Free Forever Bonded (BWWM Pregnancy Romance) by Cleo Jones Page A

you for your life choices. You know that. That’s
just…it’s not for me.”

 
    Aniyah
looked momentarily wounded by Zoë’s words, but she was quick to recover. “Of
course,” she said. “I mean, it’s not like you’re not equipped to handle this.
You’re not a teenager like I was. You’d be fine with a kid.”

 
    “You
think?” Zoë questioned, obviously skeptical.

 
    “Of
course,” Aniyah replied. “And Nate—”

 
    “Nate’s
got enough problems as it is,” Zoë interrupted. “I’m not about to be his next
one.”

 
    Chapter eighteen

 
    “It’ll
be fine,” Zoë reassured herself, exhaling a deep sigh when she realized she
didn’t sound all that confident. She was standing in front of her bathroom
mirror refreshing her make-up for Aniyah’s rehearsal dinner, but her eyes kept
darting down to her stomach. The chiffon blouse she was wearing did its part in
disguising her slight bloatedness, but pretty soon no amount of silk in the
world would be that forgiving.

 
    Zoë
would have been a liar if she didn’t acknowledge that part of her reluctance in
attending this dinner had to do with Nate. After a long day of work and trying
to fight off the many symptoms of her condition, she simply wasn’t in the mood
for a night full of awkwardness. Which was why it came as a huge relief when
she entered the ornate banquet hall where the dinner was being held to find him
nowhere in sight.

 
    Zoë
stood back and took a moment to study her surroundings. The tables in the
center of the room were packed with guests immersing themselves in high-priced
hors d'oeuvres, and the sound of clanking wine glasses seemed to echo off the
walls. Zoë breathed out a silent sigh of relief when she was sure Nate was
nowhere to be found amongst the crowd. Holding her head high, she stepped
forward from the shadows and settled into the empty chair beside Aniyah as she
worked at catching up with the conversation.

 
    “The
food looks great,” Zoë spoke up when she noticed Aniyah eyeing her for an
explanation for her tardiness. “I’m glad to see you went with my recommendation
and got Endive to cater. Tia would kill me if she knew I was saying this, but
they’re the best.”

 
    “They
really are,” a robust woman Zoë didn’t recognize spoke up from the other side
of the table. “I got them to cater my rehearsal party as well. Best thousand I
ever spent.”

 
    Zoë
smiled at her as she spread a fine layer of butter on a piece of garlic bread
and bit into it. High-carb foods were just about the only thing she could
stomach these days, but if this pregnancy had taught her anything, it was that
her cravings could change at any given moment.

 
    Zoë
looked across the table in acknowledgment of the other guests as Aniyah and
Caleb made the introductions. It never ceased to amaze her that they’d been
together since their freshman year of college and still managed to make things
work. She wasn’t bitter, at least she didn’t think she was, but she couldn’t
act like she hadn’t hoped for a similar outcome for her and Nate.

 
    Zoë
grimaced at her internal dialogue. She knew she shouldn’t have been making the
comparison. She and Nate weren’t Aniyah and Caleb. They were different people
entirely, and it was ridiculous of her to expect their lives to follow the same
path. Sometimes things just happened, and there wasn’t any rhyme or reason for
it. Zoë couldn’t deny that when she had the proof sprouting to life beneath her
blouse.

 
    Just as
Zoë was putting an end to her pity party, the door to the banquet hall swung
open and Aniyah jumped up to greet whoever was about to saunter through it.

 
    “Sorry
we’re late,” Audrey said as she entered. “Traffic was terrible. I guess there’s
some big sporting event going on?”

 
    “Yeah,
it’s just the Super Bowl, no big deal,” Nate said in a sarcastic tone. His
expression, however, gave way to the fact that he