Just One Kiss: A Black Alcove Novel (The Black Alcove Series Book 1) (19 page)

“She’s not just some employee, Dad, so stop
referring to her that way!”

“I hope you mean as much to her as she does
to you. Tell me, what did she say when you told her why you’re
here? Did she understand and support you?”

The silence that follows is
terrifying.
You’re here to help your
cousin, Ethan! Tell him.

“I figured. I didn’t think she would support
your intentions to pull this bar out from under her best
friend.”

What did he say?

“Dad, stop!”

“No, you stop! You’re going to follow
through on this plan and you’re going to do it without any
distractions, do you hear me? You’re going to find me the evidence
I need to steal this bar form my brother even if it means using
that little brunette out there to do it.”

My entire body starts to
shake as I take a step back.
Ethan’s been
using me.

I stumble when I bump into a nearby table,
and my unbalanced body falls over the surface and onto the ground.
I see Logan in front of me and his lips are moving, but I don’t
hear anything.

All this time, I thought this was forever. I
know it hasn’t been that long, but I believed Ethan when he said
this was real. We were going to be a happy family. Turns out I
thought wrong and he doesn’t really want me. He is just using me to
make his father proud and now I’m left alone and pregnant.

When the office door opens and I see Ethan
rushing toward me, I push myself off the ground and dash for the
door. It’s still snowing out so I should grab my coat, but I’m in
such a hurry I don’t care. I run straight for my apartment across
the street.

“Kelsey, stop!” Ethan yells behind me, but I
don’t listen. “Stop!”

There’s so much I want to say right now. I
should just lay it out there and get the whole situation over with.
I start to turn mid-step, but my foot catches a patch of ice and
everything goes black.

Ethan

I keep pacing back and forth in the waiting
room at the hospital. Watching Kelsey slip wrecked me. I rushed to
try to catch her, but I didn’t make it. Her head bounced off the
icy pavement, and I didn’t question what to do. I laid her in the
backseat of my truck and brought her straight to the emergency
room. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have left her and called
someone. If she has a concussion, I might have made things
worse.

I need to call Sara. I need to call a lot of
people. It’s time I confess what’s going on. Even if Kelsey didn’t
remember what happened, I won’t lie to her. I will tell her
everything. I will tell her the truth. But what if she doesn’t
remember anything…or anyone? I run my hand through my hair and
begin to pace some more.

I’m alone in the waiting room, which is a
good thing. I could go off at any moment and having someone around
to witness it or become my punching bag isn’t a good idea. When I
hear the door to the waiting room open, my fists are in balls
before I’m fully turned around to face the newcomer.

Logan takes a step inside, closing the door
quietly behind him. He takes a breath.

“The nurse out there says she’s going to be
fine. She woke up, but they say she needs to rest. They want to
keep her overnight just to be safe. All in all it’s just a rough
bump on the head and nothing to worry about.”

I nod and take a seat. Not worry about her?
I can’t do that. She’s always on my mind. Knowing she’s lying in
that room because of me and I can’t do a thing to help her, it
tears me apart.

“I called Sara,” Logan adds as he sits in
the chair next to mine. “She was already back in town so she will
be here soon.” He lets out a deep breath. “You’re going to have to
tell her everything you know. Sara won’t accept that this was some
freak accident. I think there is a reason Sara is already back,
something to do with Kelsey.”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with
Kelsey?’ I ask, rising from my seat.

“Calm down, okay?” Logan says as he also
stands. He puts a hand on my shoulder, but I shrug it off and step
away from him.

“Look, man. You both have secrets. Hers are
just a little more recent than yours. But you both need to grow the
hell up and start being honest with each other. Your relationship
won’t make it if you keep things from each other.”

I know what he’s saying is right. I knew it
before he had to say it. I just never did anything about it.

“That’s if we still have a relationship. You
didn’t see her face when I walked out of that office. She heard
everything and … well, I don’t think she’s going to forgive me for
this.”

