My Accidental Plus-One (Book 1)

Prologue

The air in the small, dimly lit apartment crackled with a tension that Rhys felt acutely, a pressure in his chest that rivaled the strange, burgeoning life within him. He’d rehearsed this moment countless times, but the words still felt foreign, a bizarre pronouncement echoing in the silence. "I'm pregnant," he finally managed, his voice a strained whisper that seemed to hang in the stale air.

Frederick, his partner of five years, stared back at him, a flicker of disbelief morphing into something resembling anger. "What the fuck are you saying, Rhys?" he demanded, his voice sharp and incredulous.

Rhys swallowed, his throat suddenly tight. "Are you deaf? I said I'm pregnant!" he repeated, the words gaining a desperate edge. He watched as Frederick’s expression twisted into a mask of utter bewilderment.

"You're a guy," Frederick stated, as if explaining a fundamental law of physics to a child. "Men don't get pregnant."

"I know," Rhys replied, his voice trembling slightly. "But guess what? I am pregnant, and you're the father." He watched the color drain from Frederick’s face, a stark contrast to the flush of panic that was spreading across his own.

The silence that followed was thick with unspoken questions, the kind that had no easy answers. Rhys had known this wouldn't be easy, that Frederick would struggle to comprehend, but he hadn’t anticipated the sheer wall of denial that now stood between them. He'd hoped for a flicker of understanding, a moment of shared shock that would eventually give way to acceptance. Instead, he was met with a cold, unwavering disbelief.

Pregnant. And alone. That was Rhys Sterling’s stark, brutal reality the moment he uttered those impossible words to Frederick Ainsworth. The man he’d built a life with, the man he’d imagined a future with, simply refused to believe him. He didn’t believe in the impossible, the miraculous, the terrifying truth that was growing inside Rhys.

Can you blame him, though? Rhys found himself asking, a bitter twist in his gut. A pregnant man—what kind of insane, impossible, unbelievable reality was that? It was a concept ripped from science fiction, a biological anomaly that defied all logic. Yet, it was undeniably real. Rhys was pregnant, his body a battleground of conflicting emotions and burgeoning life.

And now, the only person he’d ever truly trusted, the one he’d thought would stand by him through anything, had turned his back and walked away. The door slammed shut with a finality that echoed the emptiness spreading through Rhys’s soul. He was left standing alone, cradling a secret that was both a miracle and a curse, facing a future he never imagined, with no one to share the burden.