Chapter 11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
ONE MONTH LATER
Alie
Ten days late. I’m never late.
How could this have happened? I’ve religiously taken the pill since I was sixteen.
After a proper freak-out, I had my assistant run to the drug store to discreetly grab a pregnancy test—or five—so I could rule out what I suspected to be true.
So, after chugging nearly a gallon of water, I take the first test and wait for the results.
I pace my small bathroom in my office as the timer on my phone winds down to zero. I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. As I exhale, I open my eyes and look down at the long white stick resting on the counter next to the sink.
Two pink lines.
“Oh. Fuck.” This can’t be happening.
I close my eyes and brace my arms on the sink to hold myself up. I inhale deeply, trying to wrap my head around how this is possible. I’m an analyst, for fuck’s sakes. The numbers are not supporting this outcome. Pregnant.
A knock on the door startles me, and I bump the test into the sink.
“Alie, it’s me. Let me in,” my older sister, Presley, says.
I don’t even bother to compose myself before opening the door.
“Pres,” I start and then immediately start to cry.
“Okay, so I take it, the test was positive?” She wraps me in her arms and rubs my back.
I can’t even speak through my sobs, so I just nod.
“Alie, we got this. I will be with you every step of the way. Let’s just take a second to figure out a game plan and how we’re going to address it with Mom and Dad. And you need to tell him, of course.” She pulls back and looks at me, but keeps her hands on my shoulders.
I sniff and reach for a tissue on the counter. “I just don’t understand how this could have happened to begin with. You know I’ve been on the pill forever.”
“Well, let’s trace your timeline. You think this is from your little rendezvous with Liam Pitz the week before Christmas, right?”
I nod.
“And you remember taking your pill the morning after?”
I think back to that morning, and memories of us having sex—again—flash through my mind. Yeah, nope, I did not. Definitely got distracted by his magic dick.
“I … didn’t, no.”
“Aliette Grant, I think you have your answer on how this happened, then, yes?”
“In my defense, I would have taken it if he hadn’t distracted me. Then I saw those texts, and I just panicked and left. By the time I got home, changed, and met you for brunch, it had completely slipped my mind. I feel so stupid.” I grimace. “Do you really think one missed pill would do it though?”
“Not necessarily, but you know that shit is only ninety-nine percent effective. Are you absolutely sure it was just one day?”
I start crying again. Those few days after, I was in a haze. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, and I was crushed that I could be so wrong. I’d thought maybe we could actually try to be something.
“You know what? It doesn’t matter. What’s important now is making sure you’re taking care of yourself and the baby. When are you going to call him?”
I shrug. “Well, I could call him if I had his number.”
“You don’t have his number?”
“No, Presley. I ran out of there like my ass was on fire. I didn’t stick around for his number.”
“Al? You in here?” Aaron, my best friend and one of our players, shouts from outside the bathroom.
“Shit. I have to tell Aaron.” I cover my face with my hands.
“He’ll know Liam’s number, right?”
I pop my head up. “Yes! He should.”
I run my hands over my face, doing my best to wipe away the tears and the overall distress the last ten minutes have brought. I move around my sister and open the door.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” I walk to him and hug him.
“I just came to see what my favorite girl was up to. You wanna grab some lunch?”
“Are you done for the day?”
“Hi, Presley.” He nods at my sister when she walks out of the bathroom.
“Hello, Aaron.” She sits on the edge of my desk and crosses her arms.
She’s known Aaron for as long as I have, since our parents are good friends. For some reason, though, she’s never really cared for him, and I don’t know why.
“Uh, yeah. I just wrapped up in the weight room, and I’m starving.”
Glancing down, I look at his leg. “Your knee holding up?”
He had an injury in college and occasionally has some pain when he’s training hard.
We’re getting ready to go into spring camp, so he’s been building up the muscle around it to strengthen it.
We took a gamble, drafting him, knowing he had this injury, but our family ties made it a little … complicated to not draft him.
“Doing good. I’ll be fine, Al.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders and tugs me into him.
