"Lily"s pregnant."
His three friends nodded. None of them appeared overly surprised by the news. They usually took great pleasure teasing him about hooking up with Minka"s best friend. He caught them exchanged quick, solemn looks. Apparently everyone knew about Lily but him. What the f.u.c.k!
"Why does it feel like I"m the last one to know?"
After an endless moment, Jason spoke. "I didn"t know for sure. Minka never said anything."
"She looked a little pale last night during dinner," Forrest added.
"She stopped drinking," Jason said, then took another sip of his beer.
Adam remembered Lily choosing sparkling water the other night at Vapor. s.h.i.t.
Why did he not pay closer attention?
He already knew the answer. The last few days, he"d been thinking with his other head.
"I thought you two were casual," Blake said carefully.
"You"ve never heard of those little things called condoms?" Jason added.
"Has she seen a doctor?" Forrest, the forever practical one, asked.
Adam"s head pounded from the questions thrown at him. He shrugged and answered in one breath. "I don"t know. We are casual and she"s on the pill, so I don"t know what happened."
"I"m guessing the usual age-old thing." Jason grinned. "You know, boy and girl got naked, rolled around, and stopped thinking."
He shot his friend a long, hard look. Unfazed, Jason leaned back and continued to drink his beer as if he were at a parade.
"You"re the one who was having s.e.x with Minka without any protection. Do I need to bring up Chappaquidd.i.c.k?"
"Hey." Jason waved his hands defensively but still looking relaxed in his chair, "That was only a few times. She went on the pill for a while."
"A while?" Adam asked.
"We want to start a family but seems like you"re a few steps ahead of us." Jason tilted his beer to Adam and took a swig.
"And us," Blake chided.
"And you should know antibiotics lessen the effectiveness of birth control," Forrest said, shaking his head.
Adam frowned. "Speak English."
"Last time you went to visit her, you told us she was sick as a dog and on antibiotics. I"m sure that didn"t stop you from..."
"I got it," Adam growled, cutting his friend off. But s.h.i.t, how did he not know about how antibiotics and birth control worked before? Because he"d always used condoms in the past, that"s how. But with Lily, they had thrown that extra caution to the s.h.i.t. They relied on her being on the pill. He was screwed.
"So what are you guys going to do?" Blake asked "I told her we"re getting married."
His friends sat a little straighter. All three placed their bottles on the table. A dull pain hit Adam in the back of his head. He rubbed the still stinging spot and turned to Blake. "What was that for?"
"For being an idiot," Blake snorted. "First of all, you told her to marry you."
The others nodded in agreement. f.u.c.kers.
"Second, you don"t ask a woman to marry you because she"s pregnant."
What. Why not? "She"s pregnant with my child."
Jason leaned his elbows on the table. His sharp blue eyes never wavered from Adam"s face. "You do realize we are living in the twenty-first century, right? The me man, you woman approach no longer works."
Adam took a swig of his beer, ignoring Jason.
"You"re missing Blake"s point, dude," Jason continued. "What was her reaction when you told her to marry you? Did she jump into your arms with joy?"
Adam groaned and shook his head. "No. She cried and locked herself in the bedroom." He stared blankly at his barely touched beer.
"You"re still not getting it." Jason shook his head in dismay, which drew an amused smile from Forrest and Blake.
"Love," Forrest said after a heavy sigh. "You know, Blake and Keely, Jason and Minka kind of love."
"You and Claire too." Adam added just to be an a.s.shole. On days like today when he was obviously the b.u.t.t of the joke, he didn"t mind going for a below-the-belt shot.
Forrest sat back on his chair. His grey eyes dark. "Claire and I are not together."
There was always a high level of tension between the two, which Adam found exhausting. He would have pointed out to his friend mental love still counted, but chose to let it go for now. "Are you even getting laid?" he asked instead.
Forrest laughed. "Are you offering?"
Adam flipped him the bird.
"Have you seen all those women who are always sick?" Blake put his hands up for the in air quotation, "sick."
A pretty brunette approached the table and made small talk with Forrest. She reminded him of her appointment then sashayed her tight b.u.t.t away to the bar, confirming Blake"s observation.
"Back to you," Jason said, once the brunette was out of view. "You"re an idiot for telling Lily to marry you."
"f.u.c.k you," Adam responded automatically. He rubbed his brows, the tension slowly leaving his body.
"No thanks, man. I"m getting ready to marry Minka. Oh, yeah..." He smirked. "We"re getting married because we love each other, not because of a child."
"While I"m happy you found happiness, I don"t believe in that love s.h.i.t."
"What did you do for her birthday?" Forrest asked.
Adam searched his brain. Oh, yeah. "Flew to New Jersey. Bought her flowers." Spent the weekend naked in her apartment.
Blake nodded but didn"t look that impressed. "Did you take her out to dinner or spend the whole weekend s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g her brains out?"
"Jesus, Blake!" Truth be told, he had done exactly that. Surely, he had taken her out to dinner at least once, although at the moment he couldn"t remember one occasion where just the two of them had been to a restaurant. Whenever they went out they were always surrounded by the three Stooges along with Keely and Minka.
