“Mine!” He shouted. He couldn’t wait to hold her each night. To take long walks. To find out everything about her. He couldn’t wait to watch her love for him grow. He would never let her down. “I love you.” He kissed her softly, still moving inside her. Much slower.

“I love you too,” she whispered. “And Coal.” Julie was still moving as well.

“Yeah?” He kissed the side of her mouth. They were both panting. He squeezed her ass with both his hands.

“I love you a lot. Not just a little bit.”

He had to smile. “I know.”

“And Coal.”

“Yeah?” He didn’t want to leave her tight confines. Not ever.

“I liked that thing you just did.” She giggled. “Heaven help me but I liked it.”

“I’m glad. I’ll do it again.” He pulled out of her so that they could go to the bedroom.

Her face paled. Julie looked down. She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh god.” She gasped.

Coal looked down as well. The condom was ripped open. Come dripped down the inside of her thighs.

“No, no, no,” she moaned. Julie went under the spray and washed herself. Like washing him away would change things.

“Julie.” He sounded as confused as he was feeling. They’d had sex often over the last two days, they’d used plenty of condoms, none of them had broken. Coal had never considered the possibility. “I’m so sorry.” He touched her arm. She kept washing herself.

“I can’t believe this.” She stopped what she was doing and took a deep breath. “I’m not going to panic. We shouldn’t panic.”

“Julie.” He turned the faucet so that the water stopped.

His female ignored him, she turned the faucets back on and continued to wash herself.

“Julie, sweetheart.” He cupped her jaw. “That’s not going to help.”

Her eyes lifted to him, looking panicked. “It might. I have to try.”

He waited while she continued to clean, this time she used soap.

When she was finally done, she turned the faucets off, her shoulders were slumped. Her eyes filled with concern. “I can’t be a mother. I just can’t.”

Coal led her from the shower and put a thick towel around her. She was shivering. There was a fire in the hearth and they had just had a really hot shower. The shaking was not because she was cold. He wrapped a towel around his waist and picked her up.

Julie put her arms around his shoulder. A tear slid from between her closed lids. She sniffed. “Please tell me that we can go and get the morning after pill. That we can make this go away.”

“Would a baby be so bad?” He kept his voice soothing.