Read Online Forever Bonded (BWWM Pregnancy Romance) by Cleo Jones - Free Book Online Page B

    Zoë
heard what he said, but she was too shell-shocked to come up with a response.
The only thing she could focus on was the dull thump of her heart against her
ribcage.

 
      “I don’t understand how,” Nate continued
when she didn’t say anything. “We we’re always so safe…”

 
    “Yeah,
well apparently not safe enough,” Zoë said before she could stop herself.

 
    Both
her and Nate were quiet for a long time.

 
    “What are
you going to do?” Zoë finally found it in herself to ask, speaking so quietly
she barely even heard herself.

 
    “I
don’t know,” Nate said in a somber tone. “Audrey wants to keep it.”

 
    Zoë
nodded even though he couldn’t see her. She didn’t need him to reiterate that
which she already knew. They were over.

 
    For
good.

 
    “I’m
sorry,” Nate stated, reading her mind.

 
    “Don’t
be,” Zoë said. “Anyways, I should let you get back to work. Have a nice day.”

 
    Zoë
rushed to hang up before Nate could say anything else, resisting the urge to
throw her phone against the wall. She rested her head on her desk in an attempt
at regaining her composure, and she was still in that position when her
co-worker entered her office.

 
    Kelly
gave Zoë a peculiar look and sat another stack of catering requests down beside
her. “You all right?” she questioned, hanging back to watch her flip through
them. “There’s a real nasty bug going around my kid’s school. You look like you
might have caught it.”

 
    “Gee,
thanks,” Zoë said.

 
    “Seriously
though. If you’re sick I doubt Tia would mind if you left early,” Kelly
continued, referencing their boss.

 
    “I’m
fine,” Zoë lied, glancing up at her. As much as she needed to vent, there was
no way she was about to pour her heart out to the office gossip. “I’m just a
little worn out from the weekend, that’s all.”

 
    “Uh-huh,”
Kelly said. “Well in that case, would you mind taking another look at the menu
for the Willis banquet? I found a few entrées containing peanuts, and one of
their daughters is allergic. It’s a liability waiting to happen.”

 
    “Sure
thing,” Zoë said, shuffling through her filing cabinet to find the menu in
question. “I should have been more thorough. I’ll rectify it and have it on
your desk by the end of the day.”

 
    “No rush,”
Kelly said. “Take your time. I’d like this version to be up to par with your
usual selections.”

 
    “It
will be.”

 
    Kelly
thanked her and started to leave, but she stopped in midstride and paused in
the doorway. “Are you sure everything’s okay?” she pressed. “You seem a little
down about something.”

 
    “I’m
fine,” Zoë insisted, forcing a smile. “Never been better.”

 
    Chapter seventeen

 
    Zoë
rushed up the flight of stairs that led to her apartment, keeping the pharmacy bag
in her hand as hidden as possible beneath her purse. With her head hung low,
she fumbled with her keys to unlock her front door and froze when she heard a
familiar voice call out to her from down the hall.

 
      “Looks like you ain’t dead after all,”
Aniyah remarked, giving her a slow once over. “I was really starting to think
you were. You know, considering you’ve been dodging my calls and texts for damn
near a month. Shit…if I’d known you’d be this upset with me for skipping out on
movie night I would have taken the bus.”

 
    Zoë
shrugged off her friend’s words and turned to unlock her deadbolt. She didn’t
have time for this. There were much more pressing matters on her mind.

 
    “What’s
this?” Aniyah questioned when she caught sight of the pharmacy bag pressed
beneath Zoë’s arm. “You aren’t sick are you? Because if you are…I’m gonna have
to go. I’m not trying to come down with something this close to my wedding.”

 
    “I’m
not sick,” Zoë reassured her.

 
    Aniyah
relaxed and followed Zoë inside her