Friends & Lovers Trilogy (13 page)

“
I’m going to have an
abortion,” she stated coldly. “I want you to pay for
half.”

Colin stood up and faced her, his face
turning red with anger. “And that’s it? You tell me that you’re
pregnant with my kid, but I don’t get any say in whether it lives
or dies?”

“
It’s my body, Colin. The
decision is mine.”

“
Why’d you have to come
here then?” he asked, his anger fading to sadness. “Why’d you even
tell me about the baby if you never had any intention of keeping
it?”

“
I thought you should
know,” she said smugly. “You’re just as responsible for this
happening as I am, so you should pay half.”

Briana couldn’t stay quiet any longer. She
stood up and got in Shawn’s face. “So you agree that he is partly
responsible for this baby, but you don’t agree that he should have
a say in what happens with the baby, is that right?”

“
Yup,” Shawn responded. She
put her finger in Briana’s face. “You, however, have no say in any
of this, so why don’t you sit your ass down?”

“
Hey,” Colin exclaimed,
stepping in front of Briana to block her. “Don’t talk to her like
that. You’re the one who is unwelcome here, so how about you tell
me what you want and get out?”

“
I made an appointment for
next week. I just need you to send your half of the money to this
address.” Shawn handed him a business card. “All of the information
is on the back.”

“
I’ll take care of it. Now
please, just go.”

Shawn did as he requested and left as
quickly as she’d arrived.

He walked back into his room and lay down on
the bed, wondering how he’d ever recover from this latest
development in his life.

Chapter Nineteen

Briana followed him and lay down next to
him, cradling his body with hers.

“
I’m sorry,” she
said.

He turned to face her, his eyes glistening
as he spoke. “I’m not mad at her for her decision. She never wanted
to have kids, I get that. But for one moment there, I was a father,
and I found the possibility…exciting.”

She pulled his head to her breast and
caressed his hair, letting him come to terms with the loss of a
precious thing that he’d never really had. She couldn’t help but
wonder what would have happened to their relationship if Shawn had
been there to tell Colin that she was keeping the baby.

Briana was positive that he would be an
amazing father. Although she knew that she wanted to focus on
school and wasn’t ready to have a child of her own, she didn’t
think that Colin having a child would have effected them
negatively.

She had to admit that seeing the way he’d
reacted to Shawn’s news had really made her proud, and nothing
could have endeared him to her more.

More than she ever had before, she loved the
man he was today.

I love
Colin
, she thought to herself, the smile
building until it took over her face.

She continued to play with his hair until he
fell in to a light sleep, then hugged him to her and wondered what
their future would hold.

* * *

When Briana went to work the next evening,
she was happy to see Roni and Nicole manning the hostess stand.

“
Hey, Roni. It looks like
you got the job. Congratulations.”

“
Thanks, Bree,” Roni
responded with a smile. “I appreciate the hook up. Nicole was just
explaining everything to me before she goes to train with Kara. I
think this will be fun.”

“
Remember you said that in
a few weeks, when you want to kill me for getting you into this,”
Briana said with a chuckle as she walked towards the back. She
noticed Kent sitting at the bar and wondered how long he’d been
there. He looked like he was pretty hammered.

She went back to put her things down, and
noticed that she had a text from Colin.

Bree, I know I said this
already, but you’re so amazing. It really means a lot that you were
there for me yesterday. That was the craziest moment of my life,
and you being there made it much more bearable
.

Briana smiled to herself
and replied,
Anytime. Really. I’m happy
that I was there. I’ll talk to you after work
.

She put her phone away and figured that
she’d better man up and go out there and talk to Kent. She really
did want to remain friends with him. She knew she wouldn’t be able
to handle it if he hated her. He just meant too much.

She approached Kent and leaned against the
bar next to him. “Hey, Kent,” she said softly. “How’s it
going?”

He peered at her with bloodshot eyes. He
looked like he hadn’t shaved in over a week, and he may not have
showered in just as long.

“
Hey, Babe,” he slurred.
“You coming back?”

Briana felt sad in the pit of her stomach,
unable to believe that he was this affected by her rejection. She
knew that he liked her, but thought it was more of a passing
fancy.

“
No, Kent. I’m sorry. Why
don’t you put the drink down and go home and get some
rest?”

His face went from hopeful to angry. “How
‘bout you mind your own business?”

Nicole came up and stood in between Briana
and Kent. “Is everything okay here, Bree?” she asked, looking
pointedly at Kent.

Before Briana could answer, Kent reached up
and snagged Nicole by her waist, pulling her into his side and
squeezing her tightly.

“
See, Bree? I don’t need
you, either. There are other girls who are more than happy to take
your place.” Kent leaned forward and tried to kiss Nicole, grabbing
her bottom and trying to hold her to him.

She smacked him and pulled away. “Stop it,
Kent. Don’t act like this,” Nicole pleaded.

“
C’mon, Nic, don’tchyawanna
hang out with me?” He gave her a bleary smile and tried to give her
a pinch.

Her face flashed with hurt and embarrassment
before turning to anger. “I’m not going to be one of your rebound
girls, Kent.”

Then she turned and stormed off into the
back of the restaurant.

Briana looked at Kent, who stared after
Nicole with a confused look on his face.

“
I wasn’t trying to make
her mad,” he said.

Briana turned as Rich walked up beside
them.

“
Why don’t I give you a
ride home, Bro?” he asked Kent, putting his hand on the other man’s
shoulder.

Kent looked up at Rich and let him help him
up off of the stool. “Hey, Rich. You don’t think Nic’s mad at me,
do ya? I was just messin’ around.”

Rich grunted under the weight of the larger
man and responded, “Nah, man. I’m sure she’s okay. Let’s get you
home.”

