Forever Bonded (BWWM Pregnancy Romance) (13 page)

“Look, Eli, I really appreciate all the
support you've given me these past few months,” Jasmine continued. “It's been
invaluable and I can't thank you enough. It's just...the tours almost over. I
think it would be best if you just let me take things from here.”

Eli didn’t bother to mask the look of
defeat that surfaced on his face. “Alright,” he finally managed. “But will you
at least let me take you to your appointment?”

“I don't think that's a very good idea. I
mean, what if the paparazzi catch us going in together? All it's going to do is
make people think we're together. They already think you're the baby's father.
I don't need that assumption lingering over my head too.”

Eli placed his hand on Jasmine's and forced
her to meet his gaze through the crack in the door. “Would that really be such
a bad thing?”

“Yes,” Jasmine shot back. “It's not true.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say what she
was really thinking, which was,
‘you’re
old enough to be my father’
.

“It could be.”

Jasmine narrowed her eyes at Eli and pried
her hand out from under his. “I think you’re misunderstanding things here.
You’re my friend, Eli, a very good friend, but a friend all the same. Please
don’t make this anymore complicated for me than it already is.”

Eli’s hopeful expression faded as he
slumped off Jasmine’s front porch towards his car. When she was sure he was gone,
she closed the door and went to go change for her appointment. Her wardrobe was
so bland lately. She had to resort to maxi dresses and overly loose tops
because she was already so huge. Her mother had informed her of what a
healthy-sized infant she was, so she knew there was a chance that her baby
would be big too, but this just seemed flat out insane.

After she was dressed, Jasmine glanced at
herself in her bathroom mirror and debated on whether or not she should put on
some make-up. The image obsessed Jasmine would have done so without question,
but that wasn’t her anymore. This Jasmine didn’t see much of a point. Any
chances of her looking like a supermodel for the paparazzi were made null and
void by her pregnancy.

Jasmine knew enough to know that no one
cared about how her face looked anymore. With a deep sigh, she grabbed her
purse and went outside to tell her driver she was ready. When they arrived at
the hospital, she turned down his offer to escort her inside and shivered as
she entered the freezing corridor that housed her obstetrician’s office. This
all still felt so new to her, and it didn’t help that all the other elite
mothers-to-be in the waiting room were sporting wedding rings. Most even had
their spouses there with them. Being one of the only single mothers there was
more than a little uncomfortable, star status or not.

Jasmine pushed her embarrassment aside as
she walked up to the reception desk and checked in using her real name as
opposed to her stage one.

“Have you followed the preparation
instructions?” the receptionist asked, giving Jasmine a look that made it clear
that she knew who she was.

Jasmine nodded even though she hadn’t. She
hated the whole ‘needing to drink a half-gallon of water an hour before the
scan’ thing. It seemed so counterproductive to her. She actually did it for her
last appointment, and by the time the scan was performed, her bladder felt on
the verge of exploding. This time she did it right. She downed a couple bottles
of water during the drive here, and though she was still aching to pee, it
wasn’t anywhere near as uncomfortable as that first time.

Jasmine turned her paperwork in to the
receptionist after filling it all out and froze in place when she turned back
around. Liam had entered the office and was sitting in the empty chair beside
hers. Not wanting to make a scene, she forced herself to regain her composure
and took a seat beside him, picking up an outdated maternity magazine along the
way. "What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed from behind its pages,
feeling all too aware of the presence of the other parents-to-be.

“Ten surefire ways to induce labor with sex
huh?” Liam exclaimed instead, nodding towards the page Jasmine had open.

Jasmine’s face flushed. “Liam,” she
pressed, keeping her voice low. “Answer me or I'll have to go get security to
escort you out.”

Liam shrugged and picked up a magazine of
his own, idly flipping through it. “I'm just here to support my oldest friend
in her pregnancy, that’s all.”

“We’re not friends,” Jasmine bit back. “If
I needed support, I’d have called someone who actually is.”

“Come on, Jazz,” Liam said. He laughed but
it came out as more of a sneer. “I have a right to be here and you know it.”

Jasmine’s blood ran cold. “
Meaning?
”

Liam looked at Jasmine pointedly. She
briefly met his stare, but it was far too intense for her liking, and she
quickly looked away. “Why did you let me think it was that assholes kid?” he
whispered, sounding equal parts angry and desperate.

“I didn’t let you think anything,” Jasmine
said after awhile, still not looking Liam in the eye. “You assumed. There’s a
difference.”

Liam exhaled a deep breath. Jasmine didn't
need to be looking at him to know that he was clawing his hands through his hair.
“So he’s mine,” he finally spoke up, glancing at her stomach.

Jasmine wasn’t sure if it was a comment or
a question. “Or she,” she corrected. Her voice came out so quiet that she could
barely even hear herself.

Liam didn’t say anything. He didn’t know
how to play the role of supportive father-to-be, but he could charm the panties
off a woman from miles away. It was a skill he’d utilized when he called
Jasmine's assistant to obtain the date, time, and location of this appointment.
However, now that he was here hearing the truth for what it was, he wasn’t sure
how to react.

