I put the box on the register counter. Erica looked down. “What the---” she started to ask.
I shook my head at her. “I’ll tell you later,” I said. The clerk rang me up and handed me a bag. All three of us walked out to the car in awkward silence.
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes as we pulled out of the parking lot. I didn’t need to look at Vance any more than absolutely necessary. A little while later, I opened my eyes expecting to be close to the club. We were heading in the opposite direction, towards Henderson. “What the hell?” I asked.
Erica looked guilty. “Look, K, I know you said you didn’t want to stay at Vance’s house, and I get that. I do. But I don’t exactly feel comfortable doing this at Leo’s club. I asked Vance to take us home.”
Did she say home? My face reddened. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Erica! You tricked me? Seriously?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t trick you. I swear. I just need to do this somewhere where I feel safe and comfortable. This is the only place that fits that description. I swear we’ll take you back to Leo as soon as we’re done.”
I saw that Vance was watching me carefully in the mirror. “Fine,” I snapped.
We pulled into Vance’s driveway about five minutes later. Vance and Erica got out of the car while I remained in the backseat stewing. Vance came around and opened my door. “Karli,” he said. “You coming?”
I climbed out of my seat without a word and followed them inside. Vance’s house looked different from when I was last there. More feminine. I looked around and saw quite a few of Erica’s belongings throughout each room. The throw blanket and pillows on the couch, knick-knacks on the coffee table, pictures of her and me, then her with her sisters on the sofa table, her Keurig on the kitchen counter. I walked down the hall into the guest bathroom and saw her towels hanging from the racks.
“Wow, Eri, you sure have made yourself comfortable here, haven’t you?” I asked as I returned to her side.
She blushed again. I don’t think I’d seen her do so as often as I had over the past two days. “Um...yeah, Vance said he didn’t mind. He wanted me to feel safe and comfortable. We brought some of my things over here to help make it easier.”
I pulled her down the hall. “Let’s do this,” I grumbled as we walked into the bathroom. I locked the door as soon as we were both inside. I glanced up again at the lilac towels and had to suppress a feeling that I didn’t want to acknowledge. We opened the box and read the instructions. I turned around while she peed on the stick, then set the timer on my phone for three minutes. We sat on the edge of the tub waiting for it to go off. Three minutes later, the alarm dinged.
“I can’t look,” Erica said.
I stood up and walked over to the counter. I looked at the digital reader and then back to Erica.
Her eyes widened. “What does it say, Kar?” she asked.
I looked down at the little white stick again. “It’s positive. Erica…you’re pregnant.”
*****
Erica was shocked. She gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth. I joined her again on the edge of the tub and pulled her in for a hug.
“Omigod, K, what am I going to do?” she cried.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “We’ll figure this out together.”
She started sobbing. A few seconds later, there was a knock on the bathroom door. “Eve
rything okay in there?” Vance asked.
I got up and opened the door a crack. “Go away,” I snapped. “I’ve got this.”
Erica came up from behind me and pushed the door open wider. “I’m pregnant,” she said to him, right before she fell into his arms sobbing even harder.
Vance led her over to the living room and guided her onto the beige leather sectional. He held her tighter, cooing and whispering words of comfort into her ear. I just stood there at the edge of the hallway staring at them. What the hell was going on here?
Vance looked up at me. “Karli, will you please get her a glass of water?” he asked.
I blinked, shaking myself out of my stupor. “Um, yeah. Sure.” I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cherry cabinet above the sink. After filling it with water from the fridge, I walked over to the couch and extended my arm, offering the glass.
Vance grabbed it from my hand and said, “Thanks.” He shifted so he could hold the glass up to Erica’s mouth. “Shh, honey. Here, take a drink.” Honey? She stopped sobbing and took a drink, holding her hand over his on the glass.
She gulped. “Thank you, Vance.” Huh? She looked up at me and patted the other side of the couch. “K, please come sit next to me.”
Pushing my reluctance to be anywhere near Vance aside, I did as she asked. I also wrapped my arm around her and leaned my head against hers. Of course, there was no way to avoid touching Vance at this point. Eri wasn’t nearly wide enough to allow for that. The heat from his skin touching mine sent far too much pleasure into my body. I tried blocking my reaction since he could read my emotions. Unfortunately, I must not have done so quickly enough because he looked at me briefly and smiled. I looked away, ashamed. Wow, what a cozy, fucked up little threesome we were.