All In: Betting on a Full House (Gambling With Love) by Lane Hart

Lauren got in his face, her own turning red in anger.
    Caleb’s hand went through his hair and he sighed. "Yeah, I did. She didn't make me promise, and he had a right to know."
    "That wasn't for us to decide. God Caleb! Now, Jess will probably never talk to me again. Have you talked to her?" she turned to ask me.
    "Yeah, but it was too late."
    "Oh no," she said, covering her mouth.
    "I just wish she would've given me a chance to talk to her, you know? I feel like … fuck, she gave up a part of me like it was nothing. I know I should be relieved or whatever, but I'm not."
    Lauren sat down beside me on the couch and hugged me. The same spot where I'd comforted her so many times before when she needed it. When she pulled away she wiped tears from her eyes before jumping up from the couch.
    "I should call her and check on her. No, I should go see her." She grabbed her phone and purse, then with a quick kiss to Caleb's lips told him, "I'm still pissed at you mister, and we're going to have words later."
    "Fine, but I stand by my decision. Can you honestly tell me that I shouldn't have told him?"
    She gave an exasperated sigh and then slammed the door on her way out.
    "I'm sorry," Caleb said.
    "I appreciate you letting me know what was going on, even though she’s pissed at you. I went to her apartment and waited for hours before she came home. She wouldn't answer my calls or texts. I was so fucking pissed at her for keeping this from me, and then for making her decision without giving a shit what I wanted. But then she came home and ..." I shook my head, remembering how upset she was. "She was so … distraught, and I realized however upset I was, she was going through something a hundred times worse."
    "I can't imagine," he replied, shaking his head.

Chapter Eight
     
    Jess
     
    "Jess, please open the door and talk to me. I didn't tell him, I swear," Lauren yelled through the door. Then softer she said, "Caleb did, and I'm really pissed at him."
    That was what finally convinced me to open up.
    "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry," Lauren said, her arms sweeping me up in a hug. "Are you okay?"
    I nodded against her shoulder, then stepped away from her embrace. Reaching in my back pocket I pulled out the picture to show to her. "I got an ultrasound like you suggested."
    "W-what … that's the …?" she stuttered.
    "Babies."
    "Ba-bies? As in more than one baby, plural?" she asked, with her jaw unhinged and eyes widening.
    "Yes."
    "Holy fuck. There’s two of them," she said as she looked over the photo.
    "Yep," I said, taking the picture back from her hands. I hadn’t been able to part with it since they’d printed it and handed it to me.
    "Are you feeling okay? I mean, did it hurt?"
    "Did what hurt? The ultrasound? It was one of those vaginal ones, but they put goo all over the huge dildo stick, so it wasn't really that bad," I told her with a shrug. 
    Her forehead creased in confusion. "I meant the, ah, abortion."
    I sighed and sat down crossed-legged on the love seat. "I couldn't go through with it."   
    "What? But Tyler said … he said it was too late. You lied to him? You're keeping the babies, plural?"
    I nodded. "I asked for an ultrasound like you said, just to be sure, you know? And when the technician told me it was twins, and showed me, it was like my eyes finally opened to the terrible thing I'd been considering. I mean there are actual people growing inside my freaking stomach. Not just any people, but my little people. And Tyler's little people," I told her as I stared down at the ultrasound photo. The very first picture of our tiny babies.     
    "People," Lauren repeated and then smiled.
    I realized during the ultrasound why Lauren felt the way she did about abortions. She was going to school to be an x-ray technician, and had seen ultrasounds during all the various weeks of pregnancy. She knew without a doubt that there was already life there, even this early, because she'd seen it. Now I had too.
    "What are you