Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Presley
Zac: Don’t try to talk yourself out of it. Show up, or I’ll come and get you.
“Um, that’s hot!” I glance over my shoulder to find Heather peeking over my shoulder and down at my phone. Quickly I tuck it against me but I don’t even know why, she’s already read the text.
“Those guys were gorgeous, and maybe a little dangerous.” I turn just in time for her to fake a shiver. “I couldn’t stop staring, do you think they noticed?”
Laughing I nod my head. “They noticed.” Her eyes widen in horror. “I am pretty sure everyone here noticed. You were like a little Peeping Tom, I think at one point you were looking out through the crack in the swinging door.”
“I thought I was being suave.” She pouts.
“Nope.” Hurrying around her I walk toward the back to clock myself out. “You couldn’t have been more obvious. You may as well have sat on their laps.” The second the words leave my mouth I know I’ll regret them.
“I’d love to sit on either of them.” She sighs. “I bet they both give a really good ride.”
“You are crude.”
She laughs. “Tell me I’m wrong.” When I say nothing she does a weird little shimmy. “Exactly, and you and your cousin are the lucky ones they get to enjoy.”
“I enjoyed once,” I correct her.
“And I can almost guarantee that if you wanted to enjoy it again and again you could.” I grab my jacket and roll my eyes but she notices. “Um, you may not have seen the way he was watching you, but I did. I had those men in my sights and let me just say, you were never out of his. It was sweet and very steamy. It’s a look, that I want that girl kind of stare.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a little much?”
“Every single day at least once.” Heather smiles wide, shrugs and starts to walk away. She still has another hour before her shift ends. “But, I’m not afraid to go after what I want and say it loud. Maybe you should follow that motto too.”
Leaving me with those words, she is gone and I’m immediately lost in my thoughts. And those thoughts are running dirty after all her influential advice. It may be a bad idea for me to be alone with Zac.
* * *
“This might be a mistake,” I say into the phone in a hushed whisper.
The one person I know without a doubt will give me her honest opinion whether it hurts or not is on the opposite end of the line.
“You want me to tell you that you need to go home and fake a headache?” Aurora replies with a laugh. A sarcastic, get your shit together and stop stalling tone. “You want me to say you need to keep things casual, keep the distance so that things don’t get messy, but I’m not going to tell you that.”
I hang my head and pinch the bridge of my nose with my fingertips.
“I love you Pres, you are one of my very best friends. We grew up more like sisters than cousins and you’ve had a rough run when it’s come to men. Then there is Zac, who out of all of the guys is and has always been the most sensible and understanding. He is a little rough around the edges but to his core he is a good man. He is a great friend and I know in my heart he will be a good father. However this works between the two of you, whether it be the best of friends or more, I do know at the end of the day, he will be there for you. However you let him, and even if you fight him he’ll be there too. The guy is loyal and he knows what it means to love someone deeply. He may have forgotten what that feels like for a while, until he found Jace and the rest of them. I won’t tell you to go in, but I won’t tell you to leave. What I will tell you is you deserve a good guy in your life, whatever way that ends up being, Zac is the best guy you will ever meet. Let him be there for you.”
She takes a deep breath.
“Let him love this baby, and you, because I can promise you that he will love you. It’s who he is, he’s either all in, or not. But the two of you are connected now. Stop overthinking it, drop the stubborn act and for once stop analyzing everything. Isn’t it time you let go of the past and live your life?”
“You really are annoying,” I tell her, wiping away the tears from my cheeks.
“You only say that because I’m telling the truth.” I don’t argue. “I love you, now get your ass inside and relax. Enjoy his company.”
She ends the call and I toss my phone into my bag. Gripping the strap of my bag I start up the sidewalk and just as I reach the front step, the door opens. In the doorway stands Zac, wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. The material fits snug over his strong arms and chest.
Offering me a smile, he opens the door more. “I was wondering how long you were going to stand outside. Had I not been talking to Jace and him informing me that Aurora was currently giving you a pep talk I may have come out and gotten you sooner.”
My cheeks warm. “I wouldn’t call it a pep talk.” He arches his brow. “It was more of a calming my nerves kinda thing.”
“You’re nervous?”
“Yes,” I say without thinking only making myself feel even more foolish. “The last time I was here I blurted out in front of a room full of your friends that I was pregnant. We fought and I left.”
“They are your friends too,” he reminds me and I decide not to press the point that it’s not the same. “We fought, because I was being an ass and you were being stubborn.” He’s not wrong. “But the second you told me you were pregnant, the floor rocked beneath my feet.”
He grips my elbow, leading me inside. Once I am over the threshold he closes the door behind me and I turn around to face him.
“I’ll admit, I was shocked, a little sacred maybe.” I smile, because those were the exact things I felt too when I found out. “But now, knowing you are carrying my child, I wouldn’t change this.” Zac steps forward and places his palm over my stomach. “There is a part of me growing inside you and it’s incredible. Every time I think about it, my heart races. I want this, I’ll be honest I never thought I would, but I’ve never been happier to be wrong.”
His thumb brushes back and forth over my stomach.
“I already love this baby, Presley.”
Right then, staring back at him as he looks down at his hand on my stomach, a large piece of my armor crumbles and falls to the floor, shattering.