The Secret (26 page)

“Yeah, Sophie,” I rant. “And if it’s positive, I either raise a baby alone or the person I love the most feels trapped for the rest of his life!”

“Stop,” she says, meeting my eyes. “I don’t care what he said, he’d come around. Even if he turns out to be the biggest dick on the planet, you wouldn’t raise a baby alone, Ana! Do you seriously think my love stops at watching you pee on a stick, drama queen?”

“No,” I admit, laughing at her words.

“Okay then,” she smiles, “Let’s go. I just called the office and Drake’s with Chase and Jack at the site, but they’re gonna be back at the office in like two hours so we need to hurry.”

Jack

I’ve been in a lot of unpleasant situations in my life, but sitting in midday traffic with Chase is definitely on my list of most awkward.

Truth be told, he’s a cool guy. I know Sophie loves him and I can tell he treats her well, that she’s happy. At the end of the day, that’s most important to me. It still doesn’t make things less uncomfortable after everyth
ing that’s happened.

Honestly, I feel like what happened between Sophie and I should remain between us. I know she’s probably talked to him about it, which is her right, but that doesn’t mean I need to rehash it with him. He doesn’t bring it up though and for that, I’m grateful.

Twenty minutes after we run out of work shit to talk about, my phone beeps, signaling a text. When I look down, I see Matt’s name shoot across my screen.

Hey Bro,
I really need to talk to Soph. M@TT

She still hadn’t spoken t
o him since I got back and I know it’s something that’s been bothering him. I meant what I said at the house that day, though. She’d been through enough and he needed to give her whatever time she needed.

Dude, g
ive her some space. She’ll call you when she’s ready -J

I’m about to slide my phone back into my pocket when I get another text from him.

This ain’t about that. I need to talk to her, Jack M@TT

Letting out an exhausted sigh, I respond.

Well, call her then –J

Immediately, he responds.

She’s not answering M@TT

Then she
obv doesn’t want to talk to you lol –J

I’m expecting another text, so when my phone starts ringing, I’m a little surprised.

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Listen,” Matt starts. “I know she’s still pissed off at me, but I need to talk to her and she isn’t picking up. I need her to call me back, like,
now
. Do you have any way of getting a hold of her?”

“Well, yeah, she’ll talk to me,” I joke.

“Dude, this is serious,” he says, cutting me off. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on at your house, but my dad just called me saying they radioed him in. He said they’re looking for her.”

“What the fuck?” I say, instantly worried. “Why are they looking for Sophie?”

“Who’s looking for Sophie?” Chase asks, his attention immediately on me.

“I don’t know, man,”
Matt answers me.

“Let me call you back,” I say into the phone before turning my
attention to Chase. “We gotta go back to the office.”

“You didn’
t answer my question, Jack. Who’s looking for Sophie?”

He hits something on his phone and immediately, a ringer comes through on the speakers of his truck. After a few rings,
Sophie’s voicemail clicks on.

“Matt’s dad is a cop and they just radioed him in,” I tell him. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but it’s something at the house and they’re looking for her.”

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath, pulling onto the side of the road and darting into the emergency lane. “She was with your sister. You call her phone, I’ll keep trying Sophie’s cell.”

Sophie

“Sophie,
do you promise if I ask you something you won’t make fun of me?”

As I make my way aroun
d my desk, I glance into the bathroom to see her staring down at the bag of pregnancy tests in her lap. I can tell she’s freaking out, so I attempt to lighten her mood.

“No,” I call back, knowing she’s rolling her
eyes even though I can’t see her as I plug my cell into the charger on the wall. “But I promise I won’t tell anyone, even if it’s hilarious.”

“Please
, Soph?” she groans as I walk in and prop myself up on the sink. “It’s really embarrassing…”

“Okay,
” I say, feigning annoyance. “I promise I won’t laugh at you. What do you want to ask me?”

Biting her lip in nervousness, she looks up at me from beneath her eyelashes. I can see she’s hesitating asking me even now as I hand her a bottle of water.

“Do you remember that time you asked me to tell Mav that I was the one who got sick in his truck?”

“Yeah,” she blushes, chuckling at the memory.

“Is it worse than that?” I challenge, smiling when she shakes her head no.

“I’ve never done one of these…” she starts. “And I’m really scared to do one right now… By myself…”

“Yeah?” I smirk, knowing exactly what ridiculous thing she’s about to say.

“
Would you…?”

“Give it here,” I laugh, rolling my eyes and taking the bag from her hand.

Opening the first of the six boxes, I tell her to move and I push my jeans down my legs.

