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“God damn it, Jules!”
Think! Sean, think!
Why would she have strict medical advice to rest if she wasn't sick? Oh dear God, no! My stomach plummets. Instantly, I feel sick. I don't want the answer, but I have to ask the question. “She's pregnant?”
“No, I don't think so,” Julia says, disagreeing again. “Ashleigh hasn't been seeing anyone.”
“Do you call Justin Ramirez not seeing anyone?” I correct her and Julia glares at Mimi. I don’t wait for the ensuing argument between Mimi and Julia. I shoot out the door and go after Ashleigh.
No. She’s not getting a divorce. I don't care if I’m being a jerk. I’m going to fight her every step of the way. If I’m going to be miserable without her, then she can be miserable too! I chase her through the busy corridor, push past the people standing in my way, and shout at those ahead that I’m coming through. My gaze darts everywhere, but she’s nowhere to be seen.
Nope! I haven't spent a decade of my life pretending I don’t love her, only to eventually admit it and then have some poster boy come steal her away. No way! I step into an empty elevator. It’s not going to happen like that. I’m rewriting our ending.
I step out of the car and spot her heading down farther along the corridor. She’s putting one step in front of the other very carefully. “Ashleigh!”
I’m behind her in second, her wrist in my hand. I’m forcing her to face me, she will not walk away from me again.
Something flickers across her face. It’s a brief flash in her green eyes, before her face crumples beneath a gasp. She makes the quietest, most horrific, screech I’ve ever heard as the color drains from her face.
My heart leaps into my throat. She was serious earlier. I had hurt her. I’d caused her so much physical pain she’d collapsed!
Shit! I’m hurting her now.
CHAPTER 14
ASHLEIGH
Agony! Pure torture slices through every nerve ending between my lower vertebras and hips. It hemorrhages into my legs as the force whips me around at rapid speed.
Its viciousness bleeds into my thighs, muscles clenching in response to the torment screaming through the lower half of my body. Its intensity glues my eyelids together, sucks the air from my lungs, and bites at my bottom lip.
“What the…”
I crumple forward, clutch at his shirt and bury my head into his shoulder as the strangled cry tears from my throat.
It’ll pass. It’ll go. It’ll disappear. I just need to hold on long enough.
One... two... three...
See? It’s easy.
… four... five....
Just take it easy. Relax, and for God’s sake woman, breathe!
“Ash?”
Oh, shit! That fucking hurts.
... six... seven... eight...
It's a few seconds longer before I can open my eyes, and a minute or two before I can lift my face to look him in the eyes. I’ll have to tell him now. I’ll have to tell him everything. But I can’t.
I can’t handle another long, emotional conversation. I’ve already had my fair share of them this weekend, and none of the rest prescribed from my doctor. And isn’t it obvious? The longer I’m on my feet, the worse I’m going to get. Maybe I’ll just face whatever reason Sean has followed me and do the rest another time.
I pull away, step back. I have no idea where to look. Not at him. He’ll have too many questions I don’t want to answer. “Sorry.”
“No, Ashleigh. I'm sorry,” he whispers, slipping his hands to my cheeks and tilting my face up, forcing me to look at him. “As much as I love you, I know I don't deserve you.” He presses his lips against mine.
