Forever Bonded (BWWM Pregnancy Romance) (8 page)

Once
she was dressed, Zoë looked back to find Nate wide-awake and staring at her.
“Morning,” she mumbled, avoiding making eye contact with him.

“Morning,”
Nate replied, pulling her in close. Just as he went to kiss her, his phone
rang, tearing him from the moment. He tried his best to ignore it, but whoever
was calling didn’t seem to get the drift. They continued calling him back on a
non-stop loop, making it clear that they had no intention of stopping.

“Ugh,
just answer it already,” Zoë groaned.

Nate
disentangled himself from the blankets and frantically searched the ground for
his phone. He found it tucked away inside his jacket pocket and sighed when he
glanced down at the screen.

It was
Audrey.

Nate
racked his fingers through his hair and rushed to press down on the ignore
button as soon as another call from her came in.

Zoë
froze when her phone began to vibrate as well. “It’s Evan,” she said, holding
it up for Nate to see.

Nate
gave her an irritated look.

“About
last night,” Zoë continued, speaking cautiously. Her next words didn’t come
easy. “Maybe we should just forget about it.”

“What?”
Nate exclaimed. “You can’t be serious.”

“Well I
don’t hear you throwing out any better ideas.”

“Actually,
I think it’s pretty obvious what we should do here,” Nate said. “We should come
clean.”

“Surprise,
surprise,” Zoë muttered.

“I'm
being serious,” Nate said, keeping his eyes steadied on hers.

Zoë,
however, was already well aware of how serious he was. His insistence on doing
the right thing regardless of the consequences was both his best and worst
trait. “I know you are, but come on,” she said. “What do you expect me to say
? 'Oh, hey Evan. I’m just calling to let you
know that I slept with Nate. Yeah…that Nate. If we could get your support, that
would be great.’
Uh-huh. Because that’ll go over so well.”

Nate
collapsed back down on Zoë’s bed and sighed. He couldn’t deny the fact that she
had a point. Wanting to do the right thing was easy enough, but actually doing
it was another matter entirely.

Zoë
sighed and tossed her phone down on her blankets. Just when she was sure this
morning couldn't get anymore complicated, it went and did just that. “Evan’s on
his way over,” she said when she felt Nate burning holes into the back of her
head. “You should probably go. If he sees you here this early he's going to
know something’s up.”

Nate
sat up and searched the floor for his clothing. When he was finally finished
getting dressed, he turned to look at Zoë and hesitated in the doorway. “What
is this?” he questioned in a serious manner, waving a hand between the two of
them.

Zoë shrugged
and tore her gaze from his. “I don't know what you expect me to say,” she
admitted, studying her hands

“I
don’t expect anything,” Nate corrected. “I just wish you’d do the right thing
for once without being asked.”

“What
about Audrey?” Zoë questioned, reading between the lines. “Should I assume
you're going to rush home and tell her?”

Nate
hesitated. He'd been so busy thinking about Zoë and how she’d handle things
with Evan that he'd neglected to consider how he’d break the news to Audrey.

“See,”
Zoë remarked. “It's not so easy, now is it?”

“I
just…I don't want to hurt her,” Nate admitted. In the past, he’d never pegged
himself as the type of guy to cheat. He always thought that he was better than
that, and yet here he was dealing with the repercussions of a night he’d spent
with a woman who most definitely wasn’t his girlfriend.

“Well I
hate to break it to you, but I think you already have.”

Zoë’s
words couldn't have been any simpler, but they hit Nate with an unexpected
force. She was right. Neither one of them could undo what had already
transpired.

Zoë
sighed heavily and turned to look out the window beside her bed. “Anyways, you
should go,” she said as she glanced back down at her phone. “Evan will be here
any minute now.”

Nate nodded,
reluctantly pulling away from the doorframe and making his way out of her
apartment.

As soon
as he was gone, Zoë rushed to hide any evidence that he’d been there and jumped
in the shower to scrub the remnants of his cologne from her body. She was in
the process of tying up her hair when she heard her front door open, followed
by the sound of heavy footsteps.

Zoë
didn’t have to guess who it was. Evan never knocked. He always just sauntered
right in. It was one of the many minor character flaws he possessed that never
ceased to annoy her.

“Surprise!”
Evan called out when Zoë entered the kitchen. He was unloading a bag of
groceries from the farmers market onto her counter, and his expression was far
too relaxed for a guy who was about to get dumped. “I thought I’d come by and
make you brunch. I’ve got all your favorites. Bagels, smoked salmon,
fritters…the works.”

Zoë sat
down at her kitchen table and forced a smile, but Evan saw right through it.

“You
okay?” he questioned, stopping what he was doing to study her face. “I’ve never
known you to not be excited about food.”

Zoë
sighed and nodded at the empty chair across from her. “Sit down,” she insisted.
“We need to talk.”

Across
town, Nate found himself in a similar predicament. He sat at his desk and
drummed his fingers against the wood, keeping his gaze focused on the foggy
scenery outside his window as he tried to contemplate what to do next.

Audrey
hadn’t stopped calling him all morning. If he dodged her calls any longer,
she’d surely get suspicious. That is, if she wasn’t already.

Nate
sighed and picked up his phone to type out a quick text to her.