“Aaron, you should go have one of the trainers check you before you leave, but first, we need your help with something,” Presley says.
“Pres.” I glare at her.
“What’s up?” He tips his head up when he looks at her.
“Alie needs Liam Pitz’s number.” She cuts to the chase. My sister is anything but subtle.
“Why? He’s a dickbag,” he huffs.
After my night with Liam, I told Aaron the very basics of our time together.
He knows that I saw texts from Liam’s best friend, Archie Griffith, and a text from a woman, but that’s pretty much all I told him.
He doesn’t need to know details about my sex life.
Although things are about to get a little more personal.
“Whether he’s a dickbag or not, she needs his number.” Presley stands and takes my hand in hers and squeezes gently.
“Alie, what’s going on?” He puts his hands on his hips and tips his head when he looks at me.
“Well…” I swallow. The words feel stuck in my throat, so I look at my sister pleadingly.
“She’s pregnant,” Presley announces.
“Pregnant?” He looks confused.
Me too, buddy.
“Yes, as in they had intercourse, and now she’s carrying a child,” she says sarcastically. “Do you need me to explain further?”
I love my sister, but she can be a little blunt.
“I got it, Presley. Thanks.” He glares at her. “And it’s Pitz’s baby? You’re sure?”
“Aaron, yes. You know I don’t sleep around, good God.” I break out of my sister’s hold and move around my desk, where I have a full Google search of Liam Pitz pulled up, take a seat, and I quickly close out of that tab before my sister can say anything else in front of Aaron.
“Right, sorry. That’s not what I meant. But you’re sure it’s his and not Derek’s?”
Derek was the guy I dated in the fall, but we ended things weeks before I met Liam.
“I’m one hundred percent sure.” I lean back in my chair, holding onto the armrests.
“So, give his number to Alie,” my sister suggests.
“Right, yeah.” Aaron takes his phone from his pocket and taps a few times. “Okay, done.” He looks up at me, then looks back at his phone again.
I look at my cell and wait for the shared contact. It doesn’t come through. “I didn’t get it.”
Aaron shrugs. “I texted him. Trust me when I say that guy is a world-class player. Before I let you talk to him in your … condition … I’m going to feel him out first.”
Presley straightens up. “Aaron, you don’t have to—”
“I got this.” His tone is direct, but his attention is on his phone, like he’s reading a text.
“Did he answer already?” I ask, sitting up straight.
“Uh, no. It came back, saying failed to send.”
“Surely, you can find out if he’s gotten a new number.” Presley looks exasperated. “Or we can just call the team and get it. Who’s his agent?”
“No.” His voice is calm. Too calm. “I’ll take care of it. There’s no need to get his team involved and definitely not his agent in a personal matter right now.”
He straightens, pacing once behind my desk, like he’s thinking three moves ahead—always three moves ahead.
“You’re not just some girl who had a wild night,” he continues gently.
“You’re the legacy of an entire franchise.
A billion-dollar brand built on discipline and image.
” He exhales like this is a burden he’s willing to carry for me.
“If this leaks before we control the narrative? It won’t be a sweet human-interest story.
It’ll be headlines. ‘Empire Princess Pregnant After One-Night Stand.’ They’ll reduce you to a punch line. ”
He rounds the desk and lowers himself in front of me, squatting so we’re eye level. Intimate. Grounded.
His hands close over mine.
“You and I both know how these teams operate,” he says softly.
“If you call him, it doesn’t stay between you two.
It goes to his agent. His PR people. Their lawyers.
Suddenly, it’s out of your hands.” His thumb brushes over my knuckles in reassurance.
“Let me handle it quietly. Directly. I can protect you from the circus.”
His eyes hold mine—steady, unwavering.
“I’ll be here with you through this, okay? Anything you need, just say the word, and I’m here.”
I know he’s trying to comfort me, but everything just feels wrong. I need a minute to come to terms with all this. I feel overwhelmed, and a whole lot freaked out.
A baby wasn’t part of my plan right now. And definitely not with my holiday fling.