AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I whirl around. “Where you went, I wasn’t invited. So there’s that. You left me.”
Lane catches up to me, pinching his nose. “I didn’t leave you. I would never leave you. I already told you I had to take care of something,” he says.
Is he insane? I think he has inhaled too much carbon monoxide. He thinks that is all he needs to say, and I will go running back to him.
“Is everything okay, Aura?” Nick chimes in.
I forgot he was still standing here when I walked away.
“Leave!” Lane roars as he marches over to him with his fist clenched.
Nick’s eyes widen at the look of rage across Lane’s expression. “O-okay. I’ll go,” Nick stammers, and he takes off in the opposite direction.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I scold Lane.
“No man comes near you. Do you understand? No other man.”
“It’s a little too late for that. I’m sorry, but… it’s over, Lane.”
I walk briskly across the street to my apartment building. The car roars when he gets behind the wheel and pulls up next to me.
“Get in, Aura.”
“Go home, Lane.”
He parks in an available spot and follows me up to the apartment. I place the key in the lock and open the door to the practically empty studio with only a single bed.
“This is where you are staying? In this?”
Rage boils in my veins. How dare he judge me. After he left, I was all alone. I turn around and surprise him when I drive my hand back. WHACK! I slap him hard across his left cheek enough that my hand stings.
His head whips back like a spring, and his eyes widen when he places his hand on his cheek.
“Get out!” I yell.
He steps forward, and I step back.
“How dare you judge me. Where were you when I was alone? Where were you when I was at the doctor? You haven’t heard your own son’s heartbeat.” I push him hard toward the door. “You come here and judge me for trying to take care of myself and your son. Get out. Leave me alone.”
“I’m sorry, Aura. Please. It’s not what you think.”
“It’s not what I think? It is what I know, and one thing I do know is that you don’t abandon someone you love.” Tears flowdown my cheeks, my body trying to hold back the sobs at how easily he walked out on me without a single word. The memories of how lonely I felt inside that house, wondering what I did that was so awful. That he would abandon me because I was pregnant with his child. “You don’t love me, Lane. It’s okay. I’ll be fine in my small bed in my small apartment with my waitressing job. You can go now.”
“I’ll never leave you.”
“Are you listening to yourself? You did leave me. That is why I’m here. You weren’t even there when I packed my stuff. You didn’t even know, and it’s obvious that I don’t matter to you. That you’re ashamed of me.” My chest is heaving, and he has a look of defeat, but I don’t care. He isn’t who I thought he was. “I have a shift tomorrow so I can pay for my shitty apartment with my shitty bed.”
He finally walks out, hanging his head. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says.
“Don’t bother,” I say, slamming the door in his face.
26
AURA
It has been two weeks since Lane showed up. He comes in the diner every day and sits at the booth in the back and waits until I’m done with my shift. When I clock out, he follows me to my apartment in his car to make sure I make it home safe every night.
I walk into the diner for my shift. Lane is sitting in one of the booths. His head snaps up when he hears the chime of the bell from the door. Tammy at the register gives me a smile.
