Iron Testament MC: Pregnant by My Best Friends

Chapter 2

Irina’s pov

I hadn't seen them since that night, and it wasn't for lack of trying. They hadn't shown up at school since then, and I hadn't seen them once at the diner. The only place I could even see them or feel their touch again was in my dreams. It had been weeks, and yet I couldn't seem to find them anywhere.

Part of me felt like they had gotten what they wanted and ran for the hills, but then another part of me remembered their sweet words, their gentle touches that were so at odds with their harsh features and personalities.

Had I gotten them all wrong?

I opened my eyes and peeled my thin blanket off my face and looked at the clock and immediately shot out of bed.

I was so late. It was nearly seven, and I could already hear rustling downstairs. I knew what I would find when I went down there, and I still found myself scrambling down the stairs.

My eyes were hazy as I tried to shake the sleep off my body. I was unbelievably tired, and it was only getting worse. I'd fallen asleep during class. I had been nodding off at the diner. Sleeping through alarms. None of it was normal, and yet it was happening to me all the same.

I made my way to the dining room and paused just outside the door. I took a deep breath and pushed my way inside. Pricilla, my adoptive mother, sat at the table drumming her fingernails against the oak wood of the table. She had a harsh glare on her face, and her lip curled up in a snarl when she saw me appear in the doorway.

“It seems you're making a habit out of this,” she spat. Her venom hit where it was intended to, and I flinched and bowed my head, knowing it was better to agree and submit than incur the sting of her slap. ”You have one job in here in the mornings, and it is to prepare breakfast for this family! We provide a roof over your head, clothes on your back. If you want food in your belly, it is your job to fix it. You want to keep the luxuries we provide, you will do as you're told!”

Luxuries?

I frowned without her noticing as I remembered all of my hand me downs. All of the clothes that had holes, stains, tears, or were completely destroyed, while she and Shelby had brand new designer clothes, expensive bags, and perfumes. It was laughable.

Still, I nodded and made my way silently to the kitchen. Paul, her husband, sat beside her quietly reading the newspaper. He couldn't be bothered to speak up, but he didn't defend me either. He just sat there, likely thinking about his next mistress to bring home.

I grabbed the supplies I would need to make breakfast for the "family" and made my way to the stove. The click of the gas turning on filtered through the room, but it wasn't loud enough to drown out Priscilla's harsh words as her tirade went on and on.

“Every day I think you couldn't become more ungrateful, and here you go again, proving me wrong. You’re lazy and arrogant and ungrateful.”

Shelby agreed, spurring her mother on. I could never bring myself to call her mother or mom. Perhaps that was why she was so terse with me. Cold and unwelcoming.

I never understood why they adopted me if they seemed to hate me so much.

My thoughts drifted towards my birth mother and the picture I kept hidden beneath my mattress. I had her looks. Her blonde hair and blue eyes. I had her freckles and her beauty. I wondered what else I had from her. Was she who I got my brain from? My love for numbers and math? My craving for knowledge? Or was that from my biological father? What did he look like? Was he still alive, or was he dead like my mother?

A clench of pain worked its way up to my heart, but I swallowed the pain down until I could no longer feel it.

The eggs sizzled in the pan as I sprinkled the cheese on top. An easy breakfast for a teenager to make and usually a favorite of everyone here. It was something I ate nearly every day and yet today, the smell of it had me wanting to run to the bathroom and hurl up everything in my stomach, even though it was empty.

I ignored the nausea and bile rising in my throat and plated everyone’s breakfast. Eggs. Toast. Bacon. Sausage. I set the table, ignoring the jabs of hateful words from Shelby and Pricilla. I poured coffee into Pauls mug before sitting down in my chair at the far end of the table, away from everyone else. Where I was supposed to sit. Isolated and alone.

I raised my fork full of eggs to my mouth and swallowed. The instant regret I felt was overwhelming. My skin had grown pale, and the feeling of nausea hadn't gone away. If anything it had only gotten worse. Gags made their way up my throat as I fought the urge to vomit.

Pricilla's eyes narrowed on me.

When I finally couldn't take the feeling any longer, I bolted from the table and made my way to the nearest bathroom and emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet.

