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She paused, chewing her bottom lip. She didn’t really want to hear about Liam’s sexual conquests, but she hadn’t hit the message about her supposed pregnancy yet, and she had to know.
She’s got a hot roommate. Leggy brunette with great tits. As soon as Viv’s pregnant, let me know, and I’ll set you up with her.
The words had her heart plummeting into her stomach. Her throat tightened, and she threw the phone to the end of the bed to stop herself from reading any more.
After everything he’d said, everything he’d done, Aidan was still just waiting to knock her up so he could be done with her. All these weeks since she’d asked for more from him, since he’d agreed to give it, since he had given it, had been an act. A game. A lie.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and dropped her forehead against them. He’d always been good at pretending. This time he’d put on a show so good he fooled her too. But she didn’t want to play his games anymore. She couldn’t stay here and willingly let him trample all over her heart.
When the shower cut off, she slid out of bed and crossed to the closet. Hopping into a pair of jeans and pulling a sweater over her head, she grabbed a bag and began filling it with clothes. By the time he emerged from the bathroom, she was packing the last of her things from her nightstand.
His eyes dropped to the open bag on the bed in front of her, and he frowned. “What are you doing?”
She bent over the end of the bed and grabbed his phone, lobbing it at his chest so hard he grunted. The only display of emotion she would allow herself. Any more and she was liable to scream until her throat stopped working.
“Your friend Liam texted.”
“Okay,” he drew out the word and looked down at his phone.
“I wouldn’t normally read your texts. It’s not really my style, but I thought maybe it was something important from Declan.” She was annoyed with herself that she felt the need to explain why she’d invaded his privacy after what she’d read, but she pushed it away. “Liam had much more interesting things to say.”
Still frowning, Aidan unlocked his phone and scrolled through the messages. She knew he landed on the one that cracked her heart in two when he paled and his head jerked up. She zipped up her bag and lifted it from the bed.
“Wait,” he said before she could round the bed for the door. “I can explain.”
She set it carefully back on the mattress and crossed her arms over her chest. “Explain then.”
“What I said to Liam. I didn’t mean it.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “That night we went out for drinks. He kept accusing me of being…out of it.”
“Out of it,” she repeated, not at all convinced those had been anything close to Liam’s exact words.
“Yeah. He wouldn’t drop it. Kept egging me on, trying to get me to pick up some random woman and go back to her place.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he took a tentative step forward. “I wanted him to drop it, so I told him I was waiting to make sure you were pregnant before I….” He winced like the memory of it hurt him. “Before I slept with anyone else.”
“Don’t,” she said when he took another step.
“I regretted it as soon as I said it.”
“But not enough to correct yourself. Not enough to tell him you didn’t mean it.”
“I…no.”
“I’m going to leave now,” she said, surprised at how calm her voice was even though she felt like she was breaking apart. “Please don’t touch me. Please don’t try to stop me. Please don’t contact me. If I’m ever ready to speak to you again, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Viv. Please don’t go. I didn’t mean it. I swear. I—”
“The problem is, Callahan, I don’t believe you.”
She glanced down at the open drawer to the nightstand and reached for the only secret she’d ever kept from him.
“Besides, this is good news for you. I’m pregnant.” She dropped the pregnancy test on top of the nightstand with a snap. “You’ve successfully fulfilled your purpose.” She nearly choked on the word, the one he’d used that first night when he’d brutally slapped her back into place. “So you’re free to have all the leggy brunettes you can stand.”
Lifting her bag off the bed, she crossed to the door, a mix of grateful and heartbroken that he didn’t try to stop her. She felt the stranglehold she had on her control slipping as she jogged down the stairs, and she quickened her pace. She was nearly free until Brogan pulled into the driveway behind the rental car she’d been driving while they waited to replace her old one.
Viv tried to play it off, but when Libby got out of the passenger seat and saw the bag in her hand, her smile faltered at the obvious concern on her friend’s face.
“Viv?” Libby asked. “What happened?”
If she explained it, if she uttered even one word about what happened upstairs, she wouldn’t survive it. It was too raw, and the pressure building in her chest was suffocating.
