**Some of you will be upset with the turn the plot is taking, and for that I'm sorry. However, what happens is deeply intertwined with the rest of the plot, so please give it a chance before tearing the plot apart in the comments lol. Please enjoy this update!**

Roxie's POV

"Well, I have to go get ready for work. I'll see you guys later," Ivy sighed before hoisting herself off of our couch and giving us both hugs goodbye. "Don't get up to anything I wouldn't while I'm gone," she called out before shutting our front door behind her. I just smiled and shook my head before patting my thighs with the palms of my hands.

"Well, I'm gonna go to Milo's since he said he took the night off to do account stuff at home. I figured I'll bug him for the rest of the night. With that being said, you'll have this entire place all to yourself. I swear on everything that is holy, if I come back and find out you didn't invite that man over and take all that he offered, I'll kick your ass," I stated soundly, pinning her down with a single look. She just rolled her eyes and bit her lip before ushering me away.

I quickly changed into a comfortable pair of sweatpants-material shorts and a soft cotton t-shirt before slipping on some shoes and heading out. I waved goodbye to Khloe, yelling another reminder to call her man as I went.

The drive to Milo's apartment wasn't a long one seeing as his complex was only about ten minutes away, though the traffic was always rampant in the city. I got a few weird stares from the other residents leaving their places as I sauntered down the halls - somewhat lost - trying to find Milo's door. Good thing he thought to put Ivy, Khloe, and me on his list of allowed visitors or I wouldn't have even made it this far.

Finally stopping in front of the correct door, I proceeded to knock in the most obnoxious way that I could - Sheldon Cooper had nothing on me. A few of Milo's neighbors peeked out from their own apartments to see what all the commotion was. I just smiled sweetly and waved - all the while still knocking with one hand.

Milo's door swung open in one swift motion a few seconds later, catching me off guard.

"What the hell?" he hissed under his breath, meeting the stares of his curious neighbors with an apologetic smile before grasping my upper arm and dragging me into his apartment. I giggled at the exasperated look on his face.

"Khloe tried cockblocking herself tonight, so I did her a favor by leaving the apartment. I also might've texted Xander to come over on her phone right before I slipped out," I said with a mischievous grin. He just smirked while shaking his head.

"What would she do without you?" he asked sarcastically.

"Probably be getting a whole lot more dick, honestly," I remarked, that familiar feeling of guilt crawling back up once again.

"Well, either way, you did her a solid. She's been wound so tight lately, she needs a night just to let loose," he commented.

"Yeah, that's why you get the privilege of having me as your company for the rest of the night!" I exclaimed overdramatically.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled with a single roll of his eyes. I laughed before shoving him playfully.

"Truthfully, though, the reason I'm here is to draft a game plan for you and Candice," I explained. That caused him to stop in his tracks.

"Roxie, really, it's not your job-"

"To help you?" I cut him off. "Actually, you're wrong. As your best friend, it's most definitely part of the job description to help set you up with the woman you love. And I don't want to hear another word about it," I insisted when I saw him open his mouth to protest. He sighed in annoyance before quickly giving up.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked, seeming apprehensive.

"Well, I need you to tell me the history of your relationship first. Not just that summary you gave me when we were doing that bullshit wedding registry."

He breathed deeply before taking a seat on his couch, pushing away his laptop and the various papers scattered all around so that I could take a seat. "As I told you before, she ended up in my own club. I was instantly attracted to her the moment I set my eyes on her. I could tell she needed some cheering up, so I sat down and started to chat with her. We kept things pretty light and casual at first, the basic questions everyone always asks during small talk. When she found out I ran the club we were both in, she was amazed. She revealed that she herself had her own club, but she never had a single moment to breathe, let alone walk around and talk to customers. I figured that was my way in regarding spending more time with her and getting to know her without coming on too strong. I told her I would help her with whatever she needed since I obviously knew my way around the business. She was so in over her head that she agreed without a second thought.

