Grim

61

Azias' POV

"You good?" Ace's voice asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah," I responded, but it sounded more like a question than an answer.

Ace frowned, "Why do you look so on edge then?"

I had asked him to come to the store with me. I hadn't yet told him what for because I wasn't sure if I'd be getting a phone call to get some abortion pills too.

"Saph might be pregnant," I let him know.

"Oh!" he replied with a surprised tone. "Well, shouldn't you be happy, then?"

I admitted, "I don't know if she's gonna keep it. We were talking about the possibility of her being pregnant a couple of days ago, and she admitted that the idea scared her."

"Oh..." Ace replied. "Well, you're engaged now. Maybe that might change her mind."

"Maybe..." I replied as I stared at the passing trees. I was hoping to get lost in them so that I wouldn't have to think about this whole pregnancy thing for a bit.

Breaking the silence in the car, Ace asked, "Did you call Mom yet?"

"No," I shook my head. "Was kinda hoping you'd do the call with me, since you two still talk."

"Sure," Ace nodded. "She misses you, by the way."

"I would hope so," I teased, and he chuckled as he pulled into the parking lot of the store. "We can do the call on our way back."

Ace nodded, "Sounds good. What are we here for?"

He was asking so that he could help me look around for the items I came here for.

"Pregnancy tests," I answered.

"Hence the she 'might' be pregnant. That didn't click before," he chuckled, and I smiled to myself while shaking my head. He then teased, "What we still doing in the car then? You want me to get the door for you, Princess?"

"Shut the fuck up," I laughed as I hopped out of the car, and he laughed as he exited the driver's seat.

I kept thinking that if Sapphire were to be pregnant, I would have wanted to buy things to celebrate, but the fact that she possibly wouldn't want to keep the baby was crippling me. I didn't want to look like an idiot, and I most importantly didn't want her to feel pressured into keeping the baby, despite how much I wanted her to.

I knew the timing wasn't the most ideal, but I had never felt this close to solving the riddle haunting us. Still, given the uncertainty of it all, I knew it was a lot to ask for from her.

As we entered the store, Ace segued, "I'm guessing you want her to keep the baby...?"

"I'd like that, yeah, but only if she wants to keep the baby too," I answered. If she wasn't all in, she would possibly have certain regrets down the line, and I didn't want that for her nor our child. I would've much rather us both being fully invested, having no doubts, and being excited to bring a child into the world.

"That makes sense," Ace nodded. He then spotted some tests and pointed to them.

As I grabbed some, I asked, "Do you mind if we do the call on our way back? I wanna deal with one problem at a time."

"I don't mind," Ace confirmed. "I'm boutta grab some snacks," he let me know as he walked backwards. I was about to tell him that he was about to walk into someone, but I was too late. He and the person bumped right into each other. "Oh shit, my fault," he said to the person as he turned around.

The lady, whose back had been turned to him angrily turned around to yell at him, but the minute she laid eyes on him, she froze.

"Uh...it's okay," she nervously let out. I couldn't see her face because Ace had been in the way, but judging how nervous she got, I figured she was attracted to him.