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She refused to look at Dylan. Even though she knew in her heart he would never judge her for her choice, she couldn’t entirely dispel the fear of his disapproval.
He laid his hand on top of hers. “When?”
“Senior year of high school.” Against her will, her eyes darted to his face.
The only emotion he showed was surprise—which morphed into anger as he put two and two together. “Who was it? Was it Kyle?”
She nodded and looked away.
His fingers clenched around hers. “When? Was it when you broke up? Was itwhyyou broke up?”
She bit her lip and nodded again.
“Jesus. Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?” Beneath the outrage, there was an unmistakable tinge of hurt in his tone.
“You had a girlfriend, remember?” It felt like a weak excuse now, but at the time it had seemed to matter a lot. High school was a different world. “She definitely would not have appreciated me dumping my unwanted pregnancy in her boyfriend’s lap.”
“You have no idea how few shits I would have given aboutherfeelings in that situation. I didn’t care about her the way—” He stopped abruptly and Brooke turned to look at him. His eyes skated away from hers. “I can barely even remember her name.”
Brooke remembered her name. It was Stephanie. She remembered watching them hold hands in the hall and feeling—not jealousy, exactly. More like protectiveness.
She shook her head. “The last thing you needed was to get dragged into my mess. People might have thought it was yours.”
“I wouldn’t have cared about that.”
Her eyes locked on his. “Iwould have. I couldn’t do that to you.”
“So that dickstain Kyle got you pregnant and then dumped you?” The words came out in a growl that matched Dylan’s body language, which resembled a big cat poised to attack.
“I was an equal and willing participant in the first part, but yeah, he couldn’t get away from me fast enough once he found out I was pregnant.”
She’d expected Kyle to be shocked, upset, scared even—all the same emotions she had about it. But he’d responded with anger. Like it was somethingshe’ddone tohiminstead of something they’d done together. He’d even accused her of trying to ruin his life before demanding she “get rid of it.”
A baby hadn’t been in Brooke’s plans any more than it was in Kyle’s, and she was in no way prepared to be a mother at the age of seventeen. But she’d deeply resented the implication that the whole situation was her fault, when he’d been an equal partner in the decision-making process.
Only after she’d not-so-gently reminded him he was fifty percent responsible had he reluctantly agreed to pay for half the abortion—but only so long as she swore never to tell anyone. He’d absolutely refused to go with her to the clinic, however, which required her to be accompanied by someone who could drive her home after the procedure.
Which was how she’d ended up asking her mother to do it.
“What a raging asshole,” Dylan growled. “And then he went and said all that shit about you sleeping around.”
“That was a lie,” Brooke responded reflexively. Not that it mattered at this point. Ancient history indeed.
She’d been so stupidly in love with Kyle. So naive. So blind to the kind of person he really was. Like any idiot kid in the throes of first love, she’d thought they’d be together forever. They’d both been planning to go to LSU, so they could stay together through college. After that, she’d assumed they’d get married. Her first and only boyfriend.
What a joke.
Somehow, Dylan’s eyes managed to be both hard and compassionate at once. “I know it was a lie and I know why he said it. He was covering his tracks in case anyone found out. Laying the groundwork to claim it wasn’t his. God.” He shook his head as his face twisted in fury. “I mean, I knew he sucked, but I didn’t realize how much or I would have punched him harder.”
Brooke blinked at him. “I’m sorry, you what? Youpunchedhim?”
“Yeah.” Dylan winced a little, as if he was embarrassed. “I heard him running his mouth off about you at one of Brian Boudreaux’s parties, and I may have laid him out on the ground.”
“I can’t believe you did that.” She’d never known Dylan to get into a fight or even lose his temper. He was one of the gentlest people she knew. “Is that why he kept his distance from us at prom?”
“Probably.”
She squeezed his hand. “My champion.”