"We started spending large amounts of our time together. I have one of the best management teams in the business, so it didn't hurt me that I was spending pretty much all my time at her club in her office. I helped her reconfigure her entire business model, but more than that I started to break down her walls. She told me the story of how Rouge came to be. She told me all about her late marriage. I found out her dreams and goals, what she truly wanted out of life. I told her mine in return. She was the first woman I'd ever met that actually listened to what I said and asked questions about me instead of focusing the entire conversation on herself. I hadn't realized throughout the year and some months I'd spent working on her club with her that I'd fallen head over heels for her. When I finally did realize how I felt for her, I immediately made my move. I thought the feelings were reciprocated because, well, we..." he trailed off, his cheeks taking on a pinkish hue. I chuckled quietly before nodding for him to continue.

"Anyway, after the first time neither one of us really addressed what had happened; we didn't have to. It became an unspoken understanding between the two of us that after a long day of work we would go to either of our houses and just destress together. That went on for about six months. Things were amazing. Beyond amazing. After we were done exploring each other's bodies, we would just lie in bed and talk for hours. I knew her better than I knew myself."

"So what happened?" I asked, knowing the full story was coming to fruition.

"I proposed," he stated casually. I blinked a few times as my jaw dropped open.

"You proposed?" I gawked.

A small smile pulled at his lips, the faraway look in his eyes still present. "Sure did. I got the ring shipped from home. It was my mother's and her mother's before that and so on; a family heirloom. I didn't feel the need to ask her to be my girlfriend first. I just wanted to skip ahead to her taking my last name and us growing old together."

"But...?" I questioned, knowing that it didn't all go down how he'd envisioned.

"She's terrified of commitment. Terrified that I'll do to her what her husband did to her," he stated with a beaten-down look. My heart ached for him as I reached forward and placed a comforting hand on his own. He flipped it so he could squeeze my hand.

"Her feelings are valid, but her concern isn't. She has to know that you would never do that to her," I insisted.

"She does, that's the hardest part. She's beaten herself up so much about this ever since I've proposed. I can see it in her eyes; she hates herself. And I think that's what kills me the most. I did this to her. Had I just waited and not jumped the gun, I could've avoided all of this," he grunted, hanging his head and staring at the floor.

"Hey, don't do that. Don't beat yourself up for doing what you thought was best. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, right? We just have to figure out the best way to go about this from here on out. There's no focusing on the past," I stated soundly.

"It's hard to take that advice seriously considering who it's coming from," he shot back, giving me a hard look.

"Yeah, yeah. I suck and can't even take my own advice, but learn from my mistakes. At least Candice isn't with another man. She may not be mentally available, but I promise you she will be. We've just got to go about this the right way, okay?"

"Fine, but she's not even in the state right now. She's on vacation back home to see her parents. She won't be back for another four days."

"That's perfect. You said your management team is so good you could be MIA from your own club and it wouldn't even phase them, but we need to find someone to watch over Rouge. Is there anyone you and Candice both trust enough to take complete responsibility while you're gone for a duration of time?" He thought over my question for a few moments before finally speaking.

"I mean, yes, there is, but she's - for the lack of a better term - a total control freak. There's no way Candice would allow her assistant to take over while she's away. Even right now she's doing the books and things from her laptop at her parents' place." I thought over my plan of attack before asking him my next question.

"Has she ever mentioned a dream vacation spot?"

"She's mentioned loving any beach, in general, a few times. I've got a beach-front property in Charleston that a buddy of mine built for me. It's pretty secluded and would give us plenty of privacy," he said, clearly already having an idea where my mind had wandered.

"Good. I say we don't give her a choice in the matter."

"Are you saying I should basically kidnap her?" Milo deadpanned, looking at me as if I'd grown two heads. I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"No, idiot. I'm saying we tell a little white lie. Would she fall for the idea of a 'major investor who wants to expand the business and open a location in the south'?" I questioned.

"I would really have to try and sell it because she's incredibly smart, but I could try. If it doesn't, I'll figure something else out on the fly. So, fast forward a bit and let's say she falls for the lie, I get her down to Charleston, and it's just the two of us. What then?"

