Dating the Defensive Back (The Nash Brothers Book 1)

The Absolute Worst Possible Thing

One week left until training camp, and I’m trying to soak in every possible second with Ava. I’m also pushing myself harder with our team trainers at the gym next to the Complex since we can’t use our training facility until training camp officially begins.

I’m ready for this new season.

But first, I’m ready for some time with my girl.

Only…she’s busy as fuck.

She’s catering an event this weekend, which means she’s been busy baking when she’s not at Cravings, and she just found out Kelly is definitely moving back to be closer to her parents.

When I asked her why, though, she got all weird and dodgy on me.

Something happened, but she doesn’t want to tell me what.

I don’t press it. She’s stressed as it is, and I don’t want to add to it. I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with Austin, though.

Her event is this Friday, and she’s losing her shit that she won’t have enough time to get it all done. So I sit on the stool in my kitchen opposite where she’s making her truffles as I ask what I can do to help.

“Sit there and look pretty,” she says.

I laugh, but I do as I’m told.

“Actually, I do need your help with something. Kelly’s moving out by the end of the week, and I’d love to get the rest of my stuff out of there and into here before you leave for camp. Would you mind just grabbing all the clothes in my closet and in my dresser tonight, and then I can go tomorrow and clean out the bathroom stuff and all that Radiance shit from my closet?”

I chuckle as I think about how I didn’t even move my own shit when I came out here. I paid someone to do it. But for her…of course I will. “Yes. How much of the Radiance shit is there?”

“A closetful.” She shrugs. “We had to keep buying products in order to hit the next bonus tier, and I’m just…not a salesperson. Now it’s just sitting in my closet, and I don’t know what to do with it.”

I nod. “Okay. Oh, and I can help move your furniture, too. Want me to head over there now and assess what our needs are?”

“If you don’t mind. I think Kelly’s out. She said she had some people to, uh…to talk to before she leaves town.”

“Some people? Like Austin?” I ask. “He won’t be there, will he?”

“Honestly, Grayson, I have no idea.” She’s rolling her chocolate mixture into little balls, and she seems almost…angry.

“Is something going on with you?” I finally ask.

She sighs, and then she stops rolling her chocolate balls and looks up at me. “Kelly’s moving. I’m sad.” She clears her throat, and it feels like she’s leaving something out. “I have an extra house key in my purse. I’ll let Kelly know you’re on your way over in case she’s home.”

I run upstairs and grab a couple of empty suitcases to fill with her clothes, and then I give her a quick kiss before I head over.

The house is dark when I arrive. I head straight for Ava’s room, and I grab her bunny and nightlight first—though she hasn’t had any nightmares at all since she’s been staying with me. I pack the first suitcase full of clothes from her dresser drawers, and I head toward the closet next.

“Holy shit,” I murmur when I see the sheer amount of Radiance shit in her closet.

It’s…excessive.

Literally one entire wall is a shelving unit with Radiance Skincare boxes stacked from the floor to the ceiling. When she joked about having a closetful of this shit, I had no idea she actually meant an entire closetful of this shit. There must be thousands of dollars’ worth of products in here.

I grab the clothes on hangers and take it all out to my car.

I fill up the other two suitcases until they’re bursting, and before I take them out to the car, I stop to use her bathroom.

As soon as I flick on the light, I spot something sitting there on the bathroom counter.

It’s a box of pregnancy tests.

Correction: A box of open pregnancy tests.

A pulse of fear races up my spine.

Is Ava pregnant?

Is she keeping yet another secret from me?

I thought I was past those secrets from the beginning when she lied about who she was. I thought I was okay with it. I thought we’d moved on.

But the thought that maybe she’s keeping more from me is a terrifying realization. Will I ever be able to fully trust her?

I thought I could. I don’t think I’m quite there.

It feels like the absolute worst possible thing that could have happened. It’s all my fears combined into one manifesting itself in that open fucking box.

Kids ruin relationships. Secrets ruin relationships. Lies ruin relationships. And this has the potential to be all three.

It’s not just another secret. It’s not just another lie.

It’s a baby.

I glance through the box mostly because I can’t help myself, and I see that there’s a test missing.

