Hellion, a New Adult Romance Novel(38)

 

We get busy high-fiving each other over our awesome car-jacking skills as Alissa indulges in another good cry over her steering wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

 

 

 

 

 

TEAGAN’S ON THE PHONE WITH Rebel and I’m driving Alissa’s Toyota. She’s asleep in the backseat. Apparently, being carjacked is exhausting work for a pregnant person. I keep checking her in the rearview mirror to be sure she’s still breathing. So far, so good.

 

Teagan hangs up her phone and drops it into her purse.

 

“What’d he say?” I ask, glancing at her before going back to looking out the windshield.

 

“He says she can stay with us until we figure something out.”

 

I grin. “Sweetness. Now we just need to figure out how I can wrangle a spot in the apartment for myself and we can live together as one big happy family.”

 

Teagan is looking at me, but I just keep my eyes on the road. I don’t want her making me get all gooey.

 

“You don’t mean that,” she says.

 

“Nah.” I play it off. “I’m cool with the ‘rents. Who’s going to keep Jersey off the cat turds if I move out?”

 

“He’d be fine without you,” Teagan says, censure in her voice. “He’s not your responsibility.”

 

“Anyway, what is the plan for her?” I ask, moving the topic away from my brother and me. I’m way better at dealing with other people’s problems than I am with my own.

 

“I have zero plan. This is all on you, babe,” Teagan says. “I’m up to my asshole in lawsuit stuff and police reports and my father…”

 

She stares out the side window, and I look over in time to see her throat moving up and down. She’s holding back tears again. She’s been doing that a lot since her father died. I wish she’d let me into that hard candy shell she has wrapped around her heart. I make myself feel better by reminding myself how much Rebel is doing that for her. And I love her too much to be jealous over it. I just want her to be happy again.

 

I reach out and pat her leg a little. “Are you saying you’re out completely?” I ask, steering the conversation away from her dad. “Because I kind of need your help on this one.”

 

“No, I’m not out. I’m just … I don’t know.” She sighs. “I’m in. You can count on me.” She looks over and squeezes my arm.

 

“Do my face,” I say, leaning towards her.

 

She obliges me by pinching my cheek. I love it when she does that. It makes me feel adorable.

 

“What about your new place?” I ask. She and Rebel were supposed to be house-hunting. I hope me getting Alissa into the mix won’t ruin that. I know how much Teagan was looking forward to it.

 

“We’ll just get one with another bedroom. No big.”

 

I love that Teagan is so cool about stuff like this. I’m not sure that Rebel is; he hardly says anything to me. But I do know that he’d do pretty much anything to make Teagan happy, so I’m not going to worry about Alissa imposing on them for a little while. Besides, it’s not forever. Her baby must be due in … maybe three months? Two months?

 

“Who’s the father?” Teagan whispers. Her voice is so light I almost can’t hear it, but since I’ve been wondering about that question myself, it’s not too difficult to understand where she’s coming from.

 

I shrug and mouth the words, ‘I don’t know.’

 

Alissa moves around and moans a little in the back, shifting to get comfortable.

 

Teagan looks back at her. “Is she going to have the baby soon, or what?”

 

“No, ding-dong. She still has a couple months to go.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“Because. I still remember my mom being pregnant.” I put on the turn signal so I can pull into Rebel Wheels.

 

As we enter the parking lot, the door to the office swings open and Rebel comes out. He stands in the doorway, staring at his girlfriend. Her face lights up like someone threw a giant light-switch on inside her head. I can practically see beams of light coming from behind her damn teeth.

 

I roll my eyes at how goofy she is. “Man, play a little hard to get, would ya?”

 

She ignores me and leaps out of the car, running over to jump on Rebel. I avert my eyes when she wraps her legs around his waist and his grip around her back tightens.

 

After getting out, I push the seat forward to release my captive-slash-passenger. “Okay, Alissa. Home, sweet home. Come on out and meet your new roomies.”