Chapter 27 Marcus
The first thing that I want to do when Cassidy starts crying is pull her into my arms and assure her that everything is going to be okay.
But I can’t even budge an inch as I stare at the bottle of prenatal vitamins that Jackson is holding.
Can it really be?
“I’m sorry,” Cassidy says, sniffling as tears roll down her cheeks.
“Are you pregnant?” Tyler blurts out, his eyes wide.
Cassidy swallows and nods, her tears tumbling off her face. “I don’t know who the father is.”
“It’s not Derek?” Jackson asks her.
Cassidy shakes her head. “There’s no way. It has to be…”
“One of us,” I say, my heart rate spiking.
Holy shit. She’s pregnant, and the baby is one of ours.
Tyler folds his arms behind his head like he can’t breathe properly. “Are you sure? There was no one else?”
Cassidy’s eyes grow wide. “You think I slept with someone else other than the three of you?”
“Tyler,” Jackson grits out, motioning for him to shut up. “Are you sure you’re pregnant, Cass?”
Cassidy crosses her arms and shrinks back from us. “Yes, I’m sure. I missed my period. I took a pregnancy test that came back positive. I’ve been dealing with symptoms for weeks now.”
Jackson pushes his hand through his hair. “You haven’t been feeling well this entire trip. You almost fainted last night. You were throwing up the other day.”
“I don’t eat much because everything makes me want to throw up,” Cassidy tells him.
“Well, you can’t starve yourself. What if you faint and fall down the stairs or something?” Jackson questions her.
“I would sit down if I felt that lightheaded, Jackson!” she grits out.
“You’re still starving yourself,” Jackson argues.
“I can’t believe this,” Tyler murmurs, walking back and forth. He’s in a whole other world right now. “I can’t be a dad! I don’t know how to. I’ll be terrible.”
Between Cassidy and Jackson arguing and Tyler losing his mind, even I can barely think.
“Tyler, relax. You’re just freaking her out,” I tell him.
Tyler fidgets with his piercing nervously. “I don’t know what to do. How do we go about this? What happens now?”
The chill club guy has finally lost his cool.
At the worst time too.
“I’m not perfect. I know that!” Cassidy tells Jackson.
“I’m not trying to be an asshole, Cass. We could’ve been helping you if you just told us the truth from the start,” Jackson tells her.
Cassidy hastily wipes her tears away but more keep coming.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask her gently, approaching her slowly.
She lets out a bitter laugh. “I slept with my brother’s best friends. That already makes me look bad enough. Now, I’m pregnant, and I don’t know who the father is. That makes me look even worse.”
“You could’ve told us,” I say, debating on whether to reach out to her or not.
I don’t want to push her too much.
“I was scared,” she tells us. “I thought you’d be mad or you’d turn your back on me. Like everyone else is going to do when they find out the truth about everything.”
“We would never do that,” I tell her, fighting past my uncertainty and taking her hand. I can feel it tremble in my grasp. “We’re going to figure this out together.”
“Would you stop pacing?” Jackson snaps at Tyler.
Tyler stops abruptly and glares at Jackson. “How are you not losing your mind right now? Are you ready to be a dad? You’re not even ready to be in a serious relationship.”
“Panicking isn’t going to help anyone,” Jackson tells him before turning to Cassidy. “First, we’re going to get a paternity test. Then, we’ll figure out the rest. One thing at a time.”
“That gives two of you a way out,” Cassidy says, her voice full of pain.
I squeeze her hand, drawing her eyes back to mine. “We’re not going anywhere. This is just a lot to take in. You’re carrying a baby right now!”
Cassidy’s face softens a little as I give her a comforting look.
“Do you want to have it? Do you want to be a mom?” I ask her.
She nods, a small smile tugging on her lips.
Warmth blooms in my chest as I smile back.
Tyler is freaking out, and I don’t know what’s going through Jackson’s mind right now besides the urge to control everything, but I’m happy. She’s going to be an incredible mother, and I can’t think of a single other person who I would want to raise a child with than her.
I’d spill that all to her right now if I was certain that it wouldn’t overwhelm her and spook her.
She doesn’t need a confession of all my deep feelings right now. She needs someone calm and collected to help her not spiral.
“She lives in a whole other city! Do we move to where she lives? Does she move to where we are?” Tyler asks as he starts pacing again, spilling every question his frantic mind comes up with.
“You’re thinking about all the wrong things right now,” Jackson tells Tyler, grabbing him by his shirt sleeve to make him stop moving.
Tyler shoves his hand off. “Someone should be thinking about these things. They’re real decisions that we’re going to have to make.”
“Not right now or in the next few days. Get yourself together, man,” Jackson growls.
“Will you two relax?” I say through gritted teeth as I step away from Cassidy. “I know we all just learned something huge, but she’s the one carrying the baby. She’s the one carrying the most weight on her shoulders. The least we can do is get our damn heads together and be there for her.”
“I get that. I just…I can’t think straight right now,” Tyler tells me, his words coming out rushed. He shakes his head and steps back from us. “I need some air.”
“Ty, come on. Don’t,” Jackson says, trying to reach out to him.
Tyler hurries out of the room without another word.
My shoulders sink. “Damn it…”
“I did this. It’s my fault.”
I turn around to see more tears pouring out of Cassidy’s eyes. “Nothing is your fault. He just needs some time.”
“He’ll come back,” Jackson assures her.
Cassidy sighs. “Don’t force him to come back. If he doesn’t want to be involved, he doesn’t want to be involved.”
“And if he’s the father?” Jackson questions her.
Her eyes glisten even more. “I’ll raise the baby alone if I have to.”
“You won’t have to,” I tell her. “You’re not alone in this. I’ll say that to you until I’m blue in the face because it’s true.”
Cassidy chews on her bottom lip, wrapping her arms around herself. “I don’t want to force anyone to do anything. Don’t stick around just because you pity me or whatever.”
“It’s not pity,” Jackson says, walking closer to her. “This happened because of the four of us. Not just one. Not just you. So, we’re going to figure this out together.”
“So, what do we do now? Derek knows I’m pregnant. I just know that he’s going to run his mouth to Ryan,” she asks, her voice shaking.
“He doesn’t know you were with us,” Jackson tells her. “If Ryan asks who the dad is, you don’t have to give him an answer yet.”
Cassidy buries her face in her hands. “This is going to ruin the whole week. Their wedding! I can’t believe this is happening.”
I share an uneasy look with Jackson. Things are really about to start falling apart once Derek starts talking. We’ll have to be prepared for the aftermath.
“Maybe we can talk to Derek and convince him not to say anything,” Jackson replies. “I can make him scared of me.”
Cassidy narrows her eyes. “No, Jax. No threatening people. Don’t antagonize Derek.”
“I’m not scared of him, Cass. The asshole needs to be knocked down a peg for what he’s done to you,” Jackson says.
“I said no,” she tells him. “It’s too late. He’s going to say something regardless of what you do.”
“She’s right. We’ll just have to be ready for what’s coming,” I say before placing my hand on Cassidy’s back. “And we’ll handle it. All of it.”
Fear flashes in her eyes. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” I tell her, willing my voice to be strong and steady.
She needs our support. She’s carrying a baby. Our baby.
I knew things were going to change the moment we got involved with her, but I didn’t expect it to reach this level. This will affect the rest of our lives. The relationships we have. The way we navigate the future.
Maybe I should be a little more scared than how I feel, but there’s a part of me that’s so full of joy that I can barely breathe.