Page 38 of Obsessive Love (The King #1)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Sophia

J aylen parks the car outside my parent's house, leaving the engine running and pulling out his phone to message my brother as I unclip my seatbelt and grab my handbag from the footwell.

"Have fun today, and be safe out there. Make sure you stay alert," I tell him, reaching over to give him a quick hug.

"Sorry to say this, princess, but I'm pretty sure my life won't be in danger if I'm not with you."

I gnaw on my bottom lip as I contemplate what he's saying and nod as guilt flows through me.

"Yeah, I guess you've got a point there," I mumble, opening my door.

"Hey," he says, making me pause. "You know I didn't mean anything by that. I'd happily lay my life on the line to protect you. It's why I took the job as your bodyguard all those years ago. I know what I signed up for, Soph, so don't feel bad about it."

"Yeah, I know. I just don't know what I'd do with myself if you got hurt because of me," I tell him, my vision beginning to blur at the possibility of anything happening to him.

"Nothing's going to happen to me. You're stuck with me forever, Soph. I will happily live out my life being your annoying cousin. Now, stop being so emotional. It's weirding me out. Go inside and have fun with those crazy ladies waiting for you. I'll pick you up later," he says, pressing a kiss to my temple and then nudging me away from him.

I get out of the car, hoisting my handbag onto my shoulder, close the door behind me, and stand there, watching as Jaylen drives away and giving myself a minute to pull myself together.

Taking a deep breath, I turn and walk up to the front door, knocking on it lightly.

"Good morning," Greta says as she opens the door. "Your mother is waiting for you in the kitchen and Jessica is on her way. She should be here shortly."

I smile and thank her and then walk towards the kitchen, wanting to see my mother after being apart for so long.

My mother is pouring orange juice into three half-filled champagne glasses as I enter the kitchen.

"Oh, baby! I'm so glad you could make it!" she squeals, finishing off the last mimosa before she lunges across the kitchen and pulls me into her arms, squeezing me tightly against her.

"Me too, Mum. It would be nice to continue breathing though," I joke, making her loosen her hold on me.

"How are you?" she asks, affectionately cupping my cheek as she examines my face.

"I'm good," I tell her, smiling and nodding my head. "Jaylen and I decorated my room yesterday and it's made me feel much better whilst I'm living there. I don't feel so much like a stranger anymore."

"That's good to hear. How are things with you and Jericho?"

I scrunch my face and reach for a mimosa, taking a generous gulp.

"We still don't really see or speak to each other. He's really busy with all of this Garcia business going on, so we don't really spend much time together. We had quite a long conversation the other week, though. After that, I realised that he's actually not that bad of a guy."

"What was the conversation about?" she asks, sitting beside me.

"Nothing important," I mutter, not wanting to speak about how my husband basically gave me permission to get with his brother, who is seemingly obsessed with me and has been for years.

She narrows her eyes at me as I gulp down the rest of my drink and then get up to make myself another.

As I'm pouring the champagne into my glass, I hear the chime of the doorbell and I release a relieved sigh.

"Please tell me you have a ton of chocolate, Auntie Lou. I need a gallon of it," Jess grumbles as she enters the kitchen, dressed in pyjamas with sunglasses on her face and her hair tied up in a messy bun.

My mother and I look at each other in shock as we watch my cousin plod across the room and then groan as she seats herself in one of the chairs.

"I think I can find some chocolate in here somewhere, darling," my mother says, patting Jess' hand and then hopping out of her seat to go and raid her cupboards.

"What's up with you?" I ask, sliding one of the champagne flutes over to Jess.

"Mother Nature hates me."

I laugh at her statement and take a sip of my drink.

"Mother Nature hates us all, otherwise she wouldn't cause us this pain every month," I state.

Jess drinks some of her mimosa and then nods, agreeing with me.

My mother walks back over a minute later with a bag of Maltesers and some M&M's, slinging the bags onto the breakfast bar.

"I thought I'd get both of your favourites out considering you both must be struggling at the moment."

I frown and shake my head, watching as she takes a seat next to Jess, who's ripping open the bag of M&Ms.

"I'm not. You can save the Maltesers for another day."

Jess stops stuffing the colourful, chocolates into her mouth and my mother puts her glass down as they stare at me with bewildered looks on their faces.

