Watch Over Me

Finally, they were forced to come up for air—either that or the truck backfiring in the distance got their attention—and they slowly disengaged their lips and stared at each other like lovesick fools, completely oblivious to rest of the world. Dominic stepped up next to Gage and asked, “Gage, man, what’re you doing?”

Gage and Sha

“Bro,” Dominic began, ready to kill his friend over lying to Sha

Sha

Slapping a hand against his forehead, Dominic muttered, “Gage’s middle name is Cameron.”

“Huh . . . ?” Gwen asked, still looking confused.

Gage pulled Sha

“So, why didn’t you say anything—and what’s with you going by your middle name?” Dominic asked, now more curious than anything.

“Sha

“But Sha

Dominic could see both Gage and Sha

“Gwen, I love you, I really do,” Sha

Dominic felt Gwen’s back go ramrod straight at the bite in Sha

“How is it best to lie about who you’re seeing to everyone you know? I mean if you went to those lengths to keep us from knowing . . . are you certain about what you’re doing?”

Sha

“WHAT?” Gwen shouted, looking appalled. “How did you . . . ?”

“You told me to let myself in this morning to get the new shoes you’d bought for Maddy. Megan had to use the bathroom. I saw all of those pregnancy tests lined up on your bathroom sink. So, don’t you two be lecturing Gage and me about hiding things. Looks like you’re doing a bit of that yourselves.” Finally, the anger left her voice, and she just sounded hurt as she added, “You told me you weren’t pregnant. You lied to me about that.”

“Looks like you’re not the only one,” Dominic said in a daze. Dropping his arm from Gwen’s shoulders, he put some distance between them before turning to stare at her. She looked almost green as she stared back with something that could only be described as guilt on her face. “You told me . . . the test was negative. Why—why would you lie about that?”

Gwen reached for his arm, but he stepped back quickly before she could make any physical contact. “It was,” she assured him in a shaky voice. “They were all negative, but then this morning they showed positive. I—I was going to tell you tonight.”

Dominic had no idea what was going on, but as he looked at the three sets of eyes focused on him, he just knew he had to get out of there and find a place where he could think—and breathe. Before he knew it, his legs were carrying him down the steps. He heard voices shouting his name, but he never stopped, never paused. He grabbed his bike keys from his pocket, grateful he had picked them up at the last minute. He’d thought that he and Gwen could go to the beach and talk. Now, he just wanted distance from the thoughts racing through his head.

*   *   *

“Gwen, I’m so sorry,” Sha

“I just found out,” Gwen said hoarsely. “I wasn’t lying. It was negative last week.”

As Gwen sat there trembling in shock with Sha

Gwen stood and turned toward her apartment, but Sha

Gage motioned them toward the doorway of Sha

Gwen turned to see her friend smiling at Gage, her eyes soft and filled with something that looked a lot like love. At that moment, she hoped with all of her heart that Gage proved everyone wrong and had just been waiting for the right woman all along. She’d never known Sha

“I’m good,” Sha

Both Gwen and Sha

Sha

“How long?” Gwen asked, curious as to how she could have missed Gage coming and going from Sha

“A couple of months,” Sha

“Ah yes, the whole ‘don’t—stop Cameron’ thing. I thought that all came out of nowhere.” Feeling a little hurt, Gwen said, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”