Forever Bonded (BWWM Pregnancy Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

enough to look up at her
friend. It wasn’t until she looked back down that she realized she’d stopped on
a page with a picture of her and Nate snuggled up in an embrace. It was taken
sometime during their sophomore year of high school, and they’d been voted
cutest couple shortly after.

 
    “I
don’t know,” Zoë admitted, dodging the question as best she could. “But it
doesn’t matter. He’s successful, and stable, and he’s definitely not bad on the
eyes. If all that isn’t worthy of an ‘I do’, I’m not sure what is.”

 
    Aniyah,
however, refused to back off that easily. “Be honest,” she said, speaking
cautiously. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Nate and Audrey, does it?”

 
    “Of
course not,” Zoë lied.

 
    Aniyah
sighed. “You remember when we made that promise never to lie to each other?””

 
    Zoë
shrugged.

 
    “Well I
do,” Aniyah said. “Look, I’m only going to ask you this once. Did this decision
have anything to do with the fact that you still have feelings for Nate?”

 
    Zoë
sighed and kept her gaze focused on the faded photograph in her lap. She knew
the answer without having to think about it. She'd known it from the moment
Nate first introduced her to Audrey.

 
    “I have
a ton more packing to do,” Zoë spoke up in a transparent attempt at changing
the subject. “I should probably get started on it. Evan wants to have me moved
in by the end of the month.”

 
    “Just
admit it,” Aniyah insisted. “All this talk about moving forward with Evan ain’t
nothing more than your ass backwards way of trying to distract yourself from
your feelings for Nate.”

 
    Zoë’s
silence spoke for itself.

 
    “Look,
you can lie to yourself all you want, but you can’t like to me. I see the way
you look at him. You can’t sit here and tell me it doesn’t mean anything.”
Aniyah paused as a perceptive smile spread its way across her face. “Friends
don’t dance the way y’all two were dancing the other night.”

 
    “Ugh,
not you too,” Zoë groaned. “That didn’t mean anything. It was just dancing.
Besides, just because we share a slight physical attraction doesn’t mean we
have some deep emotional one.”

 
    “Uh-huh,”
Aniyah said, waving her hand in the air dismissively. “I’ve heard it all
before. Why don’t you just stop being stubborn and admit that you still have
feelings for him?”

 
    “Fine,”
Zoë admitted, letting out a breath of defeat. “So maybe I do. What does it
matter? He's with Audrey. He’s probably going to marry Audrey. As much as I don’t like the girl, I’m not about to be
the one to ruin that for him. He obviously sees something in her that we
don’t.”

 
    “What
does it matter?” Aniyah repeated. “Zoë, if you love him, you owe it to yourself
and to him to let him know.”

 
    “Maybe
I don’t,” Zoë reasoned. “Maybe I’m in love with Evan.”

 
    “Uh-huh,”
Aniyah said, giving her a sad smile. “Sure you are.”

 
    Zoë
looked away from her friend and focused her attention on the dim glow of the
television set in front of her. A Golden Girls marathon was on, and though it
had always been one of her favorite shows, it went without saying that she
wasn’t paying attention.

 
    “You
need to tell him how you feel,” Aniyah spoke up again. “If it doesn’t work out,
well then at least you can say that you tried.”

 
    “Yeah right,”
Zoë muttered. “That would require Audrey to let go of his coattails long enough
for us to have a full conversation, and I don’t foresee that happening anytime
soon. Especially not after the whole psycho girlfriend 'stay away from my man'
spiel she laid on me the other day.”

 
    “That
bitch!” Aniyah exclaimed after Zoë finished giving her a play-by-play of what
happened the other day at lunch. “You knew Nate long before that heaux ever
did.”

 
    “Right?”

 
    “But
with that said…I can’t