42. Kennedy
Chapter 42
Kennedy
“ B ack where it all started.” Eli smiled at me as we took our books out.
When we’d both realized we needed to go to the library, we decided to make a little date out of it, and now we were sitting at the table where I had been sitting the first time Eli asked me out on a date.
“This table does feel very lucky.” I smiled as I sipped the hot chocolate Eli had grabbed for me on the way in. I was trying to reduce the amount of coffee I had been drinking, so I had been worshipping at the altar of hot chocolate instead. Lucky for me, the university café offered some amazing hot chocolate drinks. White chocolate and hazelnut was becoming a fast favorite of mine.
It wasn't even lunchtime yet, but Charlotte had been playing with Storm and Micha, so we had decided to grab the opportunity while we could. My finals were only one week away. I had done everything in my power to prepare for them, and now all I could do was wait and take the tests and hand in the final papers.
I groaned as I tried to grab one of the books. I had reached the point in my pregnancy where I was roughly the size of a whale and struggling to move at all because my center of gravity had changed so severely.
None of my clothes fit. Even my late-term maternity clothes from when I was pregnant with Charlotte didn't fit me, so clearly, this baby was going to be even bigger than my girl.
“Are you okay?” Eli asked.
“Yeah, baby is just wriggling a lot. If I ever want to take classes again, please make sure I'm not pregnant during finals. It's just not fair. If I wasn't so close to the end, I would have delayed, but I refuse to do another year of school.”
“You still have four weeks until your due date.”
“Three and a half weeks,” I reminded him.
“Are you sure that's safe? Apparently, it is quite common to give birth two weeks before the due date.”
“Charlotte was ridiculously late. I get the feeling this baby is going to be the same. Though I dread to think what size I'll be in four weeks.”
Eli smiled, resting his arm on the back of my chair. “Whatever size you’ll be, you will be absolutely stunning.”
“Sweet talker,” I murmured, leaning in for a quick kiss. I didn't want to stop kissing him, but I had studying to do.
“Remember, we could always go to the old part of the library,” Eli whispered in my ear.
I snorted. “There is no way in hell I can manage that with a bump this big.” I giggled.
Eli cocked his head to the side. “We would have to be creative with positions, but I think it's doable.”
Biting back a grin, I ignored him and turned back to my textbooks.
Study first.
Fuckies later.
“I need to pee again!” I groaned, closing my textbook, looking down at my bump. “Mama would really appreciate it if you would stop dancing on her bladder. Give me one week to get through finals, then you can be a little urinary acrobat, okay?” I pleaded with my stomach.
“You really think they're going to listen? If anything, like you, they're going to be stubborn as a mule.”
I sighed. “Well, maybe they're going to take after their daddy and be susceptible to good, calm reasoning.”
Eli threw his head back and laughed. “Okay, we’ll see who wins that. Why don’t you go to the bathroom, and I’ll get you another hot chocolate?”
I nodded eagerly. “Yes, please. I don't even care that it’s going to make me need to pee again.
Eli went to procure the beverage as I waddled to the bathroom. Thankfully, there wasn’t far to go. Our table just happened to be near the bathrooms, which was a stroke of luck, considering my condition.
I hummed lightly to myself as I washed my hands. Everything felt so easy with this pregnancy. Even though I was uncomfortable, and I felt huge, I felt far more content than last time. At this point in my pregnancy with Charlotte, I had been panicking, stressing out about what to do, trying to find small online jobs so I could make whatever money I could.
With this pregnancy, it was like I could turn off my brain. I didn't have to worry about things, because I had four guys who were willing to do everything for me to make things easier.
And I trusted them implicitly.
Eli was waiting for me outside the bathroom, leaning against the wall, two take-out cups in hand. Beaming at him, I made grabby hands at the cups as he handed me the hot chocolate.
“I'm surprised you’re not dreaming about hot chocolate yet.” He laughed.
“Oh, I totally am. Did I not tell you about the peppermint hot chocolate dream I had?”
Eli shook his head. “You didn’t, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Let’s get you sitting down.”