She took one. I’m not jumping to conclusions. The evidence is right fucking here in front of me. An open box of pregnancy tests on my girlfriend’s bathroom counter.

I’m the only man she’s slept with. At least I think I am. Maybe it’s another secret. Another lie. The fact that she was a virgin came out of her stupid ex’s mouth before it came out of hers.

She explained why she didn’t tell me. I tried to understand.

But explaining away lies after the fact doesn’t change anything.

Is this what she wants? Is she ready for kids and marriage and that whole life?

Maybe she is, but I’m not entirely sure I am.

It feels like a giant weight is pressing on me as I continue to hold the box in my hands.

I finally toss it down on the counter like it’s on fucking fire, and then I bolt the fuck out of there. I grab the suitcases, toss them in my car, and decide to go to the Gridiron instead of back to my house.

I need a drink before I’m ready to face her and whatever this is. Make no mistake, though. I will face her. I will ask her about those tests and why they’re on her counter.

Maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions. Maybe there’s a perfectly solid explanation as to why she has an open fucking box of pregnancy tests on her fucking counter.

I suck in a few deep breaths as I’m at the point where I either have to turn left to go home or right to go to the bar.

I have her shit in my car. It’s not like I can go drink and then drive home.

I turn left. I force myself to calm down.

It’s not another secret or lie until she admits it is.

Then I can overreact.

I pull into the driveway and haul the first two suitcases inside.

She’s still making her truffles.

I head for the pantry, twist the cap on the Hendricks, and take a few swigs.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

She knows me so well.

I take another swig at the thought.

“Why is there a box of pregnancy tests on your bathroom counter?” I demand.

She freezes, and her face turns white.

That’s all I need to know to confirm the fact that she’s been keeping something from me.

She sets down the ball of chocolate she’s forming, and she presses her palms onto the countertop. “Kelly’s pregnant. She gave me the box after she used a test.”

Kelly’s pregnant? Kelly?

“Jesus. Is it Austin’s?”

She nods slowly.

It’s a simple enough explanation, I suppose.

But that box of tests wasn’t in Kelly’s bathroom. It was in Ava’s.

Maybe every woman keeps a box of pregnancy tests on their bathroom counter.

Except…

I don’t think they do.

And her face turned white. She froze as if she was caught.

There’s more to this story, and I’m going to dig until I get to the bottom of it.

“But why would you need the box?” I ask, my voice a bit more menacing than I mean for it to be.

She clears her throat. “Are you accusing me of something?”

“Do you have something to confess?” I counter.

She sighs. “My period is late, okay?”

Of all the things I thought she might say, I don’t think that was it.

Her words send ice through my veins. “Your…your period is what?”

“I started the shot, and we had sex the week I started it. Everything I read said it’s fine, and I feel fine. I don’t really think I’m pregnant, but just in case, Kelly gave me the tests since she figured she wouldn’t need them.”

“And you just…decided to keep this from me? More secrets and lies?” I ask. I’m not really angry that she kept Kelly’s pregnancy from me. It wasn’t her news to tell.

But this? A scare?

This is something we could’ve faced together.

“It’s not like that,” she protests. “I’m scared, okay? What if I am pregnant? You’re scared as hell of babies and commitment and all of this, and I’m not ready to lose you because of something we didn’t get the chance to plan.”

I take another swig of my gin. “You’ve got it all figured out.” I shake my head as I mimic a woman’s voice. “Grayson is too emotionally immature to handle a baby, so I’ll just deal with it on my own.” I cut the voice. “Well, what if you are? What then? Were you just going to lie to me and hide it until you could train me to accept it?”

“Are you kidding me right now? I’ve been fucking terrified to take that test because I was scared of what your reaction would be if I was, and so I haven’t. I know I’m not, but I still had that five seconds of fear. What if I was? What then? How would you handle it?”

“Fuck, Ava!” I roar. “It’s yet another complication we’ll never know the answer to because you don’t trust me enough to tell me the truth!”

She looks small and scared standing there behind her chocolate, but I’m finding it hard to muster up any sort of sympathy.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“So am I,” I hiss. “I’m sorry you can’t be honest with me. I’m sorry that this,” I say, waving between the two of us, “just isn’t working for me.”

I leave those as my final words as I storm out of the room.