Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Another nod. Still in shock and confused and what the fuck?
The doctor leans over and squeezes my hand, smiling softly at me. Then he stands and steps out, leaving me to my thoughts.
I pull my phone out and click on the calendar app, counting back six weeks. Valentine’s Day. My period comes the first of the month like clockwork. I had it in February. I remember because when I went to the store to buy tampons, I also bought Raelyn and me some Valentine’s Day candy.
Holy shit, Valentine’s Day.
Elite sex club.
Lincoln and me.
Three amazing rounds of sex.
Fuck.
I scan my calendar, trying to jog my memory. Did I get my period in March? I don’t think I did. I look at the date and see it’s now April. I should’ve gotten it three days ago, but I didn’t. I’m staring at my calendar, trying to have this all make sense, when Raelyn walks in.
“They didn’t have any muffins, but I got you a—”
“Are you on your period?” I blurt out.
“Umm, yeah,” she says, drawing out each word. “Why?”
“I haven’t gotten mine.”
“Okay...” She looks at me like I’m crazy. “I’m sure it will come—”
“No,” I cut her off. “Not this month. Last month. I got it in the beginning of February, but it never came in March, and now it’s April, and I always get it the day after you. Always.” Our cycles synced halfway through our freshman year of college and ever since they have always been the same.
Her eyes widen, catching on. “You don’t think...You used protection, right?”
“No, we didn’t. Oh my God, Rae. I’m so stupid. I didn’t even think about it. I’m not on birth control because I wasn’t sexually active, and deep down, I knew regardless of how many guys I attempted to have sex with, I couldn’t follow through with it.”
“But you had sex with Lincoln...”
“Three times with no protection.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t he use protection?” she shrieks.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how it all works...” Which, in hindsight, was irresponsible of me. “But I do know that every member has to submit a clean bill of health, and women have to show proof that they’re on birth control.”
I know a little of how Elite is run because I grew up around it. I might not have been in the actual sex club, but I would overhear the adults talking when I would go to Wanderlust, where my sister once worked as a stripper.
“I wasn’t thinking,” I say out loud. “I was so focused on simply trying to get past my shit, I didn’t think about it. And now...” I glance at Raelyn.
“You might be pregnant,” she finishes for me.
“According to the doctor, I am pregnant, and the reason why I felt nauseous and dizzy and blacked out is because I have pregnancy anemia, caused by an iron deficiency in pregnant women.”
Her eyes widen in shock. “Oh, shit.”
Oh, shit, is right. If the doctor is correct, I’m pregnant...with Lincoln’s baby.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Spoiler alert: The doctor was right—I’m pregnant!
I stare at the screen as the ultrasound tech explains that based on my measurements, I’m seven weeks along, and my estimated due date is November twenty-first. Raelyn is holding my hand, and neither of us have said a single word. I think we’re both in utter shock. It’s one thing to talk about me being pregnant, but it’s a whole other to see the fluttering heartbeat on the screen.
But for me, it’s more than just shock. I’ve never known what it feels like to fall in love. For your heart to be completely owned by someone else. As I stare at the little blob on the screen, I’ve finally fallen...Because my heart has left my chest and now belongs to the baby in my belly.
“What are you going to do?” Raelyn asks once Dr. Gerard has finished discharging me—leaving me with a prescription for prenatal vitamins, an iron supplement, and a recommendation for an OBGYN.
“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly.
“If you don’t want to have the baby...”
At her words, my hand flies to my stomach protectively. Growing up, my mother never once protected me. Every day I was around her, I was put in horrible situations, and even in her death, she put me in harm’s way. If it weren’t for Sienna taking care of and protecting me, I can’t imagine what my life would’ve looked like. Even when I didn’t listen to her and put myself in danger, she literally risked everything in order to save me.
“This baby might not have been planned, but he will be loved and protected by me,” I tell her. “He will grow up knowing what it feels like to have a mother who cares and would do anything for him. I might not be perfect, but I have the money and means to take care of him, and I will love him with everything in me.”