There were a few wolf whistles, and cat calls as we made our way through the crowd.
“Put me down!” I pleaded. I thought about squirming, but I was scared I would injure him.
“No,” he said it in a way that left no room for argument.
I hated to admit it but hearing the authority in his voice was really hot. But then again, most things he did were really hot. That’s a big part of why I’d fallen in love with him.
He pushed the doors open with his shoulder and didn’t stop until we were behind the building in a spot that teenagers frequented to make out and smoke weed. I was actually surprised there weren’t any there now.
When he set me down, I was a little breathless. I hoped that this wasn’t going to be another hyperventilating episode because I didn’t have Channing to comfort me.
“What is going on with you today?” He stood with his feet shoulder distance apart and crossed his arms. “Why won’t you talk to me?”
“Can we please talk about this tomorrow? I really don’t want to get into it.”
“No,” his answer was short and to the point.
“I don’t want to get upset.”
His eyes softened when he heard the tremor in my voice.
I dropped my chin and looked down at the ground so he wouldn’t see them getting watery. He reached up and lifted my chin with his hand. “Why would you get upset?”
I didn’t know if it was because I was sleep deprived, or I felt secluded, or if it was just because I’d had this information in me and I hadn’t been able to tell anyone but I blurted out, “I know about the baby.”
He stared at me for a second and asked, “The baby?”
Was he really going to play dumb? “Yes. Luciana’s baby.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“How are you so calm about this?” I heard my voice getting louder, which was exactly why I didn’t want to have this discussion tonight. Here.
“Wait…What do you think you know?”
“After you texted that you were going to be calling it a night, I left the bachelorette party to go pick up Channing. I wanted to surprise you and maybe, you know fool around. When I got there, there was a woman on the porch. I heard her talking on her phone saying that she had texted you and you were coming home. That’s when I realized it was Luciana. I rushed inside because I didn’t know what to do.” I sniffed as a large lump formed in my throat. “And then you came home and I heard you guys talking outside. I heard her tell you that she is pregnant.” A tear slid down my cheek and he wiped it.
“It’s not mine. Her new boyfriend is the father. She’s just been wanting to talk to me because we’ve been friends for years and honestly, I think in the crowd she runs in I’m the most normal person she knows. She was worried that she was going to end up being a single mom and wanted to know what I thought about it.”
“It’s not yours.” I knew that he’d explained it wasn’t, I just needed to say it out loud so I could hear it.
He smiled. “No. I texted you last night to let you know that she was in town and she was going to stay the night, but you didn’t call me back. I crashed at your place and let her stay at mine,” he clarified. “And I’ve been trying to call you all day and you kept sending me to voicemail. I even tried to see you before the wedding but Melody or Madison wouldn’t let me in.”
“I thought you were going to tell me that Luciana was having your baby and I didn’t want to have that conversation until after the wedding.”
“If we’re gonna do this, you can’t hide from me. You have to talk to me. You have to tell me what’s going on,” he smiled as he repeated verbatim what I’d told him on the couch.
I laughed and swatted at his arm.
He grabbed my hand and held it to his chest. His smile dropped as he stared into my eyes. “But seriously, I can’t go through what I went through today again. It was killing me not being able to talk to you. I didn’t know what was wrong. I couldn’t even get you to look at me. I know you had reasons, and they were good reasons, but please don’t shut me