Can you Face time?

Audrey
replied right away.

I'm off to a fitting. Can it wait?

Nate wasted
no time in telling her that it couldn’t. He wasn’t sure the courage he’d
mustered up would still be there later. It was now or never.

Audrey
called him not even a second later. “Nate?” she questioned, waving a hand at
him. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you all morning. I was getting worried.
Are you all right? You look a little under the weather.”

“Actually,
I’m not,” Nate admitted, forcing the words out. “We need to talk.”

Audrey
hesitated. She knew that statement well enough to know it didn’t lead anywhere
good. Any conversation that began with the words “we need to talk” wasn’t one
she wanted to be having. It wasn’t one she was
going
to have. She’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but when she’d
seen the chemistry between Nate and Zoë during her last trip home, she’d
already set about in crafting a plan to keep from losing him.

“You’re
right,” Audrey replied. “That’s actually why I’ve been calling you.”

Nate
frowned, remaining quiet as he waited for her to continue.

Audrey
studied his face for a second before giving him an elated smile. “I’m
pregnant!” she announced. “We’re having a baby!”

Chapter sixteen

Zoë
stared down at the towering stack of catering requests that had built up for
her over the weekend. Dull light filled her office, bringing out the redness in
her eyes and highlighting her lack of sleep. To say her attention was elsewhere
would have been putting it lightly. As much as she should have been focusing on
work, she couldn’t stop dwelling on the weekend’s events.

Zoë had
finally mustered up the courage to end things with Evan once and for all, but
his reaction wasn’t one she’d seen coming. As soon as she told him it was over,
he took one look at her and asked if it was because of Nate. When she told him
that it was, he didn't ask for the how, the why, or the when. He simply stood
up and left her apartment, making a point of slamming the door shut behind him.

That
was two days ago.

Zoë
hadn't heard from him since, but it wasn’t like she was expecting to. There
wasn’t anything left for her to say to him. He deserved a woman who really
loved him, and that wasn’t her.

It
could never be her.

Zoë
sighed and glanced across her desk at a picture of her and Nate, which had been
taken during their senior prom. He’d yet to call to let her know how things had
gone with Audrey, and it was becoming pretty clear to her that he was stalling.
Exhaling a deep breath, she picked up her phone and set about on confirming her
suspicions.

Nate
picked up on the first ring. “WGNO-Sports, this is Nate Cross speaking.”

The
deep baritone of his voice was all it took to make Zoë lose her courage. What
was she doing calling him at work over a personal matter? She should have
waited for him to get in contact with her. It wasn’t like he could keep
avoiding her forever.

“Zoë?”
Nate questioned when she didn’t say anything, making it clear that he’d looked
down at the caller ID.

“Yeah,
it’s me,” Zoë replied. “This isn’t a bad time, is it?”

“Nah,
it’s all good. I was about to take a coffee break anyway,” Nate replied, trying
his best to sound casual. “What’s up?”

Zoë
sighed and rolled her eyes at his obvious attempt at stalling the inevitable.
“Oh nothing much,” she said, getting right to the point. “I just…I wanted to
call and apologize.”

“Apologize?”

“You
know…for the role I played in what happened over the weekend,” Zoë said,
beginning to ramble. “I had a little too much wine, and my decision-making
skills weren’t as refined as they usually are. I can understand why you would
be avoiding me. I just…I don’t want things to be awkward between us from now
on.”

“Zoë,
it’s not like that,” Nate protested. “I’m not avoiding you. It’s just
that…things have gotten a bit complicated with Audrey. Apparently she’s…well…she
told me that she’s pregnant.”

Zoë
heard what he said, but she was too shell-shocked to come up with a response.
The only thing she could focus on was the dull thump of her heart against her
ribcage.

 
“I don’t understand how,” Nate continued
when she didn’t say anything. “We we’re always so safe…”

“Yeah,
well apparently not safe enough,” Zoë said before she could stop herself.

Both
her and Nate were quiet for a long time.

“What are
you going to do?” Zoë finally found it in herself to ask, speaking so quietly
she barely even heard herself.

“I
don’t know,” Nate said in a somber tone. “Audrey wants to keep it.”

Zoë
nodded even though he couldn’t see her. She didn’t need him to reiterate that
which she already knew. They were over.

For
good.

“I’m
sorry,” Nate stated, reading her mind.

“Don’t
be,” Zoë said. “Anyways, I should let you get back to work. Have a nice day.”

Zoë
rushed to hang up before Nate could say anything else, resisting the urge to
throw her phone against the wall. She rested her head on her desk in an attempt
at regaining her composure, and she was still in that position when her
co-worker entered her office.

Kelly
gave Zoë a peculiar look and sat another stack of catering requests down beside
her. “You all right?” she questioned, hanging back to watch her flip through
them. “There’s a real nasty bug going around my kid’s school. You look like you
might have caught it.”

“Gee,
thanks,” Zoë said.

“Seriously
though. If you’re sick I doubt Tia would mind if you left early,” Kelly
continued, referencing their boss.

“I’m
fine,” Zoë lied, glancing up at her. As much as she needed to vent, there was
no way she was about to pour her heart out to the office gossip. “I’m just a
little worn out from the weekend, that’s all.”