Page 54 of Secret Baby for My Brother's Best Friends

"Love you too."

After I hang up, I shake my head, wondering how long my family is going to hold onto this belief. Probably until I introduce them to my actual partner, but there's no partner in sight.

An image of Chelsea rises in my mind again, but I mercilessly rip it away.Don't even think about it.

When I arrive at the site, an uncompleted building in the middle in Manhattan, it's just Jake and Sam there, on the first floor between the pillars. And they seem to be having a standoff.

"Good, you're here," Jake says, pointing at him like he's a bomb that needs detonating. "Stop him."

I raise an eyebrow. "From what?"

"From fucking everything up."

I turn to Sam and then back to Jake. Understanding dawns. "You told him?"

"It was an accident."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "How do you accidentally reveal a secret like that? Twice."

He sighs and frowns. "You know I'm not good at secrets. And so I was basically telling my sister about it..."

"Someone else knows?!"

"Shush. I was just asking for advice. Then in comes this one, moving silently like some kind of assassin, and he overhears the whole thing."

"So it's true?" Sam says, glaring at me. "She's pregnant, and you both were just going to keep it from me."

"No, she was going to tell you, us, in her own time. Jake found out by accident."

Sam's lips fuse, and he shakes his head. "She was never going to tell us, because she doesn't trust us. She thinks we're irresponsible fuck boys, not men who will cherish and love her and take care of her."

"Love her?" I widen my eyes. "Are you listening to yourself? You've known her for all of a week, and you're talking about love? Jesus Christ, Sam."

"If you go after her and tell her you know, she'll be mad at me, and most importantly, you'll spook her," Jake says, holding his hands out placatingly. "You need to calm down."

Sam's jaw works, shifting starkly underneath his skin.

Then he gives a jerky nod, turning away to go back to his drilling.

We both exhale sighs of relief, and we continue as normal, exploring the house and seeing what needs to be done.

But after some time, we realize the noise stops. And the sound of a car turning on.

And Sam is gone.

17

CHELSEA

When I get a knock on my door, I assume that it's Jenna back with the pizza. She’s been on a junk food kick for the whole week, but that’s typical for her after fashion week.

It's Saturday, and we had bagels this morning, while I worked on my laptop, sitcoms droning in the background.

And on her way back from meeting with her agent, she said she was going to pick up some pizza, and since I would be done with work by then, we could sit in front of the TV. I was very much looking forward to that.

That’s why I open the door wide without checking the peephole first. I feel like I can already smell the pizza, and my stomach is rumbling in welcome....

Only for me to be greeted by the sight of a large man in my doorway.