Page 10 of Who Wants Pie

He tells them about Courtney and describes the man that was with her. He does all this as he pulls jeans on and takes the socks he has rolled up in a ball in his bag and puts them on my feet. The man is standing in the cold in nothing but a pair of blue jeans and barking out orders like the chilliness of the night doesn’t bother him at all.

He takes me over to a waiting ambulance where they check me out and take blood samples to find out what Courtney used to knock both of us out. She's a nurse at the hospital in town. She stole drugs from there to use on us they think. It’s completely dark by the time I spot Cami wrestling her way in between all the lights and noise and big-ass men.

“Oh my God, are you alright?”

I start to nod but then just melt into a puddle of tears as she wraps me in her arms. I take the comfort. I don’t need to tell her it’s not because I was knocked out and left to die in a building that was supposed to be burned down. I’m crying because of what happened between me and Gray and how fucking confused I am about all of it. Cami doesn’t care about why I’m crying. She just wants to offer me comfort and that is what I need right now.

I cry even harder when Gray lets me go with her and Rayne back to their house. If he felt something…when we were…together, there’s no way he would be able to let me go…right? The very fact he seems more than okay with me going to my brother’s house should be enough to tell me what happened in the building…it didn’t mean anything to him. Which somehow scares me more than Courtney and her goon ever did.

Chapter Nine

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Tinsley

I manage to keep myself away from Gray for three whole weeks. It wasn’t that hard to do with Cami and Rayne’s upcoming wedding. I’ve been really helping them with all the little details since I came to stay with them. Or watching little Taylor for them.

Thanksgiving was a little strained this year. Gray spent the entire day just staring at me. I would turn around from having Taylor on my hip and catch him looking at me with a look I can’t quite read. It’s a mix of possession and lust, but there is something else there too. Something that makes me want to run the other way yet has my heart leaping with hope.

And then I woke up sick one morning. And the next one too. I worried I might be coming down with something so I left Cami and Rayne’s and went back to mom’s. The last thing I wanted is to give little Taylor something or keep the wedding from happening. Cami and Rayne have waited so long and mom would explode if she had to wait any longer.

But the third day had me headed to the next town over and hitting up the pharmacy. I spent last night crying about the fact Taylor is so cute and getting bigger and bigger every day, which doesn’t seem fair. And then I started bawling over the Christmas commercials that popped up on television.

I’ve already taken one pregnancy test and it came back positive but those things are wrong more than they are right. Not to mention there are tons of things that can cause a false positive. I try to think of one but nothing is coming to me. And I really don’t want to think about it too hard. Half of my mind is on not vomiting and the other is on getting Cami down the aisle. Today is her big day…not mine.

Maybe after the wedding when Cami comes back from the honeymoon, then I will ask her to go with me to her doctor and find out if things are really…positive. And in the meantime, I have six more boxes to try. God, what is my mom going to do if it turns out that I am pregnant? And with Gray’s baby?

There is so much going on that when we come in and catch Cami crying it never occurs to me we both might be pregnant at the same time. When mom suggests it to Cami and Rayne and tells them she is going to send my dad out to pick up a test, I just blurt out, “I have one.”

Every head in the room turns my way. The room seems to get smaller and all the air is sucked out. I have to really concentrate on not passing out.

“Why do you have a pregnancy test in your purse, young lady?”

Oh shit! Well, I was going to have to tell mom sooner or later. A shadow passes across the room.

“I don’t want to talk about it today, Mom. I promise we will discuss it after Cami and Rayne get married. Let’s just get them down the aisle.”

I am all but begging her at this point. I am backing out of the room so I can run and grab my purse when I back right into Gray. The one person I desperately do not want to hear what is being discussed.

I wheel around to meet his gaze and I can just tell he heard everything. His eyes have a coldness about them that chills me. This is not the way I wanted to tell him. It’s not the way I wanted him to find out. And now, I have to talk about all of this with my mom. All while not knowing if I really am or not.

Somehow, by sheer will alone, I make it through the ceremony and am headed back to the reception area when I find myself flipped upside down and a shoulder in my stomach.

“Where are you going? Where are you taking Tinsley?” That would be my mom who seems to be following me.

“Home!”

It takes me a few minutes to find my voice, but when I do, worry sets in right behind it. “Gray! Gray, don’t…you can’t…,” What am I going to say? Don’t pick me up like this because I might be pregnant, and this could harm the baby. I find myself hanging limply over his shoulder. “Please just be safe.”

“Oh, you mean because you’re fucking pregnant. Is that what you mean, Tinsley?” He sets me in his truck and buckles me in. “When? When were you going to tell me, Tinsley?”

“I don’t know for sure, Gray. I…I wasn’t sure. There are so many ways it might not be…what it looks like.”

Silence accompanies us all the way back to his house. Once inside, my brows furrow together in confusion and a frisson of fear runs through me. Boxes are sitting everywhere, and the apartment is way more empty than it was when I was last here.

“Are you…leaving?” I feel like I might throw up again. My heart is lurching instead of actually beating at the thought of him being gone. Is that why he was so pissed? Because…he planned to not be around.

“After the break-in, I want a house with better security.” He doesn’t look upset anymore. Maybe just knowing I realize he’s leaving is enough for him to…calm down. “You have another test?”

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