Eyes Wide Open: The Blackstone Affair, Book 3 by Raine Miller Page A

swallowed convulsively. Watery saliva began pooling in my throat. More came, and then more, and I knew I would be horribly sick again. I struggled to manage the effects of the nausea that overtook me so suddenly.
    I lost.
    Lurching up, I ran for the closest bathroom, my mind desperately trying to remember the floor plan of this huge labyrinth of a house. My hand over my mouth, I stumbled into the powder room just off the solarium and flung myself over the toilet. I puked my guts out until there was nothing left to come up.
    I wanted to run away.
     
    ♠ I’d been here for the second time in less than twenty-four hours with my girl and it sucked. Especially for her. Talking seemed like a pointless exercise, so I didn’t. I just held her hair and let her go to work on expelling the contents of her stomach. I wet a cloth with cold water from the sink and handed it to her. She took it from me, pressed it over her whole face and groaned. I felt completely helpless. You did this to her and she hates you for it.
    Fred tapped on the open door. “House call,” he said kindly.
    “Can you give her something, Fred?”
    Brynne took the cloth away from her face, looking pale and about ready to cry. Fred smiled at her. “I can give you an anti-nausea but it’ll just be symptomatic.”
    “Please,” she answered, nodding her head.
    “What does that mean, just symptomatic?” I asked.
    Fred spoke to Brynne. “My dear, I don’t feel comfortable doing a treatment on you if we don’t have a confirmation. Are you ready to try a test?” He spoke gently. “Then we’ll know for sure and you and E can decide what’s best for the two of you. We really need that test first, though.” He gave a quick nod.
    “Okay.” That was all she said and she spoke to Fred without even looking at me. She seemed rather cold and sort of detached, like we were strangers now. That hurt. I desperately wanted her to look me in the eyes, but she wouldn’t. She just held the wet cloth to her face and kept her eyes locked on the wall.
    Fred set the two test kits down on the sink counter. Hannah had helped me choose them in the village earlier, because I sure as hell didn’t know what I was doing. After that conversation with my sister, she’d convinced me I needed to buy some pregnancy tests. This was surreal. It really was. Here we three were standing around in a bathroom trying to pretend this was standard operating procedure when, in fact, it was totally fucked up. My Brynne at metaphorical gunpoint practically being forced into a surprise pregnancy test, and with me knowing about her past and the other time she was impregnated.
    FUCK! I wanted to punch the wall again but didn’t dare in this place. These walls were worth too damn much.
    Lots of crazy thoughts flooded my brain. What if she hates me for knocking her up? What if this breaks us? What if she wants a termination? What if she isn’t even pregnant after all and this scares her off? I was terrified but I still wanted to know. Now. I needed some answers.
    “Right,” Fred said, “we’ll talk in a bit and work on getting you to feeling better, my dear.” He eased out of the small room to leave but turned back to say something else. And there was Brynne standing stiffly with downcast eyes like a cornered animal. It broke my heart to witness. It really fuckin’ did. “Brynne, we’re here to help and support in any way that we can. I mean that and I know that Hannah does too.”
    “Thank you,” she answered in a small voice.
    With Fred gone it was just the two of us. Brynne didn’t move, she just stood there. It was awkward. I wanted to touch her but was afraid to.
    “Brynne?”
    She lifted her eyes and swallowed, looking miserable and pale. The second I moved toward her she backed up a step and held up her hand to keep me away. “I—I need to be alone . . .” Her bottom lip trembled as she choked out the words. So different from when it turned up in a sexy smile. Brynne usually