Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)(77)

Breanna - 'Umm...that girl that Chase works with...what's her name Trick, Trixie, Tramp?'

Me - 'LOL! Trish...what about her?'

Breanna - 'She just showed up.'

Me - 'Ugh. Seriously? I can't stand her. Why is she at a college party anyway? Wait, who invited her?'

Breanna - 'My thoughts exactly. I'm guessing Chase did.'

Me - 'Aces. Well keep an eye on her, let me know. Skank.'

Breanna - 'Will do friend! You can always still come over...?'

Me - 'Nah, I'm about to go to bed. Besides, I don't want Chase to think I don't trust him, because I do. I just don't trust her.'

Breanna - 'Kay, I'll let you know if something goes down. Night love you'

Me - 'Love you too, thanks.'

It bothered me more than I wanted it to, but I wasn't about to ask Chase why she was there. It's not like the parties were exclusive to SDSU, but I'm pretty sure he said she was twenty eight, and he knows I don't like her. Like I said, I wasn't one of those girlfriends who didn't allow him to have female friends, because he definitely had plenty, but they all knew we were together, and none of them ever flirted with him after our pregnancy announcement. Trish obviously didn't care that he was taken or about to have a baby with me. She'd text him in the middle of the night for no reason, the few times I'd been to the shop since first meeting her, she was always still in his section laughing and touching his arm, even if she had clients waiting. And let's not forget how she asked him almost daily to come to her place after the shop closed for a late dinner – Chase said no every time – or all her new tattoos that she'd only let Chase do. Chase said she was just like one of the guys, but I'm female, I was now positive she wasn't gay and knew what she was doing, and it pissed me off.

I barely slept that night. Despite telling me he would, Chase didn't come home, which meant I couldn't get comfortable without his arms around me, I hadn't heard from him and Chase. Didn't. Come. Home. Not like he never stays at his house anymore, it is his house after all, but almost every night we fall asleep in the same bed whether it's here or there. Thankfully most nights was here since I still don't feel comfortable flaunting my relationship with Chase in front of Brandon. But we still ended up there and the few times we did were carefully coordinated so we wouldn’t run into him.

I continued to tell myself that Chase probably decided to actually drink last night since it was his last party with those guys, and to be happy that he didn’t drive drunk. And it’s not like I need him to give me a full report when we're apart, but this time I knew Trish was at that party, and that is what really bothered me. At least Bree didn't text me again, which meant nothing happened, but that just didn't seem to matter to me right now. I had already taken a shower, gotten ready for the day, made breakfast and was currently going through the baby names book with a different colored highlighter to narrow down the names even more, and it was only seven. I breathed a sigh of relief and scolded myself for acting paranoid when Chase texted me.

Chase - 'Hey beautiful, come by the house, I have a surprise for you.'

Me - 'Surprise? Really now.'

Chase - ';-) Yep, see you soon.'

I frowned at the screen. Chase never did smiley faces. I shook my head…paranoid, absolutely paranoid. I needed to cool it, or I was going to drive myself crazy. Grabbing my keys and hopping into my Expedition, I drove to his house trying to figure out what the surprise was, and why he was up so dang early. I tried to remain quiet so I could sneak into his room without waking up anyone, but Brandon's husky voice caught me.

“Hey Harper, where were you last night?”

I turned to see him sitting on the kitchen counter, coffee mug in hand. My heart dropped when I looked into his gray eyes. I wanted to curl up in his arms and take back the last five months. “Uh, thought it'd be a little awkward considering.” I waved a hand over my stomach.

“Oh, yeah.” His eyes stayed glued to my small round belly, “Yeah, I guess. How is that going?”

“It's good.” I said softly, watching his face carefully while I said the next words, “It's going to be a boy.”

One of the days when we were in Arizona for Christmas, I had been in the kitchen with his mom cooking barefoot. Brandon started teasing that all I needed now was to be pregnant, and it would be a perfect picture. I had thrown an oven mitt at him, which he dodged and brought back over to me, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my neck. He promised he'd been joking but said whenever we did have kids, he wanted a boy to name him after his dad. I hadn't been ready to talk about marriage with him at that point, but in the joyful mood of that day I had laughed and promised to pop out a boy for him ASAP. Even through the laughing, he got a wide smile and his eyes sparkled. My heart squeezed at that memory.

He blew out heavily and closed his eyes, probably remembering that day too. “That's uh, that's great Harper. I'm happy for you.”

My little gummy bear turned over and delivered a sharp and painful kick. I gasped and my hand flew to my stomach, I hadn't had one that hurt until then.

Brandon jumped off the counter and rushed to me, “Are you okay? What happened?”

I laughed and waved him off, “I'm fine. He just kicked me, it hurt a little and caught me by surprise.”