"Then you show her how good making the two of you official could really be. Spend every single moment reassuring her that you are the man she needs and you are the only one who can take care of her and treat her the way she deserves. Show her that no matter what happens or where life takes you, you're always going to be there for her to fall back on or confide in. Plan intimate dinners on the beach, take her to do fun things like parasailing or boating, get up early and watch the sunrise together. I think what she really needs is to be pushed out of her comfort zone and to a place isolated away from all the insecurity and doubt she harbors about your possible relationship. And then you need to smash those doubts and make it clear that she's the only one you want to spend the rest of your life with."

"And if that doesn't work?" he questioned.

"Then we figure something else out if the time comes," I reassured him with a soft smile. He blew out a breath of air from between his lips.

"Alright. Let's do it," he agreed.

"I'm surprised she left for her parents' place early. I couldn't imagine someone who has to have control doing something spontaneous like that when you said she'd planned on leaving on the fourteenth weeks ago," I commented.

"It is the fourteenth, dumbass," Milo retorted back before shaking his head with a playful smile.

"There's no way. Are you sure?" I asked, already feeling the familiar weight of dread sitting on my chest as I searched for my phone.

"I'm one hundred percent positive. Why?" he asked just as I got a good look at my lock screen. Sure enough, he was right. The numbers were glaring back at me.

Mocking me.

"I should've gotten my period by now and I haven't..." I trailed off.

"Are you regular or does it fluctuate?" he asked, a look of worry already crossing his face.

"It comes like clockwork; same day, same time, every single month," I whispered, my heart beginning to hammer away in my chest. I started to mentally calculate if it was even possible that I was ovulating during the time Jedrek and I had sex.

"It was almost exactly two weeks ago..." I whispered, my voice barely loud enough to be heard.

"And that means...?" Milo asked, a look of confusion on his face.

"Ovulation occurs two weeks before the start of your next period," I stated monotonously trying to mentally prepare myself for the shitstorm I'd possibly gotten myself into.

"Hold on," Milo muttered before disappearing. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, desperately trying to will the dizziness that'd reared its ugly fat head to go away.

"Here," Milo's voice called, scaring me out of my moment. I looked at his outstretched hand, which was grasping a wrapped pregnancy test.

"Why the fuck do you have these just lying around?" I asked, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Candice and I have..." he paused to clear his throat, "had a lot of sex. Sometimes we were dumb and didn't always use protection in the heat of the moment. We had a couple of scares," he admitted sheepishly.

"And that did scare her off as much as the fucking proposal did?!" I exclaimed, my eyes nearly popping out of my head.

"Just take the damn test," he growled, shoving the plastic stick into my hand. My heart kicked back up as a sense of deja vu washed over my body. My hands shook ever so slightly but I just clenched the test harder to try and mask it from Milo's view. I cleared my throat and stood on weak legs, slowly meandering to his bathroom. Milo gave me a single look of encouragement before closing the door behind me, telling me he would wait right outside it for me through the wood.

The sound of the plastic tearing was deafening in the silence, amping up my nerves even more. I pulled the plastic lid off and set it on the counter before squatting over the toilet bowl. I stood in the odd position with the stick between my legs for what felt like an eternity before my bladder gave. I finished doing my business and recapped the test before carefully setting in on the countertop. I opened the door and looked at Milo's expectant face.

"How long is it supposed to develop for?" I asked.

"This brand takes five minutes." I nodded in reply and just moved to sit on the edge of his bed. I rang my fingers together as time seemed to pass at the pace of molasses. When the timer on Milo's phone went off, I jumped. The nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach returned with a vengeance as I walked back to the counter and picked the test up.

"Do I have double vision, or are those two pink lines?" I asked breathlessly.

"No. You're eating for double, not seeing it."

After the reality of the situation hit me, everything went black. 

**I know some of you will be pissed and talk about how all my main characters end up pregnant BUT THIS TIME IT'S ACTUALLY FOR A REASON lol. It wasn't just something I was like 'huh well I don't really have anything else, let's just make her pregnant' like with other books I've written, I've had this planned since the VERY BEGINNING. Keep an open mind if you can.**