Pricilla appeared in the doorway, and her eyes narrowed. She was calculating some formula in her mind, the same way I did when I saw numbers on paper, before she reached down and yanked me up by my ear. She shoved me into the bathroom before digging through her drawers and pulling out a pink box. She shoved it at me and glared at me.

I turned the box over in my hand and felt my heart sink into my stomach when I saw the words pregnancy test on the label. I looked at her with fear, both for myself and for her reaction.

“You have been slacking off. Over sleeping. You haven’t been eating. You have been throwing up. Don’t think I don't know that this isn't the first time you’ve thrown up a meal.”

She's right. It wasn't. But I thought I was just getting sick.

"Take the test. Right here. Right now." She blocked the doorway, preventing me from exiting. I looked from her to the test in my hands and to the toilet, but she stood there with her arms crossed. “Take it.”

With more embarrassment than I wanted to feel in my life, I walked toward the toilet and slowly pulled my pants down my legs. I opened the pregnancy test and followed the instructions on the label, then placed it on the bathroom counter and stepped back, keeping my head bowed.

I wrung my hands together as anxiety worked its way up my body. Panic was never a good feeling for me. And I got panic attacks often.

A timer went off somewhere in the room before Pricilla stormed past me, leaving the doorway open. I thought about escaping, but part of me wanted to know. Was I pregnant? Was I just sick?

My answer came from the angry shriek that left her lips before a sharp sting graced my scalp.

My eyes landed on the test in her hand, and my eyes widened despite the pain that had me wanting to curl in on myself.

I was pregnant.

My heart sank, and my throat threatened to close up.

Two lines.

Positive.

Oh my god…

My mind immediately tried to comprehend everything within a few seconds' time. I don't know how to handle this. I don't know what to do. I can't trust my brain to fix this one. I can't rely on knowledge or experience…

"You f*****g w***e!" She seethed, interrupting my spiraling meltdown. “You no good slut! No better than your birth mother! You went and got yourself knocked up!”

She ranted on and on so fast that her words and vitriol became unintelligible. She shook me by my hair, and I felt a few strands of my hair rip from the roots. Tears flooded my eyes as I grasped for purchase against her hold.

"Who is the father?" She asked loudly.

I shook my head as I looked at her. She had never looked so vicious in her life.

“Tell me!”

Her voice was like a knife cutting through my senses. But I wouldn't tell her. She already thought I was a w***e for apparently sleeping with one guy. I could only imagine how bad it would be if she found out that I didn't know who the father was because I had slept with not just one… not two… but three guys at the same… damned… time.

I shook my head fervently as she asked. When it became clear that I wouldn't speak, she dragged me back through the house. This time we had an audience.

Shelby stood there with a sinister smirk, and Paul had his arms crossed as disappointment and anger coated his features. Their eyes landed on me like I was a spectacle at the zoo before they saw the pregnancy test she was waving around.

I dug my feet into the ground as I saw where we were headed. The front door. That didn't stop her in the slightest.

Pricilla wrenched the door open and tossed me out onto the porch. I fell down the stairs and onto the grass below, landing with a thud. My arm instinctively went around my stomach as if to protect the innocent life that I just learned was growing there.

She turned around and stormed inside while Paul and Shelby stood there gawking at me while I sobbed on the ground. As if to seal my luck, rain started falling from the sky.

Pricilla had returned just as thunder cracked through the air. She tossed something at me, and it landed with a thud at my feet. A bag, unzipped, with a small amount of clothes stuffed inside. A pair of shoes landed next to it, and mud splashed onto my face.

"I won't house anyone ungrateful, and I certainly won't allow a w***e to stay under my roof. You have two choices, Irina." She started and looked at me with her arms crossed. Her voice was calm now. Level and icy like usual. “Leave and never come back, or get an abortion. Choose.”

I shook my head, completely shocked by the impossible choice she was giving me. This was my home. They were my legal parents, and they were kicking me out?

I stood and started toward the house, but she held out her hand and shook her head.

"Are you getting an abortion?" She asked and raised a brow.

When I didn't answer, she turned her back on me and went into the house, slamming the door behind her. All I could hear was the sound of the lock clicking and the rain hitting the ground around me. A sob worked its way out, and I fell to my knees and wrapped my arm around my middle.

What the hell was I going to do now?