27
SEBASTIAN
For a second, I have no idea what to do. Dornan has just blurted out our secret in the most terrible way, and Ellie is standing frozen like he stabbed her in the heart. Dornan still has Colby’s shirt in his fist, and I can see his other hand flexing as though he intends to throw a punch. There’s no way he’s hitting Colby with his monster sized fist.
I edge forward, intending to try to smooth the situation over when Ellie bolts. She flies past her mom on the stairs, traveling so quickly, my heart is in my mouth. The front door is yanked open and slammed before any of us can react to her exit. Micky steps in next to Colby, putting his hands up to diffuse Dornan’s anger.
“What is going on?” Lara says. “Ellie’s not pregnant. She has a stomach bug.” Even as she says the words, I can see the truth dawning. “She’s pregnant?” Her attention turns to the stairs and focuses down into the hallway below. “She’s gone.”
That gets Dornan’s attention. He drops Colby’s shirt and spins to look for Ellie. “Where did she go?”
The sound of an engine starting outside sets everyone in motion. Colby shoulders past dad and stomps down the stairs like a whirlwind. I’m not far behind, and Dornan and Micky follow closely. Lara is still yelling for an explanation, and dad bellows we need to get back upstairs and explain ourselves, but no one is listening.
Colby flings open the front door as Ellie’s car speeds out of the drive. She’s going too fast.
For fuck’s sake.
“We need to get her back,” Micky says quickly. He grabs the car keys from the console, but I raise my hand. “We’re not going to find her if we follow now. She’s long gone.” Turning, I focus my attention on Lara. “Check her room. We need to know if she has her phone on her?”
She blinks, still lost in the turmoil of what’s just happened. Celine disappears up the stairs, jogging to Ellie’s room.
“She’s pregnant?” Lara says again, her eyes wide. “Who. Who’s gotten Ellie pregnant?”
“COLBY. EXPLAIN. RIGHT NOW,” Dad yells.
“Her phone’s not here,” Celine calls.
“Lara, can you track Ellie’s phone? Can you tell us where she’s going?”
Lara dashes into the kitchen with her long hair streaming behind her, filled with an urgency that I know she doesn’t quite understand. Everything feels so frantic and crazy.
“EXPLAIN,” dad yells again.
“Harry, wait,” Lara says. “Here.” She hands me her unlocked phone, and I search to find the app that can track Ellie. The girl I love is reduced to a moving dot on a map.
“Have you found her?” Dornan asks.
“Yeah, but she’s still moving.”
“Let’s take the phone. We can follow her.” Micky is already sprinting to his car, his bare feet out of place on the driveway.
“COLBY,” dad yells, his eyeballs bugging out of his head.
“Not now, Dad. Let us find her first.”
Lara puts her hand up to stop the conversation as we all pile out of the door and into Micky’s waiting car. I haven’t even gotten my door closed before he spins us to the end of the driveway. “Yell directions,” he orders.
“RIGHT,” I bellow, clutching Lara’s phone like it’s the key to the universe. I’m trying to find where Ellie is, and where she might go, and where we are, and where we have to go to follow her. It’s confusing as shit.
“Now?” Micky yells.
“LEFT,” I shout, turning the phone and squinting down at it in the dark.
“Give it here,” Dornan says, snatching it out of my hands. He holds it close to his face, the blue light illuminating his flared nose and flushed cheeks.
“She’s stopped…hang on…”
“Give it here,” Colby says, snatching it from Dornan.
Fuck. There’s going to be a flight over the phone now.
“Can you fuckers just tell me where to go?” Micky yells, frustrated.
“Molly’s. She’s stopped at Molly’s Motel.”
“Why the fuck has she gone there?” Dornan asks. When none of us says anything, he growls. “You took her to Molly’s? You put a baby in her at Molly’s?”
“We didn’t mean to,” Micky says. “It was an accident.”
“I mean, the place is a dive.”
“It’s not that bad,” I say. “And anyway, that’s not the point right now. Let’s just find Ellie and make sure she’s okay.”
“Maybe things might be different if you’d been thinking more like that when you were last at Molly’s.”
Colby turns from the front seat to stare at Ellie’s best friend. “Listen, Dornan. I know you’re worried about Ellie. And I know this situation is fucked up. But we’re handling it. We want to be there for Ellie.”
“Be there? What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that we love her, and we want to be there for her and the baby.”
“Be there?” Dornan says. “Be there as what?”
“As whatever she wants us to be,” Micky says.
“But what do you want?” Dornan flexes his hands in frustration, his biceps tensing.
“We want to be the men in her life,” I say. “Whatever that might look like.”
“And who’s the father? I’m guessing you know or did you all ‘have an accident’.” He places the last part of his comment into air quotes.
“Colby,” I say.
“Fuck.” Dornan shakes his head, and past him, I can see the lights of Molly’s sign illuminating the night sky.
Micky swings the car into the lot, and we all scan for Ellie’s car. It’s over in the corner furthest from reception, and all the lights are off.
“She better not have gotten out of that car,” Colby says, glancing around at the grim neighborhood.
“She hasn’t. She’s there,” I say. Micky pulls up a few spots down, and everyone’s hands fly to the door handles. “Only one of us should go,” I say. “She’s going to get overwhelmed if we all spring on her.”
“I’ll go,” Colby says.
“It should be me,” I say.
“Now isn’t the time for jokes, Seb,” Micky says. “Ellie needs a careful hand.”
“I can be careful,” I say. “Trust me.”