“If you
are
pregnant, you better name your baby after me, brat,” I tease her.

“What if it’s a boy?” she laughs.

“He’s gonna get teased a lot with a name like Sophia,” I giggle, setting the stick on the edge of the sink. “There, I did one. You just hold them like this,” I show her. “And the rest is self explanatory.”

W
aiting for her to finish her test, I stand there as I promised. Once she’s done, I stick my head out and look at the clock on the wall.

“Okay, the guys will be back in like an hour,” I tell her. “
These only take like five minutes though. Slam a bottle of water in case you need to do another…”

My phone
ringing interrupts my thoughts and I look down to see Chase’s picture flashing across the screen.

“Hey Baby,” I say into the phone, shooting an apologetic look to Ana.

“Sophie?” he says, practically screaming into the phone. “Baby, where are you? I’ve been trying to call you for like thirty minutes!”

“M
y phone died,” I say, the urgency in his voice surprising me. “What’s wrong?”

“Is Ana with you?” he asks, further surprising me.

The phone chiming in my ear distracts me and as I look down, I see my aunt’s picture flashing across my screen next.

That’s weird. She hardly ever calls me.

“Yeah, she’s right here,” I tell him, worry filling my chest. “Baby, hold on. My aunt is calling.”

I hear him objecting, but it’s not until I’ve already hit the button to switch over, so I can’t make sense of his words.

“Aunt Deb?”

“Sophie?
Sweetheart?”

“Yes ma’am?” I say, her tone sending chills up my spine.

“I need you to come to home, Honey,” she says, her soft voice wavering with emotion.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, dreading the words that are about to leave her. “Is everything okay?”

“No, Honey,” she says, her voice stopping my heart. “You have to come and get JT, Baby. Lucy…”

“What Aunt Deb? What is it? What happened to Lucy?”
I ask, my voice in a panic.

“
Lucy’s gone, Baby,” she cries into the phone. “Lucy’s dead.”

Ana

As I watch Sophie’s face contort in pain, I rush to her, willing her to tell me anything but what I already know.

“What?” she whimpers into the phone, the disbelief in her voice matching mine perfectly.

“
Soph?” I whisper, afraid to meet her eyes.

Without saying a word, she pulls me into her arms and pulls me to her chest. She lets me cry onto her shoulder as her aunt delivers the awful news I’d always feared would come.

“I’m on my way to get him,” she sobs into the phone. “Please stay with him until I get there, Aunt Deb,” she continues, pausing for a response before thanking her and ending the call.

Hugging me closely to her, she tells me she loves me and after a moment, pulls away.

“Ana, I need your car,” she says quietly, her tearstained cheeks matching mine as she tosses her phone and charger into her purse. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, but I have to go get JT right now.”

“No,” I tell her
immediately, wiping my cheeks clean in vain. “I’m coming with you.”

In less than five minutes, we’re out the door.

Chase

I’m still trying to get Sophie to answer her phone when I pull into the parking lot of the office. Between seeing Ana’s Jeep no longer parked outside and knowing Deb’s just called, I know it’s a good bet they’re already on their way to Camden.

I’
m walking into the office, confirming my thoughts when I hear Drake’s car flying into the lot.

“
Analise?” he calls up the steps as he barrels into the office, finding me and Jack standing alone in the empty space.

“They’re not here,” Jack tells him, his
emotion filled voice quiet as he shakes his head, dialing Ana’s cell as Drake makes his way to the office.

When we hear it so
unding off, I look up at Jack who’s already searching.

“Is that Ana’s phone?” Drake calls, looking up from where he’s
emailing the foreman for the replacement crew we’ve been using way too much lately.

“Yeah,” we call back in unison, both searching for the location of the incessant ringing.

“Did anyone check in here?” I ask, pushing the door open and finding it messier than usual.

Sophie’s stilettos are sitting in the middle of the floor next to a bag from the drugstore.

The light from Ana’s cell phone, still plugged into the outlet above the sink is blinking like crazy, but that’s not what’s caught my eye.

Switching the ringer off, my eyes are glued to the
two purple and white plastic sticks that are resting on the edge of the sink in front of me.

“Did you find it?” Drake asks in a panic
as he walks in, coming to a halt beside me.

“Yeah,” I say quietly, my eyes still fo
cused on the sink.

“
Who…?” Drake asks, causing me to shake my head.

“I don’t know,” I admit, our eyes still stuck.

Leaning over the sink, I look at the little plastic boxes and realize I have no idea what any of this shit means.

