Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(68)

"I don't care what you are!" he growled.

"You should. Because the price you'll have to pay is too much." She saw the hurt flash in his eyes.

"Even if you hadn't betrayed me, I wouldn't let you pay it. It's over, Lucas, accept that and don't screw up your life because of me."

Head held high, she walked out. Unfortunately, her heart felt like the towels she'd just trashed- mangled and twisted.

* * *

Kylie watched Perry-still a hawk-follow her dad's car as they returned to Shadow Falls. While her stepdad drove, he talked about the possible hiking trip. When he slowed down to turn into the Shadow Falls parking lot, Kylie noticed the silver Cadillac in front of them with its blinker on, also pulling into the parking lot. The car's tinted windows prevented her from seeing who drove, but she couldn't help wonder if it might be the Brightens-her real dad's adoptive parents.

Kylie's stomach started to flutter. She still didn't know what to say, what not to say. Her heart kept echoing the pain she'd felt when talking to Lucas, but she needed to shift mental gears now. Unfortunately, she had too many issues to give herself over to just one.

She glanced at her watch. It was twenty till two. It could actually be them if they were the type to be early.

Glancing at her dad now talking about the camping gear they would need, she realized how awkward this would be if he had to meet the Brightens. It would probably lead to having to explain a whole hell of a lot of things that Kylie didn't know how to explain. And it would probably end up hurting her stepdad, something she didn't want to do.

The silver car pulled in and parked in a visiting parking spot. Her dad pulled in and parked two spots down. Releasing her seat belt, before her dad even had a chance to turn the car off, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for lunch. I'll see myself in."

"Not so fast, I have time to walk you in. I need to take advantage of every second with you."

Chapter Twenty-four

"Okay," Kylie said, in a bit of a panic. "Well, it's gonna be a quick walk because I ... I have to go pee."

"You went to the bathroom at the restaurant," her dad said as if her peeing habits concerned him.

"Tiny bladder." She popped out of the car. She cut her eyes briefly at the other car and saw the passenger side door opening and then she saw ...

"Oh, crap!" It was not the Brightens. And right now she really, really wished it were.

Her mom and ... She watched in sheer horror as John's head appeared on the other side of the car.

"Kylie?" her mom called out in a stern voice.

She turned to her dad. "You should leave before ... before things go crazy."

"It's okay." Her dad looked embarrassed. "Just because of what happened last time doesn't mean we can't be civil to each other."

Her mom's posture and expression as she came stomping over to the car didn't seem to agree with her dad's "civil" declaration. Oh, lord, Kylie was so not in the mood to deal with her parents' drama right now.

But as she got closer, Kylie noticed her mom, her hair mussed, her clothes wrinkled, and her eyes bloodshot, didn't have her frown zeroed in on her dad, but on Kylie.

Okay ... whose drama was this? Her parents'? Or ...

"Is it true?" her mom snapped.

Kylie instantly remembered her mom had just flown back from England, which explained her appearance, but it didn't explain what was wrong.

Kylie looked to her dad to see if his expression would tell her if he had a clue to what her mom was talking about. But he looked equally puzzled.

"Is what true?" Kylie asked, and noticed John walking up to stop beside her mom. He didn't appear wrinkled or jet-lagged. But just seeing the man sent a bad feeling wiggling its way inside her.

"You called your dad about this, but not me?" her mom asked.

Kylie saw Holiday and Burnett high stepping it out of the office, probably thinking another free-for-all fistfight was about to occur.

Glancing back to her mom, Kylie sent up a prayer that this-whatever this was-wouldn't escalate into chaos.

"I didn't call him about anything. What are you talking about?"

"Did you use the credit card I gave you?"

Kylie nodded, her mind running circles and then landing on a possible answer to what this was all about. But Kylie really really hoped she was wrong.

"Are you pregnant?" her mom blurted out.

Okay, so Kylie wasn't wrong. Her mouth opened but nothing came out."She's pregnant?" Her dad looked at Kylie with a stern parental glare. "We won't be able to go on that hiking trip now!"

"Unfreakingbelievable," her mom seethed. "You hear your daughter's pregnant and you're worried about a hiking trip."

"No, I was ... I'm just in shock."

He wasn't the only one shocked. "Stop!" Kylie said.

"Just answer me, young lady," her mom demanded.

"No, I'm not ... pregnant." Kylie shook her head back and forth, imitating Burnett's hell-no head shake.

"I haven't even ... I'm..." I'm still a virgin! The words sat on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't spit them out.

"Then why would you buy three pregnancy tests?"