It didn’t surprise me that he knew exactly where my dorm room was. He always knew too much.
Reaching for the handle, I made to leave the car when his words stopped me.
“I told you years ago . . . you would ruin him. I won’t let you destroy him again.”
Focusing on my hand on the door handle, I spoke to him with the same coldness he gave me. “You knownothing, but I’ll tell you what I told him, I’ll keep my distance.”
“Make sure you do, fromallof them. Your reign is over,Queeny.”
Turning my head, I met his black stare brimming with cold hatred, and it was exactly what I needed, because it hardened me further. “Fuck you.”
I got out of the car and made it into my apartment, closing the door behind me as the weariness washed over me. Heading straight to my room, kicking off my boots as I walked, I didn’t bother undressing as I collapsed onto the bed. Lying face down on my pillows, I finally let the tears fall as I wept for what I had lost.
Chapter 13: Gray
Driving in silence, my head was a jumble of words and confusion, and twice I had to straighten the car as I drove on autopilot and didn’t pay the right attention to my surroundings. I knew Jett was behind me, keeping his distance but close if I needed him, and I didn’t know if I needed him or neededher.
God, she tasted like I remembered, of sin and temptation. Her soft curves were mine to claim, and I knew how soft she was. She bruised so easily; she’d have marks on her skin tomorrow from where my fingers dug into her flesh tonight.
Two of the times that we had been together before were both hard and fast. The third time . . . I exhaled as I thought about the night we spent together, where I’d stripped her bare and fucked her all night, her cries of pleasure fueling me. My intent to leave my mark on her backfired in the worst way possible.
I had more than left my mark. I had gotten her pregnant.
And she never fucking told me.
I had no explanation as to why she never told me, and as I drove, I realized I had never asked. Too angry, too consumed with revenge on the people who had hurt her, I hadn’t asked her why she never told me.
Is that why? Did she think I wouldn’t care? Or was the thought ofmybaby so abhorrent to her that her only logical solution was to give it away?
Didn’t I have a right to have an opinion? Didn’t I have the right to have a say? I knew all the arguments, and I agreed it was her body, her choice, but didn’t I, too, get a chance to be heard? She would never have been alone in this, whatever she decided. Didn’t she know that? As I drove through the blackness of the night, I realizedmaybe she didn’t.
Maybe she really thought she had been alone.
Alone and scared.
A small snort escaped me as I thought about how much we had in common, which is why she pissed me off whenever it came to us. She had chosen wrongly so many times, and the consequences of her actions affected us both.
Now look at us. Too jaded and wounded to be anything more than what we were.
Broken.
My head tilted back against the leather headrest as I stared at the road in front of me, my brother’s headlights a distance behind me. Always there, always ready for when I may need him.
With a sharp turn of the wheel, I pulled onto the shoulder and got out of the car, resting against the hood as I looked up at the night sky. Moments later, Jett’s stupid, flashy car was pulling in behind mine. He left his lights on low behind my car as he got out and joined me.
“I told her she needs to stay away.”
Jett was silent for a long time before he nodded. “Okay, do you think that’s for the best?” he asked quietly.
“Yes,” I answered sharply.
“Okay.” We stood there, and I knew he was giving me the space I needed. If I wanted to talk, he would listen.
“She never told me.”
“I know.”
“She never told me she was pregnant, and she never told me she was giving it away.”
