Page 89 of Shared By my Ex's Best Friends
“I took a test this afternoon,” I say, voice barely above a whisper. “A pregnancy test.”
The shift is immediate.
Three sets of eyes lock onto me. The air pulls taut like a stretched wire.
Jake’s jaw drops open slightly. He pushes off the mantle, his casual stance gone. His entire body stiffens.
Liam doesn’t move, but his lips part like he’s going to say something—then he stops himself. His brows knit together deeper, and his jaw flexes once.
And Ethan…
He exhales. A long, deep breath as his eyes search mine, gentle and full of something I can’t name. Not yet.
“It was positive,” I say. “I’m pregnant.”
The words don’t echo. They don’t even fall. Theyland.Heavy. Solid. Permanent.
My whole body goes numb, but underneath it, I can feel something buzzing, frantic. Like I’m standing too close to a live wire.
“I—I don’t know how far along I am,” I continue, my voice tighter now. “I haven’t even made a doctor’s appointment yet. I was still trying to wrap my head around it.”
I force myself to look at them—at these three men who’ve been my friends, my anchors, my everything—and I feel the fear rise sharp in my chest.
“And I don’t know what this means for us,” I admit. “I don’t know how to make this work or what you’re all going to say or if this is the moment everything falls apart—”
“Maya.”
Ethan’s voice is barely above a breath, but it stops everything.
I look up. He’s stepped forward now, out of the shadows near the hallway and into the light.
He kneels in front of me, steady and close, his hands reaching gently to rest on my knees. His thumbs brush soft circles over the denim of my jeans.
“Breathe,” he says.
I try. It stutters in my chest, but I manage a shaky inhale. A broken exhale.
“You’re not alone,” he says. “Not in this. Not in anything.”
Jake steps forward next. His usual swagger is gone. He lowers himself onto the couch beside me, his shoulder pressing against mine.
“You think we’d walk away now?” he asks, eyes searching mine. “Come on, beautiful. That’s not how this ends.”
The corner of his mouth lifts in a faint smile, and somehow, it makes my chest ache more than if he’d cried.
I let out a breath that’s part laugh, part sob.
Liam comes last, quiet and steady. He doesn’t need to sit. He just lays a warm hand on my shoulder.
“If anything, this just makes it more real,” he says.
The tears come before I can stop them. Hot and fast. They blur the lines of the room until all I can see are the outlines of the people I love most.
“Even if I don’t know what I’m doing?” I whisper.
Jake leans forward, resting his elbow on his knee. “None of us do,” he says. “We’re all winging it, Maya. But we’ll figure it out.Together.”
The silence that follows isn’t heavy anymore. It’s full. Safe.
