Chapter 30
With barely a hello, Jake said, "Are they there?"
It was pretty obvious who he meant. I eyed Luna's brothers, standing just a few feet away. "Uh, yeah."
"Good," he said. "Keep it that way."
I spoke up. "But they won't be for long."
"Yeah? That's whatyouthink."
Well, that wasn't bossy or anything.I felt my eyebrows furrow. "What are you saying?"
"I'msayingif you send them back, you're gonna regret it."
I stiffened. Okay, as much as I appreciated what he was trying to do, this was a bit much. "You're not seriously threatening me, are you?"
"No," he said. "I'm threateningthem. And you seem like the type who'd care."
"About what?"
"I dunno." Jake paused, as if thinking. "Like if I launched them off the balcony."
"What?"
"Yeah," he said. "I'm betting you'd feel bad."
I was still looking at Luna's brothers. Actually, I would feel kind of bad. As weird as it sounded, they were kind of growing on me. Somewhere in the background, I heard Luna say, "Here, lemme talk to her."
My stomach sank. I didn’t want to talk to Luna, and not only because I was still angry about the whole pregnancy thing. Sooner or later, she'd hear my message, which would put a distinct damper on our friendship.
And yet, a moment later, I heard her voice, coming through the phone. "You got my message, right?"
"Yeah." I sighed. "And I’m betting youdidn'tget mine."
"You left me a message? When?"
"A couple of hours ago."
"Oh. Sorry, my phone's like in a million pieces." She perked up. "So what'd you call me about?"
I bit my lip. Isodidn't want to do this now. But I saw no way to avoid it. With another sigh, I turned away from her brothers and said in a low whisper, "Why'd you tell Joel I was pregnant?"
Behind me, one of her brothers murmured, "Holy shit."
The other one said, "Did you know?"
"Hell no. Did you?"
I whirled to face them. Through gritted teeth, I said, "I'mnotpregnant."
They were both staring at my stomach. Without looking up, Steve said, "Are you sure?"
I glared at him, not that he appeared to notice. "What's that supposed to mean?" My voice rose. "Are you implying something?"
"Yeah," he said, still looking down. "You seem kind of moody." Finally, he looked up and asked Anthony, "Isn't that a sign or something?"
Anthony gave a slow nod. "Oh yeah. For sure."