“She also thinks you were using her. We both
know that isn’t true,” Logan points out.

“I never used her.
Everything we had was real,” I say through clenched teeth.
Shit.
Logan’s only
agreeing with me and I’m being a dick. I sit and lean my head back
against the wall, closing my eyes. I don’t know how to control the
way I feel right now. My whole life is lying in a hospital bed.
Without her, I’m nothing.

We sit in silence; no one comes into the
waiting room and neither of us leaves. Logan’s cellphone chirps and
minutes later Sara’s bursting through the door.

“You,” she growls, pointing at me. “What did
you do?”

I stand quickly as Sara marches up to me.
She’s less than half my size, but when she’s mad, she can be a real
terror.

“Before you try to beat him up, you should
hear him out,” Logan tells her as he steps in front of me. “And I
mean hear him all the way through. No cutting him off
mid-sentence.”

Sara pins him with an intense glare but
reluctantly takes a seat next to Logan. I sit down on his other
side and tell her everything. Including the part where I fell in
love with Kelsey Brian.

Kelsey

I wake up to the sound of a machine beeping
next to my head. I’m glad the noise is soft because I have a killer
headache. My eyes flutter as I attempt to open them. Large windows
to the right of my bed fill the room with sunlight, and it takes a
moment for my eyes to adjust. There’s a round table in the far
corner under the window that has flowers filling the entire
surface. Sara is sitting in the blue chair next to the table, her
arms wrapped around her legs as she hugs them close to her chest,
her head buried behind them.

The bed squeaks as I try to push myself into
a seated position. I give up quickly and grab the remote next to my
bed. I always wanted to use one of these. I just didn’t want to be
admitted to do it. Sara lifts her head and squints at the light
until she sees me and moves to stand next to my bed.

“You’re awake.” She smiles at me. “The
doctors thought you would wake up again last night, but you just
kept sleeping. I was getting worried.”

“Did you stay here all night?”

“Yeah, Logan called me.” She looks down at
her watch. “It’s a little after seven now. I should probably go let
someone know you’re awake and call your parents,” she says and
leaves the room.

How long have I been in here? I remembering
falling, but I don’t remember coming here. Sara returns followed by
a nurse who looks like she isn’t much older than us, with bleached
blonde hair pulled into a bun and wearing pale blue scrubs.

“Hi there,” she says. “How are you
feeling?”

“Tired but I feel good.”

“That’s good news. You suffered a mild
concussion when you bumped your head, but things are looking
better. It looks like you were quite exhausted. We’ve just been
waiting for you to wake up so we can run a few tests and send you
home. I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake. Can I get you anything
in the meantime?”

I shake my head to let her know I’m fine.
When really I’m not fine because I know what conversation Sara
wants to have and I’m not ready to have it. I thought I knew what I
was going to do about the baby, but now – after what I heard – I
don’t know much of anything anymore. The nurse closes the door
behind her and, with one leg bent on the bed and the other hanging
to the floor, Sara takes a seat to face me.

“I know things probably seem really
unbalanced right now, but I think you should still tell Ethan
what’s going on.”

“I don’t want to talk to Ethan.” Yes, I’m
mad at him. I’m angrier than I’ve ever been in my whole life. I
want to scream at him, hurt him the way he hurt me. I don’t want to
share the news that not twenty-four hours ago made me the happiest
and most scared person on earth. He doesn’t deserve to be happy
too. He used me.

Sara releases a heavy sigh. “Look, Kels, I’m
mad at him too, alright? He’s been up to some super-shady behavior,
and I’m not going to forgive him easily for it, but he has the
right to know.”

I don’t have time to argue with her before
the nurse returns. She has a clipboard in her hand and she’s
writing something down.

“Okay, Kelsey, I just need to ask you a few
more questions before we run those tests.” A knock on the room’s
door stops her mid-sentence and we all turn to see who it is.

Ethan’s standing in the
doorway, wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday and his hair
is a mess. His eyes are glazed and red, and his face has a slight
stubble. His entire appearance looks exhausted.
Good.
He looks how I feel.

