I gesture for Nova to sit on a vintage loveseat, and she perches on the end. I’m unsure if this is her rich-girl side: the straight back and polite but lifeless expressions.
“So, how’d this dumbass convince a girl like you to come to a place like this?” River holds out a beer for Nova as he asks the question.
She points to her stomach. “He put a baby inhere. That’s how.”
Lou chokes on his drink, spraying beer across the coffee table, then coughing. Skiz pats his back absently while processing.
River’s shocked gaze holds Nova’s for a moment. He glances down at the beer he’s holding out for her. “Well, I suppose you won’t be wanting this, then,” he says, and shifts the beer to me. I take it and suppress the laugh brewing in my chest.
Nova’s lip twitches, her amusement only slightly visible behind her stoic expression.
We catch each other’s eye, and she fights harder to keep her laugh inside. There’s something about her underhanded rebellion that strokes my attraction to her—dirty mind, dark sense of humour, all hidden behind this perfect posture.
“Lou, don’t die on us, buddy,” I say, leaning over the seat to punch him in the arm. His face is red from coughing.
“So, we’re going to be uncles?” Skiz laughs, and I shake my head.
“Fuck, no. You are not allowed anywhere near my baby,” I say, and he flips me off.
Their older sister already has two kids, so these two have a strong uncle game. They also know I’m kidding. We’re not very into talking feelings, but the four of us have been close for years. If anyone else gets what it means to have to grow up faster than you want to, it’s these three.
“That was a strange twist of events.” River takes a swig from his beer then holds it out to me. “Cheers, man. You’re going to be a terrible father. The bright side is you’ll never be worse than your old man.”
He laughs, and I clink my beer against his. He’s being an ass on purpose—teasing me. My heart stutters at the words, though, because until now, they’ve only been lurking under the surface. My smile falters, and the shadows emerge from where they hide in my mind.
He might be giving me a hard time, but there’s also truth in his words. How can a guy like me, raised by a man like Jason, ever be a good father?
Nova touches my back, seemingly in tune with the sudden shift in my state. Centring on her helps, but I still feel lost about navigating this. I thought coming here for some fun would help, but I feel worse than I have since I found out.
How am I supposed to be there for her? How could I ever be the right choice for her?
She smiles, a real one this time, and I hate how easily she sees into me, past whatever I’m doing to hide the storm inside me.
Suddenly, she shifts, her face brightening and her body light as she leans forward.
“What are you guys playing?” she asks. “Can I try?”
Skiz holds out the controller, and she gets up, weaving around the coffee table, and plops herself between Skiz and River. They completely and immediately absorb into the charming, Southern belle thing she can turn on and off like a switch.
River starts imitating her accent as she plays the game and trash talks the TV. All three of them are enamoured with her, under her spell as quickly as I was. Something about her is so fucking magnetic, and I can’t figure out what. She seems highly practiced at charming people.
But why?
Her guy gets killed, and she slumps into the couch, pouting, then catches my eye. Her smirk is secret and sexy, and she gives me a slight wink. She’s taking the heat for me. She’s keeping my friends occupied for me.
I take a long drink of my beer to hide my fluttering chest and goofy urge to grin.
I’m going to have to be careful. If she keeps looking at me like that, I’m not going to be able to help falling for her.