I rarely put myself out there like this, and my brothers stare at me through the gap between the seats.
“It can’t be me,” Dornan says, hanging his head. “She’s never going to speak to me again.”
It isn’t the time or place to console him about the way he behaved. I throw the door open before anyone can disagree and jog over to Ellie’s car. She’s slumped over in the front seat, her head resting against the steering wheel, her hair concealing her face. Her hands have braced either side, knuckles white as bone.
I try the door, but it’s locked. She jumps when I tap on the window, and her head swivels to see who’s there.
“Open up,” I say.
“Leave me alone,” she yells. “Can’t I get even five minutes to myself? Do I get no privacy?”
“Please,” I say. “Just give me five minutes.”
Ellie closes her eyes and shakes her head, and even in the darkness, her face seems shadowed with exhaustion.
“Please, honey. I promise we’ll give you all the space you need after these five minutes are done.”
In my heart of hearts, I’m expecting her to remain stubborn because I’d be the same in her shoes. In just a few days, she’s lost control of her body and of who knows her secrets. She must be so overwhelmed.
When the lock clicks, I don’t waste a second. I’m in that front seat, slamming the door closed and locking the car from the inside. This is my five minutes, and I’m going to make sure no one else can get in this car and undermine it.
I take Ellie’s hand, finding it cold and resistant. I bring it to my lips and kiss it gently. “You know all we want is for you to be okay. That means being okay with whatever you decide. I know Colby’s told you we want you, not just because of some stupid dares or because it’s convenient, but because you’re a part of us.”
Ellie tries to pull her hand out of mine, but I resist. She has to hear me, and I won’t let her pull away again. Not this time.
“You heard Dornan, and mom, and your dad. They’re all disgusted,” she whispers.
“I heard Dornan mad as hell because he feels we didn’t protect you, and he’s right, in a way. He only said all that because he loves you. I saw your mom freaking out when you left because she loves you, and nothing matters more than you being safe. And I saw our dad mad as hell at us for being irresponsible. None of it has anything to do with you and the pregnancy.”
“Of course it does. Nobody will want me to keep the baby. I’m too young and still studying. I’ll become a burden. It’s not fair.”
“Not fair on who? The baby will be a gift, honey. And we can overcome every obstacle you can think of.”
“You just feel guilty,” Ellie says softly. “I know if this hadn’t happened, you’d all eventually move on and find girlfriends. This was all just a dare. None of it was real.”
“It was real for me,” I say. “Real as anything I’ve ever known. Can’t you see that, Ellie? Can’t you feel it?” I place her hand on my heart, knowing it’s racing. Doubting my ability to convince her of the truth is enough to make me panic.
Ellie’s eyes widen, and I nod. “I’ve wanted you every day since you moved into our house. Every day I’ve found another reason to love you. My brothers too. And we’re not letting you push us away because you doubt yourself and your worthiness. Dares can only take you so far, honey. After that, you have to be prepared to take a leap. I just need you to know that whatever you decide, me, Micky, and Colby will be with you all the way. You’re our forever girl, Ellie.”
She blinks, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.
“Forever’s a long time?”
“Here’s hoping,” I say, sliding closer. Now’s my chance to pull her into my arms and really show her what it means to have us in her life, a reliable presence to make everything easier. “We’ll protect you and the baby, Ellie. We’ll make sure everything works out.”
She gazes up at me with wide eyes as black as night. “Will you dare me, Seb?”
“No more dares,” I say softly, stroking her cheek. “You don’t need dares, sweetie. You’re strong and kind and loyal and fierce. You’ve got the strength to face any situation and come out on top. I see it. Colby sees it. Micky sees it. The only person left to see it is you.”
Taking a shuddery breath, she closes her eyes and relaxes against my chest.
I stroke Ellie’s soft hair, finding it still damp with her tears, but she’s not crying now. She’s relaxed and pliant. It’s hard for me to sit with her in silence. The urge to fill the space with a joke tickles the back of my throat, but I resist. This isn’t a moment for humor. It’s a moment to face up to the parts of ourselves that hold us back from becoming who we truly are.
Ellie’s hand finds the hem of my shirt and slides beneath to rest against the warm skin of my abs. I hope she finds comfort in our skin-to-skin contact the way I do. Her face moves against my shirt as though she’s smiling. “You know, when you’re not telling jokes, you’re pretty wise, Seb.”
“Don’t go too far, Ellie,” I say. “Wise is Colby’s domain.”
“Maybe I need to dare you to do something,” she whispers.
“And what would that be?”
She lifts her head from my chest, her pretty eyes searching my face and a smile playing on her lips. “I dare you to take the lead in talking to our parents about what’s happened.”
Drawing my head back, I frown. “Why me?”
“They won’t expect it, and I think you’ll do the best job.”
“You do?”
“Sure.” She rests her warm hand on my cheek. In my pocket, Lara’s phone rings.
“As much as I’m enjoying this hug, we should go back,” I say. “Are you ready to face the music?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Ellie places her hand over her belly, smiling as her eyebrows draw together in a quizzical v. “I’m pregnant, Seb,” she whispers.
I rest my hand next to hers, overwhelmed by the significance of the moment. “You’re having our baby,” I tell her softly. When she frowns, I laugh, and it’s a bubbling, happy sound. “We’re identical triplets, honey. You get pregnant with one of us, you get pregnant with all of us.”
“Shit, I never thought of it that way,” she smiles. “How perfect is that?”
Perfect.
It absolutely is.