How the h.e.l.l had he never taken Lily out to a restaurant before? He"d done so with women he liked much less. Adam took another swig of his beer.
Blake shrugged. "What do you know about her?"
Let"s see, he knew she had long, toned, beautiful legs that he loved best wrapped around his waist, whether standing up or lying down. He loved her legs. And her lips around him, he loved that too.
"Besides all the wonderful things she can do to your body," Blake added.
He searched the faces of his friends. They were looking for answers with substance. Adam drew a blank. He couldn"t think of anything. He groaned.
"She needs a cup of coffee every morning," he said, picturing Lily without her cup of caffeine in the morning.
"She has three brothers," Blake added.
Adam"s eyes widened. Three. He knew she had brothers but he never took the time to ask how many.
"You didn"t know that, did you?" Forrest drawled, sounding almost disgusted.
Adam was starting to regret reaching out to them. He could do without the interrogation today. "I knew she had brothers. I imagined two."
Blake grinned. "Three big bad-a.s.ses. I think one is a photographer, one is a Navy SEAL and the other is a big-shot engineer."
"How the f.u.c.k do you know so much about her?" Adam growled. He didn"t like the tone of Blake"s voice.
"She"s Minka"s best friend," Blake answered, like duh. "You don"t even know what college she went to, do you?" He paused, waiting for Adam to answer.
s.h.i.t. Adam regretted calling them.
"She went to Yale with Minka. That"s where we met." Blake shook his head in obvious disgust.
"And her brothers are coming to the wedding," Jason announced. His voice filled with pleasure.
Adam swore under his breath. "A photographer isn"t a bada.s.s in my eyes, and that engineer one, I bet you I can take both of them." The third one, whoever he was, had Adam"s utmost respect. The military required a certain breed, a certain level of toughness.
"You"ve been together for a year now, how did you celebrate your anniversary?" Blake continued to probe.
Anniversary. That word was for couples.
Jason smirked. "f.u.c.k buddies celebrate anniversaries too, at least they want to. They just don"t say it."
"Like you did with Rita," Adam mumbled, reminding his friend of the incident between him and Rita before Minka came into his life.
"Touche. See, that"s how I learned my lesson. Even f.u.c.k buddies have expectations."
"We don"t celebrate anniversaries," Adam grunted. "We don"t celebrate anything. We f.u.c.k."
"And now you"re having a child with her." Forrest added, his voice low and controlled. "I suggest you get her to like you, maybe even love you a little, if you really want her to consider marriage."
What was happening? The man who couldn"t get the woman he had a thing for to look his way was giving advice on relationships.
"From what I know of Lily, she"s her own person and stubborn," Forrest continued.
"Like most women," Jason added for good measure, and Blake nodded in agreement. Adam shared their pain.
"But," Forrest paused, choosing his words carefully, "she has to feel something for you to continue this no strings attached but exclusive bulls.h.i.t. No woman can go that long without getting somewhat emotionally invested."
Adam heard those words before from his mother. If he didn"t know how alpha Forrest was, he would have insisted he turned in his Man Card. The other two dumba.s.ses nodded their heads as if Forrest"s words were gospel. Okay, so maybe his friend had a point.
"You just have to make her want to admit it. And perhaps you should try to look beyond her ability to f.u.c.k your brains out on a daily basis. You know, try liking her back." This came from Jason, the man who spent most of his life thinking with his d.i.c.k first.
"I do like her."
The admission didn"t surprise Adam. It was true, he did like Lily. Otherwise, s.e.x or not he would not have hung around this long. But he"d never admitted it before. He never even considered whether he liked her as a person.
"Then show her." The three men said collectively, as if they"d spent their whole lives waiting for this moment.
"I f.u.c.king got it," he growled, though now he was a whole lot less p.i.s.sed off.
Jason was the first to push his chair back and rise to his feet. "Good, because Blake and I have work to do and Forrest has sick fake patients to see. Good luck, bro. That"s some deep s.h.i.t you"re in but fun for me to watch." He patted Adam"s shoulder then started toward the door.
Blake and Forrest did the same, leaving Adam sitting by himself at Vapor. He reached for his phone and scrolled to Lily"s number. She was quick to answer.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better," she answered in a low voice.
For the first time he detected a naked vulnerability in her tone. It made his heart squeeze. "I"m stopping by Jason and Minka"s to get your luggage then coming home. Let"s talk."
She sighed. "Adam, I"m not marrying you."
"No marriage." For now. "Let"s just talk. Can we do that?"
"Yes," she answered after a beat.
"Good. See you soon, Liliana."
After he disconnected the call, Adam ran his palm over his face. He felt as if he"d been shoved off a cliff and ended up under a boulder. A heavy weight bore down on him, making him more unsettled and off balanced than he cared to admit. Maybe, just a little spooked.
In a few months he"d have a child. And if he succeeded at getting Lily to marry him, he"d be a husband. Adam let out a quick breath and sc.r.a.ped a hand through his hair. He rose from his chair, took one last swallow of his beer and headed for the door, ready to embrace the last thing he ever wanted to be in life...someone"s father.
Chapter Fourteen.