AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not just you and it’s not just me. There’s more going on than our feelings and what we want,” she exclaimed, her voice rising in a near shriek.
“No, there isn’t. That’s all that matters! Don’t you see that? Stop being stubborn and—”
“I’m pregnant, Jeremy!” she screamed. Her face crumpled and tears started dripping down her face. “I’m pregnant, god damn you,” she ended in a whisper.
And just like that, the world crumbled beneath my feet.
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say. I stood there dumbstruck, my mouth gaping open like a fish.
“There’s no way. We’ve always been careful,” I argued.
Lena wiped her eyes and gave me a look that would reduce normal men to rubble. “Not every time, you idiot,” she growled.
She was right. Of course, she was. But I couldn’t formulate any coherent thoughts. Words swirled around in my head and unfortunately, they came out of my mouth.
“And it’s mine?”
Why the fuck did I say that? I didn’t, for one second, believe Lena had been with anyone else. I knew she hadn’t been. She wasn’t that kind of woman. And what we had wasn’t a cheap roll in the sack. I knew the second I said it that it was, hands down, the worst possible thing I could say. I was an absolute fucking moron.
Her face paled and she looked positively stricken. I needed to take it back. God, I’d give anything to rewind time to thirty seconds ago and stop myself from making the biggest mistake of my life.
Without a word, she slapped me. Hard enough to crunch my teeth together. My lip split and I tasted blood. I lifted a hand to my cheek. It felt hot and swollen. Damn the girl could pack a punch.
“Marlena—”
“How dare you! How fucking dare you!” she said so quietly I could barely hear her. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she wasn’t crying. She wasn’t upset. She was deadly calm. And she stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. And she didn’t like what she saw.
I felt two inches tall.
“Don’t ever talk to me again, Jeremy Wyatt. Stay the hell away from me.” She stormed away, never looking back. I felt cemented to the spot. Unable to move.
Stay the hell away from me...
The finality of her words hit me like a sledgehammer.
“You fucking asshole.” I felt the fist to my jaw before I saw it coming. I landed on my ass in the snow.
I looked up to find Adam towering over me, his face an alarming shade of red. Shit had officially hit the fan. Meg pulled on his arm. “Stop it, Adam. Don’t. Not here.”
He pulled me up to my feet by the front of my shirt. “I told you to stay the fuck away from my sister. I knew you’d hurt her. I knew you’d break her heart. You’re a selfish piece of shit, Wyatt,” Adam shouted in my face.
“It wasn’t like that. I care about her—”
“You got her pregnant, you jizz stain!” And then he punched me again and I didn’t bother to defend myself. I deserved everything he dished out and more.
People filtered out of Sweet Lila’s, wanting to see what drama was unfolding. Meg cupped Adam’s face. “Think about, Lena. We have to go make sure she’s okay,” she reasoned.
He nodded, but he didn’t relax. His body was tense, and he stared at me with a loathing I never thought I’d see from him. “You betrayed me. And you betrayed, Lena. You betrayed this firm. You’ve ruined everything.” His voice cracked and I knew I had hurt him too.
Rob stood there in disbelief, looking from me to Adam and back again. “Adam, take a breath. We should all sit down and talk about this—”
“There’s nothing I want to say to him,” Adam spat out. “He’s made his bed. Let him lie in it.” He took Meg’s hand and followed in the direction Lena had gone.
Rob held out his hand, but I refused to take it, slowly getting to my feet. I felt warmth on my chin and touched it, my fingers coming away red from blood. I carefully ran my tongue along my teeth to make sure they were all still there considering the Ducate siblings had used my face as a punching bag.
The crowd had dispersed once the scene was over. I was left alone with Rob who stood there, hands in his pockets, quietly watching me.
“There’s no coming back from this, is there?” I asked, feeling hollow inside. I could barely make sense of the wreckage I had created for myself.
Rob shrugged. “Give ‘em time. Both of them. Tempers are hot right now.”
“She’s pregnant,” I said, still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
“So I heard,” Rob retorted.
“I’m going to be a dad.” The reality hit me hard. I was going to be a father. Good God.
