did, but the woman had a good argument, and when she pulled the baby card, I couldn’t force the protest.

Between what little I had stashed at Lia’s and the money John Hill gave me, I had enough. For the time being that is. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would last long. Not with a baby on the way. Babies require a lot of stuff, some of which I wasn’t even aware of before I started paying attention to it all.

More than once, I caught myself panicking. Because really, how the hell am I supposed to do all of this? By myself no less. The thought that soon I'll have another human’s life, my baby’s life, depending on me is terrifying. I wasn’t sure I was capable of taking care of myself alone. That was the main reason I pushed away the idea of leaving in the first place, and now it wasn’t just my life that I’d be ruining if I messed up.

My breath hitches, and I can feel my heart start racing. Gripping the edge of the table, I force myself to take slow, deep breaths.

How much longer do I have to wait?

The wait, the uncertainty, killing me a little with every passing second.

As soon as I got to the clinic, the nurse drew some blood and did the usual measurements, and after a bit, I was called into the room to wait for the doctor to arrive.

Is something wrong with the baby? Is that why it’s taking so long?

Just as another panic attack approaches, the door swings open and a young doctor enters the room.

“Miss Barnes?” She smiles softly at me, using the name from the fake ID I gave them when I registered.

She’s pretty, probably in her early thirties. Her tanned skin is make-up free, her long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail to keep it away from her face. Dressed in the usual blue scrubs, she takes a seat on a chair next to the bed.

“My name is Doctor Perez, and I’ll be assisting you today.” I nod curtly, not knowing what to say. “How are we feeling?”

Clearing my suddenly dry throat, I force the words out. “Good. Nervous.”

“It’s normal for the first-time moms.”

I have a feeling she wanted to addyoungto the mix too but kept it to herself. Then again, I’m sure she’s seen it all by now.

“We got your lab results, which confirmed what you already knew. I assume you’re somewhere between seven and nine weeks pregnant.” My hand flies to my stomach, my heartbeat thumping in my ears, making the rest of her sentence muffled.A baby.“I’d like to do a transvaginal ultrasound to see if everything is developing as it should and determine how far along you are exactly.”

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