Fate worked in mysterious ways. For some
people it was fatal. For Liam and Jasmine, it was a broken condom on the last
night they spent together before parting ways, with her taking off on tour in
celebration of her first self-entitled R&B album, and him beginning his
last year of law school at UCLA.

Jasmine gave up on reading her magazine and
placed it back on the table between them. “Say something,” she whispered.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don't know...”

“Were you really planning on not telling
me?”

“I didn't see any point in fucking up both
of our lives,” Jasmine finally admitted, studying her hands. “I still don't.
You’re in school, Liam. In a few years you’ll be this big-time attorney, and
I’m not going to be the one to screw that up for you. I won’t.”

Liam started to interrupt but a nurse
called Jasmine’s name before he could. “I'm coming with you,” he said instead.

“Liam,” Jasmine hissed. “I really don’t
think that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t care.”

Jasmine sighed and turned away from the
nurse to meet his gaze. “Look, you can read my notes, and I’ll even give you
copies of the sonogram pictures. But other than that…”

“I'm coming with you,” Liam said again, this
time more firmly. The look on his face was one Jasmine recognized all too well.
It was one that told her that there wasn’t any point in continuing to argue
with him, so she didn’t.

Jasmine made her way down the hall with
Liam lingering close behind her. They entered the sonograph room a few seconds
later, and she began her usual routine of climbing up onto the bed and pulling
up her shirt. The sight of her stomach in all its glory made Liam's breath
hitch in his throat. It looked a lot bigger than it did beneath clothing.

The ultrasound tech smiled at her before
glancing at Liam. “And who might this be?” he questioned, not wanting to make
any assumptions.

“I'm the father,” Liam answered before
Jasmine could say anything, causing her to scowl at him. He extended his hand
to the tech, who gave it a brief shake. “Names Liam.”

“Well it's nice to meet you, Liam,” the
tech said before turning back to his computer screen. “If you wouldn't mind
shifting just a little to the right, you'll be able to see the screen a lot
better that way.”

Liam nodded and did as he was told. The
tech pulled out a paper sheet and tucked it into Jasmine's pants before
reaching for a tube of what could be best described as goo.

“Don't worry,” the tech assured Jasmine
when she braced herself for the cold gel to make contact with her flesh. He
motioned to something on his cart. “My gel warmer is up and running today.”

Liam looked confused but he didn't ask for
an explanation.

“When was your last period?” the tech
questioned, glancing down at Jasmine's paperwork.

Jasmine told him and he went on to mention
her due date based on its correlation to the conception date. “Does that sound
about right to you?” he questioned, looking up at her from his clipboard.

Jasmine glanced at Liam and swallowed hard.
This was the moment of truth she'd been dreading. “Yes,” she managed. “That's
correct.”

“Great, well, I'm going to turn on my
monitor now and make sure everything is okay, then I'll talk you both through
what I see. Sound good?”

And so began the longest five minutes of
Liam's life. The tech spent ages pushing against Jasmine's stomach with a
scanning wand, clicking on his keyboard every now and then to take random
measurements. Eventually Liam gave up trying to watch and studied Jasmine's
face instead.

Liam felt like he was looking at pre-fame
Jasmine all over again. Her face was bare of any makeup and she was clearly
nervous as hell. From the neck up, he was the Jasmine he knew in his youth. He
wanted so badly to talk to her, but now wasn't the time. They'd both been
holding their breath ever since the tech said he wanted to make sure everything
was okay with the baby.

What
did that mean anyway?
Liam wondered. Here he was, having only
just found out that he was going to be a dad, and he was already knee-deep in
protective mode.

Finally, the tech turned to them and
smiled. “Your baby is perfectly healthy,” he assured them. “Shall I introduce
you?”

Liam and Jasmine nodded at the same time,
and the tech turned his cart around so that they could better see the screen.
“Here’s the head,” he explained, pointing his pen at a small circle. “And this
right here is the heartbeat.”

Liam felt like his entire world had shifted
off its axis. Everything he thought was important before this moment now seemed
to pale in comparison. He could barely even take in what the tech was saying.
All he could focus on was the tiny person he had a hand in creating.

“Do you want to know the sex?” the tech
questioned, catching Liam's attention for the first time in minutes.

“No,” he and Jasmine said in unison. It
marked one of the first times in their lives that they'd automatically agreed
on something.

The tech smiled. He briefly wondered what
the story was with these two. They seemed like a couple, but one could never be
sure. The love struck way in which Liam was staring at the ultrasound made it
clear that he'd only just unearthed his role of father-to be.

“There you have it,” the tech said, turning
the screen back towards him and tapping a few buttons on his keyboard. “That's
your baby.”

“Our baby,” Liam repeated, speaking his
first words in minutes. He gripped hold of Jasmine's hand and smiled at her as
a few stray tears trailed their way down his cheeks. It was the expression of a
man who'd just fallen in love.

Chapter
five

Jasmine ran to make a much needed bathroom
break after her scan, and the tech took the opportunity to hand Liam his own
copy of the ultrasound photo.

Liam's heart skipped a beat when he looked
down at it. It was his first physical photograph of his child and he couldn't
get over his excitement. Who knew you could love someone this much who you'd
yet to meet?

“I just figured you might want one of your
own,” the tech explained.