Alpha's Baby: A Secret Baby Romance Read online

  “How am I supposed to believe that?” Stefan demanded. “When you were willing to sleep with me before even knowing who I was?”

  I wrapped my arms around my chest and looked down at my legs in shame. I had the response, but it was hard to speak through the lump inside my throat.

  Stefan resumed his pacing. “Speaking of which, I can’t believe that you were willing to sleep with a total stranger. I really thought you were above such behavior, Bella.” There was bitter anger in Stefan’s voice, and the sound of it stung my skin like a wasp.

  “I don’t see why you’re bringing this up now,” I said weakly. I wanted to be angry, but with the way my stomach felt and everything else, I just felt pounded, destroyed . . . helpless. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it after you found out.”

  “Well, I haven’t been able to speak to you since that night.” Stefan stopped pacing again to stare at me. “With everything happening so fast, there was little time to process. And at the time, I was just happy to be with you.”

  “And I was happy to be with you too,” I whispered.

  “If that’s true, why were you willing to sleep with a total stranger then?”

  I sucked in a deep breath. “Because . . . it was the only way I could think of to take my mind off you. You’re not the only one who’s had feelings for the other.”

  A blanket of silence descended over the dorm living room. Outside, I could hear the pitter-patter of rain and I felt a twinge of anxiety. Sara Delaney, the girl I had become friends with while at Kappa, would be back any moment from her study group.

  Sara, who had been sympathetic to my plight and angry about the whole Sacrifice deal, had followed me, leaving Kappa in a pretty epic rant that ended on the front lawn of the house, the campus police waiting to step in if things got any more heated.

  I told her she didn’t have to, but she shrugged it off.

  “I don’t like those bitches anyway,” she said at the time. “They're all so slutty and stuck up. Bunch of hypocrites. Fuck it. I’d rather be with the real people.”

  I felt a little uneasy with the words, considering I was the one who agreed to go through with the Sacrifice. But I knew she didn't mean anything by it. So, we had moved in together, and surprisingly, we even became close friends.

  Stefan was still staring at me, but I was surprised to see understanding in his eyes. “So, you weren’t on the pill?” he asked, changing the subject back to the matter at hand. His deep, sexy voice was more subdued now, much softer. “I just kinda figured . . .”

  I thought back for a moment. “I was, but I recently stopped taking it because it made me so sick to my stomach and caused me to break out all over my face. And I wasn’t getting any action anyway.” I began shaking my head, feeling panic course through my body as the cold realization of my actions set in. “My God, Stefan, what are we going to do?”

  Stefan quickly walked over to the couch and sat down beside me. He placed a calming hand on my trembling thigh and I immediately felt a jolt run through my skin. Almost immediately, I was taken back to the night he fucked me, and I could almost feel his hands roaming all over my body. “Calm down, Bella. I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. Let’s think rationally about this for a minute. We have no evidence that you’re actually pregnant besides your feeling sick.” He rubbed his hand up and down my thigh, causing my internal heat to raise several notches and thoughts of him devouring my neck to flash through my mind. “How long have you felt sick, anyway?”

  “I've felt nauseated for almost a week, worse in the mornings . . . and when I think about it, I missed my period.” I began to shake, my sinful thoughts momentarily forgotten as I began to wail. “Mother is going to kill me!”

  Stefan wrapped his arms around me and gently rocked me, softly cooing, “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. Stop panicking. Let’s at least get a test done before we jump headfirst into hysteria.”

  Sniffing and trying to get ahold of myself, I parted my lips to reply, but the sound of a pop tune interrupted me. It was my cell, lying on the nightstand next to the couch. I picked it up and checked the caller ID.

  “It’s Mom,” I breathed, my anxiety rising.

  I hadn’t spoken to either of my parents since that night. I’d been avoiding them like the plague, but eventually, I knew I was going to have to answer if I didn’t want them coming all the way down to NSU to find me.

  “Don’t answer it,” Stefan urged immediately.

