Page 23 of Seein’ Red

“He gave me his number. Encouraged me to call.”

I lift one shoulder nonchalantly, pretending like it’s no big thing. Like I’m potentially still considering contacting him. Like I’m not secretly freaking out that my entire world is turning upside down.

Which let’s not lie, I am.

“You’re not going to, are you?” Nash asks, his brow furrowed, tone gruff.

Oh, he’s all kinds of worked up. I hold back a giggle, my gaze sliding over to his twin, who is paying enough attention to Bronwyn that it appears he’s not listening. Hard to know if he is or not, but knowing how enthralled he is with his fiancée, I’ve got good money he has no idea about the conversation being had around him.

“Maybe?”

I lift my shoulder again, this time tilting my head and giving him an evil smile. One that I know will make his blood boil.

His expression morphs, an almost imperceptible change that only I can see. It comes with knowing someone so well that you have all their features memorized. Just like I have his.

Taking a bite of my eggs, I turn back toward the group. My stomach seems to settle with each bite, which helps to ease my worry. Slightly.

As much as I want to rationalize it in my head and pretend that it’s something else, I can’t. I know how biology works. And being this late, when I’m as regular as I have been for my entire life, that means something. A very specific something.

Something that I’m not sure I want. With the last person on earth I want it with.

Because if I am, there’s no question who is in this boat with me—Nash.

“Willa, what’s your choice?” Camden asks.

“Huh?”

I shake my head, coming to. The conversation seems to have moved on without me, and now I’m going to have to play catch-up. Shit.

“We were talking yesterday at the game about what our walk-up songs would be. I chose ‘I Want It That Way,’ Dustin said ‘Walk the Line,’ Nash went ‘Black Betty,’ and Noel claimed ‘Bad Blood.’”

“Taylor Swift? Really?” I shoot him a confused look, but Noel remains unfazed.

“It’s banger.”

Can’t disagree with him there.

“Demi Lovato, ‘Confident,’” I answer, not having to think twice.

“Oh, good one!” Kenzie replies. “But I really think it would have to be ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman.’ I mean, I don’t care where I am or what I’m doing, when Shania starts singing, I feel like I could kick down a door!”

We all burst into laughter, our sweet, gentle Kenzie the last person who would ever do such a thing. But her sentiment resonates just the same.

“‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ is so classic though,” Sylvie adds.

“I’m torn,” Bronwyn announces. She purses her lips, thinking very hard about this.

My phone buzzes in my back pocket and I choose to ignore it. Partially because we’re in the middle of a very important discussion, but mostly because out of the corner of my eye I catch Nash slipping his back into his jeans.

My brain is already a whirlwind and a minefield; I don’t need whatever man-child tantrum he wants to throw fanning the flames. I need to figure things out before I deal with him. Before I turn our lives upside down and inside out.

“‘Sweet Emotion’ by Aerosmith!” Bronwyn declares, smacking the table. Our plates, glasses, and silverware rattle, all of us startling. “Final answer.”

My phone goes off again, and this time I know I can’t ignore it. Nerves settle in my chest. There are a lot of ways this could go, and right now, I’m not sure I have the emotional capacity to handle any of them.

Nash

Hey