The Bad Boy's Forever (TBBG Series #3) NOW PUBLISHED

Chapter Thirteen: I Had A Higher Crime Rate Than A Small Swedish Town

Chapter Thirteen: I Had A Higher Crime Rate Than A Small Swedish Town

Cole

I like to think that I'm a level-headed guy and know how to be calm in the most difficult of situations. This is a huge change from my rebel without a cause teenage years when I liked to think it was solely my responsibility to stir up a shit storm and constantly be in a state of rage. My dad called me a hothead but that was probably putting it mildly since I had a higher crime rate than a small Swedish town back then. Things have changed since then and most people who knew teenage me would agree. I've mellowed out a bit, lost some of that anger but that's not to say I don't have my triggers. Tessa's done a great job of keeping my crazy at bay these past few years but sometimes it slips out, mostly when I'm around my pain in the ass step-brother because the guy's too annoying for existence.

Still, I now know what I need to do in order to keep from slipping off the rails and descending into the path that teenage Cole is truly familiar with. I need a purpose in life, I need to know that I can be useful to someone, that I have someone to protect and love and someone who is solely mine. I know the difference between Tessa needing me in her life and her wanting me to be there, out of nothing but her own choice and love. I know that but I also love how she makes me feel like she'd be just as lost without me as I would be without her. Bottom line, Tessa O'Connell gives me purpose and makes sure I don't derail my life just for the kicks. She's my rock, the one person I come home to every night and know that despite how tired I am, no matter how stressed out about school or the future, that being around her will immediately lighten that load.

She's my partner in life and in crime and when I'm there, she'll always have someone to come home to as well and always have a shoulder to lean on and arms wide open to hold her. I promised myself after my umpteenth fuck up that I wouldn't let her down and I try hard to stick to that but sometimes I mess up because there's only so long I can go without doing something or the other to upset her.

Old habits die hard I guess?

Things were going smooth for a while, we were living the good life and I'd been helping Tessie choose the most scanty ass swimwear she could choose to wear or not wear at our private villa in Bora Bora during our trip. My biggest worry had been about my next essay deadline and if I'd cited good enough resources to meet my hardass professor's requirements, that's it. Now though, you could shoot me and I'd still make nothing of it because the bomb that life's just dropped on me? I'd say it'll be a long time before anything could top that.

I've been walking around in a daze since that fateful Saturday morning that my terrified girlfriend told me that she thought she might be pregnant. I don't quite remember a lot about the exact moment or the hours that followed afterward where I rushed out to buy five different pregnancy tests. I do remember the pitiful look on the cashier's face as she rang up my purchases and I can almost imagine her calling me a poor schmuck in her head. It's like I'd been sleep-walking the entire time and it'd been harder to pull myself together for Tessa, knowing that the possibility of her being pregnant was just a huge, if not bigger for her as it was for me.

Like I said, I'm a level-head person and I know how to keep my cool, except for situations that involve me impregnating my twenty-three year old girlfriend, then I completely lose my shit.

It turns out I'm a better actor than I ever gave myself credit for because I didn't let Tessa notice that, not after I went back to our apartment after walking around the block a couple of times, plastic bag in hand, not when I handed her the tests and waited outside the bathroom while she took them all.

Okay I admit I might have had a brief panic attack then.

But I certainly didn't let my inner meltdown show on the outside when we waited together for the three minutes to be up.