When I opened my eyes, the room was dark and quiet, the sterile scent of the clinic still sharp in my nose. For a few seconds, I couldn't remember where I was—just that I hurt. Everywhere. Every inch of my body ached like I'd been hit by a truck. Not just the parts I expected either—my back, hips, and legs—but my hands, arms, even my neck felt like I'd fought a war in my sleep. Then I looked down. The baby—my baby—was resting on my chest, bundled in a blanket, his tiny face smushed against me as he slept. Everything else melted away. This was real. I did it. He's here. I smiled, stroking a hand gently over the soft patch of curls at the top of his head. I didn't think anything could ruin this. And then they walked in. The air shifted the second the door opened—cold, heavy, and suffocating. My body tensed, instincts screaming at me before my brain even registered what I was seeing. My parents stood just inside the room. My mother's nose wrinkled as if my scent offended her, wh
"Levi!" The sound of Conan's voice from the hospital bed hit me like a freight train. He looked so fragile. His skin was pale, his lips were dry, and his eyes—those beautiful eyes—were red and puffy from crying. It shredded me. "Why're you crying?" he asked softly. I tried to walk normally, but my legs were still trembling from the sprint through the clinic. I stumbled a little. Behind me, Charlie entered, looking a little less wrecked but just as breathless. "He sped all the way over here," Charlie said. "We almost crashed a few times but... we're here." I reached the bed and dropped to my knees beside it, hugging Conan gently. He was burning up, and I could feel how exhausted he was, even under the meds. "Why do you look so sick?" "I'm not—" "You must've been in a lot of pain to cut your day so short," I murmured, glancing past him and noticing him—Alex—hunched in the corner, for once blessedly silent. "I'm okay now," Conan said. "You're as pale as a ghost. How are you oka
“Hey, it’s been at least a week and a half. How was your lovers’ quarrel?” Alex asked the second I slid into the passenger seat. “You’re an ass,” I snapped, punching his arm. “Ow! What kind of preggo punches people that hard?” Alex shot back, rubbing his shoulder. “I could be driving a girl around right now, you know.” “But you’re not. Because women don’t like you,” I said with a smirk. “Bitch. Your stomach looks like it’s about to pop.” “Yeah, there’s like a week or so left.” “Is it even okay to be out like this right now?” he asked, glancing at me warily. “I’m sure it’s fine,” I said casually. “Plus, Levi isn’t upset at all. He even encouraged me to go hang out with you. We just have to come back early.” “Look at all the good I’ve done,” Alex grumbled. “Just to be smacked around and unappreciated.” I shot him a sideways glance. “You’re just such an asshole though. Anyway… this is a nice car. Not better than Levi’s though.” “It’s unfair to compare the rich and the poor,” Al
There were only ten days left until Conan gave birth, and I couldn’t help but marvel at how fast everything had gone. It felt like yesterday I was dragging him home after finding out he was pregnant—and now, here we were. I caught him staring down at his belly like it still didn’t feel real to him. “There really isn’t much time left,” Conan said quietly, his fingers absentmindedly tracing the curve of his stomach. Since our fight a while back, Conan had retracted what he said about feeling smothered and started letting me dote on him again—but I took his words to heart anyway. Even if it was hard, I gave him space when he needed it. One night without him had been enough to make me realize I didn’t want to push him that far again. “We still have to settle on a name to tell everyone for now,” he added. We’d gone through countless options but still hadn’t chosen one. Nothing stuck. So we decided to wait—see what felt right when the time came. “The little one will come out just fine
I lay back in Alex’s bed, staring up at the ceiling, feeling more exhausted than I had any right to be. Not physically—though pregnancy had me beat most days—but emotionally. I was drained. The room was quiet except for the faint ticking of the wall clock. I was too miserly to actually spend the money on a hotel, not when I’d been slowly building up my secret “escape fund,” but now the lumpy mattress beneath me made me question that decision. I shifted to my side, pulling the blanket tighter around me. The only thing I could really think about was the look on Levi’s face. The way his eyes had looked like glass when I’d shut that taxi door. The rearview mirror had caught the exact moment he broke, and it played over and over in my mind like some twisted loop. He looked like I’d stabbed him. I exhaled, rubbing a hand across my forehead. “I did the right thing, right?” I asked aloud when Alex came in, tossing me an extra pillow like I was some honored guest in his apartment. “You we
I’ve never hated a human the way I hated Alex Esteves. He was smug. He was mouthy. He was everywhere. And worst of all? He was Conan’s best friend. Which left me with one very specific problem: if I broke every bone in his irritating little body like I wanted to, Conan would hate me. Maybe even leave me. But if I didn’t, I might actually explode from the pressure of tolerating him. By the time I reached his apartment, my jaw was clenched so hard it felt like it might crack. I barely remembered the drive. My hands were locked on the steering wheel the whole way there, and the sound of the engine wasn’t nearly loud enough to drown out the rage building in my head. And this place? His building looked like it hadn’t seen maintenance since the invention of indoor plumbing. Flickering hallway lights, weak security, thin walls. Conan came here? Frequently? I stomped up the stairs and knocked once. Nothing. I knocked again—harder, sharper. Finally, the door swung open and there he was