  I looked at him. “Why not? I haven’t talked to Mom since this all happened. I’m sure she’s wondering what the hell is going on.”

  Stefan pried the phone from my hands and silenced the ringtone. “Because I said so.” There was a firm tone of authority in his voice that gave me pause. “I’ve been ignoring their calls too. We can’t talk to them without getting our story straight. For all we know, they might have heard rumors about what happened here. We have to play this smart, Bella.”

  Stefan’s ringtone went off then. He placed my phone back onto the nightstand and dug into the pocket of his sweatpants.

  “It’s Dad,” he muttered after a quick glance. He turned the cell off and stuffed it back in his pocket. “They’re probably going to continue to bug the shit out of us until we answer.”

  I glanced at my phone. The screen was lit up again. Mom wasn’t going to give up easily. “I don’t know how long you think we can just ignore them, Stefan. We’re going to have to answer to them sooner or later.”

  “We just have to stall long enough to figure out what we’re going to do,” Stefan said, jumping to his feet and holding his hands out to me. “Give me your car keys.” He nodded toward my dorm bedroom. “And go get dressed for the weather. We’re going to take a little ride.”

  I peered at him. “What for?”

  His next words filled with me dread. “Rite-Aid. I’m taking you to get a pregnancy test.”

  Chapter 9

  Stefan

  I couldn’t believe it. I had possibly impregnated my step sister. The likelihood was extremely difficult to wrap my mind around and I was hoping that it wasn’t true. I mean, how does one process something like that?

  Several blocks from the university, I slowly brought Bella’s white Honda Civic to a halt at a red light on a small cross street, the sound of rain softly pattering against the hood of the car.

  “How could I have been so stupid?” Bella asked from the passenger seat. She had come out of her dorm dressed in jeans and an NSU hoodie to shield herself from the rain. But even dressed down like a plain Jane, she was beautiful to me. The sound of a country music tune, ironically about a surprise pregnancy, played quietly in the background. “Had I not gone along with such a stupid tradition, this would never have happened.”

  Her soft voice sounded afraid, and my immediate urge was to reach across the space between us and comfort her, but every time I thought about doing it, my thoughts went back to how soft and intoxicating her skin had felt on the night of the Sacrifice, and I feared I would lose control.

  I wanted her. God, I fucking wanted her. But Bella seemed to be in a fragile state, and I didn’t want her to think I was trying to take advantage of her, given the circumstances.

  I impatiently tapped my fingers against the steering wheel and peered into the rearview mirror, trying to push my lust-filled thoughts from my mind. There were several cars behind me, but traffic didn’t seem that bad. “Don’t beat yourself up over this, Bella. I’m just as much to blame for this as you are. You know, it takes two to tango.”

  After all, I had been just as willing to fuck an unknown slut as Bella was to fuck some unknown, moronic frat jock, so who was I to judge? Actually, I felt a little bit ashamed and like a hypocrite for trying to come down on Bella about it back at her dorm. I hadn’t been able to help myself, though. The thought of Bella wanting to fuck someone else made me see red. I just wasn’t sure how I could explain it without coming off sounding like a jackass.

  Bella shook her he
ad, her face twisted with worry. “The school is going to have our heads for this. The Dean warned me today about it.”

  I turned to look at her. Her cheeks were wet with a mixture of rain and tears, and her eyes had bags under them. Still, she had never looked so beautiful to me, and if we weren’t so wrapped up in a colossal shit storm, I would have pulled over onto the side of the road and fucked her right then and there.

  “He’s blowing smoke. The school can’t do shit to us,” I assured her, resisting the urge to wipe the tears away from her cheeks. The light was about to turn green and I needed to keep my eyes on the road. “The last I checked, having sex with someone who has no blood relation to you is not illegal. So what if our parents are married?”

  Bella gave me a look. “Come on now, Stefan. You know what we did is considered forbidden.”

  And that’s why I liked it even more, I thought.

  “So?”

