was happening so differently from how I’d imagined. I was going to be a mom. I had someone coming into my life that I could give all my love to. This little person. And I was determined to do a hell of a lot better than my parents did with me.
It didn’t change the fact that the circumstances were less than ideal. “Yeah.” And then I blurted, “I slept with Jack.”
She didn’t look surprised by this. “Emery.”
“He left me,” I sobbed before I could stop it, curling into myself.
He broke my heart.
Again.
My best friend hugged me fiercely. For the first time since I’d woken to find that stupid, goddamn note from Jack, I let out everything I was feeling.
I hadn’t cried, even though waking to find myself alone in my bed was one of the worst feelings in the world.
I hadn’t cried at all the last seven weeks.
I’d bottled up all my pain and humiliation and rejection and fear that I would never be loved by the people I loved.
Now it was flooding out of me and soaking Jess’s shoulder.
Jack leaving me like that, deciding he’d taken advantage without even asking me how I felt, was just a reminder of all the times he’d done that. He didn’t treat me as an equal. He decided for us. Time and again. And I’d been stupid enough to believe things would change now that Ian was out of the picture.
Still, that little kernel of hope lived inside me that Jack would realize what a self-righteous asshole he was being, hope that was smashed to smithereens when the town gossip wave rolled over me.
Everyone was talking about the murder. About Rebecca Devlin’s rape and the charges she faced for aiding and abetting Stu in accidental homicide. About Ian and Kerr Devlin being charged by the feds for racketeering and more, and that Jack was the one who handed them over to the police.
And about how Rosalie Devlin was so devastated, Jack had packed up his mother, sister, and brother Jamie and moved them out of town. Word on the street was that Rosalie’s older brother lived in Wilmington and had invited them to stay until they could get set up on their own.
Jack had left Hartwell.
He’d left me.
Without a word.
Without a goodbye.
I’d thought he’d left for good, no looking back. I was under that impression for the first four weeks.
My friends noticed my despondency. No one pushed me about it.
But one night when I’d joined them at Cooper’s trying to get my mind off it, Cooper had caught me coming out of the ladies’ restroom. I’d sensed him watching me cautiously all night. I knew why when he told me he’d been in touch with Jack. That Jack hadn’t left Hartwell permanently. He was just making sure his family was situated before he returned.
I thought that would make me feel better.
It didn’t.
Because I hadn’t been worthy of knowing this. Of Jack taking the time to tell me.
And I knew he had a lot going on with his family, but … he made love to me and then left me.
Like it wasn’t making love after all.
Like it was just sex.
Like I was just one of his casual tourist flings.
No word from him. Not after his father held me at gunpoint and I’d shot him. Not after Jeff informed me that considering there were three witnesses to Ian holding me at gunpoint, his defense had advised him to take a plea bargain. The case wouldn’t go to court, thankfully, and Ian would serve eighteen months for the crime.
And where was Jack when I found this out? Not with me!
Oh my God. I was pregnant with Jack Devlin’s baby.
A man I definitely did not trust with my heart.
“You have to tell him, Emery,” Jess said gently.
I nodded. It wasn’t something I’d keep from him, no matter how much I was afraid of being permanently connected to someone who could hurt me so badly.
“Cooper has his number if you don’t.”
I shook my head frantically. “No. I’m not telling him over the phone. I’ll tell him if he ever comes back.”
“If? He is coming back … Do you want to tell me what happened between you?”
I did.
Once upon a time, Jess had trusted me with her story. So I told Jess everything.
I even told her about Tripp.
“You can understand why I don’t trust many people, Jess,” I whispered after I was done. “And something told me I could trust Jack. Right from the start. But I can’t. Every