Chapter 3
SOPHIA
“You know, it’s a very good thing I’m not a sympathetic vomiter.”
Jasmine’s groan was echoed by the porcelain of the toilet bowl. Sophia had a tight hold of her bestie’s long, blonde hair as she puked her guts out.
The duplex Sophia’s parents had built for Jasmine and Sophia to live in with their men had a common living space connecting the two homes. Generally, that’s where the four of them were. Best friends since elementary school, it was about as much space as Jasmine and Sophia liked between them.
Which made it pretty damn lucky that they’d ended up marrying brothers. And not just any brothers, but close brothers. Brothers who would sacrifice everything for each other. The running joke was that Jumper and Pirate each had two wives, and it was only one that they used for sex.
After what went down on the evening of Jumper and Jasmine’s rehearsal dinner, it was completely and totally understandable that they hadn’t ended up getting married back in April.
The club had thought Scar was dead, Pumpkin was in the hospital clinging to life, and Sophia and Pirate had had a massive scare that had affected both of them.
But Jumper still had every intention of marrying Jasmine.
When he’d proposed last Christmas Day, Sophia had thought the man was going to drive her to Town Hall the next time it was opened.
Jumper, though, had been forced to wait to make Jazz his bride, because he wanted to give her the wedding of her dreams. Which had turned into the wedding of Sophia and Jasmine’s dreams. At the time, Sophia and Pirate had been more enemies than friends.
And then…San Francisco had happened. Some rum and a pirate ship later, and Pirate and Sophia had woken up married in a penthouse suite.
Based on the number of condoms they’d discovered in the room, the marriage had definitely been consummated.
The plan had been to continue sleeping together and get divorced when the ninety-day waiting period was over.
Sophia wasn’t sure which of them was more surprised that they’d ended up falling in love instead.
Certainly not Jasmine or Jumper. Apparently neither Sophia nor Pirate were that good at keeping secrets, because they both knew the two were sleeping together.
They’d chosen to still get divorced, because they wanted to start off their relationship right.
Late in the fall, the four of them had been talking one night, and Pirate had popped the question.
Or rather grabbed Sophia’s ass and basically told her they were getting married.
Again. This led the four of them on a trip west to the very same pirate ship.
Only this time, they meant to get married. As did Jasmine and Jumper.
Which gave Jasmine and Sophia the double wedding they’d always dreamed of having. Just with more rum, less family, and a lot more pirate talk than they’d planned on when they were in eighth grade.
But the rings were exchanged, the licenses had been signed, and they were each other’s witnesses.
Two months later, and Sophia was trying to do the math. Was it possible Jasmine had gotten knocked up on her wedding night?
“Have you taken a test yet?”
Jasmine heaved, her back arching. “I’m not pregnant.” The words came out as a pitiful groan.
“Babes, I love you, but you’re so in denial. This is the second day you’ve puked like this.”
“It’s the flu.” Her words were so weak, Sophia didn’t even know if Jasmine believed that line of horseshit.
“And I’m fucking Bugs Bunny,” Sophia countered.
“Look, it’s not the end of the world. You go crazy for a couple of months, get some serious cankles, not to mention the weird-ass food cravings, and then bam!
It’s baby time. Plus,” Sophia added, holding up a finger even though Jazz couldn’t see it with her head bent over the toilet, “your kid is going to have the best—and I do mean the best—aunt in the entire world. So when you fuck it up, they’ll come running to me and Auntie Sophia will make it all better. ”
Jasmine’s moan was loud against the porcelain. “I’m not pregnant.”
“Are you done puking?” Sophia asked, ignoring her best friend.
Looking pale and clammy, Jasmine leaned her head against the coolness of the seat.
Sophia leaned over and pushed the handle to try help dispel the smell in the small bathroom.
It was a good thing Jumper had just cleaned in here, or Sophia would have never allowed her friend to put her face there.
Jumper’s PTSD was better of late, but cleaning and certain routines still helped to keep him calm.
Sophia was not a neat person, so she helped Jumper out by leaving her shoes, hairbrushes, makeup, and whatever she could laying around.
Jumper acted like it pissed him off, but Sophia knew better.