“
Thanks, Richie,” Briana
said as they walked towards the exit.

“
No problem, Bree,” Rich
responded with a wink.

Roni came up and put her hand on Briana’s
arm before Briana could walk into the kitchen.

“
Don’t take it personally,
Bree,” Roni implored. “It’s not just you that has him upset, so
please don’t feel bad. There’s some stuff going on with our
parents, and Kent hasn’t gotten any of the job offers that he was
hoping for…all of that on top of what he sees as your rejection has
just become too much for him. He’s going to be fine, he always is.
He’s always been the strong one in our family. He just needs a
little time to pull himself together.”

“
Okay, Roni. Thanks” Briana
said, instinctively pulling the other girl in for a quick hug. “Let
me know if you need anything, okay?”

“
Sure,” Roni said with a
smile, then went back to the hostess stand to wait for the dinner
rush to start.

Briana went back to check on Nicole before
getting the kitchen set up the way she liked it. Nicole said that
she was fine, that Kent had just surprised her, but Briana could
tell by the look on Nicole’s face that there was more to it than
that. It was obvious that Nicole didn’t want to talk about it
anymore, so Briana didn’t press her.

Once the dinner rush started, she was happy
to be in the weeds. With all of the drama going on recently, it was
nice to just cook and not have to think about anything.

Kara came in and out with Nicole, explaining
the process of putting in the order, checking back on it and
sometimes getting the condiments ready. Nicole seemed a little
frazzled, but Briana was sure it was just first night jitters.

When it was time for her break, Briana went
out on the floor to see how things were going. Roni was working her
way through the crowd with a table of four, Kara and Nicole were
waiting on a group of rowdy guys, and Briana noticed Rich and Colin
sitting at the bar.

She went up behind Rich, wrapped her arms
around him and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.

He turned around with a grin and pulled her
onto his lap, kissing her soundly on the mouth.

“
Hey,” Colin objected. “Get
your hands off my girl.”

Briana giggled and smacked her lips in an
exaggerated way as she kissed Rich back. “Thanks for taking Kent
home,” she said, turning serious for a moment. “I really appreciate
it.”

“
Sure
thing,” he replied with a wink, letting her off of his lap and
turning to Colin. “
Your
girl?”

Colin looked sheepish for a moment, then
pulled Briana over to him and looked into her eyes. “If she’ll have
me.”

She met his lips gently at first, then
deepened the kiss before pulling back and smiling brightly. “She’ll
have you,” she replied.

Colin’s face broke into a wide grin. He
reached over to bump fists with Pete, who watched the whole
exchange from behind the bar.

“
You hear that, Petey?”
Colin sang. “Looks like we’ve both hit the jackpot in the
girlfriend department.”

“
Better ya’ll than me,”
Rich quipped taking a drink of his two dollar draft.

“
You say that now,” Colin
laughed, “But just you wait. When the right girl comes along,
you’ll be right there with us.”

“
Fat chance,” Rich said,
but Briana saw him watch Roni’s progress back to the hostess stand
through the mirror over the bar.

“
Briana, could you please
not sit on the customers?” Pam requested as she came through the
kitchen door.

Briana giggled and climbed off of Colin’s
lap.

“
Sorry, Pam. I was just
finishing up my break.”

Pam rolled her eyes and told her to get back
to work.

“
You okay?” Briana
whispered to Colin before going back to the kitchen.

He nodded at her and gave her a small
smile.

As she went back to work she heard Rich ask,
“So, what’s up dude? What did you want to talk to me about?”

She was leaving Colin in good hands with
Rich. As much as he loved to joke around and have fun, Rich was the
most loyal friend she’d ever known, and she knew without a doubt
that he would be there for Colin now.

Chapter Twenty

Briana hung up the phone. Then she started
jumping up and down and squealing.

“
What?” Kara asked, running
out of her bedroom. “Is everything okay?”

“
Yes,” Briana shouted,
jumping over to Kara and pulling her in a hug, jostling her around.
“Everything is wonderful. I just got off the phone with the
culinary school. They accepted my application and want me to start
school in the fall.”

She broke apart from Kara and did a booty
dance, shaking her butt and circling Kara.

Kara couldn’t help but laugh as she started
dancing around the room with her.

“
Yay! That’s wonderful.”
Kara enthused. She stopped suddenly. “Wait a minute…that means
you’re moving to Austin.”

She pouted prettily, which made Briana
laugh.

“
It’s just to Austin,”
Briana assured her. “You’ll come visit me and I’ll come visit
you.”

“
Promise?”

Briana pulled her into a big hug. “Of
course. You know I love you, girl.”

“
I love you,
too.”

“
We still have a couple
weeks together. Oh, I’ll have to give Pam notice. I feel bad about
that, but she knows this is what I really want to do, so I think
she’ll be happy for me.”

“
She will be. Don’t worry
about that, Bree. Everyone is going to be happy for you. I’m so
proud of you for going after what you want.” Kara’s eyes misted
over.

“
Thanks,
Kara. Oh. My.
Gosh
. I have to tell Colin,” Briana said. “I’m going to see if I
can catch him at the store. I’ll see you at work,
okay?”

“
Sure,” Kara laughingly
responded to Briana’s retreating back.

Briana parked and ran into
the store, looking for Colin through the aisles. She stopped at the
counter where Rich was making a shake for a little boy. He looked
up at her and she mouthed,
Colin?
He pointed his head toward the back office and she
gave him a huge grin before she went through the door to the
back.

She found Colin sitting at the desk when she
walked in. He was starting at the computer, a notepad in front of
him and a pencil in his mouth, His brow was furrowed in
thought.

He looked adorable.

She walked up behind him and wrapped her
arms around him. He jumped, then smiled and leaned back to nuzzle
her neck.