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Ledger
In the blink of an eye, it all came to a head. We were dragged back to my bedroom where I made the biggest mistake of my life.
Nothing could shake that memory.
Nothing.
Not one damn thing.
Through Hazel’s eyes, it played out before me like it was happening at that moment.
Our trust.
Our love.
Our devoted friendship no matter what.
Tears pooled in her eyes. She didn’t try to hide them from me. Proving how bad I still fucked her up. The tormented expression on her face was a permanent reminder of the destruction I’d caused in her life. Destroying her the moment I decided not to be part of it anymore.
Her lips trembled as the son of a bitch spat, “How do you know that baby isn’t mine?”
Clearing my throat, I looked away. I had to. Abruptly, I glared at him. There was no hesitation on my part, I didn’t back down. From the second she told me she was pregnant, that baby was mine.
In two strides, I was in his face. “Let’s get one thing fucking straight. That baby is mine. I don’t give a fuck if her DNA matches yours. Hazel and that baby are mine. Now get the fuck off my property before I do it for you, and trust me, the second my hands are on you, it’ll be to do more than just throwing your ass in your car. Do you understand me?”
The dagger wedged in my heart twisted, refusing to let me go. My sadness, despair, and pain were unbearable, thinking Hallie couldn’t be mine. It swallowed me whole. I couldn’t breathe, gasping for my next breath internally.
“Oh my God!” Hazel hollered. “Johnathan, why are you doing this? We both know we haven’t had sex in over a year. Why are you lying? What are you trying to accomplish right now? Do you want to make me hate you?”
This was my nightmare in reality, and all I could do was hang on for dear life.
Hazel
Johnathan snidely shook his head, snarling, “I can’t believe I ever loved you. I can’t believe I love you still. It was always him.” He pointed at Ledger. “You’re nothing but a liar. All the times I caught you looking at pictures of him or searching for him online and you’d tell me he was just your brother’s best friend.”
It was true, and I couldn’t deny it.
“He’s always been the reason you couldn’t give your heart to me. I’m a fucking fool for not seeing it. All the times I’d say I love you and you wouldn’t say it. Jesus, even when I asked you to marry me, you looked like a deer in headlights. Why did you lead me on if you didn’t love me?”
“I wanted to. I tried. For years, I tried. It’s why I called off our engagement and gave you back your ring. I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t marry you when I wasn’t in love with you. Is that why you’re doing this? To punish me? To make Ledger think I’m nothing but a liar when you’re the one lying.”
“What do you expect?! You drop off the face of the earth. You completely stopped talking to me when I thought we were trying to work things out.”
“I… I…” I sighed. “I thought I could make it work. I thought we could make it work. And then I found out I was pregnant, and it was like a sign that we were totally wrong for each other.”
“You couldn’t have told me that?”
“How did you want me to tell you? I didn’t want to hurt you more than I already had. I was trying to do the right thing.”
Ledger chimed in, “You got back together with him after we hooked up?”
“It wasn’t like that. We were just talking, but as soon as I knew I was pregnant… well, you know what happened next.”
“So you ghost me?” Johnathan asked. “And I have to find out like this? What the fuck? I thought I meant more to you than that.”
“I’m sorry, Johnathan. I truly am. One day you’ll meet a woman who’s perfect for you.”
“Don’t give me that ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ bullshit.”
