“The press will come after you too—say terrible things when they find out we’re together.”
“Fuck the press! They don’t matter.”
Her eyes were wild as she looked at him. “It’s hard for me to do this. To be carrying a baby without you.”
His eyes searched hers. It felt like she was grasping at straws—to find any reason to break them up.
“I’m right here.”
She stared at him, her chest heaving with each breath, but she remained quiet. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Don’t you see I want to be with you?” He took a step closer and stood mere inches from her. “Nothing will change that.”
Tears streamed down Claire’s face, and he watched helplessly, wanting to pull her into his arms, but knowing she wouldn’t let him.
“Why would you want to be with me?”
“Because it’s us. Because it’s you. I want you.”
“But I’ll have an infant soon. You won’t want to be tied down.”
Jake ran his hands through his hair. “Why are you telling me what I do and don’t want?”
“Because I know you!” she all but shouted.
“And what do you think you know?”
Her face scrunched up in anger. A fire lit her eyes, which gave him hope. She wasn’t giving up. Her will to fight was still there.
“You’ll get too busy for me. You’ll start ignoring me, and I’ll be home alone with an infant. It’s only a matter of time. The baby isn’t yours.”
He remembered what she was talking about very clearly. But back then, it had nothing to do with them sleeping together. The band had exploded and their schedule suddenly got crazy. He wanted to see her, to talk it out, but they were scheduled for back-to-back interviews. By the time they would get to their bus for the night, she was asleep, or he was so exhausted, he would pass out immediately. Their lack of communication was their downfall.
He was busy, but he had made that mistake once, and he’d be damned if he made it again. Everything needed to be laid out on the table.
Jake scrubbed a hand over his face. “Claire, I understand your hesitation because of how things happened in the past, but I’m telling you it won’t happen again. I need you to have faith in me.”
“How can I? I’m pregnant.”
He tossed his hands in the air and growled in frustration. “Why do you keep mentioning the pregnancy? It has nothing to do with us.”
She took a step back as if he had slapped her.
“That’s exactly my point,” she whispered. “The baby isn’t yours.”
“Claire, I love you. I haven’t stopped loving you for four years.”
She looked up at him and hugged herself, but remained quiet.
Jake’s mind reeled. He needed to make her understand he was in it for the long haul. She wouldn’t get rid of him so easily. He needed to tackle the root of the problem, something he thought they had already moved past several weeks ago.
“This is no excuse for our past, but we were busy back then. Things just got insane, and I was terrible with communication. I should have recognized that we needed to talk once things changed between us, but I always wanted to be with you. It’s not that I was being weird after things happened between us.” He shook his head. “It was just a coincidence.”
“It didn’t feel that way.”
“I realize that now, but know that I never wanted you to leave. I loved you then. I still love you now.”
Her lip quivered.