“Excuse me, sir, visiting hours haven’t
started yet. Only family is allowed right now,” the nurse says
sweetly to him.

“I’m her cousin,” he says, pointing in my
direction. Sara’s sitting next to me and since he wasn’t specific,
the nurse assumes he is talking about me. She nods and he steps
into the room, moving cautiously around the bed to stand on my
other side. I don’t have the energy to argue with anyone right now.
He can stay, but I’m not talking to him.

“Alright, Ms. Brian, is there any medication
you’re taking or any medical concerns we need to know about before
we start?” the nurse asks.

Damn it.
I should have asked him to leave.

I drop my chin to my chest and take a deep
breath. I have to say it. I have to tell her the truth. Any one of
those tests could harm me or the baby.

“I’m pregnant,” I blurt out and the room
fills with silence. My eyes instantly search for Ethan’s and I
watch as his face crumbles.

That’s the only look I need to see to be
reminded that this entire thing between us has been a sham. A tear
slips by, but I control the full waterworks because the one piece
keeping me strong now is this baby.

Ethan

Pregnant.

I swallow hard as I lean
against the wall next to Kelsey’s bed. Kelsey’s pregnant.
With my baby
. I take a
couple of concentrated breaths before I look up at her. Her gaze is
pointing down to her hands where she holds them laced in her lap. I
see the tears running down her cheeks and her chest as it moves
slowly with each breath she takes. My heart breaks as the nurse
looks between Kelsey and me before she quietly excuses herself from
the room.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I step toward
her.

Kelsey swallows but doesn’t look up.

“Ethan, you should probably leave for a bit.
Give everyone some time to process this.” Sara is standing in front
of me, speaking quietly. I force myself to look at her. Leave? She
can’t be serious. Kelsey and I have a lot to talk about. How can
she not see this? I just found out I’m going to be a father, and
she wants me to leave.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I say firmly and
take a step around her toward Kelsey. Sara grabs my arm, and I snap
my head to look her in the eye. What doesn’t she understand?

“Ethan, please,” she pleads. I stare at her
for a moment then look back to Kelsey. She’s watching us as the
tears continue to spill from her eyes.

“Is this what you want, for me to leave?” I
ask her. She keeps her red, swollen eyes locked on mine for what
feels like the longest moment of my life and then nods.

I want to yell. I want to hit something or
even slam her door as I go, but I don’t. I don’t say anything as I
leave her room. My heart feels like she just gripped it and
squeezed as hard she could.

I haven’t cried in a long time. I’m a man
and we don’t cry. I step into the elevator and the doors close in
front of me. The elevator is filled with silence, giving my mind
more power to yell and scream at me for everything I have done
wrong. I want to cry. Cry for the way my heart feels. I want to cry
because Kelsey’s in pain because of me. She’s pregnant because of
me. She looks terrified because of me. And now she doesn’t want
anything to do with me, and I want to cry because I just lost the
best thing that ever happened to me and I don’t know how to fix
it.

The one thing I do know I need to do is get
my father out of my life. And when I get home to find him parked in
my driveway. The anger building inside of me urges me to punch his
teeth out.

He opens his door, standing to glare at me.
“I sent you here for one thing. Look at the mess you made.”

“You need to leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I get—”

“Get the fuck off my driveway and out of my
life!” I yell. His head jerks back as he stares at me.

“Excuse me? I’ve done nothing but give your
spoiled, ungrateful ass everything you have today. You have no
right to speak to me that way.”

“I don’t want anything from you, except for
you to leave. Take it all. The truck, the house, the bike. I don’t
care. The one person who means anything to me is lying in a
hospital bed with my unborn child, and she wouldn’t be there if I
hadn’t wanted to be accepted as your son so goddamn bad. None of
that matters to me now. You don’t matter to me. Just leave.”

“Oh that’s brilliant, Ethan. Add to your
mess by knocking up the—”