Without her, his life would be so boring.
But not anymore. Sophia wondered how Jumper’s PTSD was going to handle being a father. If there was one thing that would mess up a routine, it was a baby.
“I need to go lay down,” Jasmine whined. “Can you call Brenden?”
Dr. Brenden McGuire was Jasmine’s partner at her vet clinic.
He’d come on last April to temporarily cover for their planned honeymoon, and then never left.
Sophia liked the guy. He was mid-forties with salt and pepper hair.
If she wasn’t totally in love with Pirate, she’d have jumped his bones the minute they met.
But unfortunately, her heart and soul were taken by a dastardly pirate so she could only dream about Dr. McGuire while fucking her husband’s incredibly hot body.
And who said threesomes were overrated?
“And what do you want me to call Dr. Fuckable McFuckerson?” Sophia asked.
The moan Jasmine released likely had nothing to do with the parasite currently growing inside her body. “Don’t call him that. I have to work with the man. Just let him know I’m not going to make it in today.”
Sophia shrugged. “If Pirate and Jumper weren’t brothers, I totally would suggest inviting Dr. Fucks-a-lot over for an orgy. Do you think he has a big dick or not?”
Jasmine heaved and turned herself over the toilet bowl just in time for round two.
Sophia stood in the pharmacy line, swaying her head and hips in tune to Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra. In the crook of her elbow was the metal arms of the plastic basket filled to the brim with pregnancy tests. She’d left Jasmine in her bed with a trash can, a water bottle, and some Pepto.
Jumper and Pirate had left two days ago for a conference on service dogs in North Carolina.
Jasmine had felt she’d missed too much work to attend with her husband and Sophia had no desire to go.
So the brothers had gone, leaving the girls to have the reign of their duplex.
Sophia had sent Pirate staged pictures to look like Jasmine and Sophia had been having sex the first night they were gone.
He promised to blister her ass when he got home. Sophia was very excited for that.
She loved that Pirate was rough with her, that he didn’t treat her like she was made of glass.
He’d never seriously hurt her. He’d never raise a hand to her in anger or threaten her in any way.
That trust was unbreakable and undeniable.
But both of them got off on the fact that he left marks on her skin.
Like a brand that proved where he’d been.
And in return, her nails scored his back, his ass, his arms, his legs… Anywhere and everywhere she could reach.
Sophia had been as far from a virgin as one could be when they’d met. But she’d never trusted a lover before Pirate. Even before they’d been lovers, when she wouldn’t even count him as a friend, she’d trusted him.
Sophia might joke, even purposefully piss him off to get him riled up, but she’d never betray him. That trust went both ways.
And as much as she was looking forward to Girl Time with Jazz, she missed her savvy pirate. It just wasn’t the same without him, and not just because her ass hadn’t been spanked in two days.
They were supposed to be coming home tomorrow, but with Jazz being sick, they were on their way back now.
Sophia could understand Jumper’s need to get to Jasmine, but at the same time was somewhat offended that Jumper didn’t think she could take care of Jazz in his absence.
Hell, she’d been taking care of Jasmine a lot longer than Jumper had.
Just because he had a penis and a ring on her finger did not usurp Sophia’s position in Jasmine’s life.
A throat cleared behind her.
Sophia looked up, thinking she’d been daydreaming and not paying attention to the cashier, but there were still two people in front of her.
Jasmine hadn’t been lying. The flu was going around.
Others in the club had had it, but that was weeks ago.
Sophia had a hard time believing that’s what Jazz had too.
Turning, Sophia smiled when she saw her father. “Dad!” Putting the basket down, she put her arms around her dad’s neck.
Her father hugged her back tightly. “Should I ask?”
“What?” Sophia stepped back. Glancing down, she saw her full basket and laughed. “Oh! No, not mine.”
Her father’s eyebrows did not lower at that. “I’m still not sure I want to know, but I feel like it’s my civic duty to ask.”
“Jazz is pregnant,” Sophia told her father matter-of-factly. “But she’s in denial. Figured if I had her pee on a hundred sticks, she’d finally get it through her head that there’s a baby inside her.”
Darnell Groveton just stared at his daughter. Sophia smiled up at him. With a glance over her shoulder, she saw that a register was about to open up.