“
Dude, what does one line mean?” I ask, looking back at Drake.

“Shit, I don’t know,” he says, his eyes holding the same confused look of panic as mine. “
Read the fucking box!”

“
Where is it?”

“I’m trying the hotel,
” Jack says, pushing his way in behind us. “Did you find her phone?”

“Yeah,” we both answer, Drake scouring the instructions while I frantically read the back of the empty box.

“What the fuck are you doing then? Let’s go!” he says before looking down at the tests in front of us. “Holy shit,” he mutters.

“What?”

“One of these is positive.”

There are always far too many people to thank for helping me make these books come to life.

Always first, thank you God for giving me these characters and the ability to speak to them. I pray they never stop.

My Momma for just being everything she was, is and ever will be. I’ll miss your voice as I hit publish, but I know you’ll be right here with me, as always. I love and miss you.

My Daddy for being my ultimate fan, for loving everything I ever wrote and for encouraging me to never, ever stop. I love and miss you.

My husband Sean for giving me the kind of life and love that makes me
want to wake up and shake my ass in glee every morning. Every beautiful, hilarious, hot as hell, take your breath away moment I ever write will be because of you, Babysaurus. It’s been nearly 14 amazing years and I still am insanely, crazy, creepy in love with you!

My brothers Jason, Shawn, Chris and Landon for being the best brothers I could have ever asked for
and my sister Sara for holding my hand halfway through this book when I needed it most and for not letting go regardless of the miles between us, I love you.

My nieces and nephews, Brittany, Jennifer, Aurora, David, Elijah,
Mykaela and Britian for making me smile every day and for hopefully keeping your promises that you won’t read anything I write until you’re much, much older. I’m thinking forty. I love you.

My b
est friends Janet, Angie, Brittnee, Anna, Michelle April and Amanda for knowing that I’m crazy, perverted, I can’t dress myself properly before leaving the house, I’m eternally late and never think my thoughts through and loving me anyway. I love y’all’s faces.

Heather Ricketts, my PA, Beta, Beer-Texting Aficionada,
Grief/Anger Management Counselor, Pimping, BFF Extraordinaire… If I’m ever able get my shit together, I know it will be your doing completely. Thank you for answering my texts at two am, for not putting my drunk Facebook messages on your wall because I texted you at two am, for testing stalker theories, for fangirling over Chase, for making me laugh when I don’t really feel like it but need to anyway, for telling me to calm down every release week when I freak out, for never telling me something I need you to do is stupid (even though sometimes I ask you to do stupid things) and for being overall awesome. I love your face.

My Beta Team: Heather, Charlotte, Sara, Jenna, Kathy and Sarah for reading the stories, for loving the characters and for understanding my need to obsess over all of it. I’m proud to call all of you my friends. I love y’all.

My Admin Team: Heather, Diana, Jenna, Nikki and Sara for helping me look like I have my shit together every day. I have the best time talking to y’all and you do so many things for me! I can’t even begin to thank you enough! Love y’all.

The Pimp the Promise Street Team: There is no way I could do all of this without your help! Thank you for loving my books and believing enough in me to go out there every day and tell others about them! I love y’all.

The Promise Series Support Group: One day, I took a trip to the gas station that changed my life. I never imagined that day that less than a year later, I’d have a group of such amazing girls who loved this story so much, they needed a support group! I hope each and every single one of you know how much I love you. Every comment, every post, every single message I get from you blows me away. Thank you for loving my story. You’ll never know how much it means to me! Never.

Panty Dropping Book Blog, Fictional Men’s Page for Book Ho’s,
HeadTripping Book Blog and We Like It Big Book Blog. I’ve had so much support, but you ladies have been with me since day one. You’ve supported the last teaser just as much as the first and I can’t tell you what it means to have such great people in my corner. THANK YOU! Love your faces!

Special thanks to: Kathy
Coopmans, Heather Brockett-Slayton, Kim Brown, Claire Lamb, Stephanie Mae, Sandee Love, Brandace Morrow, Jen Khan, Sarah Elizabeth, Jennifer Culbreth, Liz Ciccini, Ashley Wicker, Christine Stanley, Colleen LeHew Lee. You ladies ROCK!

Every single blog, page or
reader who shared anything for me, thank you.

The musician’s who blared in my ears and spoke to me while I wrote, thank you.

My readers. Every. Single. One. Thank you for reading my books. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And last, but never least, Sophie, Chase, Jack, Ana and Drake. Thank you for finding me. I hope I’m doing you justice. I love you.

XO

K
ate