“And the murderous glare is back,” Mickey observes. “Don’t worry, Maggie. Your secret is safe with me. I know you won’t actually kill him, but he doesn’t know that, and I’m not telling.”
The door opens, and JT steps in and toes off his shoes. He looks guilty as hell right now, and not only because his hockey bag is still sitting by the door, right where he left it. “Hey, baby. You’re awake. I didn’t want?—”
“Where were you?” I ask, not bothering to hide the worry in my voice.
“Maggie,” he says, his voice breaking as he strides toward me. “You were sleeping when I left. I didn’t want to wake you.”
He reaches for me, but I stay still. “I know all that. What I don’t know is where the hell you’ve been. And don’t even give me that bullshit about running drills.”
The look on his face threatens to crack my icy resolve. “Maggie, I’m sorry. I wasn’t running drills, but I did go to the?—”
“Dude, stop. You’re just making it worse.” Mickey inserts himself as the voice of reason and JT nearly jumps through the ceiling. Holy hell. He must really be rattled if he didn’t even realize Mickey was here.
“Jesus. Mickey. When the hell did you get here?”
His best friends shrugs. “An hour ago?”
JT opens his mouth, then shuts it again, thinking better ofwhatever he was going to say. It doesn’t matter, though. Mickey keeps talking.
“I didn’t see Pete in the lot. He must’ve pulled up after I got up here. I saw the group chat, though. He said he was on Baby Watch and everybody gave it the thumbs up. But I didn’t even know there was Baby Watch duty tonight because you never fucking called me. I just came over to hang out, you know, because you’re my best friend. But you weren’t home, and Maggie was worried and you didn’t answer my texts. Wherever you went and whatever you did, it was a solo mission. What the fuck? We’re a team, asshole.”
It occurs to me that Mickey has been just as worried as I’ve been. JT’s the brother he never had, and their bond is strong.
JT shakes his head and my arms ache to reach for him. I’m mad and frustrated and confused, but I can’t hold out any longer, so I wrap my arms around him and hold on tight. It should be awkward with my belly in the way, not to mention our height difference, but it’s not. We fit together like puzzle pieces and I curse myself again for waiting so long to give in to the love we have for each other.
JT doesn’t let me go as he walks us over to the couch. He sits first then pulls me onto his lap.
Mickey looks at us and sighs. “Alright, lovebirds. Work it out. And Maggie, remember what we agreed on.”
“Hold up,” JT says, halting his friend’s exit. “Get back here, man. You’re family, too.”
Mickey’s smile could light the night sky as he sits next to us on the couch. About thirty seconds later, he moves to the recliner. “It’s probably better if I sit here.”
JT let’s out a breath. “I needed to clear my head,” he starts, but we’re not letting him get away with that bullshit.
“The fuck you did,” Mickey says. “Be honest. Did you have it out with Coach?”
JT does a double-take. “What? No. Baylor and I are in anunspoken truce right now, and I’m not fucking with that. Especially right before the tournament.”
“Then where did you go?” I ask. “And don’t you dare lie.”
“I had family shit to deal with,” he answers, his eyes evading mine.
“We are your family,” I say, pointing to Mickey then back at myself.
“Yeah, the family I chose. Tonight, I had to deal with the people who raised me, even though those are pretty strong words. We had some shit to settle, that’s all.”
I’m about to call bullshit, but the pained look on JT’s face is more than I can bear. He clears his throat and looks at his best friend. “Mick, can I, uh, walk you out?”
“What? No,” I protest. “Mickey stays. He’s family, you said so yourself. And anything you can say to me, you can say to him.” My words fill the otherwise quiet room and get no response, and that’s when I get it. “There’s also nothing you can say to Mickey that you can’t say to me,” I tell him, not bothering to hide the quiver in my voice.
JT’s shaking his head at me, his eyes pleading. “Maggie, you don’t understand.”
“You’re right, I don’t. Because we don’t keep secrets from each other, JT.”
“We do when one of us is thirty-five weeks pregnant, ok? Please, Maggie. I’m begging you. It’s all going to be fine, but my family is…Jesus. Toxic doesn’t even begin to describe them. And I need them as far away from you and Nugget as possible. Please. Please just trust me on this. I know you want to fight all our battles together and I fucking love that. But I am begging you to just let me handle this one on my own.”
My instinct is to say no. To tell him he can fuck right off with that bullshit. Pregnant or not, if his family is trying to mess with us, I deserve to know about it.
