Page 92 of Badd Baby

I rolled my eyes. "She's not a praying mantis, Duncan. I was joking.”

"So was I. Clearly she's not a cannibal." He shook his head, shoulders shaking with laughter. "He's with your parents. And don't worry, Dane can handle a conversation with them. Lindsey is a different story, but I suspect she can take care of herself."

“Yeah, she can." I sighed, shifted off his lap, and sat cross-legged facing him. "I don't care if you live with your parents. I mean, I think it is sweet. Also, why were you talking to your mom at four in the morning?"

He laughed. "You know, I still don't know why she woke up. I'm always pretty quiet when I come home late. She just…I dunno. She said that a mama always knows when her kids need her."

"And you needed her?" I asked.

He shrugged, looking away. "I guess."

"Duncan?" I touched his hand.

He rolled a shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

"Duncan, c'mon. What?"

"I was…I'd been having a hard time. After you left, and all that. I guess she just…felt it. I dunno. Or she had some sort of motherly ESP about you calling me with your news."

"So when I called…"

"Your ears must've been burning."

I sighed. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Duncan."

"But?"

I shook my head. "No, I really am. I didn’t handle the situation right in a lot of ways."

He waited, but I didn't say anything else—my mind was racing a million miles per hour and I didn't know where to start.

"Rune…" he looked away, then back at me. "If you hadn't freaked out and left, we would've realized we hadn't used condoms, and we could've gotten you Plan B."

“I know," I said, miserable, having considered that…oh, a billion times at this point. "Trust me, I know."

"Are you…" He gnawed on the inside of his cheek, thinking. "I don't know how to ask this."

I swallowed hard, met his eyes. "Am I keeping it?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

I shrugged. "I don't know, Duncan. I really don't. I've only known for a few days. And to be honest, I've spent the majority of that time having what amounts to one continuous panic attack. I haven't taken a full breath since I took the first test."

He nodded. "I suppose that's understandable."

"We should go back to the house," I said. "As much as I'd rather stay in my hideout and pretend none of this is real."

He grinned, looking around at my little nook. "Sweet hideout, though. Dane and I would've put up walls and tried to get a PlayStation down here."

I snickered. "Boys. You can't just enjoy something the way it is—you always have to try and improve things."

He laughed at this. “That's facts, though. But for him and I, it was more about the fact that we were seriously addicted to gaming."

"Shocking," I deadpanned. "And you're not anymore?"

He shrugged. "Nah, not really. Hard to be when you work the hours I do. We’ll play a few rounds when we're both home, but Dane is taking classes at the community college and working for a landscaping company, so he's as busy as I am."

He stood up and extended a hand to me; I took it and let him pull me to my feet. He yanked a bit too hard, though, and I stumbled forward into his chest.