Page 97 of Don't Think

I nod and gesture to the empty spot beside me as I sink back onto the bed. “Yeah. Come on in.”

She crosses the room and eases down next to me, her eyes meeting mine with a soft, knowing look.

“Okay,” she says, exhaling slowly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

“Whydidyou hide it?” She tilts her head while she studies my face.

I shrug, dropping my eyes to the floor. “To be honest? I don’t have a good excuse,” I admit, my voice barely above a whisper. Then I look up at her again. “At first, it was just… exciting. I thought it’d be easy to go back to our lives after and act like nothing happened.”

Before I can stop them, the tears start to fall relentlessly down my cheeks.

“I thought that if I didn’t say it out loud, it wouldn’t feel real. That I wouldn’t actually fall inlovewith him,” I manage to say, my voice breaking.

Ana slides closer, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “Sweetie, that’s, like, the number one rule of fuck buddies,” she says softly, pulling back just enough to meet my eyes. “You’re not supposed to fall in love.” She lets out a gentle laugh, brushing the tears off my chin.

My face scrunches, more tears slipping free. “Well… somebody should’ve told me that,” I murmur.

She pulls me in again, and I bury my face in her shoulder, the tears coming in waves I can’t hold back.

Eventually, my breathing slows, and the sniffling eases up. I sit up, wiping at my face with the sleeve of my hoodie.

Ana gives me a small, closed-mouth smile. She opens her mouth like she’s about to say something; but then hesitates.

“So… are you?” she finally asks, her voice careful.

I blink. “Am I what?”

“Pregnant,” she says quietly.

And suddenly, I’m eighteen again—sitting on Ana’s bed, crying my eyes out because I’d just found out I was pregnant with Charlotte.

I shake my head, trying to clear the thought. “I really don’t think so. I’m on the pill, and I take it every day.”

She tilts her head, giving me a look. “Okay, that’s great,” she says, then raises an eyebrow. “But did you guys useprotection?”

I don’t answer right away. My eyes drop to my lap as guilt creeps in. I feel like a total idiot. I’m an RN. I know better. I’ve had this exact conversation with patients—hell, I’ve given the lecture more times than I can count. And here I am, sitting on my bed, wondering if my birth control failed me.

Ana pulls her phone out of her pocket, thumbs tapping fast as she stares at the screen.

“What are you doing?” I ask, trying to sneak a glance.

She shrugs, still typing. “Texting James. Asking him to grab a test.”

My heart leaps into my throat. “You can’t do that!”

“Already did,” she says with zero remorse, turning the screen toward me.

James

Yeah, no problem. I’ll leave them on the porch, and no, I won’t tell Jax.

I shake my head, my cheeks already burning with a mix of embarrassment and disbelief. “I can’t believe you textedJames.”

Ana just shrugs, completely unfazed. “Well, you need to know, Allie. You can’t just sit around, possibly carrying Jax’s love child and not do anything about it. You’re a nurse, you know how important the first trimester is.”

“It’s too early to tell anyway!” I nearly shout. “It’s been three weeks. It wouldn’t even be accurate.”