We took it slow back to our table. Even though it was close, it still took us a good three minutes to move from outside the bathroom to the large open space with tables. I sipped on my hot chocolate with one hand and clutched Eli’s with the other.
As we turned the corner, my eyes landed on a blonde sitting at a table in the corner of the room, a good distance from us.
I groaned as we took our seats. “Is that the puck bunny?”
“Sadly, but I don’t think she or her friends plan to come near us,” he assured me. “They were pretty humiliated the last time they tried to be mean to you.”
I thankfully hadn't seen any of them in my classes since that day. I didn’t know if they were actually taking that class or were simply there to harass me, but either way, I was glad of their absence.
“I still don't like that she's in the same room as us. Her flying monkeys are just as bad,” I muttered.
Eli’s hand gently rubbed the back of my neck. “A couple of short weeks, and this will all be in the rearview,” he assured me. “But, for now, studying.” He tapped the textbook in front of me.
“If you insist.”
We only managed another two hours of studying before I was too exhausted to continue. One of the more annoying side effects of being pregnant was that I became tired so easily and needed a good long rest in my nest before I could do anything else.
Eli didn't seem to mind, though. He packed up our things and put our books away without complaint.
We were just about to leave when one of the library security guards came up to us, a second guard following not far behind. He was a short beta who smelled like potatoes, but not in a bad way. He had a friendly smile as he approached us.
“Hey, folks, sorry to bother you. We need to do a quick bag check.”
I frowned. Bag check? I had never heard of the staff doing bag checks before.
“Can I have your student IDs?” the second guard asked.
Eli took his from his pocket, and I pulled mine off the lanyard around my neck. I kept it there, because if I put it in my bag, it would take ages rummaging around for it when I needed to scan in or out of the building.
Maybe they were worried that people were sneaking out books they hadn’t checked out? The library was fairly modern, so people had to walk through a little scanner when they came in and out of the building to make sure that no books were being illegally taken.
Eli’s brow furrowed. “Whatever for?” he asked, picking up his backpack and starting to hand it to the guard.
He held out his hand. “No, it’s not your bag we need to check,” he said, before turning to look at me.
“My bag?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, we’ve had reports of inappropriate material,” the guard said. “It’s policy that we have to check.”
I picked up my handbag and passed it to him. After all, I had nothing to hide. He took it and started rummaging around. It was a pain, but really not that big a deal. I was mainly curious why they thought I was hoarding inappropriate materials—or what even classified as inappropriate materials.
The guard’s calm face hardened as he pulled something out of my bag I didn’t recognize. It was a little clear baggy, full of pills.
Pills I’d never seen.
“What are these?” the guard asked pointedly.
I looked to Eli, who appeared just as confused as me. “I have no idea, those aren’t mine!” I insisted. Why the fuck would I have drugs in my bag? I was pregnant, for God's sake.
“You'd be surprised how often we hear that,” the guard grumbled. “We will be taking these and reporting this to campus security. As is policy, you will be banned from campus immediately, pending a review of your actions. We’ll escort you from campus now,” he said in a no-nonsense tone.
“Banned from campus?” I asked, my voice shrill. “I have finals next week!”
The guard shook his head. “You will have to take that up with your student advisor. The university has a strict no-tolerance policy when it comes to drugs, so you’ll have to leave for now.”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Where had the drugs come from? I had never done drugs in my entire life. Hell, I'd barely drunk alcohol, and I was in the final year of my master’s program. Most students had gone on at least a handful of benders by this point in their academic career.
Instead of partying, I had been parenting.
“B—”
“Kennedy,” Eli said, his voice soothing. “We will get this sorted out.”
The guards looked pissed as they escorted us back to Eli’s car. It seemed like simply walking us out of the building wasn't enough. Tears welled up in my eyes as we got in the car and drove away. The moment we were off the campus, I descended into full-on messy sobs.
“Those weren’t mine!” I sobbed. “You believe me, right?” I asked Eli, who had a face like thunder.
