Pure Wicked (Wicked Lovers #9.5)(42)
Author: Shayla Black

“Now, boys…” Her mother tried to step in. “Let’s talk this out.”

Hayden snarled at Linda Mae. “Butt out.”

Her mother jumped back with a startled gasp and a hand over her mouth.

Corey looked around the crowded kitchen as if frantic for a lifeline. No one came to his rescue.

“What’s the matter?” Bristol murmured to her sister.

Presleigh stared up at her with big blue eyes, swimming in angst. “I’m pregnant.”

Hadn’t Hayden said two days ago that she was a virgin waiting for her wedding night? Bristol frowned.

“Why is Hayden mad at Corey? Did he tell everyone about the baby before you were ready?”

“No.” She gulped then hiccupped. “Corey is the father.”

When Presleigh dropped her gaze in shame, shock slid through Bristol. She snapped her stare around to Jayla, who looked equally stunned.

“When did you find out?” she murmured to her sister.

“This morning. Hayden came over to talk to me. I…” She shook her head. “I wasn’t thinking. I left the home pregnancy test in the trash can. And he saw it.”

Holy cow! Talk about the unexpected… Bristol’s head reeled.

“When did this thing with Corey start?”

“When Hayden started screwing my sister about three months ago,” Corey cut in, jerking away from Hayden’s raised fist with a glower of his own. “Sarah came crying to me one night that Hayden wouldn’t break it off with Presleigh even though he hooked up with her almost every day. I knew talking to Hayden wouldn’t do me any good, so I called Presleigh.”

“I didn’t believe it at first, but when he started going over to Corey’s house a lot when Corey wasn’t there, I knew. Besides, Sarah always shot me mean glances and had hickies on her neck.”

Bristol grabbed her sister by the shoulders and held her at arm’s length. “Why didn’t you call off the wedding?”

“At first, I hoped I could turn it around. Then…I kind of fell for Corey. But the invitations were already out and the dress was ordered…and I was confused.”

“All this time you kept telling me that you were waiting so your first time could be on our wedding night, you were sneaking around behind my back and giving it up to my best friend.”

“Don’t go there, asshole!” Presleigh charged toward him.

Bristol held her sister back. She’d rarely seen the girl raise her voice and never heard her swear, much less see her with a violent tendency.

Jayla reared back and did a double take, too.

“You started kissing on me while you were still dating my sister,” Presleigh accused. “Everyone tried to tell me you’re a manwhore, but I didn’t want to listen. When I found out you were sleeping with Sarah, I got mad. Then I got drunk.”

“And Corey helped you out by taking your virginity?” he asked snidely.

Her sister tore off her engagement ring and threw it at him. It bounced off his chest and pinged to the floor. “To hell with you! He’s twice the man you’ll ever be.”

“How do you know? You never tried me.” Hayden gave her a cocky smirk.

“Shut your mouth,” Corey insisted, curling his hand into a beefy fist and punching Hayden in the nose. “You’ll never deserve her.”

Bristol resisted the urge to clap. Instead, she watched Hayden stumble back against the refrigerator door. Corey ran toward Presleigh, arms outstretched. He kissed her, grabbing onto her as if she was the most precious thing in the world to him. She melted against him as if he was her knight in shining armor.

What the hell?

With a sharp elbow, Jayla jabbed Bristol in the ribs. “You had no idea?”

“None.” She’d kind of been avoiding them both after their betrayal. She’d have to learn to forgive her sister someday. Hayden… She smiled. Looked like he was history.

Linda Mae stepped forward again and picked up Presleigh’s engagement ring from the floor. “I think you should be going.”

He took one look at Presleigh and Corey, still sucking face in the middle of the commotion, then gritted his teeth. “Gladly.”

On his way out, he bumped Bristol’s shoulder as if he wanted to punish her, too. She’d had more than enough of him and grabbed the annoying jerk by the collar. “I’m sorry. You were going to say that, right? I know an apology must have been on the tip of your tongue. Because you certainly couldn’t be so rude as to bump me on purpose when you’re the cheating bastard who left me for my own sister, then ditched her for an easy lay. Tell me you aren’t that big of a rat bastard.”