  Bella gaped at me like I was insane. “So? Look at the rumors that are spreading around campus. I mean, I have to practically skip half of my classes because I don’t want to become the brunt of stupid jokes.”

  The light turned green and I floored the gas. “Look, Bella, who cares what those idiots say? People are always going to talk, no matter what. It was an accident, plain and simple. The only people who even knew you were my stepsister were my frat brothers.” I clenched my teeth, bulging my jaw. “And I wish I could beat the fuck out of the one who told everyone.”

  After I had slugged Craig for daring to ask me about how tight Bella was, he went and told several other members. From there, it spread like wildfire, and there was no taking the story back.

  At first, everyone had been talking shit about what Bella and I had done, but that quickly changed when the school launched an investigation into the activities of both the Alpha fraternity and the Kappa sorority, specifically about ‘lewd competitions with sexual prizes.’ Both chapters were facing being disbanded.

  Everything had changed then, and everyone suddenly had my back. Ironically, the investigation had caused it to be in the best interest for both institutions to deny what happened the night of the Sacrifice and to protect the reputations of Bella and myself.

  “The most that’s going to happen is they will disband Alpha and Kappa.” I snorted. I had so wanted to join a frat, and now, I didn’t give two shits about it. “And from my point of view, that’s not really a bad thing.”

  Bella let out a sigh as I turned a corner and Rite-Aid came into view. “I really hope you’re right, Stefan.”

  “Trust me,” I said with more confidence than I felt in order to reassure her. “I am.”

  A minute later, I pulled into the parking lot and quickly took a vacant parking space in front of the store. I turned off the engine and looked over at Bella.

  Bella pulled up her hoodie, undid her seat belt, and opened her door. I could see her hands shaking. She was scared shitless. I couldn’t blame her. It hurt that I had partly caused her anxiety.

  I placed a comforting hand on her arm before she could climb out of the vehicle. “Bella?”

  Bella sniffed, taking the back of her hand and wiping at her cheek. I almost pulled her into my arms. “Yeah?”

  “Don’t worry about any of this, okay? No matter what happens, everything is going to be all right. I’m going to be here for you, whatever the result.”

  Gratitude briefly replaced the worry in her eyes. “Thank you, Stefan,” she replied softly. “That really means a lot.” It was kind of strange, Bella being so fragile. In a way, I kind of liked it, given the circumstances. She’d always been a bitch to me, and now, I was the one she was going to have to look to for support. I was now Bella’s protector.

  Bella began to climb out of the car, but I called her again.

  “Bella.”

  “Yeah?”

  I wiped at the sweat that had begun to bead my brow. “Hold on, would you? I’ll come in with you.”

  Bella shook her head, waving me off. “It’ll be easier if I do it alone. I’ll be right back.”

  Bella

  Pulling the stuffy hoodie off my head, I strolled into the pharmacy, feeling weak in the knees, my pulse increasing by the second. It was all so surreal. Here I was, going to buy a pregnancy kit to find out if I was pregnant with my stepbrother's baby.

  “You need any help, Miss?” asked a deep voice as I neared the female hygiene aisle.

  I looked up into the eyes of a handsome employee. He looked around my age, and in a way, he reminded me of Stefan with his dirty-blond hair and blue eyes. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt covered by an apron, he had a smile plastered on his face that showed off a pair of dimples and straight, white teeth.

  Oh, hell, I thought in exasperation. Not now.

  “No, I’m fine,” I muttered. “Thanks for asking.”

  He peered at me closely, refusing to take the hint. “Is everything all right? You look kind of pale.”

  “I’m fine,” I repeated. “It’s just the weather. I hate rainy days.”

  The blond continued to look at me. “Hey, do you go to NSU?”

  “No,” I lied. I nervously cast a glance out the store window and wondered if Stefan could see me talking to the guy. With how jealous Stefan seemed to get at the thought of me wanting to sleep with another guy, the last thing I needed was him seeing a cute guy chatting it up with me.

