Page 58 of Christmas with Brother's Best Friends
It would be a good deal, but all I can think about is Emma right now.
“The meeting is off,” I tell her firmly, making her eyes fly open. “I’ll get my own connections from here on out. I can’t be around someone like you. Someone who looks down on people.”
Stacy grabs the sleeve of my button down shirt, anger burning in her eyes. “You can’t just leave like that! Are you serious, Josh? You’re getting all worked up over some girl?”
“She isn’t some girl,” I bite out as I glower at her, making her shrink back a little. “I meant what I said. I’m done. Don’t call me. Don’t text me.”
Stacy’s jaw drops as I pull myself out of her grip. “Josh!”
I ignore her and brush her off as she tries to grab me again. I should’ve grown a spine and done this a long time ago, but I liked the connections. They’re not worth having to be around someone like Stacy, though.
I head down the sidewalk in the direction that Emma took off in, hearing Stacy whine on the phone to someone behind me. Probably her dad. Cutting things off with her might mean a few bridges are burned, but I don’t care.
Because of Emma’s help, SyncUp’s success grows by the day, and that growth isn’t projected to stop any time soon.
I pull out my phone and call Emma as I jog down the sidewalk, eyes darting in every direction. No answer.
I text. Nothing.
She’s out here somewhere—alone, pale, shaking—and I let her walk away.
“Come on, Em,” I mutter. “Pick up.”
When voicemail hits again, I stop cold. My pulse hammers. I scroll through my contacts, then hit a name I swore I wouldn’t.
We promised to give her space.But that was before tonight.Before she looked me in the eye like she didn’t recognize me.
The second the line connects, I don’t wait. “I need your help. It’s Emma.”
Because love doesn’t follow rules.Not when the person you love might be falling apart.
Chapter twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Emma
This can’t be happening. This can’t be what I think it is.
I hurry around the corner, my calves burning from trying not to break an ankle while wearing my heels. If I didn’t love them so much, I would kick them off and sprint to the pharmacy.
Panic pounds in my chest as nervousness churns around in my stomach, yanking me back and forth between feeling like I’m about to have a panic attack and feeling like I’m going to throw up again.
I can’t believe that I threw up in a bush in front of Josh and Stacy. I would’ve rather done that in front of literallyanyoneelse, but, of course, they were together heading into a fancy hotel. Bitterness bites at me as I cross the street, bright headlights nearly blinding me from the cars stopped at the red light.
The illuminated sign for the pharmacy beckons me there faster, and by the time I rush inside and grab a pregnancy test off the shelf, my hands are clammy. I almost don’t want to take it To live in ignorance, but I can’t do that.
I have to know. Real consequences could come from this.
The fact that I missed my period without even realizing it is concerning enough. I’m usually on top of my cycle, but I’ve been so wrapped up in my thoughts about the guys and about what to do next that I didn’t even notice.
The young cashier rings me up, dark circles under his eyes as he drags through his night shift. “Have a good night.”
I don’t think that’s going to happen.
I don’t even leave to rush home. It’ll take too long to go on foot or wait for an Uber, so I rush straight to the back of the store where the bathrooms are, locking myself inside. My hands shake as I tear open the box and pull out the pregnancy test, the air feeling hot and thick around me.
I’m already sweating.
In dead silence, I use the test, my heart pounding furiously as I wait for the results. Shaky breaths leave me as I pace around the bathroom, desperation taking hold of me as I check the screen.
