his fingers through my hair.
“I’m sorry it’s come to this, sugar. Maybe Carter will see the error of his ways and he’ll come begging for forgiveness.”
“How do I forgive this?” I turn to my back so I can look up into his face. “When I told him I don’t have cancer, he literally slumped in his chair. He was cold because he was scared, and I immediately forgave him for that in my head. I can understand fear, especially after losing his wife the way he did. It makes sense to me.
“But then, in the next breath, to accuse me of cheating on him? Come on. I divorced a man for cheating on me, and he knows that. It’s the worst sin you can accuse me of. And if he thinks I’m capable of screwing around with some other man when I’m also having a relationship with him, well, he doesn’t know me very well, does he?”
“No,” Christopher says softly. “He obviously doesn’t.”
“I just don’t know how we bounce back from this. I don’t know what he could possibly say that would make sense to me. Because even if he says it was a shock because he’d had the vasectomy, which again I would understand if he’d just said that in the first place, he called me a whore. That’s what it boils down to.”
“You’re getting yourself worked up again, and you’re overthinking it.” He lays his hand over my forehead. It feels cool against my hot skin. “That’s not good for you or the baby.”
“Are you going to be bossy like this the whole time I’m pregnant?”
“Someone has to look out for you,” he says with a smile. “So, yeah, I am. I’m also going to fix you a bowl of chicken soup and a grilled cheese sandwich because I doubt you’ve eaten today, and you need to eat for the baby.”
“You’re a mother hen,” I accuse. But he slips out from under me and walks into the kitchen. I listen to him bustle about, taking care of me.
I needed Carter to take care of me like this. To jump in and ask me if I’m okay, to insist I eat, to ask when we go to the doctor next.
I needed him.
And he failed miserably.
I wipe a tear as it falls down my cheek and call myself four kinds of a fool for letting him hurt me this way.
But it does hurt.
More than I ever thought possible.
“How many sandwiches do you want?” Christopher asks from the kitchen.
“Just one.”
“I’m making you two,” he warns. “You don’t have to eat it all, but it’ll be there if you want it.”
“Thank you. For everything today, not just this. I know you took the day off work to help me out, and I appreciate it.”
“I love you,” he says simply. “If you need me, I’m here.”
And that’s exactly, exactly what I needed from Carter. But now I know where I stand. I know I’ll never hear those words from him.
Chapter Eighteen
~Carter~
I don’t know what the fuck just happened.
I’m standing at the window, hands shoved in my pockets and the echo of the door slamming still in the air around me.
She’s pregnant.
And it’s not medically possible that it’s mine.
“Jesus.” I rub my hand over my neck. I thought I knew her. I thought what we had was solid and true.
How did I judge the whole situation so damn poorly?
“You.”
I turn and watch as Sienna marches into my office, her eyes shooting daggers at me.
“I don’t have time to—”
“You’ll make the goddamn time,” she interrupts and points to my chair. “Sit.”
I look at Finn and Quinn, who followed her into the room, rushing to keep up with her.
Sienna’s a little thing, but she moves fast when she wants to and she can be damn intimidating.
It’s why she’s such a good attorney.
Finn shrugs and Quinn just sits on the couch across the room, and I find myself following Sienna’s direction, lowering slowly into my own chair.
“You’re being charged with hurting someone I care about,” she says, pacing in front of my desk. “What’s your plea?”
“Guilty,” I mutter. “But I don’t have time to talk to you—”
“You won’t speak unless you’re answering my questions,” she says and I glance at the guys again, but again, they shrug.
“Now, tell the court what happened last night.”
I frown. “Last night?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Objection,” Finn says, coming to my defense. Quinn winces. “What does that have to do with the matter at hand?”
“I’m laying groundwork,” Sienna replies coolly and turns her