I couldn’t imagine how it’d happened—Wendy’d been on birth control since I’d known her. But the why and how of it didn’t matter. Everything had changed with the knowledge, and everything had fallen apart with Wendy’s announcement.

And now, Tess was gone. The magazine shot was potentially ruined. My family was upside down. All because of me.

So I’d have to fix it all. Starting with what I could.

I turned, heading numbly into the shop where my siblings were busy disassembling the broken installation with flat lips and drawn brows and far too much silence for the number of Bennets in one room. They glanced up as I entered the room, pausing and gathering around when I stopped. Accusation weighed heavy on their faces.

With a painful swallow, I started with the first and most important thing.

“I’m sorry.”

I don’t know if it was the sight of me or the tone of those two little words, but their faces softened in unison.

I shook my head, glancing at the ground. “She told me last night. I was going to tell you guys as soon as I talked to Tess and this meeting was done. I thought I had at least that long. Should have known better.”

Laney shifted at my side and laid her small hand on my arm. “Luke … how did you get yourself into this mess?”

I tried to swallow the stone in my throat. “We went out before I left LA. She … she’s always been on birth control, so I didn’t think to…”

Laney and Jett shared a look, but it was Marcus who said what they all seemed to be thinking.

“Do you think she did this on purpose? To trap you?”

“I can’t believe you’d even say that,” I snapped.

“Come on, Luke,” he urged. “It’s not an unreasonable assumption. The shop is doing better—”

“That wasn’t the case when we slept together.”

“Are you sure she’s even really pregnant?” Laney asked.

“She wouldn’t lie about being pregnant.”

“Why not? Fake a miscarriage. Get out from under the lie, but lock you down first,” she postulated.

A defensive wind blew through me, hot and bitter. “I know you all think she’s conniving and predatory, but it’s not the truth, and deep down, you know it. I know you want to protect me, but villainizing her, making up your own story? That doesn’t help any of us. I’ll be the first to admit that she would use me—trust me, of all of us, it’s me who has a front row seat to that particular truth. But there are things she would lie about and things she wouldn’t. Trust me. Please, trust me.”

None of them looked convinced.

“Okay, let’s assume she’s pregnant then,” Kash said. “Are you sure it’s yours?” He glanced at our siblings, adding, “She had a boyfriend she conveniently failed to mention until after she slept with Luke.”

Outrage and hope sparked in the room, a strange, heavy combination of emotions. A couple of curses. Half-smile here and there. A disbelieving, scoffing laugh under someone’s breath.