“It was good to see you, Dad, but don’t tell Mom. Jazz needs time to process before she’s bombarded with family wanting to celebrate with her.”
Grabbing her basket, she kissed her dad’s cheek and then hurried up to the counter.
“I am not pregnant!”
Jasmine looked, well… She looked awful. Her hair was greasy, her skin was clammy, and her face looked both flushed and pale.
Sophia leaned forward and put a hand on her best friend’s shoulder. “Jazz, sister of my soul and love of my life if I was a lesbian, stop denying what we both already know and,” she held up a pregnancy test, “pee on the fucking stick.”
Jasmine’s blue eyes glared at her. “You’re going to look like a fool when it comes back negative.”
“Ha!” Sophia laughed. “Joke’s on you. My mama raised no fool.”
Jasmine snatched the stick from Sophia’s hand. “No, your mama just raised a stubborn-ass woman with no filter and questionable morals.”
Sophia smiled at her. “Yet you love me anyway, so which one of us is the bigger idiot in this equation?”
They both paused at the rhetorical question and then said, “Pirate,” in unison.
Jasmine’s mirth, though, was short lived. She didn’t move from her place at the side of the bed as she stared down at the unused test. “I can’t be pregnant, Soph.”
Realizing that her bestie had said ‘can’t’ instead of just ‘not’, Sophia stepped forward to sit on the side of the bed next to her. She ignored the sickly smell coming off Jazz. “What do you mean?”
All levity was gone from the room now. Sophia’s horde of pregnancy tests were sitting in bags by the bedroom door.
Each house in the duplex had separate front doors, but for the most part, all four used the one that led to the connecting living room.
They didn’t bother with keys and all four shared one key that opened all the locks in the house.
Their dogs, Winnie the Pooch, Enola Bones, and Billy the Kidd, were all at the foot of Jazz’s bed. They could sense she wasn’t feeling well while Sophia was out at the store.
The look of sadness on Jasmine’s face made Sophia wonder if she was about to tell her something serious, like she had had tests done and found out she was infertile or that Jumper’s sperm count was too low to get her pregnant.
“We agreed not to.” Jasmine’s voice was low, somber. She still couldn’t take her eyes off the plastic stick between her hands.
“We as in you and me or we as in you and Jumper?”
Jasmine bumped Sophia’s shoulder. “Me and Jumper,” she answered. The action seemed to cause her to sway slightly.
Sophia reached for the nightstand where she’d placed a blue Gatorade for Jazz. Popping it open, she handed it to her bestie. Jasmine took it and started to sip.
“The two of you agreed not to have kids?” Sophia clarified after several minutes of watching Jasmine swallow small sips of the electrolyte drink.
Jazz nodded.
Sophia wasn’t sure she was understanding her friend correctly. “You… But we… Why wasn’t I a part of this conversation?”
Jasmine’s look turned incredulous. “Because contrary to what you would like to believe, Sophia, you’re not an active participant in my sex life.”
Sophia waved that off. “That’s neither here nor there. As your sister-wife, I should have been a part of this decision.”
Jasmine held up the stick. “And what do you call this?”
“My best friend duties. Don’t change the subject. When did you and Jumper decide not to have kids?”
Jasmine handed her back the half-empty bottle of Gatorade.
“Over the summer. Jumper’s worried that he won’t make a good father, and I have my career to think of.
Besides,” she reached over to scratch Winnie’s ear, “I want more animals. I want to rescue senior dogs and unwanted cats. There’s an abandoned parrot at the shelter I’m trying to convince Jumper to let me take home. ”
Sophia snorted. “Please, that man is one blowjob away from giving you the moon. Just go get the bird, then get on your knees, and you’ll be fine.”
Jasmine put a hand over her stomach. “I switched birth control just before the wedding. Do you think…? I mean, what if…?”
Realizing her friend was in real turmoil about this, Sophia put the drink down and then wrapped an arm around Jazz’s shoulders. “It’ll be fine. No matter what, it’ll be fine.” Plucking the plastic stick out of Jasmine’s hand, Sophia bopped her on the nose with it. “Now, pee, woman, pee!”