With her arms wrapped around her middle, she takes a step back. “Why would you think I’d tell them? You know I don’t tell my sister everything, right?”
I open my mouth then close it. When I open it again, no sound comes out. I never even considered she didn’t report back to Piper every time she checked in on me.
“I saw you falling apart. I saw you drowning in your grief. I recognized all your fake smiles. I saw your depression, all too familiar to my own. I’ve lived with it. I livedthroughit. There were days when I was tempted to end it all because the pressure, the expectations, felt like too much.”
Her words land like sucker punches. What she said makes my heart ache. I didn’t know about any of that, and I don’t think Piper knows either. She would’ve told me. She would’ve asked me to look after Riley the way she asked Riley to look after me.
“I never told her how low you really were, and I didn’t just check on you because they asked me to. No, I was here becauseIwas worried, becauseIwanted to make sure you were alright.” She waves her hand at me, tears streaming down her cheeks. “And you lied to me… Time and time again, you lied to me. And now, you stand there telling me you didn’t want to bother me. That you didn’t want to worry Hunter and Piper. It wasmewho was asking. It wasmewho was worried, and you just…lied.”
My heart cracks in two. I reach out, wanting nothing more than to touch her, to share my warmth with her. To ask her about her past, about her hard truths. To ease her pain.
But she takes a step back, dodging my touch.
The hole in my chest widens. “Riley…”
“No.” She purses her lips. “I thought the connection we built meant something to you. I thought you’d be honest with me because I’ve seen all sides of you, that you’d care enough not to betray my trust…but I was wrong. About all of it.”
“Ry, please listen to me?—”
“You know what? I’m too tired for this.”
With that, she walks away from me…and I swear it’s never been harder to see her do that.
28
then we’re keeping this baby, ry
RILEY
I don’t wantto get out of bed. I don’t want to leave this room. I don’t want to see Hayden. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to listen to him.
Yet, that’s exactly what I have to do, since we have an appointment with the doctor he chose. Hayden is an egocentric asshole. That was established years ago. His behavior isn’t surprising, just disappointing.
Sometimes, I swear, my life was designed to be torturous.
As I snag my phone from the nightstand, I consider bailing on the appointment at the fancy private clinic. I consider packing my things, going all the way to the Hamptons to get my keys from Nastya, and leaving his sorry ass for good. It’s tempting, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t feel bad about acting like a child throwing a tantrum.
Plus, the sooner I see the doctor, the sooner I’ll know for sure. Maybe I got a false positive. Three false positives. It seems hard to believe, but with my medical history, it also seems impossible I could be pregnant.
If I’m not, Hayden and I can go our separate ways, and I’ll do my best to pretend those two nights of passion never happened.
If I’m pregnant…well, it sure will complicate things. We’ll have to tell our families, and I don’t know what my future at the dance studio will look like. Despite the law, Adelaide, the owner, considered not hiring Nastya since she was already happily married. Thus, in her eyes, she was likely to end up pregnant sooner rather than later.
Then, there are Hayden’s fans. Many left scathing comments under the band’s post that confirmed Owen and Ines had gotten married. Bo’s wife has received death threats even though they got married before all the success. If they knew the lead singer of Sabotage was going to be a dad, they wouldn’t rest until they knew my identity.
I don’t want that kind of fame.
A knock on the door stops my mental gymnastics. I glare at it, willing Hayden to leave me alone.
Instead, he knocks again. “Ry? Are you awake? We need to leave in about an hour.”
Annoyance flares to life inside me. “And?”
“How about breakfast?”
I get out of bed, stalk to the door, and open it wide. “I’m not hungry.”
He holds my gaze for a heartbeat. Then, his focus drifts to my neck, my chest, down my legs.
