“Jed?”she frowned, confused.
“I tried calling you, and you didn’t answer.I was worried.”
“Oh.Yeah.Sorry.”She looked around on the floor, her lap, and the counter, trying to find her phone.
“It’s in the kitchen.”
“Oh.”She wiped at her cheeks and sniffled loudly.
He tore off a wad of toilet paper and handed it to her.She blew her nose then tossed it in the wastebasket between the toilet and sink.She still didn’t speak.What the fuck?She was starting to scare him.
“Are you all right?Did something happen at the doctor's office to make you upset?”For the life of him, he still couldn’t figure out what could have happened.“Did Tinker find you?Threaten you?”
Tears started falling again as she shook her head.“No.I didn’t see Tinker.”
Why the fuck did she look so devastated?Like her world was shattered?Was it her head?“Is it your head?”
“No.”She cried harder.“It’s not my head.”
“Then what is it?What is going on?Why are you so upset?”
She raised tear-filled eyes to his and said the last two words he ever expected her to say.“I’m pregnant.”
He thought he momentarily lost his hearing and his vision tunneled.His chest felt like someone had hit him with a sledgehammer, and it was hard to breathe.Everything came to a screeching halt as he fell back on his ass.“I’m sorry.Did you say you’repregnant?”
“Yes,” she nodded.“I,” he cut her off before she could say anything else.
“How can you be pregnant?We used a condom every single time, and I check it every single time I take it off for breaks.”He jumped to his feet, his hands grasping painfully at his hair.How could this be?He’d guaranteed he would never be able to get a woman pregnant.And, again, he wore a condom for God’s sake!
“I know.”She tried again.She slowly got to her feet, fear and sorrow mingling in her eyes.
“I’m guessing you found out at your doctor's appointment?”He dropped his shaking hands to his hips.
“Jed,” she tried again, this time with her hands up like she was trying to calm a wild animal.He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and son of a bitch, he did look like a wild animal.His eyes were wide, his face was pale except for the two bright red spots on his cheeks.
“I can’t believe you cheated on me.”He spun around and stormed out of the bathroom.He could hear her coming after him.He spun around again so quickly, she almost ran into him.“What was all that talk about being exclusive?”He threw his hands out to his sides.“I see how it is.I have to be faithful while you go around fucking everyone else.”Had he been in his right mind, he might have registered how hard that remark had hit her, but as it was, he was losing his mind.He was reacting out of hurt and fear, not thinking about how his words were affecting Sadie.
“You think I cheated on you?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I think.I know for a fact that it ain’t mine because I can’t have kids.”His body leaned down, forcing her to back up a step.
She jerked in surprise.“What?”
“When I was eighteen, I got my girlfriend pregnant.She’d been my girlfriend all through high school, and we’d planned on getting married after graduation.She ended up pregnant halfway through our senior year.We had a little girl.We named her Lizbet, but we called her Little Bit.She was born with a tumor on her heart.They said due to its location, they couldn’t risk surgery until she got older and a little bigger.The problem was that the tumor grew faster than she did.I won’t bore you with all the details, but right after she turned one year old, the tumor won.So, when I say I can’t have kids, I mean I had a vasectomy so I could never have kids again.So, yeah, there’s no way that kid is mine.”
“Jed, I never said it was,” he cut her off again.
“You know what?I think it’s best we end things here.Yeah.”He nodded his head.“We’re done.”He couldn’t deal with this anymore.He had to get out of there so he could breathe again.Without a backward glance, he turned and left.He slammed the door behind him and all but ran down the stairs to hop in his truck.As soon as he started it, he rolled down all the windows, needing the air.Fuck!He couldn’t breathe.“Goddamn it!”He slapped the wheel.He’d kill to be on his bike right now.
The farther he drove from Sadie’s, the better he started to feel.He didn’t know whose baby she was carrying, but it wasn’t his, and it wasn’t his problem.
So why did her betrayal hurt so badly?
11
Sadie
Sadie’s hands were shaking as she drove to the Sons' clubhouse.She gripped the wheel tightly, praying Darren was there.The sooner she told him she was pregnant, the sooner one of the weights would be lifted from her shoulders.She was comparing it to pulling off a Band-Aid; do it fast, and it would hurt less.
