His phone chimed, and Jessica’s name appeared on his screen. So this was about his woman.
Miles jumped and proceeded to type in his password wrong twice before getting the phone to unlock.
A photo of a negative pregnancy test popped up with the captionI’m not pregnant!!!!
All the air left Miles in a gust of relief, and he slumped back against his chair.
I, on the other hand, was tenser than ever. I couldn’t stop staring at the pregnancy test picture. It felt like I’d jumped back in time. My head swam, and I had to grip the edge of the couch to keep myself upright.
God dammit, this kind of shit wasn’t supposed to happen to him. Miles wasn’t me. He was supposed to be smarter. He was the one with goals and plans that he couldn’t afford to fuck up.
“Hayden? You look scary pale right now.”
I forced air in and out of my lungs, trying to keep the panic at bay.
“Fuck,” Miles muttered. “Hayden, talk to me.”
“Why is she sending you pictures of her pregnancy test?”
He winced. “The condom broke.”
“Was it your condom or hers?” I knew I was walking right on the edge of being a full-blown asshole, but when you were the son of a billionaire, you had to treatcondoms like drinks. You didn’t use them if they were already open and could have been tampered with.
“Hey, it wasn’t like that.”
“Just answer the damn question,” I said through gritted teeth.
“It was my condom. Jessica isn’t trying to baby-trap me.”
“Miles—”
“No. You got fucking married to a girl you broke up with nearly a year ago. So sorry, but you don’t get to give me this lecture.”
He had a point, but my situation with Danielle was entirely different than his with Jessica. Most notably because there was a zero percent chance I was going to get her pregnant.
“What if it hadn’t been a false alarm?” I asked. “That shit could ruin the rest of your life.”
“She’s not Jacqueline, okay! Not every woman in the world is a lying, cheating bitch who’s out to get us. No, I’m not ready to be a dad yet, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world either. And Jess would be an amazing mom.”
Miles’s words struck somewhere deep inside me.
Most of the time my family avoided talking about Jacqueline around me. Not that there was much to say. Other than the occasional gala or event, none of us had seen or heard from her since everything that had gone down between the two of us. But both my siblings had mentioned her in the past couple of weeks.
“Hayden.” Miles waved a hand in front of my face.
“What?” I snapped.
“I’m going to say this because I love you, and I thinkwe made a mistake in ignoring the whole fiasco. Unless you get over that woman and what she did to you, you’ll never really live. She’s moved way on. At this point, the only person you’re hurting is yourself.” He shook his head. “Actually no. You’re also hurting Danielle.”
My gaze sharpened on him. “I’m not hurting her. We have an agreement.”
“Are you blind, asshole? She was devastated when you left her. And for what? So you could parade around a bunch of women you don’t care about? Why did you really leave, huh? What did you break her heart for? Because I see the way you look at her. You want her back. You’re just too scared to admit it to yourself, and she deserves someone brave enough to battle his demons for her.”
“Fuck off,” I snarled.
He grinned at me. “You know I’m right.”
“You’re not.”
