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“A week,” I confess.

“And is this normal or…”

“No. Not normal. Bri, tell me that I’m not… Tell me that he hasn’t…”

“It’s more than likely a false alarm. You took precautions, right?”

“Y-yeah, I’m on the pill, but we never used… oh fuck. Everyone is literally going to kill me. He’s going to hate me, and I’m going to be alone and…” My breathing increases to the point that I have no control over it and my vision blurs as I lose grip on reality.

Hands grip my upper arms, and I know she’s talking to me but I don’t hear any of it. There’s nothing but the deafening sound of white noise racing past my ears.

“Calli. Calli. CALLI.” The volume of Bri’s voice and the gentle shake of my shoulders finally drags me out of my panic.

“I’m going to make an excuse and go and get you a test, okay? You need an answer.”

“No, you can’t just walk out of here. They’ll ask questions and I haven’t even told them that—”

“Shhh,” she soothes, taking my face in her hands just like Jocelyn did earlier.

My eyes flood with tears as I stare into her kind, supportive eyes.

“Trust me, yeah? I’ll get what you need, then you can figure out what’s next once you have the facts. Deep breath.”

I do as I’m told and eventually, everything returns to normal.

“Now, unless you want them all knowing, you need to pull up your big girl bikini bottoms and get it together fast.”

I nod, because as much as I hate lying to them, I also know that I can’t handle them all knowing about this. Not yet, anyway.

One step at a time. They need to know I’ve been screwing the devil first.

“I’ve got your back, okay?”

Bri pulls me in for a hug.

“And so will they, when you’re ready to tell them what’s been going on,” she whispers encouragingly in my ear.

* * *

I was expecting Bri to find a way to sneak off straight away and was a nervous wreck when I finally returned to the loungers, giving the girls only a half-lie about the two of us getting lost in conversation in the toilets. But in reality, it was a couple of hours before she announced that she’d just received a booty call from her regular hook-up and was in desperate need of a screaming orgasm. And the second she started giving us all a detailed description of exactly what he can do with his tongue, we all ushered her out of the room so she could go and bang him in the back seat of his car.

The others fell for it hook, line and sinker. I wasn’t sure if I was impressed or mortified by Bri’s reputation. Her best friend didn’t bat an eyelid about her slutty ways, so I can only assume this kind of activity is more than normal for her.

As grateful as I am for her right now, I can’t deny that it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth where Nico is concerned.

I know they both claim that there is nothing there. And there may well not be. But I swear there is something different about my brother whenever she’s in the room. He might be a dickhead and a player of epic proportions, but at the end of the day, he’s my big brother and all I want for him is to be happy.

The rest of our time at the spa is a blur, and when we finally leave, my make-up is once again darker than I’d usually opt for, my hair has been styled perfectly, and I’m rocking my first ever set of black nails.

I want to say that I didn’t do it for him, but I would be lying.

When Jocelyn walked out of my room earlier, I had every intention of calling him, of trying to talk to him. Even if it was just to thank him for last night. But then reality came knocking and shot all my plans to shit, and here I am, standing in the middle of the bathroom in one of the platinum suites at The Prestige, holding a pregnancy test that I’m meant to pee on to discover my fate.

I was expecting the party to be at The Empire, and that was where our car went initially. But then we were ushered out, made to sit in different cars and took off again.

All our parties are at The Empire, and being somewhere else right now doesn’t help with the anxiety flowing through my veins.

Having this party at all seems beyond insane right now.