  The worker’s features twisted into a thoughtful expression. “I could have sworn that I’ve seen you around somewhere. Hey, I know where I saw you. You’re that chick who—”

  I began moving away. “Sorry, gotta go. My grandma is stuck at home, sick with severe constipation. I need to get her an enema and get back to her fast!”

  That will make him leave me alone, I thought as I quickly rushed past him and made my way to the opposite side of the store. Once I was sure the nosy fellow had gone off helping another costumer, I made my way back to the feminine hygiene aisle.

  Each step I took toward the pregnancy tests felt heavier than the last. By the time I stood in front of all the choices, my heart was pounding within my chest like a smith’s hammer. I stood there, transfixed, almost overwhelmed by a range of products. Eventually, I settled on a box labeled First Response.

  I paid quickly and walked into the tiny bathroom, closing the door behind me and locking it. The sound of the clicking lock sounded like my doom.

  I walked over to the sink and opened the box. Two lines for positive, one line for negative.

  After I was done, I waited anxiously, my limbs trembling. Three minutes. The box had said to wait for three minutes.

  The time seemed to tick by very slowly, each second seeming like an eternity. When it was time, I closed my eyes, willing the test to be negative. After praying desperately for another minute, I popped open my eyes and stared at the test.

  A shocked gasp escaped my throat, and then a sound that I didn’t even know was possible, a sound that reminded me of my soon to be destroyed life.

  Two lines.

  Stefan

  I knew the results the minute Bella walked out of the pharmacy with an expression that said she was about to have a nervous breakdown.

  Positive.

  I let out a groan and rested my head on Bella’s steering wheel.

  I lifted my head back up as Bella reached the car. She didn’t even get into the passenger side all the way before she began sobbing—great, big hiccups that quickly morphed into full-blown wailing.

  “Oh, God,” Bella wailed. “Oh, God.”

  “It’s okay,” I soothed, pulling her into my arms. Even though she was wet, she felt extremely warm, and under normal circumstances, I would have probably gotten excited. But right now, that wasn't at the forefront of my thoughts. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here.” While I held Bella, I could see people entering the store turning to stare at us. I knew it was bad for us to be seen together so close to the school, but this couldn’t be helped.

  “I just can’t believe it, Stefan,�
�� Bella cried into my chest, her tears staining my shirt. “I can’t.”

  I can, I thought. Honestly . . . I kinda like it.

  “We'll get through this,” I said softly, rubbing her back. Both of our worlds had been turned upside down, and the shit was about to hit the fan. But I would deal with it somehow. “I just want you to stop beating yourself up about it.”

  “My life is over,” Bella sobbed. “Finished.”

  “Don’t say that,” I growled to her angrily. “We're going to make the best of this, Bella James.”

  I held Bella for the next few minutes, rocking her, massaging her shoulders, and giving her soft kisses on the cheek, telling her that everything was going to be okay. I knew it was going to get tough, but she needed me to be positive.

  When she finally calmed down, she pulled away from me and wiped at her wet face with both hands. She stared at me, her eyes red from crying. “What are we going to do now?” She sniffed.

  I immediately knew what she was asking, and I already knew the answer.

  “We’re keeping it,” I said firmly. “No matter the cost. We have to.”

  “I can’t believe you’re saying that,” she said softly, studying my face. “What about our parents, Stefan? Telling them is going to be a nightmare.”

  I gritted my teeth. One question, and she had opened up a whole can of worms. I knew we had quite a challenging road ahead of us. “Let me handle them.”

  Bella was shaking her head. “You can’t just blow everything off with macho assertions, Stefan. They are going to find out, someway, somehow.”

  “Maybe,” I said in denial. “But it’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Bella stared at me for a long time before responding, and the sound of the rain hitting the roof of the car filled the silence. “You can’t promise that.”

  “Watch me.”

  Bella rolled her eyes, and I felt a little jolt of happiness. Some of her spunk was coming back. “Please. And what about the investigation that the school is launching, huh? What are we going to do about—”