“I did it to protect you,” she sobs, her palms flattening on his chest. “Because I love you, and I know you can’t leave her. This way we still could’ve been together. We could’ve made it work.”
She is even more delusional than I thought.What kind of twisted logic is that?No wonder she tried to pawn it off as my kid. Deep down, she knows this guy won’t be there for her. I’m a lot of things, but if this baby was mine, I would’ve made sure she was looked after and that neither of them wanted for anything.
To think she has the nerve to call Presley a gold-digging slut.
He lowers her hands and takes a step back. “It can’t be mine. I always use a condom,” he says. “You’re not pinning this on me either.” He narrows his eyes at her. “I know you’ve fucked half the football team, because they trade stories about you, and my TA said he screwed you two weeks ago.”
“Only because you were ignoring me!” Whitney hisses, shoving his shoulders. “I needed to reclaim your attention, and it worked.” A sneer curls the corners of her lips.
“The point is, you’re a slut,” he explains, “and the father could be any number of guys.”
“The baby is yours!” Her lower lip wobbles, and I think reality is finally sinking in. “I’m twelve weeks pregnant, and the only guy I was fucking in February was you.”
“You’re a real piece of work, Whit.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe you tried to fuck up my life like this.”
“You fucking deserved it for the way you’ve toyed with my emotions for years.” Her smile turns malicious. “Payback is a bitch, and Presley will thank me one day for doing her a favor. You’re a fucking loser, Kent. A washed-up good-for-nothing player who thinks his shit doesn’t stink. Well, guess what, asshole. It does, and you’re a—”
“That is enough, Whitney!” Kyler roars. “You will not fucking insult my brother ever again.” Kyler forcibly calms down before looking at me. “You should go. I can handle it from here.”
“I’ll wait for you.” It’s the least I can do when he’s come all this way to help me.
He shakes his head. “I need to deal with this, and I’ll be a while.” Taking my arm, he pulls me toward the door. We step outside into the hallway as Whitney and the professor start arguing. “Take the jet back home. Call Faye, and tell her what’s happened. She’ll want to be here. Then call Keven, and get him to hack into that asshole’s stuff. I need evidence to bury the bastard. If he thinks he can shirk his responsibilities when it comes to that baby, he can think again. Better update Mom and Dad too.”
“What are you going to do?” I ask, taking my cell from him and slipping it in the pocket of my jeans.
“I’m calling Adam, and we’re going to deal with that asshole.” He clamps his hand on my shoulder, grinning. “You’re off the hook, bro.”
“I am so fucking relieved.”
He pulls me into a hug, slapping me on the back. “Me too, little brother. None of us wanted you to be tied to Whitney for life like this.”
I cling to him, feeling surprisingly emotional. In fact, my emotions are running riot, veering all over the place. “Tell me about it.”
“Maybe now you can make things right with Presley.”
Shucking out of his embrace, I shrug because it’s not as cut and dry as that. “She walked away, Ky. She had her reasons, but she still didn’t try.”
“If you care for her, don’t let this come between you. I don’t know what went down or what her reasons were, but we all say things in the heat of the moment, and maybe she regrets it or she’s holding back because she thinks stepping aside was the right thing to do. You won’t know unless you talk to her.”
“Maybe.” If I’m being honest, my inclination is to rush to Presley to tell her it’s okay, but she hurt me, and do I really want the hassle of being in a relationship with a girl who runs at the first sign of trouble?
I never had to deal with this shit when I was casually fucking around, and I’m not sure I’m cut out for it. The past twelve days have been sheer hell.
“I better call Adam,” Ky says. “And get back in there before they kill each other,” he adds when the shouting escalates to ear-piercing levels.
“Thanks, man.” I swallow back a lump. “I owe you.”
“Sign up for some babysitting stints and we’ll call it even,” he says with a grin as he stabs buttons on his cell.
“Just tell me when and where,” I call out before walking off, feeling like a one-hundred-pound weight has just been lifted from my shoulders.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Presley
Drawing a brave breath, I raise my hand and rap twice on the door. It swings open a minute later, revealing a different Kennedy brother.
“Hey, Presley.” Surprise splays across Keanu’s face, and my stomach takes a nosedive.