"What?" I question, looking between them both.

"You're not on your period?" Jess asks.

I shake my head.

"No, I'm-" I pause as I begin to connect the dots in my head and my brows furrow as I stare at Jess in front of me. "I'm not on my period," I mutter, glancing between the two women sitting in front of me.

"I only came on this morning," Jess says, shrugging as she begins to shove more chocolates into her mouth again.

"That doesn't help, Jess," I hiss, starting to panic. "I'm always on my period the week before you. We're synced up. We have been for years."

"Chill out. I'm sure you'll come on soon."

I stare at her wide-eyed, shocked by her nonchalant replies whilst I'm standing opposite her, close to having a full-blown freakout.

My mother rests her hand on mine, and when I turn to her, she looks at me with a faint smile on her face.

"Is it possible that you're pregnant, Soph?" she asks, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Of course not," Jess scoffs. "She hasn't had sex with Jericho. I'm pretty sure they haven't even kissed each other."

"Oh, okay," my mother says, looking slightly dejected. "Well, it must just be stress then."

I shake my head and gnaw on my bottom lip as my brain begins to do the maths.

"It's been three weeks."

They both look over at me as I step away from the counter and raise my hands to my head, rubbing my fingers against my aching temples.

"Holy shit!" Jess shouts, standing from her chair and watching me with a look of horror on her face. "No way!"

"What's going on?" my mother asks.

"There's no way," Jess says, ignoring my mother and looking at me as she shakes her head. "You're just stressed with everything that's been going on."

"It's a possibility though!" I screech as I frantically pace around the room.

"Will both of you calm down and tell me what's going on!" My mother shouts, drawing both of our attention to her.

I shake my head, not only at my thoughts but also to answer her question.

"I-I can't be," I mutter, looking at her through blurred vision. "This would be so bad, Ma."

She frowns as she walks over to me and pulls me into a tight hug.

"You just said it yourself, darling. It's a possibility," she says as she soothingly brushes her fingers through my hair.

"Jess, go and get your car and wait for Sophia outside. You're going to take her to the store to buy her a test and then take her home and wait with her for the results, okay?"

I watch Jess nod her head before she grabs the bag of M&Ms and hurries out of the kitchen.

My mother pulls me away from her chest, cupping my head in her hands and she gives me a sympathetic smile.

"You haven't had sex with Jericho yet?"

I shake my head, rolling my lips inward and biting down on them, trying to contain the tears that want to escape.

"So, if you are pregnant, it's from the night you had with that stranger a few nights before the wedding?" she asks.

"What?" I croak, staring at her in confusion.

She chuckles lightly and shakes her head.

"You've never been very good at hiding secrets from me, baby. Not only that, you and Jaylen slipped up about being at Jess' house and you turned up here with hickeys on your skin. I may be getting old, but I'm not daft." She places a kiss against my cheek and then wraps her arm around me as she walks me out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

She pulls us to a stop as we reach it.

"Do you know who he is?"

I nod my head and cringe at the question.

"It was Kaleb," I whisper.

Her eyes go wide, and her mouth gapes open before she quickly recovers. She smiles at me grimly instead.

"Well, that's unexpected," she states. "Keep me updated on the situation, Sophia. Message me as soon as you know and I promise I will help you in any way I can, whatever the results may be."

I quietly thank her and give her a quick hug before I rush out the door and jump in the passenger seat of Jess' car.

Jess starts the car and peels away from my parent's house, placing her hand on my thigh and giving it a gentle, comforting squeeze.

"I'm sure we're worrying over nothing, Soph. It's going to be okay."

I stare out the window as thoughts infiltrate my mind, causing panic to stir inside my stomach.

As much as I would love to have a child, I don't want to bring an innocent life into the world that we're a part of. There's always danger around every corner with our family. Our enemies will look for weaknesses and use them against us, and having a child would definitely be a weakness.

Just look at my father. Alessandro used me to get what he wanted. He knew that my father would do anything to keep me, Dominic and my mother safe, so he agreed to this marriage between Jericho and me.

I couldn't live with myself if I had to force my child to do something that they didn't want to do.

I also know how much carnage this would cause if I was pregnant.

It would start a war.