Page 6 of Dare to Dance
The neighborhood narrowed to nothing—no sound, no light, just a black hole. Kody dragged me out of the street as a car sped past. My heart was beating so fast, it was bruising my ribs. I swung my gaze from a pale-faced Kody to the girl.
Finally, I shook my head. It couldn’t be possible. Ruby had said she wasn’t pregnant. My limbs became weak, my brain became foggy, and my tongue wouldn’t move. Tasha had to be mistaken.
“So, you know this for a fact?” Kody asked.
“Sure as the wind is blowing right now,” she said. “When her and her mom left in the fall of her junior year, her belly was big, and her mom told mine that Ruby was pregnant.”
I thought back to when Ruby and I had had sex, counting the months. We’d had sex in May of our sophomore year. I’d moved back to Ashford in June. So by the fall of that year, she would’ve been at least four months pregnant. The blood drained from my face.
“Bro, maybe it’s not yours.” Kody’s face had turned completely white. No doubt mine had too.
I shoved both hands through my hair. Kody might have been right, but my gut was telling me differently. All I could think back to were Ruby’s messages. She hadn’t been calling me because of her father’s arrest. She’d been calling me because she was pregnant.
“According to my brother, Ruby had told him that the father was a guy by the name of Kross Maxwell.” She flashed her big dark eyes at me. “Is that you?”
Either a sinkhole was beginning to form beneath my feet or the earth was shaking. Kody caught me as I swayed.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.I sucked in the late October air, the cold burning a path down my throat. I was a daddy. I was a fucking daddy. I had to sit down. I whipped my head in all directions. But that only served to increase the dizziness. Kody guided me to a fire hydrant. But my body wouldn’t stop listing to one side then the other as though I was on a boat in high seas. Nausea shot up to settle in my throat.
“Is he okay?” Tasha asked.
Kody tapped me on the face. “Bro?” He waved a blurry hand in front of my eyes.
I bent over and heaved. Nothing came out. I heaved again as Kody steadied me. This time, I literally lost my lunch. Sweat coated my forehead as ice sliced through my veins. I shivered. I could handle difficult situations. I’d learned quickly when my sister, Karen, died, and even more so when my mom had fallen into a deep depression. I had to in order to help my father and Kade. While Kade was consoling Kody and Kelton, I tended to my mom, especially when my old man was away on missions. Sure, I cried over my sister’s death. I cried alone in my room at night when no one was around. I wanted to be strong. I’d seen how Kade had struggled with becoming a pseudo parent, and I’d had to help him.
But the news that I could be a father made me feel as though I had just been rammed in the gut by a cement truck.
“Breathe,” Kody said.
I couldn’t get air in my lungs. I couldn’t even form words.
“Here’s a tissue.” Tasha’s voice rose. “I’ll get some water. Be right back.”
“Sit,” Kody ordered.
Wiping my mouth, I dropped down on the curb as the neighborhood spun around me. “I’m a fucking father.” I wished I were numb. But a sharp pain throbbed inside my skull, feeling as though I was getting hit from both sides. Maybe I was taking after Kade and getting a migraine. I turned away from Kody and puked again. Man, I knew now how Kelton felt when he thought he might be the father of Chloe’s baby.
“Fuck,” Kody said. “I don’t know what to do, Bro. Do you want me to call Kade?”
A maniacal laugh escaped me. I didn’t have the first clue what to do, not when my hands were shaking and the nausea wouldn’t settle. “No. This type of news is something that Kade needs to hear in person. Give me a minute. I’ll be fine.” Another crazy laugh broke out, only this time in my head. I was far from fine.
Tasha came back with a bottle of water and handed it to me. “I’m sorry that I told you. I thought you knew.”
I downed the water, the liquid cooling the acidic burn in my throat.
“Does your brother know where Ruby might be?” Kody’s voice cracked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “He’s not home either. He goes to Boston College. I’ll give you his cell before you leave.”
It was time we did. I had to get out of there and away from Ruby’s house. I had to find her. I just didn’t know how yet.
2
Ruby
Alight rat-a-tat-tat of rain pelted the roof of our makeshift home made of cardboard and a tarp, while my best friend, Norma, hacked up a lung.
I touched her forehead. “You’re burning up.”
She sniffled as she turned on her side. “I’ll be all right. It’s just a cold.”