“Of course, I believe you, little killer,” he said, one hand gripping my thigh as he drove. “Call the guys—we need a pack meeting immediately.”
I picked up Eli’s phone from its car cradle and tapped on the link that opened the pack group chat and pressed the call button.
“Hey, how’s studying?” Storm’s voice was the first I heard.
I couldn't speak. I could only sob. “Kennedy?” His tone immediately changed from playful to serious. “What's going on? Is everything okay?”
Eli squeezed my thigh before talking. “Campus security just found drugs in Kennedy's bag. They've banned her from campus. We need a pack meeting, immediately.”
“Fuck, okay, I’ll get everyone. How long until you’re back?”
“Five minutes.”
“How the hell did drugs appear in your bag?” Charlie asked, utterly confused.
We were all sitting around the coffee table, discussing what had just happened. The entire pack had rushed home when they had learned of the news. Thankfully, Charlotte was down for a nap, so she didn’t witness how much of a mess I was.
I had been crying ever since they had walked me off campus. No matter how much Eli had comforted me, I couldn't shake the feeling that everything I'd worked so hard for was going down the drain.
“It makes no sense. We know Kennedy isn’t like that. She's refused to even look at a piece of sushi since she got pregnant.”
“Were your bags ever left unattended?” Storm asked, running his hand through his hair.
“I-I don’t think so,” I said, turning to Eli for confirmation.
“They were for a few minutes.” He grimaced. “I went to go get Kennedy another hot chocolate while she went to the bathroom. We left our bags there because they only had textbooks in them. We had our phones with us, so there was nothing for anyone to steal.”
“Doesn't the library have cameras?” I asked. “Remember, we talked about it when we…” I trailed off, looking at Eli.
“When you what?” Micha asked.
Eli sighed. “When I took her up to the old section, where there were no cameras, and ate her out against a bookcase on one of our early dates.”
The pack was silent for a moment before Micha broke into laughter. “Damn, nice move!” he complimented, making my face heat. What we had done in the library was still hands-down one of the hottest things I had ever done.
“But to continue Kennedy’s point, yeah, pretty much everywhere is covered by cameras.”
“Then we get the security footage and find out what happened,” Storm said.
“Will they give us the footage?” I asked.
“You're going to have to ask your student advisor,” Eli replied.
“Who would put drugs in her bag, and then tell security she had them on her?” Charlie asked. “This is Kennedy we’re talking about.”
Eli cursed, and we all turned to face him as he glowered at Storm. “I think I know exactly who did this,” he growled, before turning to me, his voice softer. “Do you remember who was in the corner of the library when we came back from getting your hot chocolate?”
Realization dawned on me, and I also let loose a few expletives. “Are you kidding me?” I growled, standing up, anger raging through me.
“Someone going to tell us what you guys just realized?” Charlie asked, looking utterly lost.
“You know Lorna, the puck bunny who made a scene at the rink, then cornered me after class? She was there.”
Storm’s face paled. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Eli nodded. “Kennedy, didn’t you say she seemed really upset when you mentioned bonding with us?”
I nodded. “She’d been going on about how she and Storm were meant for each other, and I let slip that we were going to bond after this baby was born, when the time was right. She didn't seem to believe me. I don't know, we haven't really talked about bonding yet. I mainly did it to shut her up. I'm so sorry.”
Charlie chuckled. “Kennedy, we’re all head over heels for you. I think we all assumed bonding was on the table in the future, when you felt up to it.”
“Oh.” I gaped at them. I had expected them to be angry at me for assuming we were going to bond.
“You’re it for us, Kennedy. How many times do we have to say that, whatever hell comes our way, we will deal with it?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but my phone buzzed, distracting me. I whipped it out and quickly opened the email app that was flashing with one new message.
My stomach dropped as I read it.
Dear Miss Sanderson,
This message is a confirmation that, pending review, you are suspended from Avalon University for the possession of drugs on campus. Avalon prides itself on being a drug-free university.
To show our commitment to keeping our campus clean of drugs, we have also reported what our security discovered to the local authorities.
Thank you,
Administration.