AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Melody
When Asher accused Alex of getting me pregnant, my whole world collapsed. It was as if he’d completely discarded the fact that we’d had one, let alone several sexual encounters recently—the last that very afternoon.
He sat down on the swing beside me and I kept waiting for him to say something. But other than him asking me about why I hadn’t told him about something that hadn’t even happened, he hadn’t uttered a word. In the house, he’d talked about some girl in high school that he’d been very willing to help, but when it came to his own mistake, he didn’t seem capable of acknowledging it let alone helping me. It was all too much to bear. I guess, Shannon Bright had been lucky to have a mom so understanding. I doubted mine would be so accepting of something like this. First, she loses her only son in a horrific car accident, and then her only daughter disgraces her by getting pregnant. By the guy who doesn’t want anything to do with her.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I got up and headed down the steps. I didn’t want to look at Asher. I could tell by the way he was acting that he didn’t want me or the baby. God, what was I going to do?
I headed up the stairs to the cottage we were renting. I unlocked the door and walked inside. The bed was still down and the covers still bunched up in the middle. As much as I wanted to burrow myself into them and cry—possibly sleep—for about five hours and forget about the world, I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to get on the bed—the bed that Ash and I had just made love on less than three hours ago—and snuggle into those sheets and covers that I knew would smell like him.
I opened my suitcase that sat on top of the wooden luggage rack. I pulled out my yoga pants. I wanted to get out of my jeans. Not that they were too tight, yet, I wasn’t that far along. But they were a bit uncomfortable considering my stomach was at war with everything I put into it. If this were an indication of what type of child I was carrying, I was really in for a world of trouble. A single mom with a warrior to raise. Great. Just what I always wanted. Though, it was Asher’s warrior, and even though he didn’t want me, the idea that I’d always have a part of him started to sink in.
I was so tired. Before changing into my yoga pants, I decided to take a bath and ran some water in the tub. Maybe a soak in some warm water would make me feel better. As I sank down into the steamy water, I instantly began to relax. Yes, this was exactly what I needed.
I half expected Asher to follow me upstairs, but I was glad he hadn’t. I needed to be alone to collect my thoughts. This was a lot to process. I was going to have a baby. I was twenty-one years old. I could do this. My mom had been twenty when she had Ted, and by the time she was twenty-two she’d had me. But she’d had one important thing I didn’t have. A loving husband. Well, at the time anyway. My dad wasn’t in our lives much these days. I wondered how he would take being a grandfather. Would he be accepting, or would he be ashamed of me and think I was irresponsible. I had been irresponsible. Forgetting to take my birth control pills had been very irresponsible. No wonder Ash was so upset. He’d had sex with me thinking everything would be fine. It was supposed to be a one-night thing. He’d wanted to be my first. Saying he was my best friend and had known me his whole life. That it should be him. I had even told him I was taking the pill to ease his mind, though he already knew I was on them. He knew everything about me. Why had he doubted me about Alex, though?
After soaking in the tub and donning my stretchy yoga pants and a t-shirt, I gave in to the lure of the bed and bundled myself up in the covers. A few minutes later, I heard the door open. I felt the dip of the mattress beside me as Asher’s hand gently grazed my shoulder. I opened my eyes. “Go away,” I said.
“Mel. Come on. We need to talk about this.”
“No. I don’t want to talk to you. Not now, I’m too tired. Please, Asher, just go away and let me sleep.”
I turned over to face the other way and closed my eyes. The last thing I remembered after that was hearing the door close. The room fell silent with just my own frustrating thoughts and me to fill it.
